Quotable & notable
??if we feel we need a ?nanny cam' in every classroom in America?then we have lost our sense of teachers as trusted molders of minds and citizens.'' * ?Jon Eckert, assistant professor of education at Wheaton College
??if we feel we need a ?nanny cam' in every classroom in America?then we have lost our sense of teachers as trusted molders of minds and citizens.'' * ?Jon Eckert, assistant professor of education at Wheaton College
This weekend the Akron Beacon Journal highlighted parents who ?cheat? to get their kids into preferred schools, lifting up the story of an Akron woman who faces criminal charges (and 10 days in jail) for putting her kids in a neighboring, better school.
There are some subjects that lend themselves to free association more than others.? Tenure, for instance, is not one of those subjects, for me.? Collaboration, however, is. And if I let my mind wander too far, I'll end up singing Kumbaya.
From Foreign Policy magazine: ?American Decline: This time it's real.??According to the authors:
?Minnesota has lost its ?sense of urgency' to improve education and needs to take bolder steps to reduce the achievement gap between student groups and foster nontraditional pathways to teaching, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told a group of business and community leaders Friday in Minneapolis.?
What doesn't have a week? Regardless, today begins National School Choice Week, and the libertarian folks over at Reason magazine have lots planned. One wonders, though, how worthwhile Reason's coverage will be.
The hot, of-the-moment education-related article, which ran in Thursday's New York Times, reports on a study from the journal Science that found testing to be the surest path to learning. The key, according to researchers, is struggle:
Checker is not wrong to be concerned about China (although I think his worries over the test scores of students in Shanghai are overb
?The current budget cuts that the Republican leadership is talking about making could turn out to be very damaging to making progress in education reform? * ?George Miller, U.S. House of Representatives Congressman- 7th District, California
The Times has some kind words for Randi Weingarten today?in an editorial called ?Reform and the Teachers' Unions.?
?No one I'm talking to is defending the status quo; everyone I talk to really shares my sense of urgency that we have to do better for our children? * ?Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education
Fordham's?Mike Petrilli discusses the state of education on ABC's This Week with Christiane Amanpour. Check it out while you sip your morning coffee this weekend. ?Amy Fagan
From the beginning, charter schools have been sold as a vehicle of choice for the poor ? and they have done a remarkable job, for the most part, providing that outlet.?
When it comes to low-performing schools, we seem to be witnessing the same thing over and over?not unlike the classic movie, Groundhog Day.
?Even controlling for demographic factors, there was no clear relationship between spending and results.? * ?John Podesta, Former Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton
Canada lights up a room. His voice is booming and distinctive (and not just because you remember it from a Waiting for Superman or The Lottery interview), but mostly because when he talks about the children of Harlem, you sense how much he loves his life's work.
A few months ago, chatting with my brother-in-law, a former executive at the National School Boards Association, I suggested we collaborate on a book called Saving School Boards. There was a pause. ?Do they need saving?? he asked. Head spin.
For all of you test faithful, so long cowering in the shadows of ?critical thinking skills? and free range blah-blah, ?you can come out now.
I've just finished up a report for Education Next on New York's successful bid for Race to the Top funds. And though I interviewed dozens of people and learned a great deal, one question I was unable to answer with any certainty was who had actually coined the term.
David Brooks is a New York Times columnist, and boy does he know how to write 750 words that will rocket to the top of his paper's most-e-mailed list. Here's his basic recipe. First, pick a topic in the sociology realm, preferably something sort of vague, with Malcolm-Gladwell-ish overtones (or, better yet, apply explanatory social science to some newsy situation).
?There should be a way to weigh what the county has done to promote excellence in your school system, and you should be given credit for that.'' * ?Valerie Ervin, Montgomery County, Maryland Council President
It's been an open secret for at least a year, but now the National Council on Teacher Quality is making it official: they are at work on a review of all 1,400 of the nation's schools of education; the results will be published in a special edition of U.S. News and World Report. Kudos to NCTQ for taking on this Herculean task.
We wanted to help get the word out ? this Sunday (January 23) kicks off National School Choice Week. It's a week of events and discussion across the country, aimed highlighting the need for effective education options for all children. You can read about it here ?
The nation's education secretary has lately been ventilating his thoughts on local issues.