Commentary
Standards
In the Common Core era, different kids need different credentials
We need two kinds of high school diplomas. Chester E. Finn, Jr.
Standards
Commentary
Standards, Curriculum & Instruction
Leveled reading: The making of a literacy myth
Among opponents of the Common Core, one of the more popular targets of vitriol is the standards’ focus on improving literacy by introducing higher levels of textual complexity into the instructional mix.
Commentary
Standards, Accountability & Testing
A new start on accountability
Every child should be in a school where he or she can learn effectively. That’s not a controversial goal in itself, but the methods meant to accomplish it can become hot buttons.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Standards
Montgomery County's elementary school curriculum: Where's the beef?
It was back-to-school night last week at my son’s elementary school in Montgomery County, Maryland, which meant that we moms and dads got a first look at “Learning for the Future: A Parent’s Guide to Grade 1 Curriculum 2.0.”
Commentary
Standards, Curriculum & Instruction
Where Common Core is not controversial
For over a year, I’ve been encouraging Common Core advocates to stop endlessly re-litigating the standards and instead to focus on getting implementation right. Taking my own advice last week, I traveled to Reno to see first-hand the work of the Core Task Project, the initiative driving implementation of the standards in Washoe County, Nevada.
Commentary
Standards, Accountability & Testing
Embrace the Common Core
On September 9th, the Fordham Institute’s Mike Petrilli participated in an Intelligence Squared U.S. debate on the Common Core. These are his opening comments, as prepared for delivery.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Standards
Common Core and the era of good behavior
We seemed to have welcomed good manners back to the Common Core debate. That doesn’t mean we’ve seen more advocacy either on behalf of the standards or knocking them, only that the tenor appears to have changed for the better. At least for the time being, detractors are no longer paranoid Neanderthals, and supporters have ceased to be communists on the federal or Gates Foundation dole.
Commentary
Standards, Accountability & Testing
The importance of testing and the power of hard facts
Over the past four years on this blog, I’ve strived to advance a substantive conversation around standards and assessment through complex (and hopefully interesting) policy arguments. But finding new things to advance a discussion sometimes means losing sight of large and obvious things that need to be said over and over again.
Commentary
Standards
Connecting the dots: E. D. Hirsch, Jr., and Common Core
One of the arguments I’ve long made in support of Common Core is that properly understood and implemented, it’s a delivery mechanism for the ideas and work of E. D. Hirsch, Jr., and the Core Knowledge curriculum he created.
Commentary
Standards
The states versus Secretary Duncan
Last week, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal sued the U.S. Department of Education over the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), with a particular focus on the role that Race to the Top (RTTT) played in encouraging their adoption. And three days later, rumors arose that Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin might haul that same agency into court for revoking its No Child Left Behind (NCLB) waiver.
Commentary
Standards
Restarting the Common Core debate
Over the past couple of years, a raucous debate has emerged over the Common Core, content standards in English and mathematics adopted by states nationwide. The debate has been marked by acrimony rather than analysis, but there is hope that both sides want a reset.
Commentary
Standards, Curriculum & Instruction
5 questions for Rick Hess
In NRO today, Rick Hess explores “five half-truths” that he says supporters of the Common Core like to propagate. These spurred five questions of my own:
Commentary
Standards
Thanks, Bobby Jindal!
It’s too soon to guess TIME Magazine’s person of the year, but a clear favorite has emerged for Common Core person of the year: the man, woman, or group that has done the most to advance the adoption and implementation of Common Core State Standards in the U.S. Ladies and gentleman, for meritorious service to further the cause of rigorous academic standards and educational excellence, please put your hands together for the governor of the great state of Louisiana, Common Core Man of the Year, Bobby Jindal!”
Commentary
Standards, Accountability & Testing
Holding a wolf by the ears
I have a complicated relationship with testing.
Commentary
Standards, Curriculum & Instruction
At last, accountability for textbook publishers?
Nearly all American K–12 students are exposed to it every day. It decides, in large part, what students will learn in school and how they will learn it. It is never evaluated for quality in any serious way, but when it is rigorously evaluated, its impact on student achievement is significant.
Commentary
Standards
What's behind the declining support for the Common Core?
Results from the annual Education Next poll are out this week, and the news is not good for us proponents of the Common Core. Support among the public dropped from 65 percent to 53 percent in just one year (from June 2013 to June 2014); Republicans are now almost evenly split on the issue, with 43 percent in support, and 37 percent opposed. What’s more...
Commentary
Charter Schools, Standards, Accountability & Testing
Are Catholic schools particularly good at teaching reading?
A look at the most-recent evaluation of Florida's Tax Credit Scholarship Program shows some surprising findings with regard to math and reading scores.
Commentary
Standards, Charter Schools
The personal touch of relinquishment
David Kirp had a piece in The New York Times on Sunday: Teaching is not a Business. You should check it out. My take on his piece:
Commentary
Standards, Accountability & Testing
New York’s Common Core tests: Tough questions, curious choices
With the release last week of half of the test questions from the most recent round of New York State Common Core ELA/Literacy and math tests, we can now begin to see if the tests are, as
Commentary
Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction, Standards
A few reflections on the Common Core Wars
Monday’s Politico story on the messaging battle over the Common Core has kicked up another round of recriminations, particularly on the Right.
Commentary
Standards
Homecoming
Increasingly, the conversation about Common Core is dominated by politics and controversy. It has become so loud and shrill that it’s easy to forget that across the country are countless superintendents, principals, and teachers who are seizing the opportunity to challenge themselves to change the way they work to provide a better education for their students.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Standards
Close reading: A revolution delayed
For all of the talk about how different reading instruction is meant to be in the Common Core era, and for all of the hand wringing over the critical “instructional shifts” embedded in the new literacy standards, a glimpse at the world of classroom implementation reveals that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Commentary
Standards
Scott Walker’s shift on Common Core could usher in education chaos
Here’s a suggestion for something to include in Wisconsin-specific education standards for Wisconsin children:By the end of first grade, children will know that two Badgers plus two Badgers equals four Badgers.You want Indiana-specific standards for Indiana kids? By the end of first grade, children will know that two Hoosiers plus two Hoosiers equals four Hoosiers.
Commentary
Standards, Accountability & Testing
Standardized Tests: Correlation to Future Successes? (Part II of II)
The second part of our look at the possible data correlation between eighth-grade proficiency and college remediation.
Commentary
Standards, Accountability & Testing
Next Gen Accountability: Ohio & Beyond
Repost of a blog by Tom Vander Ark that appeared on the Getting Smart website on July 16, 2014.
Commentary
Standards, Accountability & Testing
The splintering school-reform movement
One of the great misconceptions in education is that the reform movement is monolithic. There have always been competing camps, often defined on ideological grounds. Conservatives and libertarians tend to stress school choice, for example; liberals are much more comfortable with an intrusive federal role.
Commentary
Standards, Accountability & Testing, Curriculum & Instruction
Teachers, the Common Core, and the freedom to teach
Common Core standards mean freedom to many teachers. Here's why.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Standards
Why Johnny won’t learn to read
Bad ideas in education are like horror movie monsters. You think you’ve killed them, but they refuse to stay dead.A generation ago, the infamous “reading wars” pitted phonics-based instruction in the early grades against “whole language,” which emphasized reading for meaning instead of spelling, grammar, and sounding words out.
Commentary
Standards, Curriculum & Instruction
A missed opportunity for Common Core
Last week, I had the privilege to speak in front of a group of education journalists convened by the Poynter Institute and the Education Writers Association about identifying strengths and weaknesses in curriculum.
Commentary
Standards
Is the Nation’s Report Card ‘college and career ready’?
After nearly a decade of research, the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) released in May the first outcomes of its efforts to use the results of the 2013 12th grade National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to report on the academic preparedness of U.S. 12th graders for college.