Thursday, January 23, 2014

1-23-14 The Answer Sheet

The Answer Sheet:






Let’s stop whining about school snow closures
Some Washington area school districts are suddenly the target of criticism for keeping schools closed after Tuesday’s snowstorm. A Post colleague over at the great Weather Gang blog, in fact, wrote about Fairfax County’s decision to stay closed Thursday after officials decided that some of the roads and walkways were still too dangerous for parents […]    

Education stats, state by state
Here’s an infographic with 2013 state-by-state education statistics. Click on the tabs and the individual states to see information in different areas, including high school graduation rates, test scores and more. Produced By Best Education Degrees    


The polar vortex explained in two minutes
Here, from John Holdren, who is President Obama’s science and technology adviser, is an explanation — in just two minutes — of the polar vortex and why climate change makes it more likely that we will see more extreme weather in the future.    


A challenge: Teach 8th grade Common Core before endorsing it
This post is a response to this piece by Gerald Graff, which was itself a response to this speech about the Common Core State Standards by Diane Ravitch. This was written by educator Mercedes Schneider, who holds degrees in secondary education (English and German), guidance and counseling, and applied statistics and research methods. She is in […]    
The coming Common Core meltdown
In the following post, veteran educator Stan Karp explains why the problems surrounding the implementation of the Common Core are less about the substance of the standards and more about the context in which they were introduced. Karp taught English and journalism in Paterson, N.J., for 30 years and is an editor of Rethinking Schools magazine, where […]    
1-22-14 The Answer Sheet
The Answer Sheet: Gov. Cuomo seeks changes to ‘flawed’ Common Core implementationNew York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D), who just a few months ago was defending the state Board of Regents’ implementation of the Common Core State Standards, now says it has been “flawed” and that he is creating a panel of education experts and legislators to review the problems and take speedy “corrective action.” He […]