http://joannejacobs.com Free-linking and thinking on education by Joanne Jacobs Sun, 11 May 2008 08:21:57 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Philadelphia schools are dangerous, concludes the district's safe-schools advocate. In a blistering 72-page document obtained by The Inquirer, Jack Stollsteimer describes a district where students who assault teachers or come to school with guns are not removed from classrooms, a violation of federal and state law. School crime, he says, has ... http://joannejacobs.com/2008/05/11/dangerous-schools/ America's education system is "vastly superior to the stunted, impoverished school systems of China and India," writes Jay Mathews in response to Two Million Minutes, which features American slackers and Asian scholars. Our best students can compete with the world. The real problem is "separate and unequal" schools ... http://joannejacobs.com/2008/05/10/the-enemy-within/ Reading guru Reid Lyon analyzes the limitations of the Reading First study, which found no improvement in reading scores for high-need students. The sample excluded the neediest schools, which presumably would be most affected. Lyon says: . . . many non-Reading First schools were implementing the same programs and professional ... http://joannejacobs.com/2008/05/09/lyon-on-reading-first-study/ Addiction to video games is a growing concern, reports U.S. News. Concern is spreading among parents and mental-health professionals that the exploding popularity of computer and video games has a deeper dark side than simple couch-potatohood. . . . Studies show that 92 percent of children under age 18 play ... http://joannejacobs.com/2008/05/09/video-game-addicts/ Keith Sampson recounts his racial harassment nightmare at University of Indiana-Purdue in the New York Post. Sampson, a communications student and part-time janitor, was reading Todd Tucker's Notre Dame vs. the Klan: How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Ku Klux Klan during breaks. The book is in the university library. ... http://joannejacobs.com/2008/05/09/harassed-by-politically-crazy-bureaucrats/ Cramming for the AP exam ruined his U.S. history course, writes AP drop-out Tom Stanley-Becker in the Los Angeles Times. The problem with the AP program is that we don’t have time to really learn U.S. history because we’re preparing for the exam. We race ... http://joannejacobs.com/2008/05/09/cramming-for-the-ap-exam/ Who are the five greatest teachers in the movies? Ellen Kim makes her choices for Teacher Appreciation Week. http://joannejacobs.com/2008/05/08/great-teachers-on-screen/ As a promo for the ED in '08 Summit on May 14-15 in Washington, D.C., you can vote for the choicest edublogger. Yes, I'm a nominee. http://joannejacobs.com/2008/05/08/whos-the-fairest-edublogger-of-all/ In response to comments here and elsewhere on his school choice argument, Greg Forster returns to the fray on Jay Greene's blog to argue about Vouchers: evidence and ideology. http://joannejacobs.com/2008/05/08/forster-please/ Teachers don't think much of the way they're evaluated, concludes an Education Sector survey. From AP: More than half of teachers believe it's too difficult to weed out ineffective teachers who have tenure, and nearly half say they personally know such a teacher, according to a survey released Tuesday evening by ... http://joannejacobs.com/2008/05/08/what-teachers-want/