?I just can't prioritize making teachers' work environments fair, interesting, or pleasant for them--not if there's any potential conflict with the goal of providing the best possible education for kids.'' *
We all know that Checker Finn?has an uncanny?ability to turn a phrase and get right to the heart of the matter. Well, here are a few (very) noteworthy Finn quotes from recent news stories.
Last week, the National Endowment of the Arts released a new analysis showing a sharp decline in participation in arts education nationwide, with particularly bad news for African-Americans and Hispanics.
In the new Washington Monthly Steven M. Teles, a political science professor at Johns Hopkins, reviews Frederick M. Hess's recently published book The Same Thing Over and Over. Teles is particularly attentive to ?Hess's argument?
Columnist David Brooks has a new New York Times blog that, he writes, will ?be about who you are and why you do what you do.? His description is not a promising start.
Today, education leaders from across the nation (including our own Checker Finn) came together to endorse the idea of creating a national, voluntary, common curriculum that would be designed to supplement the national, voluntary, Common Core ELA and math standards.
Reading yesterday's New York Times editorial about the Empire State's fiscal crisis, I couldn't ?help but think of the last days of the USSR. I'm sure there were many Soviets scrambling to move the deck chairs around while that?ship was sinking.
Almost fifteen years ago, I was sitting in the main auditorium at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, getting ready to start my sophomore year at a public, residential magnet school that billed itself as a "pioneering educational community." What I remember most is how much the dean of students talked about the possibility of failure during that or
?If what we want to do is help our neediest children get ahead ?we need to find opportunities for them to do the things that privileged families do?solid academic programs combined with an engaging array of enrichment experiences.'' *
CALL 911?From employees watching porn to extracurricular sex toy lessons, sex is leaking in
The Supreme Court's near-unanimous decision allowing protests at military funerals is getting a lot of attention this week, raising questions about the limits of free speech.
John Merrow, the sage PBS education commentator (and one of the founding fathers of the modern charter school movement [see here]), has a new blog essay devoted to what several of his readers said about a previous postof his on early reading.
?Indeed, there are virtually no documented instances of troubled schools being turned around without intervention by a powerful leader.'' * -Kenneth Leithwood, Professor, University of Toronto
Here's the abridged backstory: In 2006, Heidi Zamecnik, then a student at Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville, Illinois, arrived at school wearing a T-shirt that instructed readers to ?Be Happy, Not Gay.? The dean told Zamecnik to shed the shirt (and, presumably, to put on another one) or go home. The student declined.
Feeling anxious about college admissions? Trying to find the best schools to study video game design?
?Teachers wonder, why the heapings of scorn?? is the front page headline over a Trip Gabriel story in today's New York Times. (The web version headline was shorter, better: ?Teachers wonder, Why the scorn??)? And, indeed, teachers have been taking it on the chin of late.?
Though no one expected Andrew Cuomo to be a Chris Christie, the tough-talking Empire State Democrat who promised to take on the unions ? well, he blinked.?
NPR's Morning Edition had a couple of good stories this morning: one included an interview with Providence Mayor Angel Taveras, a Democrat, defending his decision to give all the city's teachers layoff notices.
Mike and Rick compare GOP govs, determining who is the fairest of them all. They then think outside the box on integration before debating findings from our recent survey of Ohio supes. Amber dissects the latest science NAEP TUDA results and Chris ODs on adderall. [powerpress]
Earlier this week the Education Writers Association (EWA) announced the winners of its 2010 National Awards for Education Reporting. You can check out the list of winners here.
Today's New York Times carries an op-ed by Samuel Culbert arguing that performance evaluations are "subjective evaluations that measure how 'comfortable' a boss is with an employee, not how much an employee contributes to overall results." If true, one implication is that it would be unwise to let managers--includin
Three cheers for Sean Cavanagh, who pointed out in a recent, long Education Week article that ?A set of stock phrases, sound bites, and buzzwords has come to dominate the public discourse on education, summoned reflexively, it often seems, by e
If you're feeling discouraged about the state of our schools, look no further than thirteen-year-old Adora Svitak or
Education Sector's Chad Aldeman has posted the results of a thought experiment he ran trying to prove that states' assumptions about 8 percent returns on their pension portfolios are not overly optimistic.
??[Miami Central Senior High School] epitomizes the turnaround process? this is a school where miracles have taken place.'' * - Alberto Carvalho, Superintendent, Miami-Dade Schools
Check out the first ever Education Next Book Club Podcast!
?I definitely think that students need to get involved in decision-making on a deeper level, beyond simply being on an associated student government or student council.'' * - Adora Svitak, Child prodigy writer and poet
