Susan Troller’s piece today on the larger than usual reduction in “revenue cap limited” increases (say that quickly) in the Madison School District’s $332M+ 2007/2008 budget is interesting, from my perspective, due to what is left unsaid: The District has been running a “structural deficit for years, revealed only recently after school board Vice President … Continue reading 2007/2008 Madison School District Budget Outlook: Half Empty or Half Full?→
Janet Mertz recently mentioned (along with UW Placement’s James Wollack recently) this paper by Richard Hill & Thomas Parker [750K PDF]: The latest, December 2006 issue of the American Mathematical Monthly, an official publication of the Mathematical Association of America, contains an 18-page article entitled “A study of Core-Plus students attending Michigan State University” by … Continue reading A Study of Core-Plus Students Attending Michigan State University→
Madison School Board President Johnny Winston, Jr. (thanks!) posted a rather remarkable summary of recent activity today. I thought it would be useful to recall recent Board Majority inaction when reviewing Johnny’s words: It’s remarkable to consider that just a few short years ago, substantive issues were simply not discussed by the School Board, such … Continue reading Comments on BOE Progress Report for December→
Adam Liptak: But, as an extraordinary two-hour Supreme Court argument last week demonstrated, the meaning and legacy of Brown remain up for grabs. The court was considering whether school systems in Seattle and Louisville, Ky., could take account of students’ races to ensure racial balance. During the argument, two sets of justices managed, with equal … Continue reading The Supreme Court & Race in Schools→
I have a few questions for Barb and the other members of MPIE. I hope one or more of them will take the time to answer. As I look over the course catalogs for the four high schools, I see that each school has both a Special Education Department and an English as a Second … Continue reading A few questions for MPIE members …→
As Arlene has reached out to the community for suggestions about the Redesign of the high schools, let me share a couple of thoughts: It’s too late. The students that are behind in 5th grade rarely catch up. The 2/3 combinations are by far the worst academic combination for elementary students, yet we continue this … Continue reading High School Redesign Notes→
The arrival of local property tax bills signal the onset of tax season. Accordingly, there has been a number of recent articles on Wisconsin’s tax climate: Barbara Miner: More than 16,000 private properties in Wisconsin pay no property taxes. As a result, everyone else pays more. Why? In Milwaukee, for instance, almost 20 percent of … Continue reading Tax Climate Notes & Links→
Superintendent Rainwater and I engaged in a lengthy series of e-mails when I questioned the truth of a statment in a letter he wrote to Wisconsin congressmen to seek their help in reinstating the MMSD’s eligibility for funds from Reading First. In his letter the superintendent said that the MMSD was told “we had to … Continue reading Superintendent’s letter misleads→
Daniel Golden: In 2004, after the district scrapped race as a factor in assignments because of the legal threat, another group of white parents from the same neighborhood got upset when their children were passed over at the same majority-white school, Ballard High. They were left out not because of race, but because they didn’t … Continue reading Swaying Seattle’s School Assignments (Boundaries)→
In light of recent events regarding curriculum and other issues in our high schools, there has been a small step in the right direction at West HS. Superintendent Rainwater announced at our 11/29 MUAE meeting that he has been in discussion with West HS Principal Ed Holmes about providing West 9th and 10th graders who … Continue reading One Small Step in the Right Direction at West HS …→
Joanne Jacobs: Last night at the Hunt Institute retreat for North Carolina legislators, the former governor, Jim Hunt, handed out copies he’d underlined to everyone there, urging the legislators to “read every word.” Schools like KIPP and Amistad [Clusty on Amistad] that succeed in educating low-income students tend to do three things well, Education Gadfly … Continue reading Additional Notes on “What it Takes to Make a Student”→
National Institute of Mental Health: The first long-term, large-scale study designed to determine the safety and effectiveness of treating preschoolers who have attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with methylphenidate (Ritalin) has found that overall, low doses of this medication are effective and safe. However, the study found that children this age are more sensitive than older … Continue reading Effect of Ritalin on Preschoolers Examined→
Arnold Kling: The incumbent policy is more of the same. Both parties in Washington champion more government involvement in primary education and more subsidies for existing colleges and universities. The innovative policy is to support any alternative to our current education system. Ultimately, we would trust consumers to keep the best alternatives and discard the … Continue reading Education and Entrepreneurship: More Differentiation→
If Jason Shepard is correct, West will stay as is during the review process, heterogeneous classes is the goal and the study committee will not include parents or teachers.
If the BOE doesn’t step in right now, it’s all over. I hadn’t quite understood what Ed Blume has been writing about here structurally as much as I do at this moment. This process will be driven to Rainwater’s foregone conclusions. The BOE must frame the questions and decide who is on this committee. And if it’s truly a tabula rasa, let’s put West on the same footing as East, that is, undo the changes the Rainwater administration shoved through.
The prime motivator for taking MMSD’s high schools from an academically rich curriculum to the one-room schoolhouse model has been to close the minority achievement gap. Thus, I read with interest the following NYTimes letters: A Racial Gap, or an Income Gap? (7 Letters) Published: November 24, 2006 To the Editor: In emphasizing race-based achievement … Continue reading Does Closing the Minority Achievement Gap Require a Downward Rush to the Middle→
Wikipedia | US Census Bureau A quick note to thank the Madison School Board (Johnny Winston, Jr., President; Lawrie Kobza, Vice President; Carol Carstensen, Treasurer; Shwaw Vang, Clerk; Lucy Mathiak, Ruth Robarts and Arlene Silveira) for publicly discussing and addressing a number of issues this year: The Superintendent’s Review (something that was not done for … Continue reading Thanksgiving→
On Monday, November 27, the Madison School Board will begin to address rumors about major changes coming to our high schools. There are some realities behind the rumors. For example, West High School substantially reduced the English courses for tenth graders this year. The principal at East High School met with parents last week. He … Continue reading Superintendent Rainwater: “We need to dramatically change our high schools.”→
The Madison School Board has given Superintendent Art Rainwater a set of specific orders to accomplish in the coming year, including several directives to take an in-depth look at the district’s entire math curriculum. In the past several years, area math educators have expressed concern about the effectiveness of the Madison district’s reliance on a … Continue reading Keep an eye on math, board tells Rainwater→
The October 30, 2006 Board of Education met to discuss a series of resolutions, and approve the final 2006-07 MMSD Budget, and approve the AFSCME Local 60 contract. The video of the meeting is 210MB, and 2 hours and 30 minutes long. Click on the image at left to watch the video. The video contains … Continue reading Board of Education meeting of 30-Oct-2006→
Academic Blend, a 100% Fair Trade Coffee. An insurgent fundraising idea from Thoreau Elementary School’s activist parents. 4 flavors (check out the eyes), $10/pound. Email Rosana Ellman (rellmann@charter.net) to order. Add your interesting fund raising ideas to this post via the comments. The recently revealed Madison School District’s $6M structural deficit (slightly less than 2% … Continue reading Academic Blend: A Thoreau Fundraiser→
State gifted education advocate and Madison attorney Todd Palmer recently filed a request for a judicial “summary judgement” in the matter of “Todd Palmer v. The State of Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and Elizabeth Burmaster.” As he explained it to me in layperson’s terms, a summary judgment “is a procedure wherein a party (me) … Continue reading New Glarus Parent Files Request for Summary Judgement On Behalf of Gifted Education in Wisconsin→
Channel3000: Two Madison West High School students have been suspended and are facing criminal charges after allegedly creating a bomb scare twice — once on Monday and on Halloween. A 17-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl allegedly just wanted to play a practical joke, but the school’s officials said they don’t think it’s a laughing … Continue reading 2 West High Students Face Charges In Connection With Bomb Threat→
Lynn Thompson: But they strongly believe that their math textbooks should include actual math. Donald’s “Connected Mathematics” book at Harbour Pointe Middle School in Mukilteo asks him to arrange a list of 20 cities in order of their populations, all in the tens of millions. Yes, he concedes, he must recognize differences among numbers, but … Continue reading “Too Little Math in Math?”→
Donna Gordon Blankinship: Gates said the experience of being a parent of three kids – ages 10, 7 and 4 – has led him to spend more time thinking about schools. Specifically, he said the U.S. education system needs higher standards, clear accountability, flexible personnel practices and innovation. Gates, whose children are in private schools, … Continue reading Gates: U.S. Education System Needs Work→
Dan Benson: The proposed tax rate, however, is $1.83 per $1,000 of equalized value, down from $1.97 this year. That means the owner of a $250,000 house would save about $35 on the tax bill from the previous year. “(Vrakas) is calling it a tax decrease because the impact on some homeowners is that their … Continue reading Tax rates don’t tell the whole story→
A story by Susan Troller in the Cap Times reports: Two elementary schools at opposite ends of the Madison Metropolitan School District are bursting at the seams and may face boundary changes next year to deal with crowding. Lake View Elementary on the northeast side of the city and Chavez Elementary on the southwest side … Continue reading Boundary changes for Lake View & Chavez?→
Susan Black: In many classrooms, science textbooks add to children’s misconceptions. William Beaty, an engineer who designed an electricity exhibit for the Boston Museum of Science, discovered “a morass of misconceptions, mistakes, and misinformation” in grade school science textbooks. In fact, he couldn’t find a single book that explained basic electricity correctly. North Carolina State … Continue reading Is Science Education Failing Students?→
David Klein: Problem: Find the slope and y-intercept of the equation 10 = x – 2.5. Solution: The equation 10 = x – 2.5 is a specific case of the equation y = x – 2.5, which has a slope of 1 and a y-intercept of –2.5. This problem comes from a 7th grade math … Continue reading School math books, nonsense, and the National Science Foundation→
Jason Shephard: One of the better-kept secrets in Madison is that the school district currently offers more than 100 online courses for city high school students. The program is called the Madison Virtual Campus. “It turns out Madison is a leader in this technology,” says Johnny Winston Jr., the school board president. “My first question … Continue reading Madison School District Virtual Learning→
I would like to thank our community for their passage of the referendum on November 7th. This referendum will build a new school in Linden Park, finance the cafeteria and remodeling of Leopold Elementary and refinance existing debt…
From a reader: Address 201 South Gammon Road (Memorial High School) Arrested person/suspect 1. Jacquelyn L. Lightfoot, 37-year-old female of Madison (Charges –Disorderly Conduct 947.01, Resisting/Obstructing A Police Officer 946.41) 2. 14-year-old female (10th grade Memorial HS Student) of Madison (Charges – Disorderly Conduct 947.01, Resisting/Obstructing A Police Officer 946.41) 3. 15-year-old female (9th grade … Continue reading Memorial High School Taser Incident Notes→
Jay Matthews: I am collecting the Challenge Index data now. The early returns indicate our local schools will set a record for the number of AP and IB tests being given. In fact, there appears to be no other region in the country that has as high a level of participation in college-level courses and … Continue reading A Discussion of AP/IB High School Classes→
Jay Matthews: It is election day — a good day, I think, to thank God for our freedoms and for finally relieving us of the pain of listening to all those annoying campaign commercials. I watch and listen to them anyway, even the worst of them. I am a political news junkie and always find … Continue reading Seven Ways Politicians Are Dumb About Schools→
Brett posts his thoughts on the book”Reclaiming Public Education by Reclaiming Our Democracy: As with his last book, Mathews offers a great deal of evidence as to the roots and the current state of the issues preventing community engagement. It’s a challenge that’s been more than a century in the making: when the idea of … Continue reading Notes on “Reclaiming Public Education by Reclaiming Our Democracy”→
Cynthia Crossen writing in “Deja vu” on Taylor, whose ideas continue to this day in the education world (among others): “You have been quarreling because there have been no proper standards for a day’s work,” Mr. Taylor chided bosses. “You do not know what a proper day’s work is. We make a bluff at it … Continue reading Frederick W. Taylor, Scientific Management and Standardized Testing→
The Department of Public Instruction has announced the availability of grant funding through the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, funded under the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Funds may be used to build or expand after school programs that provide academic enrichment in reading and math, as well as other youth development and … Continue reading DPI has grants for after-school academic enrichment→
On November 7th, voters will be asked to approve a referendum allowing the Madison Metropolitan School District to build a new school and exceed its revenue cap. After very careful consideration, the Board of Education unanimously decided to ask the question. I fully support this referendum and urge you to vote yes. Our community is … Continue reading THOROUGH ANALYSIS SUPPORTS “YES” VOTE ON SCHOOL REFERENDUM→
There were some interesting items in today’s conversation between Don Severson and Vicki Mckenna [13.7MB mp3 audio file]: A caller (29 minutes): “Why does the rest of the media have such complacency with the Schools?” Don noted the lack of negative aids discussion in Monday’s “very long” Wisconsin State Journal article. The caller raised a … Continue reading Severson / McKenna on Negative Aid, Local Media Coverage of Schools and the Referendum→
Jay Matthews: But at Scarsdale High, my son was told he could not get into the course unless he did well on an entrance test given to every prospective AP U.S. history student. He passed the test, got into the course and did well, as I expected. That was not my problem. What bothered me … Continue reading Should Scarsdale Drop AP?→
This is one of the best things I read recently on support for public education. TJM Jacob Stockinger: A ‘yes’ vote for schools ensures a better future By Jacob Stockinger There is a lot I don’t know about my parents. But I do know this: They would never have voted no on a school referendum. … Continue reading Jacob Stockinger: A ‘yes’ vote for schools ensures a better future→
With all of the talk about the district’s high schools going through a redesign process (similar to what the middle schools did last summer), I think it’s important that as many interested people as possible attend the East High United meeting at 7 p.m. on Nov. 9 at East High School [map/directions]. I recently asked … Continue reading High School Redesign & Academic Rigor: East High United Meeting 11/9 @ 7:00p.m.→
As a senior adviser and former president of Public Agenda, I’m often asked to interpret public-opinion research in relation to the priorities of major education groups. These groups are seeking information that can help them refine their “messaging” strategies to promote a particular agenda. “Messaging,” when it assumes that the solution is a given, merely … Continue reading Toss Out the PR Playbook→
The Madison School District Board of Education approved a collective bargaining contract with the custodial units last night in which the custodians agreed to move from their current health care plans (GHC and the Alliance PPO) to a 3 HMO plan which is GHC, Dean Care and Physicans Plus. MMSD continues to pay 100% of … Continue reading Madison School District Healthcare Cost Savings→
Stanford’s Terry Moe: The Department of Education recently announced its first grants in a new $94-million program to fund incentive-pay plans for teachers. The money itself is a drop in the bucket for a public school industry that spends more than $400 billion annually. And only a small portion of the nation’s school districts will … Continue reading More on Teacher Merit Pay→
Carla Rivera: By the end of the day one thing was clear: Parents, teachers and community organizations want an equal say in determining how the district will be remade. illaraigosa acknowledged as much in his opening remarks to the group of 100 or so people, who represented church groups, businesses, human services agencies, city and … Continue reading Seeking an equal say in schools’ future→
Miranda Spivack: A Montgomery County “growth tax” law designed to force builders to pay for new roads and schools to ease the impact of development has raised substantially less money than promised by its supporters. County officials had predicted that the 2003 law, which created a tax to help pay for schools and increased an … Continue reading Revenue From (Developer) Growth Tax Falls Short of Promises→
Eugene Hickok: Even if Secretary Spellings were right that NCLB is 99.9% pure, it still would not be the formula for what ails American education. The current debate over NCLB overlooks a critical problem: Nothing the administration does under NCLB will ensure the law’s promise that every child will be proficient in reading and math … Continue reading The Education Revolution America Needs→
At the October 23, 2006 meeting of the Human Resources Committee for the Madison School Board, I reported on why the Board of Education and employee representatives should work together to reduce future health insurance costs. With one exception, my data came directly from the September 25 presentation by Bob Butler, attorney-consultant for the Wisconsin … Continue reading Getting out information about MMSD health insurance costs: some progress→
Brett: Have you ever heard of Project Follow Through? Most people haven’t, despite the fact that it was the largest-scale and most expensive education study ever conducted, costing more than $1 billion and involving more than 20,000 children. PFT was initiated by President Lyndon Johnson as part of his “war on poverty”, and was designed … Continue reading Project Follow Through→
Diana Jean Schemo: The Bush administration is giving public school districts broad new latitude to expand the number of single-sex classes, and even schools, in what is widely considered the most significant policy change on the issue since a landmark federal law barring sex discrimination in education more than 30 years ago. Two years in … Continue reading Change in Federal Rules Backs Single Sex Public Education→
Krishna Guha: A radical new approach to government accounting that would require the US administration to account for the cost of future social security payments year by year as people build up entitlements will be proposed on Monday. The proposal by the federal accounting standards advisory board (FASAB) – which would also require the government … Continue reading US Welfare Accounting Overhaul→
Chris Meyers: ideasfortps.com is all about citizen-powered ideas. You can comment, rate and even submit your own ideas here to help the Toledo Public School (TPS) district save money. Learn more about the site purpose and function or get help by reading our FAQ. You can rate the ideas without an account. You also do … Continue reading Saving Money in the Toledo School System→
Daniel de Vise: Mike Greiner teaches grammar to high school sophomores in half-hour lessons, inserted between Shakespeare and Italian sonnets. He is an old-school grammarian, one of a defiant few in the Washington region who believe in spending large blocks of class time teaching how sentences are built. For this he has earned the alliterative … Continue reading Clauses and Commas Make a Comeback: SAT Helps Return Grammar to Class→
C.W. Nevius: Parents interfering in their kids’ sports is nothing new. But a group of parents at Castro Valley High is taking it to a new extreme. What started as a group of unhappy parents griping amongst themselves has ballooned into multiple investigations, an observer attending every girls varsity basketball practice and a committee that … Continue reading Parents vs. Coach→
Lucy Mathiak deserves high praise for her performance in the discussion on the MMSD’s math curriculum. She pressed and pressed the superintendent to justify his recommendations. A board member of any organization or corporation does not need to be an expert on a topic, but simply has to be certain that the head of the … Continue reading Terrific job by Lucy Mathiak→
A nation full of students who enjoy mathematics and feel confident in the subject is not necessarily a nation that scores high on international math tests, a report being released this week concludes. The report from the Brookings Institution suggests, in fact, that the so-called “happiness factor” in math may be inversely related to achievement. … Continue reading Nations With ‘Happy’ Students Post Poorer Scores→
Sam Dillion: When the Internet was just beginning to shake up American education, a chemistry professor photographed thousands of test tubes holding molecular solutions and, working with video game designers, created a simulated laboratory that allowed students to mix chemicals in virtual beakers and watch the reactions. In the years since, that virtual chemistry laboratory … Continue reading No Test Tubes? Debate on Virtual Science Classes→
Harris Interactive: The 2006 survey looks at the expectations of teachers upon entering the profession, factors that drive career satisfaction, and the perspectives of principals and education leaders on successful teacher preparation and long-term support. In addition, it examines data collected from past MetLife American Teacher surveys to understand the challenges teachers face and their … Continue reading MetLife 2006 Survey of the American Teacher→
Trying to find the truth in education, like in most areas in American society, is fraught with dilemma — most public commentors are either incompetent or bald-faced liars. Robert W. Sweet, Jr. likely falls into both categories. See previous posts of regarding his comments on this site, and his letter to the Washington Post here. … Continue reading Reading First: The Lie of Robert Sweet of Errors and Misconceptions in Washtington Post→
Elizabeth Carson: Here’s a math problem for you: Count the excuses people are trotting out for why schoolkids in New York City and State did poorly in the latest round of math scores. The results showed just 57% of the city’s and 66% of the state’s students performing at grade level – and a steady … Continue reading “Far too Fuzzy Math Curriculum is to Blame for Declining NYC Test Scores”→
Wisconsin State Journal Editorial: The first step toward improving the state’s tax climate must be for lawmakers to control spending. The state cannot afford to cut taxes and thus forgo revenue unless the next governor and Legislature do a better job of paring, consolidating and conserving. Even the promise that lower taxes will generate more … Continue reading Wisconsin Tax Climate Update & Local Property Tax Levy Changes→
On November 7, Madison area residents will be asked to vote on a referendum concerning our local schools. While the referendum has three parts, this paper will focus on the first part – the construction of a new school on the far west side, representing over 75% of the total cost of the referendum. This … Continue reading A New School on Madison’s Far West Side: A Long Term Perspective→
The Economist: Look around the business world and two things stand out: the modern economy places an enormous premium on brainpower; and there is not enough to go round. But education inevitably matters most. How can India talk about its IT economy lifting the country out of poverty when 40% of its population cannot read? … Continue reading The Politics of K-12 Math and Academic Rigor→
In a major shift from its influential recommendations 17 years ago, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics yesterday issued a report urging that math teaching in kindergarten through eighth grade focus on a few basic skills. If the report, ”Curriculum Focal Points,” has anywhere near the impact of the council’s 1989 report, it could … Continue reading Report Urges Changes in the Teaching of Math in U.S. Schools→
William J. Mathis [16.1MB PDF]: Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) is the key element of the accountability system mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). This report reveals that AYP in its 2006 form as the prime indicator of academic achievement is not supported by reliable evidence. Expecting all children to reach mastery … Continue reading The Accuracy and Effectiveness of Adequate Yearly Progress: NCLB’s School Evaluation System→
Ken DeRosa: In his new book, Eric Hanushek delivers the smack down on Johnathan Kozol who has been insisting these many years that the funding gap between middle class and inner city schools was the cause of the achievement gap between white and minority kids. Thus, to erase the achievement gap all we had to … Continue reading Money & Academic Success→
Ken Derosa: The first month of school is now over for my son who is in first grade. Let me summarize what has transpired in the first 1/9 of the school year so far. Bear in mind that most of my information comes from a six year old with the attention span of a flea. … Continue reading Report from the First Grade Trenches→
Channel3000: One year after LaFollette students complained of having to drop out of extra-curricular activities becasue of busing problems, the situation is fixed. More buses are running and WISC-TV went back to see if it has made a difference.
Michael Alison Chandler: Despite those limitations, school officials came up with a new tool this year to entice more teachers to Loudoun. With help from the county’s chamber of commerce, a school employee approached dozens of area businesses, banks and apartment complexes about offering discounts of some kind for county educators. The result is the … Continue reading School System offers Teachers Special Inducement→
Letters to the editor regarding “Demoting AP Classes“: To the Editor: Re “Demoting Advanced Placement,” by Joe Berger (On Education column, Oct. 4): As a college history professor, I see the demotion of Advanced Placement courses as a step toward (not away from) the “frenzied” race toward college and the dumbing down of American education. … Continue reading Letters Regarding “Demoting AP Classes”→
School Improvements, desired by all of us, need financial resources, but primarily, the need is for a quality strategic and measureable plans and goals. Ed Blume has posted a few such rubrics from Victoria Bernhardt. He has not received much input on these worthy rubrics. See. That was certainly my experience also, as I posted … Continue reading School Improvement Rubrics→
Susan Troller: When publications like the New York Times want an expert to comment on the big issues facing public schools like testing or immigration, it’s a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor they’re likely to call. Relatively unknown in his adopted hometown, history and educational policy studies professor William Reese is able offer a long view … Continue reading A Profile of the UW’s William Reese→
David M. Herszenhorn: In what would be the biggest change yet to the way New York City’s school system is administered, officials are considering plans to hire private groups at taxpayer expense to manage scores of public schools. The money paid to the private groups would replace millions of dollars in grants from the Bill … Continue reading NYC Considers Plan to Let Outsiders Run Schools→
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Children with severe reading problems usually struggle for years before getting the help they need. But a growing number of neurologists and educators say that with the latest diagnostic tests, children at high risk for these problems can be identified in preschool and treated before they ever begin to read. The newer … Continue reading Early Repairs in Foundation for Reading→
Madison School District Superintendent Art Rainwater: By now, I’m sure you know that last Friday a 15 year old boy entered Weston School in Cazenovia (Sauk County) and allegedly shot and killed the principal. This incident has stirred in all of us the uneasy realization that this can happen anywhere, at anytime. We mourn the … Continue reading Art Rainwater’s Memo on School Violence→
Jay Matthews: Getting A’s was not high on my to-do list. To this day I don’t believe getting good grades in college is as important as getting good grades in high school. High school, for most people these days, is about getting ready for college. You cannot do that if you do not apply yourself … Continue reading Ten Ways to Get A’s in College→
Too busy to continue the farewell and the urge to share information remains. This is from the October School News a publication of the WASB. Linked here. Excerpt: SN: Gov. Doyle, in the 2005-07 state budget, you provided more than $700 million for K-12 schools and restored two-thirds funding in the second year of the … Continue reading Wisconsin Association of School Boards Governor’s Q&A→
Matthew Matera: Like most K-12 teachers in America, I work in a world of standardized tests these days. I analyze state standards and study breakdowns of my students’ test performance. I think about the expectations of the state as I plan lessons, and I spend time explicitly teaching test-taking strategies. So, yes, I admit it. … Continue reading “I Teach to the Test”→
Richard Edelman: “Did you know that one in ten teenage girls in Washington, D.C. are HIV-positive? Did you know that one in twenty adults in the District of Columbia have AIDS? It is an outrage. Those are Third World types of incidence rates and it is happening in our nation’s capital. All of the attention … Continue reading One in Ten→
Jean Johnson, Ana Maria Arumi and Amber Ott [350K PDF]: It’s probably natural for leaders of organizations to be upbeat about their institutions, and the nation’s school children might not be well-served by superintendents and principals who see public schools as places of disappointment, failure and ineptitude. Even so, the positive, almost buoyant outlook of … Continue reading Reality Check 2006: How Principals and Superintendents See Public Education Today→
Michael Grunwald: To some extent, the controversy over Reading First reflects an older controversy over reading, pitting “phonics” advocates such as Doherty against “whole language” practitioners such as Johnson. The administration believes in phonics, which emphasizes repetitive drills that teach children to sound out words. Johnson and other phonics skeptics try to teach the meaning … Continue reading The Education Issue→
The Madison School District will hold four referendum information sessions in advance of the November 7 referendum. The public is invited to attend any of these sessions. Thurs. October 12 6:30 PM Sennett School 502 Pflaum Rd. 53716 Lecture lab Tues. October 17 6:30 PM Cherokee School 4301 Cherokee Dr. 53711 LMC Wed. October 18 … Continue reading Press release: MMSD Information sessions about Nov. 7 referendum→
The attached document is copied from Vicki McKenna’s web site. Her comments are accurate from the conversations she and I have had and information she has reviewed. There still is a lot more critical information, questions and concerns about the referendum that needs exploration, analysis and ‘airing.’ Here is what I think is some significant … Continue reading MMSD Referendum Info→
This is the third in a series of farewell posts to the SIS blog. I still don’t know how long this will take; I don’t have a schedule but I don’t think too much longer. There are still things I want to say before I leave this forum. “The Long Goodbye?” I hope not, but … Continue reading CASTing→
Jason Szep BOSTON (Reuters) – Private tutors are a luxury many American families cannot afford, costing anywhere between $25 to $100 an hour. But California mother Denise Robison found one online for $2.50 an hour — in India. “It’s made the biggest difference. My daughter is literally at the top of every single one of … Continue reading U.S. homework outsourced as “e-tutoring” grows→
[Not part of the “farewell series,” much more important] TJM SCHOOLS OF HOPE ? TUTORS NEEDED 09/28/06 WISC-TV There are a number of factors that have contributed to the historic closing of the achievement gap in Madison schools including small class sizes and talented and well trained teachers. But there’s no disputing the United Way … Continue reading Schools Of Hope – Tutors Needed→
Wisconsin State Journal Editorial: The taxpayers of Madison owe Ruth Robarts a big thank you. Robarts has served on the Madison School Board for a decade, asking pesky questions about how tax dollars are spent and how Madison children are educated. What she lacked in tact she made up for in candor and an unflinching … Continue reading “Robarts Served a Valuable Role”→
Sam Dillon: Over the years since, Governor Bush has mostly held his tongue about the president’s very different law, even as detractors of all stripes have attacked it. But in recent weeks — perhaps seeking to cement his legacy as a school-policy expert as he prepares to leave office — Governor Bush has been speaking … Continue reading 2 Bushes on No Child Left Behind→
When I’m doing the very best I can You’re pouring water On a drowning man You’re pouring water On a drowning man “Pouring Water on Drowning Man” Dani McCormick & Drew Baker Download file”>Listen to James Carr’s version This is the second of a series of farewell posts to this blog. My original intent had … Continue reading Pouring Water→
Reading First, subject to a scathing economic/lobbying audit recently was also just reviewed in this report from the Center for Education Policy [Kathleen Kennedy Manzo] [Full Report
Opinion Journal: Schools of education have gotten bad grades before. Yet there are some truly shocking statistics about teacher training in this week’s report from the Education Schools Project. According to “Educating School Teachers,” three-quarters of the country’s 1,206 university-level schools of education don’t have the capacity to produce excellent teachers. More than half of … Continue reading No Teacher Left Behind→
Sharon Noguchi: The Advanced Placement government assignment over the summer was to read and analyze political commentator Chris Matthews’ book “Hardball.” So four friends at American High School in Fremont did what they say everyone else was doing: divvied up the 13 questions about the book and exchanged answers via e-mail. They each altered the … Continue reading Schools fight cheaters who use tech tools→
A small study and I confess I haven’t looked at the study itself, but a reminder that some important aspects of education aren’t measured by standardized tests. TJM Research: School diversity may ease racial prejudice More bias seen in kids in mostly white setting By Shankar Vedantam The Washington Post Published September 19, 2006 White … Continue reading Research: School diversity may ease racial prejudice→
Ryan Boots: I’ve been something of a cheerleader on the use of new media in the classroom, principally in the form of digital textbooks. But similar to what we’ve already seen with the calculator, such technology has the potential to inflict damage in the classroom. Exhibit A: Right Wing Prof flipped his lid a couple … Continue reading Technology: “It Can Do More Harm Than Good”→
Todd Silberman: Despite North Carolina students’ steady improvement in reading and math, their performance on state end-of-grade tests has been far better than on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. In fact, North Carolina stands out because of the wide gap between results on the state and national tests. In 2005, about 84 percent of … Continue reading North Carolina & Math Standards→
Valerie Strauss The nation’s best-known researcher on homework has taken a new look at the subject, and here is what Duke University professor Harris Cooper has to say: Elementary school students get no academic benefit from homework — except reading and some basic skills practice — and yet schools require more than ever. High school … Continue reading As Homework Grows, So Do Arguments Against It→