| News Articles from April and May 2010 |
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The following news articles contain information on educational issues.The views in these articles are not
necessarily those of the Commonwealth Education Organization, but are posted for your information.
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May 30, 2010
CIVIILIZATION AS WE KNOW IT
“As a citizen, I'll accept my fair share of the blame for the state of the union. And, public education has spent a generation careening between extremes, heatedly spouting theoretical nonsense. But my classroom isn't the first cause of the nation's decline. Schools didn't invent complacency, entitlement, and self-indulgence. We mostly reflect what's around us. Then as schools succumb to the national disease, we help spread the infection.”
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May 30, 2010
TEACHER SUCCESSES MAY ADD UP TO $400 MILLION
"Student assessment currently is not among the state Department of Education's criteria for evaluating teachers. But as a condition of awarding Race to the Top money, the federal government wants districts to make student assessment a "significant" factor in evaluations, while continuing to include information gleaned from classroom observation."
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THE TOP 20 EDUCATION BLOGS
“Technorati ranks more than 100,000 blogs with “authority” calculations “based on a site’s linking behavior, categorization and other associated data over a short, finite period of time.” I don’t know what all that means, but it allows for comparison of blogs across and within all categories. The site doesn’t have an “education” category, so it requires going through the comprehensive listing to pick them out one at a time.”
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Summer 2010
EVALUATING NCLB
“We find that the accountability provisions of NCLB generated large and statistically significant increases in the math achievement of 4th graders and that these gains were concentrated among African American and Hispanic students and among students who were eligible for subsidized lunch...We do not, however, find evidence that NCLB accountability had any impact on reading achievement among either 4th or 8th graders.”
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May 28, 2010
HEAD START PROGRAM: FRAUDULENT & INEFFECTIVE
“... some eligible children are being denied access to Head Start, the best available scientific evidence suggests that they are very likely to be no worse off than if they had attended the program. And they may eventually possess better kindergarten math skills than those children participating in Head Start. While Congress is correct to be concerned about cases of fraud committed by Head Start grantees, Congress should not mislead the public about the effectiveness of Head Start.”
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May 27, 2010
AGAINST STEMINARS
“Congress is supposed to protect the American economy as well as the educational system that sustains it. Granting a determined cadre of gender warriors the means to undermine the culture of American science is no way to enhance the nation's ability to compete. The amendment contradicts the Act.”
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May 25, 2010
SUPREME COURT TO WEIGH ARIZONA TUITION TAX CREDITS
“In a move welcomed by school choice supporters, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to weigh the constitutionality of a 13-year-old Arizona program offering tax credits for donations made to organizations that provide scholarships for children to attend private schools.”
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May 25, 2010
THE WAR OVER AMERICA’S PAST
“Whatis the purpose of teaching America's children the history of their country? Few said it better than Ronald Reagan in his farewell address: ‘An informed patriotism is what we want. ...’ “
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May 24, 2010
SEPARATION OF SCHOOL AND STATE
“In short, the state-above-school model politicizes education, and it’s not at all surprising to see the rancorous battle taking place in Texas over the content of public school textbooks. Sure, there are textbook battles in the parent-above-school realm but they are contained to private school boardrooms or kitchen tables where parents are free to follow their consciences about selecting curricula.”
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May 24, 2010
TEACHERS SEEK $23B-LIFELINE OR BAILOUT?
“Education Secretary Arne Duncan is asking lawmakers to put aside “politics and ideology” as they consider a request for $23 billion in “emergency” funding for public schools – a measure Republicans reject as a massive federal bailout for the teachers’ unions.”
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May 23, 2010
COLORADO EDUCATION LAW MAY MARK A NATIONAL SHIFT
“A landmark Colorado law that ties teacher evaluations to the progress of their students on achievement tests could help build momentum for a national movement that seeks to overhaul how instructors' tenure and pay is earned, education leaders say.”
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May 23, 2010
STUDY: PA SCHOOL STANDARDS ON TRACK WITH NATION’S
“Pennsylvania's math and reading standards for K-12 students sufficiently align with a set of proposed national standards, a study released Friday by the state board of education concludes.”
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May 22, 2010
NEW SYSTEM TO TRACK STUDENT DATA FROM PRESCHOOL TO CAREER
“Now the state is in the midst of developing a sophisticated data system that will track students from preschool to elementary and secondary education to post-secondary education to the work force. The U.S. Department of Education announced Friday it will contribute $14.3 million to help pay for the design and implementation in Pennsylvania of a statewide longitudinal data system. Pennsylvania is among 20 states sharing $250 million in economic stimulus money for statewide longitudinal data systems.”
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May 20, 2010
WEAK NATIONAL STANDARDS BASIS FOR WEAK NATIONAL TESTS
“A new report demonstrates that fundamental flaws within the Common Core State Standards Initiative’s push for national academic standards, especially the weak definition of college and career readiness, will result in sub-standard national assessments. "The Emperor’s New Clothes: National Assessments Based on Weak College and Career Readiness Standards” is the third in a series of analyses of the proposed standards and assessments by Pioneer Institute and Pacific Research Institute.”
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May 20, 2010
A CRACK IN THE SCHOOL-CHOICE DIKE?
“Addressing what it says is a ‘common myth that school-voucher programs drain financial resources, as well as the best and brightest students from public schools,’ the letter says, ‘the evidence proves otherwise. Research on voucher programs' effects on the finances of public schools shows that these programs actually save money at both the state and local level. Furthermore, as a recent study by the (liberal) Brookings Institution indicates, these programs do not 'cream' the best students from the public school system.’ “
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May 19,2010
MEANINGFUL CONVERSATIONS BOOST KIDS’ LANGUAGE SKILLS
“Parents who engage their young children in conversational give-and-take help their offspring gain a significant leg up in terms of language acquisition... Additionally, parents who read to their children, tell them stories and initiate conversations on interesting subjects also give their kids a head start in being able to acquire the kind of academic language skills they will need throughout their education.”
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May 18, 2010
CALLING THE TEACHER’S UNIONS BLUFF IN RHODE ISLAND
“Gallo's move worked just like tough--minded management is supposed to, creating the conditions under which a sensible deal could be struck. And a sensible deal was reached, as we learned yesterday. The Central Falls Teachers' Union agreed to accept all of Gallo's initial requests, including two weeks (rather than one) of summer professional development at her preferred rate.”
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May 17, 2010
WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE EITHER/OR IT DOESN’T, BUT....
“The very emphasis on skills, paradoxically, is one reason why students don’t master the skills—there’s no good content in which to ground them. “Compare and contrast” is of little value until you have something good to compare and contrast. In the second chapter of her new book, Diane Ravitch puts it succinctly: ‘Students should certainly think about what they read, but they should read something worth thinking about.’ “
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May 17, 2010
ARE GRADES INFLATING IN OUR SCHOOLS?
“Our schools are grading more easily, which makes them look good, but our kids are hitting college and getting the rude shock that they don’t know enough math and need to take remedial courses despite their misleadingly high GPAs from high school.”
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***DEBATE**************
May 14, 2010
PLAN B: SKIP COLLEGE
“A small but influential group of economists and educators is pushing another pathway: for some students, no college at all. It’s time, they say, to develop credible alternatives for students unlikely to be successful pursuing a higher degree, or who may not be ready to do so.”
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May 18, 2010
THE PURPOSES OF COLLEGE
“College does not only exist to train students for future employment. Students might benefit from attending college in myriad ways regardless of whether or not it directly relates to their future career. Similarly, society may benefit in many ways other than a more skilled labor force if more people attend college.”
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May 13, 2010
HOW TO SAVE THE SCHOOLS
A book review by E. D. Hirsch, Jr. of The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education by Diane Ravitch.
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May 13, 2010
TEXAS EDUCATION BOARD SEEKING OBJECTIVITY IN STANDARDS
“The State Board of Education's proposed revisions for K-12 social studies curricula have come under fire from the radical left. Contrary to what an irresponsible media campaign would lead you to believe, the board has taken a few small steps in the direction of promoting objectivity in our educational standards, and it is their critics who are seeking to perpetuate a biased and one-sided treatment of our nation's history.”
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May 11, 2010
COMING SOON TO A SCHOOL NEAR YOU: BIG ED
“Corporate America has given us Big Banks - banks too big to fail. Corporate America has given us Big Pharma - a pharmaceutical industry too big to fight. Coming soon to a school near you, courtesy of corporate America: Big Ed - a centralized education system too big to question its self-serving, profit-driven, intellect-destroying priorities.”
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May 11, 2010
WAS THAT ADD—or AAD?
“Denckla quibbled with the acronym ADD (attention deficit disorder) because it implies a deficit in attention. And that's really not the case, she said. Things of interest, intrinsically rewarding activities, grab a student's attention. She prefers to use the acronym AAD: attention allocation deficit. The student's attention is there; it just depends on where he or she is allocating it.”
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May 11, 2010
NATION HAS HIGH COLLEGE REMEDIAL EDUCATION RATE
“Nationwide, about a third of first-year students in 2007-08 had taken at least one remedial course, according to the U.S. Department of Education. At public two-year colleges, that number rises to about 42 percent. Education observers worry that the vast numbers of students coming to college unprepared will pose a major roadblock to President Barack Obama's goal for the United States to once again lead the world in college degrees.”
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May 4, 2010
WHY CHARTER SCHOOLS FAIL THE TEST
“There are millions of parents out there who don’t have enough money for private school but who have thought just as sensibly and care just as much about their children’s education as affluent people do. Let’s use the money we are already spending on education in a way that gives those parents the same kind of choice that wealthy people, liberal and conservative alike, exercise right now. That should be the beginning and the end of the argument for school choice.”
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May 3, 2010
AS LATIN TEACHERS RETIRE, STUDENTS OPT FOR OTHER LANGUAGES
“According to the College Board, which administers the college entrance exams, students who took Latin in high school do better on the verbal portion of the test than students of any other language. Their mean score was 176 points higher than the average.”
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May 3, 2010
ADMINISTRATORS: SINGLE-GENDER CLASSES HVE BOOSTED TEST SCORES
“University Prep principal Derrick Hardy said students' scores increased at least 20 percent on a Pennsylvania System of School Assessment prep test from last year, in addition to a ‘substantial decrease’ in out-of-school suspensions and students sent to the office. Peabody and Westinghouse have reported similar results.”
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May 2, 2010
WHAT PUBLIC EDUCATORS CAN LEARN FROM CATHOLIC SCHOOLS
“Yet what subtly informs both (Diane Ravitch’s) critique and her recommendations for improving public schools is, in significant measure, her long study of and admiration for Roman Catholic education, especially in serving low-income black and Hispanic students.”
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April 28, 2010
CALIFORNIA LAWMAKERS SHOULD READ THE WRITING ON THE CHALKBOARD
“Conventional wisdom holds that minority and low-income students cannot achieve at the same level non-minority or affluent students do. It also holds that students in states that spend more do better. Florida is turning such thinking on its head. Today, both California and Florida spend about $9,400 per pupil, according to the latest data from U.S. Department of Education. Likewise, both states have accountability measures including annual school report cards, bans on social promotion, and some of the country’s highest academic standards.Yet more than a decade ago Florida embraced parental choice in education as part of its comprehensive reform strategy.”
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APRIL 27, 2010
IS TEXAS MESSING WITH HISTORY?
“Criticisms of the state's proposed new school curriculum are overblown.
Despite the allegations, however, no one has pointed to a particular significant error of fact. (This writer’s) review of the proposed curriculum did not reveal anything plainly false, and the oft-repeated accusations of outrageous omission are demonstrably false.”
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April 24, 2010
MAKING CHOICES
“New state education chiefs struggle to expand charter schools while eyeing private tuition help.”
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April 22, 2010
TEXAS’ CLOUT OVER TESTBOOKS COULD SHIFT WITH MARKET
“Because of its purchasing power, [Texas] has unique force with the educational publishers,” said Gilbert T. Sewall, the director of the American Textbook Council, a nonprofit research group based in New York City. “Publishers want to use as much of the Texas edition as possible in what they’re selling nationwide.”
And some analysts say California’s decision last year to postpone new textbook adoptions for several years may give Texas still more influence.”
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April 22, 2010
HORRIFIC COMMON CORE STANDARDS MOVE FORWARD
“The Common Core Standards have finished the public comment phase and are now undergoing final revisions. There has been much criticism of them from individuals and groups, both parents and experts, across the country.”
The testimony at this site was prepared for the Minnesota House Education Policy Committee informational meeting on the Common Core Standards Initiative and presented by Dr. Karen R. Effrem on April 7th, 2010.
>>read more>> (scroll down and click on article title)
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April 21, 2010
WILL WE EVER LEARN?
What's Wrong With the Common-Standards Project
“We need rigorous but basic academics, homing in on skills that will be used, and not short-shrifting the “soft skill” behaviors that lead to success in college and careers. The management guru Peter Drucker got it right: ‘The result of a school is a student who has learned something and puts it to work 10 years later.’ “
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April 18, 2010
ALTERNATE PATH FOR TEACHERS GAINS GROUND
“Not long ago education schools had a virtual monopoly on the teaching profession. They dictated how and when people became teachers by offering coursework, arranging apprenticeships and granting master’s degrees. But now those schools are feeling under siege. Officials ... have stepped up criticisms that the schools are still too focused on theory and not enough on the craft of effective teaching.”
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April 16, 2010
PEDIATRIC ENVIRONMENTALISM
“Every schoolchild these days seems to be a devoted environmentalist, able to spell ‘sustainable’ before ‘dog.’ However, much of the indoctrination about environmentalism--especially in schools--is of the passion-is-more-important-than-fact variety. These kids are being misled and shortchanged, to their own and society's detriment.”
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April 16, 2010
"FEELINGS" EDUCATION---IT STARTS IN ED SCHOOL
“...workshops at the conference had elementary school children tackling social problems they had neither the knowledge nor the maturity to deal with. The questions and comments from the teachers in the audience, though, revealed an approving familiarity with such pedagogy. These teachers earned continuing education or graduate school credit for participating in the workshops.”
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April 14, 2010
U.S. FALLS SHORT IN MEASURE OF FUTURE MATH TEACHERS
“America’s future math teachers, on average, earned a C on a new test comparing their skills with their counterparts in 15 other countries, significantly outscoring college students in the Philippines and Chile but placing far below those in educationally advanced nations like Singapore and Taiwan.”
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APRIL 2010
HOW SCHOOLS ARE FAILING BOYS
“The grim statistics keep coming: boys are twice as likely as girls to repeat a grade, and 32% of boys drop out of school compared to 25% of girls. Girls have long been recognized to have a verbal advantage over boys; now in many states, girls do slightly better on math tests as well. Women have earned 57% of bachelor's degrees for the last decade.”
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April 2010
TAXPAYERS MISLED ABOUT REAL COSTS OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS
“The amount Americans spend on education has risen dramatically and consistently over the past century, with a 25% increase in per-student costs between 1995 and 2005, even after adjusting for inflation. In fact, public education spending accounted for more than a third of state general funds in 2007, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers.”
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April 13, 2010
A CHANGE OF HEART ON EDUCATION
“Ravitch envisions a time when willing students from supportive homes study a sound curriculum taught by inspired teachers under the guidance of collegial administrators. That sounds nice. But you don’t have to look back too many years in Massachusetts — before the MCAS graduation requirement — when a lot of students and teachers let education slide. And superintendents didn’t worry much either because there was no competition from charter schools. Testing and school choice aren’t undermining education, not around here.”
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April 13, 2010
THE REAL STORY ON TENNESSEE AND THE RACE TO THE TOP
“The real story is that a critical mass of Tennessee officials and their constituents had long suspected that some schools are far more effective than others, but only recently did they realize that they have the means to measure and prove it. An increasingly widespread understanding of Tennessee’s Value Added Assessment System (TVAAS) is at the heart of this change.”
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April 12, 2010
FIRST OBAMA-CARE, NOW OBAMA-ED
"Faced with national standards, national testing and a national curriculum, it will be nearly impossible for grassroots parents and community members to effect change when problems arise. In contrast, powerful Washington-based bureaucrats and special interests will be strategically positioned to influence content, tests and curriculum. Rather than promoting excellence, one-size-fits-all national standards and curriculum will stifle competition and could lock in mediocrity on a countrywide scale."
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April 11, 2010
ONE SIZE FITS NONE & ALL NEED SAME KNOWLEDGE
Sandra Stotsky and Jay Greene write on the current national standards push. They take slightly different approaches — Stotsky thinks national standards are a good idea in general but the current draft has bad standards. Greene thinks national standards are a bad idea altogether. But they end up with the same policy recommendation — the current national standards push should be stopped.
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April 9, 2010
HELPING BOYS IN READING WITHOUT STARTING A GENDER WAR
“Now the bad news for boys. Most dramatically, boys were behind girls in every state and at every grade level in the 45-plus states with sufficient data to be included in the report. Even states that are considered national leaders in school reform had achievement gaps between boys and girls in reading.”
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April 9, 2010
WHY GREAT TEACHERS MATTER TO LOW-INCOME STUDENTS
“Apologists for our educational failure say that we will never fix education in America until we eradicate poverty. They have it exactly backward: We will never eradicate poverty until we fix education. The question is whether we have the political courage to take on those who defend a status quo that serves many adults but fails many children.”
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April 9, 2010
HOW TO PROMOTE “SOCIAL JUSTICE”
“I tried to attend a representative sample of workshops ( at the National Council for the Social Studies conference). All were driven by emotion and politics; not one had anything to do with academic knowledge. Although the presenters claimed that instructor guidance was minimal, the fact is that when students lack a base of knowledge, they usually flounder. They look to their “guides on the side” for their ideas. The “stealth teacher” of “social justice,” who has manipulated them emotionally, pretends that the students are coming up with topics and conclusions on their own!”
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April 9, 2010
BILINGUAL ED., IMMERSION FOUND TO WORK EQUALLY WELL
“In the first randomized-assignment study in which English-language learners were followed for as long as five years, researchers have found that Spanish-speaking children learn to read English equally well regardless of whether they are taught primarily in English or in both English and their native language.”
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April 8, 2010
WISCONSIN D. A. SAYS SEX-ED TEACHERS COULD BE ARRESTED
“A Wisconsin district attorney is urging schools to drop their sex-education programs, warning that the teachers involved could be arrested if they follow a new state law requiring them to instruct students on how to use condoms and other contraceptives.”
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April 5, 2010
DOCTORS SAY SCHOOLS MAY BE SPREADING HOMOSEXUALITY
“One such study shows as many as 26 percent of 12-year-olds reported being uncertain of their sexual orientation, yet only 2-3 percent of adults actually identify as homosexual. Therefore, the majority of sexually questioning youth ultimately adopt a heterosexual identity. Many schools, however, tell such questioning students that they should embrace homosexuality and identify themselves as gay.”
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April 5, 2010
FEDERAL ABSTINENCE-ONLY SEX ED. PROGRAM REVIVED
“The new health-care law contains two provisions related to sex education. One reinstates a $250 million program of state grants for abstinence-only education. The other creates the $375 million Personal Responsibility Education program, which funds comprehensive sex education.”
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April 5, 2010
RESEARCHERS ARGUE HEAD START STUDY DELAYED, IGNORED
“When Congress reauthorized the federal Head Start program for disadvantaged children in 1998, it ordered a national study to measure how much difference the program was making. Twelve years and nearly $34 million later, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services fulfilled that request, delivering the final results of the “Head Start Impact Study” to federal lawmakers on Jan. 13. But the study findings, which were generally disappointing, got scarcely any mention in the national news media.”
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April 4, 2010
A NEW ‘EDUCATION’ RACKET
“Social and emotional intelligence training and peace education are the latest efforts in the pedagogical revolution that began in earnest in the 1960s. The overarching goal is to eliminate knowledge and logic in schools. It is being done in all disciplines. And we can expect more of our tax dollars to go to such efforts.”
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April 4, 2010
TEST KNOWLEDGE, NOT THOUGHTS
“Kids in every state adopting the national standards and national test will be subjectively scored by teams of anonymous evaluators on how they respond to open-ended questions with any number of real right or wrong answers.”
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April 4, 2010
GRADE 10 DIPLOMA NOT A WISE IDEA
“Common Core's college-readiness definition is insufficient to meet the current entry requirements of California universities. We can expect to see even greater numbers of under-prepared high school students sitting in credit-bearing college courses trying to learn what they should have learned in high school. American students generally shouldn't be expected to leave high school at grade 10, and they shouldn't be given a "diploma" at grade 10, 11, or 12 that says they are college-ready. Most aren't ready for any college at 15 or 16, and our colleges should not want them.”
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April 4, 2010
DRESSING UP STANDARDS, DUMBING DOWN SCHOOLS
“The way to teach literacy for the twenty-first century turns out to be the same way it has been done in the last thirty centuries of civilization: to hire the brightest and best-educated teachers (usually not those coming out of a school of education considered “certified”), to put in their hands the best works of literature and history and philosophy, to invite young people to have a conversation about what it means to be a human being, and to require those students to work hard and demonstrate good character while doing so.”
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April 2, 2010
ESCALANTE STOOD AND DELIVERED. IT’S OUR TURN.
“In any other field, his methods would have been widely copied. Instead, Escalante's success was resented. And while the teachers union contract limited class sizes to 35, Escalante could not bring himself to turn students away, packing 50 or more into a room and still helping them to excel.”
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