Two worlds of education reform and improvement
Last week I was at the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). There I heard lots of talk bemoaning social inequities and how they doom poor and minority kids to bleak futures. For many, the prescription seemed to be: fix society. This week, I’m at the annual “summit” of the NewSchools Venture Fund. […]
Feds not a “silent partner” on education
The New York Times offered up a helpful primer this week on how Secretary of Education Arne Duncan thinks about the federal role in public education. Here’s an excerpt: “In a speech last October, Mr. Duncan outlined his view of the proper federal role in education. He quoted President Lyndon B. Johnson, who funneled large […]
Education implications of the Arizona anti-immigrant law
As angry protesters across the nation denounced Arizona’s anti-immigrant law on Saturday, the 26,000-member American Educational Research Association, meeting in Denver, announced that it would not hold any meetings in the state until the law was repealed. The law requires local police to demand that anyone who looks suspicious prove that they are in the […]
Imagine a charter school company that wants it all
Charter schools are not all that hard to understand. Instead of being managed by a district bureaucracy, charter schools apply to an “authorizer” for permission to operate with public money. The authorizer may be the local school district, a university, the state itself or some other body. Just as a school district is governed by […]
Did J.D. Salinger believe in unschooling?
Or was the legendarily reclusive writer just spoofing us? The last story in J.D. Salinger’s Nine Stories is called “Teddy” and it’s about a 10-year-old genius who fascinates scholars and religious figures. He’s asked about his views on education and he either endorses a radical form of progressive education or he makes fun of it. […]
Doing a better job of helping students catch up
Melinda French Gates, the co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, gave hundreds of leaders of the nation’s community colleges a pep-talk and a talking-to on Tuesday. The Foundation wants the colleges to do a better job of helping their students — 60 percent of whom need to take remedial classes — catch up. […]
How much math do math teachers need to know?
Joanne Jacobs has a lively discussion going on about how much math elementary school teachers need to know. A new study out of Michigan State University finds that prospective elementary and middle-school teachers in the U.S. know very little math, especially compared to their counterparts in many other countries. For some parents who have tried to help […]
Community colleges feeling the heat
Community colleges serve many purposes — vocational certificates, remediation, training for nurses and computer technicians, recreational courses and providing the first two years toward a baccalaureate degree. With so many missions, how should they be held accountable for results? That was the topic of a discussion at the annual national meeting of community college leaders, […]
Teachers under fire in New Jersey
Teachers and their unions are under a lot of pressure to accept changes in terms of employment and compensation. Salaries, pensions, health benefits and layoffs are being discussed in many states in response to state budget deficits. Tenure, evaluations, training, performance pay and bonuses are on the table as levers to raise the overall effectiveness […]
Wanting kindergartners to critique George Washington
Joanne Jacobs has the story of the growing reaction to a post by a mother/teacher/blogger on the Edutopia site complaining that her kindergartner son told her he’d learned in school that George Washington was a good president. The seething mother wanted her son to know that Washington had been a slaveowner and that he joined […]
