Latest News and Comment from Education

Saturday, April 14, 2012

The Answer Sheet - A School Survival Guide for parents (and everyone else). - The Washington Post

The Answer Sheet - A School Survival Guide for parents (and everyone else). - The Washington Post:
Answer Sheet

Top 5 factors to weigh when picking a college (by May 1st deadline)

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 5 hours ago
This was* written by Danielle Moss Lee, president and chief executive officer of the Harlem Educational Activities Fund. The fund is a supplemental education and youth leadership nonprofit that turns high-potential but underserved New York City public school students into high-achieving college graduates.* Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]

Friday the 13th: Things you should know

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 1 day ago
Today is the day for people who suffer from *paraskevidekatriaphobia* to try to keep their cool — but it won’t be easy. Why? The condition is a deep, blinding fear of Friday the 13th. And however irrational the fear may seem, it has some concrete consequences. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]

The newest problem with graduation rates

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 1 day ago
This *was written by Úrsula Casanova, asssociate professor emerita at Arizona State University.* By Ursula Casanova School administrators across the country have been expressing their concern over the federal government’s changes in reporting graduation rates. Starting with the 2010-2011 school year, all high schools have been required to provide data based on the four-year “cohort” rate. In some states this method has already resulted in graduation rates as much as 20% below those formerly reported. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: ... more »

What teachers know vs. what education policymakers do — Ravitch

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 2 days ago
*This* * was written by education historian Diane Ravitch for her Bridging Differences blog, which she co-authors with Deborah Meier on the Education Week website. The item was first published on March 6. In their blog, Ravitch and Meier exchange letters about what matters most in education. Ravitch, a research professor at New York University, is author of “The Death and Life of the Great American School System,” a critique of the flaws in the modern school reform movement that she just updated.* Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to... more »

10-year-old: ‘I want to know why after vacation I have to take test after test after test’

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 3 days ago
This *was written by Carol Corbett Burris, principal of South Side High School in New York. She was named the 2010 New York State Outstanding Educator by the School Administrators Association of New York State.* Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]

Tennessee back to the future with new anti-evolution law

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 3 days ago
It’s back to the future for Tennessee, where a new law was just put on the books that could undermine the teaching of accepted scientific thought in areas including evolution and climate change. The law encourages teachers to “present the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories covered in the course being taught.” But, as noted by the nonprofit National Center for Science Education, the only examples given in the bill of “controversial” theories are “biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming, and human cloning.” Read... more »

The Answer Sheet - 3 days ago

Guess which states don’t fund pre-K programs

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 3 days ago
Early education is one of the few school reforms — if not the only one — with extensive research showing its value in academic, social and other ways. Yet a new report shows that funding across the country by states has declined over the past two years — to the tune of about $90 million — even though enrollment has increased. What’s more, a number of states don’t even fund early pre-K programs. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]

Pre-K funding drops nationally, report says

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 3 days ago
Funding for state-funded pre-kindergarten programs across the country dropped by a total of almost $60 million during the 2010-11 school year despite extensive research showing the benefits of quality early education, according to a newly released report. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]

How ‘early warning systems’ are keeping kids in school

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 3 days ago
This was *written by Robert Balfanz, a senior research scientist at Johns Hopkins University, where he is also co-director of Talent Development Secondary and co-director of the Everyone Graduates Center. * Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]

The inevitable dark side of ‘school choice’

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 4 days ago
This was *written by Ann Geiger, who served on the Orange County School Board in Orlando, Fl., from 2004-2008. A native of Virginia, she lives in Arlington and blogs at www.publicpolicyblogger.com, where this appeared.* Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]

NASA invites students to design technologies for deep space

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 4 days ago
NASA is inviting college students to design technologies that can be integrated into a habitat in which future astronauts could live and work in deep space. The offer is called the 2013 Exploration Habitat (X-Hab) Academic Innovation Challenge, and it is an effort by the space agency to promote science learning and help inspire a new generation of creative engineers. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]

Teacher: Dear students, I’m sorry about that test I made you take

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 5 days ago
This was written by Ruth Ann Dandrea, who has taught secondary English in upstate New York for 29 years. A freelance writer, she is co-author of *“Women on Water*,” about women’s kayaking, which will be available from North Country Press this spring. This appeared in “*Pencils Down*,” a new book from Rethinking Schools, a publisher of educational materials. Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]

State legislatures reignite war over religion in schools

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 5 days ago
This was* written by Charles Haynes, director of the Religious Freedom Education Project at the Newseum. He writes and speaks extensively on religious liberty and religion in American public life. This appeared on the website of the First Amendment Center.* Read full article >> [image: Add to Facebook] [image: Add to Twitter] [image: Add to Reddit] [image: Add to StumbleUpon]