Loyal Flypaper readers?and even all you folks out there who stumbled onto our blog on this lazy Friday before a long weekend?have we got a treat for you! This week's Education Gadfly has it all.
It's been over two years since I stood in front of a class of high schoolers, explaining the formula for the area of a triangle and what pacifism looks like in practice (I taught at a pull-out special-education school, and my courseload was more varied than that of my students). It almost feels like another lifetime.
For the second year in a row, all the seniors at the all-male Urban Prep charter school in Chicago have been accepted?by a four-year college or university.?And to its credit, the school isn't just focused on getting its students accepted; it wants to ensure that every one of them earns a bachelor's degree.
D.C.'s classy new teacher-evaluation system, IMPACT, is just gaining traction (even as the new Mayor is hinting that he wants it redone). But the data generated through its process are already finding other uses.
Well, I think it's safe to say that our new study, The State of State U.S. History Standards 2011, has folks talking. Just wanted to highlight some of the press attention it has received so far ?
Remember -- there's a?great education event in Atlanta on Monday, February 21 (Presidents' Day).
Texans ought to take a look at Fordham's recent assessment of their state's history standards, which, according to the ?State of State U.S. History Standards 2011,? ?inculcate biblical principles, patriotic values, and American Exceptionalism,?
?We've been in a good place with [Obama officials] the whole time.? We both agree absolutely that the way it is right now in public education can't remain. The status quo is not acceptable.?* - Dennis Van Roekel, President, National Education Association
Reviewers evaluated state standards for U.S. history in grades K-12. What they found is discouraging: Twenty-eight states—a majority—deserve D or F grades for their academic standards in this key subject. The average grade across all states is a dismal D. Among the few bright spots, South Carolina earns a straight A for its standards and six other jurisdictions—Alabama, California, Indiana, Massachusetts, New York and the District of Columbia—garner A-minuses. (The National Assessment's "framework" for U.S. history also fares well.) Read on to learn how your state scored.
Bummed you missed Darwin Day this weekend? I'm sure watching IBM's Watson compete on Jeopardy more than made up for it.
Okay, everyone hold hands.? Now, repeat after me: We Will? Love -? Each Other -- And ?Educate ? All ?Kids!? ? Or, try this: ? You two shake hands, and don't let me catch you fighting again!?
I suppose it shouldn't be surprising that some teachers--facing layoffs, pay freezes, and the rest--would strike out in violence. But it's inexcusable all the same. See today's story from Idaho:
?Under the law, ?we will be forced to let go of teachers who are having a greater positive impact on their students than some of their peers?* - Cathleen Black, Chancellor, New York City Schools
The Hechinger Report and the Education Writers Association have teamed up with Michele McNeil, Education Week's federal policy editor, to produce a comprehensive report on the impact of the gargantuan education stimulus program from two years ago ?
Rarely do I come home from a school board meeting without wanting to scream, ?Call in the National Guard!?? To change metaphors, I could spin the globe, eyes closed, and put my finger just about anywhere on our little school district map to find what to my eyes looks like a train wreck and to others, based on the reactions,?the regular delivery van.?
State mandates are coming under attack from local governments feeling pain from shrinking state payments. This paragraph in the New York Times' recent article on Texas schools is worth highlighting:
Over at the Hechinger Report they're assessing the education stimulus?the $100 billion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that went, ostensibly, to schools. Race to the Top, the Department of Education's $4.3 billion grant competition, is particularly scrutinized.
Michael Winerip writes, ?There is no more pressing topic in education today than closing the achievement gap . . .? I just do not believe that.
?We'll just stop taking graduates from institutions that aren't producing effective teachers.?* - Jason Kamras, Personnel Chief, D.C. Public Schools
?Scaling back on early childhood programs is something that is not in the best interest of our communities, or ultimately our states, because we have to close achievement gaps."* - Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education
Though I have never been a big fan of our obsession with race and poverty as? useful?tools for improving academic achievement ? what starts as a sociological construct (thank you, James Coleman), quickly becomes a general principal, which, by the time you get to the classroom trenches has become a horribly self-fulfilling and deterministic pedagogy ?
A seminal problem with No Child Left Behind was that law's focus on race, not just because an overwhelming, overriding focus on race is bad, which it is, but because NCLB's racial categories?black, white, Hispanic, etc.?always seemed overbroad and largely unworkable. Dad's from Chile and Mom's from Italy. Who am I? Dad's ancestors came over on a slave ship and Mom's came over on a Boeing.
Fordham Institute President Chester Finn will be participating in?an education event in Atlanta one week from today -- on Monday, February 21 (Presidents' Day). The topic?
In fact, as the cover story in New York magazine begins, ?Cathie Black is lost in Queens?. Usually when Black goes east, she's headed to her $4 million house in Southampton,? not the Coney Island elementary school where the new Gotham schools chief was supposed to be going.????
