Last week we found out via EdSector’s Chad Aldeman that the SAT/ACT are useless. The GPA, he says, as he clings to the coattails of the new book Crossing the Finish Line, is the best predictor of “college success.”
I pointed out in that writeup that “college success” being defined [...]
Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s destruction. It would’ve been easy to miss as coverage was scant.
One could talk for hours about the significance of men and women swinging sledgehammers against the Wall. If you’ve ever swung a sledge against something solid – gosh, I’m going [...]
SmartBrief is ASCD’s [Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development] daily e-mail newsletter of all things school-related. Their links point mainly on policy and research news, but SmartBrief also includes a listing of new education jobs and the occasional ad.
Summary: SmartBrief is a bit like the Metamucil of education media; [...]
Education Sector’s Mr. Aldeman, one of the prolific writers on The Quick and the Ed, has declared dead the usefulness of the SAT/ACT. It wasn’t his idea; he read it in Crossing the Finish Line:
Crossing the Finish Line has things to say about virtually every important factor [...]
Nothing in media, let alone film, has captured so well how American schools are being outperformed as Bob Compton’s Two Million Minutes. The original 2MM showed how 6 high school students – two each from the US, India and China – spent their two million minutes [...]
Last year we were winning 7-0; now it’s 8-0.
I show no mercy – none – to the folks in education who say that NCLB, various teaching/administrative/reform initiatives, etc. inspire “terror” in children or that their practitioners are “terrorists.” On this point, I am almost entirely alone in terms of vocal, [...]
The education media is, as a whole, ineffective at educating the public. [Yes, there's a little bit of irony there.] Sometimes ed writers don’t know enough about a subject or practice to write a complete story. Sometimes they turn to tabloid-style baiting, partly because it’s easy, partly' [...]
School’s upon us – and so is the terrible professional advice doled out by ‘expert’ speakers and teachers that pocks the path to success like errant dog-doo in the park.
John Thompson guest blogs [or blog-shares, or partner-blogs, I've never figured it out] over' [...]
‘Tis the season – every year, same song. The US News college rankings pop up every August like Irving Berlin’s/Bing Crosby’s White Christmas does in early December.
Not this year, thanks to the American Council of Trustees and Alumni.
WhatWillTheyLearn.com introduces a novel way to rank colleges – on how [...]
One of the most effective education-related facets of the internet is its ability to make available professional training/certifications. While blog after blog is discussing [in vain, usually] the merits of web/distance education vs. a traditional classroom, and arguing their electronic doctrines in cult-like fashion, some folks are taking the time [...]
It’s no secret that if you don’t toe the philosophical line in many teacher education programs, you encounter hindrances that range from brick walls to ambushes to professional punji pits. Sometimes it’s the administration; sometimes professors; sometimes peers. And sometimes all three work together [...]
Oh, what a charming way to put it. It’s an unfortunate reality for too many students – and now there’s a program to help out those with pocks, blemishes, and downright disasters on their credit reports.
SpendOnLife.com describes their scholarship program for the ‘credit challenged‘ as follows:
“It’s our desire that [...]
I’ve written several times that foreign languages aren’t my strong point. I try to keep active a network of people I can go to when I need some sort of translation into English - or when I’m attempting to write something brief in a language other than English and I [...]
The University of Gloucestershire has been in its current organization since 2001, though its history stretches back about 200 years. The University has three campuses in Cheltenham, one in Gloucester - and what a beautiful place that is - with another in London.
Check out the video below to get [...]
I rarely speak or write of the NEA in a way that would warm the cockles of that organization’s heart. Their lobbying efforts don’t warrant it.
Individual teachers, however, shouldn’t be punished for their union’s misgivings. That’s why the NEA-sponsored Thank a Teacher website is worth [...]
Yes, yes - ‘education is the civil rights issue of our time.’ If the 40,000 variations on that theme didn’t sink in during the 2008 campaign season, I get 140-character reminders often enough via Twitter.
And when was the last time we saw any sort of civil rights crowd that didn’t [...]
Western International University is popping up in the sidebars of quite a few newsletters and websites lately. WIU is just one of that massive wave of distance education services that have become more prominent in recent years, though they’ve been around for a few decades. The [...]
Greg Lippman and Jennifer Andaluz together provided the brains, muscle and elbow grease to found Downtown College Prep, the subject of Joanne Jacobs’ “Our School: The Inspiring Story of Two Teachers, One Big Idea, and the School' [...]
Chapter 1 of Joanne Jacobs’ “Our School: The Inspiring Story of Two Teachers, One Big Idea, and the School That Beat the Odds” introduces San Jose’s Downtown College Prep, a charter school serving mostly Mexican immigrant families.' [...]
From the introduction [p. 2] of Joanne Jacobs’ “Our School: The Inspiring Story of Two Teachers, One Big Idea, and the School That Beat the Odds” comes the following passage. It’s sober, honest commentary on the reality' [...]
Dan Willingham has written a must-read piece about third-rate huckster Alfie Kohn. But we’ll get to that later.
The gall, the gall! says Andy Rotherham. In “Breaking News: Psychologist Dan Willingham has a pain fetish,” Rotherham writes:
Seriously. Why else would he take this on?
That’s the extent of [...]
A teaser:
“If I thought for a second that this Forum was an objective, non-partisan opportunity to discuss problems in public education instead of an ideological pow-wow, I would likely participate.
Again, thanks for the heads up - and I look forward to any more announcements you might have. Please tell Ms. [...]
From the Columbus Dispatch, we’ve got some good news about success with the Ohio High School Transformation Initiative - thanks to the KnowledgeWorks Foundation.
Graduation rates improved from 62% to 82% and the graduation gap has narrowed. Perhaps the best news is not only that this model [...]
I don’t have any of those classic Ellis Island immigrant stories in my family. We’ve been here for centuries, literally - and we were Mayflower types to start. It’s interesting to process American history in such a consistent, linear way relative to others’ jutting, surprise-filled family trees.
But, as with all [...]
‘Tis the season, folks. For family, friends and joy, some say.
Others seize the opportunity to hoist the banner of the Establishment Clause to persecute those who dare to recognize any bit of Christmas in public schools.
Over at Dangerously Irrelevant, Dr. Scott McLeod, [...]
It’s official - Chicago’s Arne Duncan will be the new Secretary of Education.
The Twittersphere is abuzz as are the blogs. There’s no shortage of Duncan-related link dumps. You can get started on your own personal Duncan Familiarity Web Research Project over at [...]
“We must have hit a nerve,” sayeth one of those Tampa-area bloggers. I believe that blogger is right.
I also believe that it won’t be long before Ms. Faliero et al. try to silence Tampa education bloggers officially, or [...]
I was pleased to join hosts Lisa Parisi and Maria Knee on Episode 19 of EdTechTalk Conversations this Sunday. We spent an hour discussing digital footprints/online image of teachers - and whether they have a special responsibility to tailor that image to the profession’s standing - when private [...]
Tom Farber, what have you done?!? Saved a few people a buck, I suppose.
In case you haven’t heard, Farber tried to offset printing costs for his Rancho Bernardo, CA high school by selling ads on tests:
“Farber started letting parents and local businesses sponsor tests this fall after learning [...]
Passing along an announcement about the National Association of Scholars annual conference - and the schedule is a doozie.
The first panel is on the ‘changing political landscape of higher education,’ followed by an afternoon debate on the [...]
Well, I’m sure not a relativist, especially when it comes to utility. Some things work better than others, some things are more useful than others.
You’d be surprised, though, at how much value you can get out of playing with a little e-resource even when its value appears dubious.
I was looking [...]
I wanted to highlight a neat article by Bob Lettis that appeared this week in a Cooperstown paper. He reminisces about some of the great Cooperstown teachers of his day - Red Bursey, Nick Sterling, etc.
Perhaps one day I’ll write my own version of this article. Tom Good, Ted Kantorowski, [...]
I‘m part of a discussion group that shares and analyzes all sorts of education-related information. When a good article comes up [or a particularly bad one, I suppose] we talk about it.
Dan Willingham, whose work [...]
Steve Dembo at teach42 posted about crowdSPRING, a site on which creative projects [logo, website design, etc.] are posted for all to see. Then designers, hobbyists and, as Dembo points out, students can [...]
I’ve undergone a bit of rebranding and started up a few new projects - had to go on a posting hiatus.
But I decided to push the button on the left, so the Aughts will resume tomorrow.
Here’s a neat contest for K-12 students - Inspiring Invention. Students can create a motivational/inspiring public service announcement to get others to invent:
“Enter to win the Inspiring Invention Contest. Create a public service announcement that motivates others to get inspired and start inventing. Show us how invention enriches [...]
If you subscribe to any education-related newsletters - or about a billion like I do - your screen drips with ads for online degrees and distance learning opportunities.
… and sites that offer, facilitate and aggregate online degrees and distance learning opportunities. At a certain point you just stop paying attention.
Throw [...]
The education debate continues over at NewTalk.org. The topic at hand - the final in a month-long series on education - is whether we should scrap No Child Left Behind.
Jay P. Greene is moderating this debate. He says on his own blog, “Let them all [...]
If you aren’t already following me on Twitter, you ought to start. I link to and comment on education stories ’round the clock.
And if you’re new to Twitter or aren’t sure how to get started, check out TwiTip’s 10 Easy Steps for Twitter Beginners. Give it [...]
Thank God for Google Reader. At this point, I follow ~500 blogs, view ~12,000 items a month [about 85% are education related] and highlight/distribute about 2% of those posts in a host of ways.
And then there’s the education blog…
Doesn’t matter which side you’re on, this week probably tired you out. Pay homage to that legendary internet time-waster: relax and have a great Saturday night.
In case you were wondering, “Ed.D.” also stands for “Educrat Dolt.”
Apparently Ms. Harris teaches in Fayetteville, not Asheville, in the Cumberland County system. Not that it matters to me - I don’t care which city or state [...]
For an update from Cumberland County Schools Superintendent William Harrison - and for analysis of his statement - check out the new post.
Discussing politics in the classroom is a delicate thing. It’s a bit like open heart surgery; if you know [...]
Here’s a rare one - an ad without commercial intent.
SPENDonLIFE.com has announced a blogging scholarship program for students. The topic? The importance of credit and preventing identity theft. A year ago most would’ve said this was a bit of a stale topic, but after a tumultuous [...]
I‘m not an evangelical voter, though I’m happy to have any honest discussion about politics. I like information and understanding.
I’m not a secretive voter, either. I don’t mind telling anyone how I vote or why I do it.
As a resident of Otsego County, I’ve got 3 local races [...]
I‘m not an evangelical voter, though I’m happy to have any honest discussion about politics. I like information and understanding.
I’m not a secretive voter, either. I don’t mind telling anyone how I vote or why I do it.
There are two races on which I’ll vote tomorrow that have [...]
About a week ago I compared local candidates’ responses on education funding and then gave those candidates a grade. The grades ranged from F [no response] to A-.
Hey, it’s hard to be perfect with such a difficult, complex issue - and I don’t engage in grade [...]
