The national (and California) Charter Schools Conference 2006 opens today in Sacramento. I’ll be at the conference tomorrow. If you’re going to be there, stop by table 11 at 1:45 pm on Wednesday for my “table talk” on . . . Well, as ever, I’m promoting my book, Our School. If you want to […]
Archive for May, 2008
Bernard Chapin’s Escape from Gangsta Island, is for sale on iUniverse. I provided the blurb:
Escape from Gangsta Island is a comic horror story of a troubled school for troubled teen-agers led by a crazy principal who believed that fun and games lead to… Well, even the reality-challenged principal didn’t claim students were being educated. Character! […]
The Carnival of Homeschooling is inspired by the muses. I learned something just in the second sentence.
Leaders of New Orleans’ brand-new charter schools are struggling with a host of management issues — with the help of Rex, a leading Mardi Gras “krewe.” As part of its post-Katrina service initiative, Rex established Project Purple “to match its members’ business skills with fledgling educators who need them at the 11 charter schools […]
Universal preschool would cost Californians $23 billion over the next 10 years, if Rob Reiner’s Proposition 82 passes. But it won’t close the learning gap for poor kids, warns Bruce Fuller, a Berkeley education and public policy professor. Currently, 64 percent of four-year-olds go to preschool; Reiner’s plan would boost that only […]
Washington state, about to implement a graduation exam, can learn from Massachusetts, says the Seattle Times. Pass rates in the Bay State soared when passing the test, known as MCAS, became a graduation requirement. Students were motivated.
Brockton (High School) administrators embraced the exam from the start. They worked with teachers to systematically dissect MCAS results. […]
Dolphins aren’t so smart on land, reports The Onion. Removed from their holding tanks by University of Florida researchers and placed in a dry lab, a group of 25 bottlenose dolphins failed 11 cognitive and reasoning tests.
“The dolphins were incapable of recognizing and repeating simple gestures,” said study co-author Dr. Scott Lindell. “Their non-verbal […]
Darren of Right on the Left Coast told a student that selling burritos at lunch will not help feed the Darfur refugees, much less protect them from rape and murder.
The short conversation left the realm of the rational and entered the twilight zone when she asked me if I’d have done anything to stop the […]
From Children of the Future, which publishes writing posted on elementary school web sites, comes Francisco’s letter to Cpl. Leon Howard.
A school board member in Loudoun County, Virginia wants to limit the showing of commercial movies in class after reports that “Lion King” was shown in a science class to illustrate the “circle of life” and “Mulan” was used in an AP world history class.
Perhaps the district should limit the showing of Disney cartoons […]
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