Wednesday, November 13, 2013

11-13-13 Schools Matter

Schools Matter:



Regarding Goldhaber on VAM at AEI
My fellow blogger, John Thompson, just posted a piece that looks at the new Mathematica study on teacher transfer incentives, and he begins with this paragraph, to which I would to respond:Maybe I’m naïve, but I found it hopeful when economist Dan Goldhaber told the conservative American Enterprise Institute that value-added models work at the elementary level, at least in comparison with other wa

Are STEM employment opportunities "tremendous"?
Sent to US News and World ReportIn "The Latest Tools for Teaching STEM: Video Games," (Nov. 11), Karen Cator of the Digital Promise company is quoted as saying that "We must engage many more Americans in developing their STEM expertise because the opportunity to find gainful employment is tremendous."  Articles are now appearing regularly in the popular and professional press r

CTU Launches Let Us Teach
BY BECKY SCHLIKERMANStaff ReporterThe Chicago Teachers Union Thursday urged its members and parents to take a stand against standardized tests.CTU President Karen Lewis announced the “Let us Teach” campaign in Chicago as similar measures were rolled out in cities across the country.“Why must our public school children be subjected to this battery of pointless standardized testing throughout the ye
Obama Has Lost the Catholics on Common Core: ". . .a recipe for standardized workforce preparation"
Ge r a r d V. Br a d l e y , Pr of e s s or of L a wc/o University of Notre Dame, The Law School3156 Eck Hall of Law, PO Box 780Notre Dame, IN  46556October 16, 2013This letter was sent individually to each Catholic bishop in the United States. 132 Catholic professors signed the letter.Your Excellency:We are Catholic scholars who have taught for years in America’s colleges and universities.  Most
Pearson's ReadyGen Common Core Texts Full of Errors
From the Daily News:It's a bungled effort to boost standards.Teachers across the city are reporting problems with the new reading and writing textbooks recommended by the Department of Education. Not only were books delivered more than a month into the school year in some cases, but the lessons from testing and publishing giant Pearson are poorly planned, too long and full of mistakes.“They a


NY Parents Mad as Hell and Not Going to Take It Anymore
Well it's about time. NY parents are finally raging against the Common Core and the  punitive high stakes testing that labels their children failures. Has this insanity finally reached a tipping point? Stay tuned.Watch the video coming out of this meeting last night and share it widely. "They also criticized the increased student testing and teacher evaluations associated with Common Core.&qu

11-12-13 Schools Matter
Schools Matter: DoDEA: What Can Happen without Corporate Education Reform, NCLB, RttT, etc.When NCLBA exempted Department of Defense schools, some whined that it was unfair: after all.  Rather than protesting the grandiose stupidity of the law to begin with, the National School Boards Association contended that DoDEA schools should be put into the same vice as the the rest of America's schools tha