How Good is Good Enough? Moving California's English Learners to English Proficiency
Joanne JacobsLexington InstituteMay 29, 2007
Joanne JacobsLexington InstituteMay 29, 2007
David L. KirpHarvard University PressForthcoming, August 2007
Can technology turn well-meaning but ill-prepared teachers into effective instructors? A new breed of education business is betting on it. While none claim that they are "teacher proofing" the classroom, several are building tools that aim to turn mere mortals into excellent teachers.
Respectable historians have long warned students against "presentism," defined by Word Spy as "the application of current ideals, morals, and standards to historical figures and events." But what about "present-tense-ism," as illustrated by a recent Gallup Poll and described in Diane Ravitch's latest op-ed?
Brett Bradshaw doesn't like traditional exams. "Standardized tests are just snapshots that measure mostly the ability to recall facts," he told the Los Angeles Times. Bradshaw--director of strategic communications for the Coalition of Essential Schools--prefers evaluating student knowledge through exhibitions, i.e., oral presentations.
Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian Fenty can't seem to catch a break in his quest to take over the city's notoriously bad public schools. After assiduously massaging egos and playing urban politics so that the City Council would approve his takeover bid, Fenty has hit snag after snag.
The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) is the centerpiece of one of the best state accountability systems in the country, but it's far from perfect. Education officials in Tallahassee discovered last week that third-grade reading scores from the 2006 FCAT were inflated by human scoring errors, allowing many students who should have been held back to move on to fourth grade.
Not since William Jennings Bryan halted the march of science by winning the Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925 have creationists had a more glorious day. On Monday, the Creation Museum opened its doors for business in northern Kentucky, with a stated mission of restoring the Bible to its "rightful authority" in society.