Middle school is “where academic achievement in America falters and begins its accelerating decline,” writes Education Gadfly, citing an LA Times editorial that praises KIPP middle schools. Gadfly goes on:
(Middle schools) are usually places where academic rigor and achievement take a back seat to “personal development,” social consciousness, and the inculcation of egalitarian principles. Middle […]
Archive for May, 2008
Who moved their cheese?
Forget about learning for its own sake. A Boston-area high school will pay students $25 per quarter for perfect attendance. They’ll get the money if they graduate. This is a trend, reports the Christian Science Monitor.
(Chelsea High School) joins a number of districts throughout the country turning to incentives to boost test scores, GPAs, and […]
Mr. AB of From the TFA Trenches complains that Unprofessional Development treats teachers like children.
We want to learn like we are in law school or grad school. That means no gimmicks, no games, no group work, and no, absolutely no, teacher-voice. If you could end that sentence with “Boys and girls,” don’t say […]
Rita, a University of Chicago student interning in Washington, D.C., sermonizes about the dangers of sermonizing professors on her delightful blog, Nobody Sasses a Girl in Glasses, which I discovered through University Diaries. It’s refreshing to encounter an undergrad who writes this well. Check out the post on the ho-bag roommate and sexiling as […]
Passed on by reader Ben Cunningham: Literally a niche blog.
At free Operation Purple summer camps organized by the National Military Family Association, the children of deployed military personnel can relax, have fun and share their anxieties with other children in the same situation. Sears funds one-week campus in 18 states, Guam and at three U.S. bases overseas.
Teacher Quality Bulletin’s merit pay round-up includes a story on a privately funded plan at an elementary school in Little Rock, Arkansas. Each teacher got a bonus based on the percentage increase in her students’ test scores.
For each pupil who made up to a 4 percent gain on the May test when compared with […]
Jenny D is hosting the Carnival of Education, which features Moebius Stripper on what high school students should learn about math before they show up in her college classroom and Math and Text on the fatal phrase, “My kids won’t get this.”
In addition, Education Policyist analyzes the evidence on a claim by Martin Gross in […]
“Ethics Camp” for science teachers at Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics is featured in the New York Times. Teachers learn how to incorporate ethical debates into their curriculum.
Camp founder Steve Johnson also has developed a literature curriculum based on ethical questions. For example, the “responsibility requires action’ unit asks […]
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