Commentary
Quotable & notable
?Perhaps the most profound element of our own culpability is that we have not effectively taught most students the use or value of critical though
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
Teaching about 9/11 in 2011
This week, teachers across the land are greeting students, assigning seats, issuing textbooks, struggling to remember everyone's name?and doing their best to teach one of the most challenging lessons of the year: the events of September 11, 2001, why they happened, why they matter, and why we are commemorating them.
Report
Curriculum & Instruction
Teaching about 9/11 in 2011: What Our Children Need to Know
Any number of organizations are offering advice about what to teach schoolchildren about the events of September 11, 2001, yet (unlike that day's murderous pilots) most sorely miss the mark. Fordham's publication, "Teaching about 9/11 in 2011: What Our Children Need to Know," highlights the danger of slighting history and patriotism in the rush to teach children about tolerance and multiculturalism. It combines ten short essays by distinguished educators, scholars, and public officials from our 2003 report, "Terrorists, Despots, and Democracy: What Our Children Need to Know," essays that feel more timely than ever, and includes a new introduction by Chester E. Finn, Jr. reflecting on how the lessons of these essays apply today.
Commentary
Commentary
A Bronx cheer for Bloomberg? A new poll is harsh
As the author of a generally upbeat 2008 report for Education Next on Michael Bloomberg and his takeover of New York City's schools in 2002, I felt a bit sad reading this morning's New York Times poll report showing that New Yorkers
Commentary
Quotable & notable
?Parents want choices, and whether you are a parent in a low-income urban community or an affluent suburb, everyone wants the best possible education for their child.? * ? Alice Johnson Cain, Vice president of external relations at NAPCS
Commentary
Charter Schools
Another Times trio: mimicking charters, home ec revival, and Walt Gardner
The New York Times continues to provide a generous medley of education reporting, including, of course, from their controversial "On Education" columnist Michael Winerip.? Alas, Winerip is not among the three recent stories I want to highlight here:
Commentary
Quotable & notable
?We can't sit idly by and let parents think that only the quality charter schools can educate poor kids well.'' * ?Terry Grier, Houston Superintendent
Commentary
Wakeup call for the digital revolution
Yesterday, the New York Times began a series on technology and education (?Grading the Digital School?) on a decidedly downbeat note: the huge investment in digital technology ?
Commentary
Commentary
A review of the PARCC ELA content frameworks
A few weeks ago, the two groups charged with creating assessments aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) and the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) released content specif
Commentary
Get SMARTer: How well are SBAC's assessment plans aligned to the Common Core?
A few weeks ago, the two groups charged with creating assessments aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS)?the?SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) and the?Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC)?released ?content speci
Commentary
Charter Schools
Republican presidential hopefuls quietly turning homeschool policy into a real issue?
????On his presidential campaign website, Ron Paul describes his policy positions on twelve different issues, including abortion, health care, and the economy. Education is not among the headings. But ?homeschooling? is.
Commentary
Brooks: the vigorous virtues
In the middle of his column today, ?David Brooks drops in this little nugget: The United States became the wealthiest nation on earth primarily because Americans were the best educated. ?That advantage has entirely eroded over the past 30 years.
Commentary
The great superintendent shuffle
Last year, Kansas City Superintendent John Covington made headlines when he stabilized the hemorrhaging Kansas City School District (which had lost 75 percent of its students in the past four decades) by shutting half of the district's schools, selling the central office building, and axing close to a quarter of the
Commentary
Commentary
Quotable & notable
?We have no problem having [varsity sports teams] and lavishing attention on those kids.... But we don't do that for math ... literature ... science'' * ?Tom Loveless, Senior fellow at the Brookings Institution
Commentary
Stop the Bullying: the New Jersey Crusade
This is not a good time to be taking on the anti-bullying legions, but Winnie Hu does a terrific job describing the newest runaway behavioral modification fad in schools in her front page New York Times story from the other day, Bullying Law Puts New Jersey Schools
Commentary
When public education's two Ps disagree
It's long been said that public education must achieve both public and private aims. The public, which foots the bill, has an interest in a well-educated populace. Parents?schools' primary clients?want a strong foundation for their own children. Much of the time these two interests are in perfect alignment. But what happens when they're not?
Commentary
Commentary
Jay Greene as Dr. Freud
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Image by Cesar Blanco"][/caption]
Commentary
Quotable & notable
?In my opinion, I'm not some old fart who wants to defend mediocrity. I am a wise, handsome middle-aged dude who questions whether the change will improve things.'' * ?Michael Goldstein, Founder of MATCH Charter School
Commentary
PODCAST: Bully for you, Margaret
Mike chats with John Bailey of Whiteboard Advisors about teacher evaluations in the Empire State, a new sheriff for the ?reform? district in the Wolverine State, and how boring bullying is to policy wonks, no matter the state. Amber finds a CCSS validation study lacking and Chris tells the government not to tread on his lemonade stand. [powerpress]
Commentary
Commentary
Quotable & notable
?It's fair game to disagree with Michelle Rhee on the issues, but to put her picture in a tiara on a website seems too far. This was clearly a personal attack. After this, it's only going to get nastier.'' * ?Mike Petrilli, Executive Vice President of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute
Commentary
Education news nuggets
Now that Hurricane Irene is gone, students will go back to school to learn how to
Commentary
More power politics in New York. Or, another hacking victim
Mike's ?Stop the Madness!? plea to New York makes a lot of sense. ?But, for better or worse, education governance is nothing if not political, which, as we know, is nothing if not a tad bloody.?
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction
1+1=Justice: The return of equity math
Yes, believe it or not, the ideological wars can be brought to the teaching of mathematics.? So argues a professor of education at the University of Delaware School of Education, Tonya Bartell, in an article she's written for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics:?
Commentary
Quotable & notable
?Teachers, I believe, are pumping their fists for the wrong reasons.'' * ? Ama Nyamekye, Teacher A Teacher Finds Good in Testing Education Week
Commentary
Authorizer type & charter structure don't seem to correlate to quality
Last week we kicked off our series of achievement analyses, an annual look at how students in Ohio's Big 8 urban districts and charters are performing.