“The ideals of education, whether men [sic] are taught to teach or plow, to weave or to write, must not be allowed to sink into sordid utilitarianism. Education must keep broad ideals before it, and never forget that it is dealing with Souls and not with Dollars.” 1902, W.E.B. DuBois, educator and civil rights leader. Not […]
SBAC/CAASPP or PARCC: Question the Tests
Pamela Casey Nagler is a longtime Claremont resident, a former student of Claremont public schools and a high school teacher at nearby Montclair High School. She remembers taking one standardized test when she attended Claremont High School – the Ohio Achievement Test – that was essentially an aptitude test to identify an individual’s strengths and […]
“Value-Added” for Teacher Preparation Programs? Your Comments Needed NOW on Proposed Regulation Changes
UPDATED February 2, 2015: We submitted the link to this post to the official regulations.gov site where it was recorded. At the time of sending, almost 3500 comments from teachers, faculty at GSEs (graduate schools of education), and others with an interest in the training of public school teachers had submitted comments. In our submission, […]
Blood Money*
By Joseph K. We are being asked (key word “asked”) to be trained (key word “trained”, like dogs,) by Pearson “Learning” August 29th and 30th. Pearson is going to pay us. Make no mistake, ladies and gentlemen, the money they are going to pay us is blood money. And the blood money they are going […]
End Corporal Punishment in Schools: Grassroots Efforts Meet A Movement From the Fashion World
Twenty states still allow children to be beaten (paddled) as a form of school discipline. The disproportionate numbers of African American boys and girls, and children with disabilities who are hit by teachers calls into question whether–and if–corporal punishment can be used fairly at all.
Go Read It: Columbia Journalism Review–"Tested: Covering Schools in the Age of Micro-Measurement"
Release of “value-added” student achievement scores as a way to measure teachers in the Los Angeles Times (and an attempt to release them in the NY Times) has roiled the discussion on education policy as shaped by billionaire philanthropists and business-minded school superintendents. The Columbia Journalism Review exhaustively documents editorial debates over the release of the data.
CRES #14, a New School in LAUSD & An Interview With Windy O'Malley of Echo Park Moms For Education
The construction of a new K-8 school in a diverse corner of Los Angeles, part of LAUSD, sparks passionate disagreement and discussion about who should run the school: a charter management organization, or LAUSD in partnership with the community?
Flawed Study: Unclear Results on Single-Sex Schooling
Both supporters and detractors of single-sex schooling find little support in a recent study released by South Carolina’s State Board of Education.
Students Know What Makes for Effective Teaching
Students have savvy things to say about how effective their teachers are in helping them learn.
PISA Round-Up: Shanghai 15-Year Olds on Top
Shanghai teens best all other teens for reading, writing, math achievement on the global PISA test.