Common Core standards? What’s that?
Sixty-two percent of Americans haven’t heard of the new Common Core standards adopted in 45 states and the District of Columbia, according to the new Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll. Of those who...
View ArticlePoll: Public resists spending on schools, teachers
The public is becoming “more resistant to rising school expenditures and to raising teacher salaries,” according to Education Next‘s annual poll. However, “the public is also becoming increasingly...
View ArticleAP vs. PDK vs. EdNext: Who ya gonna believe?
Three education polls came out this week from AP-NORC (for the Joyce Foundation), PDK/Gallup and Education Next. Who ya gonna believe? Education Next‘s Paul Peterson analyzes why EdNext‘s poll differs...
View ArticleFeds end ’2% rule’ for disabled students
Disabled students won’t be counted as proficient — unless they’re really meeting college and career readiness standards, under new regulations proposed by the U.S. Education Department. Currently, the...
View ArticleCore to kids: You’re not so smart
At an Albany middle school, angry parents told New York Commissioner of Education John King what they thought of the new Common Core standards, writes Marc Tucker on Ed Week‘s Top Performers blog....
View ArticleIf you like your federal ed policy …
If You Like Your Federal Education Policy, You Can Keep It!, writes Andy Smarick on Education Next. The Obama Administration, certain that it knows the “right thing to do,” boldly overturns decades of...
View ArticleCommon Core in the classroom
Across the country, teachers are changing the way they teach in response to Common Core standards. In Belle Chasse, Louisiana, first-grade teacher Debbie Giroir is cautiously optimistic, according to...
View ArticleDuncan regrets ‘white suburban moms’ line
In response to anger over his “white suburban moms” crack, Education Secretary Arne Duncan apologized for “clumsy phrasing.” In talking about the importance of communicating about higher learning...
View ArticleCore meltdown
In Core Meltdown Coming, Education Realist looks at how the Common Core will change math instruction. Right now middle school math, which should ideally focus almost entirely on proportions, is...
View ArticleCommon Core needs a czar
Common Core needs a czar, argues John Wilson, former head of the National Education Association, in Education Week. Wilson backs the standards but blames bureaucrats for botching implementation....
View ArticleIt’s not the white moms, it’s the whitewash
Common Core’s problem isn’t “white suburban moms” who can’t handle high standards, as Education Secretary Arne Duncan said, writes Eduwonk. It’s not the white moms, it’s the white wash. Duncan and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
It was the night before a holiday …
Here’s an edited version of an old classic to reflect new standards:
View ArticleChicago school rations bathroom visits
A Chicago elementary school, facing closure for low test scores, is rationing bathroom visits, reports Anthony Cody in his Ed Week Teacher blog. Here’s the memo sent to teachers: Dear Faculty, Welcome...
View ArticleCommon Core catastrophe?
States rushed the adoption of Common Core standards to be eligible for federal grants, Bill Evers, a former assistant secretary of Education, tells the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. . . . I really think...
View ArticleCommon Core opposition is hardening
George Will’s column condemning Common Core is a very bad sign for the standards’ advocates, writes Andy Smarick in Flypaper. “Principled opposition” to Common Core is “hardening.” Will sees federal...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Same old new math
Common Core’s Newer Math is a lot like like the old new math, writes David G. Bonagura Jr., a teacher and writer, in National Review Online. In 1961, New Math “was supposed to transform mathematics...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Knowledge at the Core
Knowledge at the Core, a new Fordham e-book of essays, argues that Common Core standards won’t work without a “sequential, content-rich curriculum.” The essays in Knowledge at the Core also pay tribute...
View ArticleTake this test, please
Take This Test (Please), writes John Merrow on Taking Note. He lists five test questions that “may explain why American students score lower than their counterparts in most other advanced nations.”...
View ArticleTest more, not less
Testing is under attack, but the solution is more testing, not less, argue Russ Whitehurst and Katharine Lindquist on Brookings’ Chalkboard. New Common Core tests demand more of students, pushing down...
View ArticleLies, damned lies and the Common Core
Those politically biased (and silly) “Common Core” lessons you keep hearing about have nothing to do with the Common Core standards, writes Fordham’s Mike Petrilli in Lies, damned lies, and the Common...
View Article