By John Thompson Did you hear the one about “Voo Doo Economics?” President Ronald Reagan said that his “Supply Side Economics” would cut taxes, increase spending, and reduce the deficit!?!? If a 22nd century historian were to uncover Reagan’s claim, and yet discover that all of the physical and digital …
By Anthony Cody. Education blogger Alexander Russo has offered an analysis of recent education journalism in a piece entitled “Common problems with Common Core reporting.” Russo hosts a blog called This Week in Education, sponsored by Scholastic corporation. Russo reached out to me for input as he was …
By Anthony Cody. We have been seeing the fallout from heavy handed monitoring and enforcement that is coming to us with the new Common Core tests. As I pointed out Sunday, this sort of security is made necessary when you have created a system where heavy consequences are attached to success on these tests. …
By Anthony Cody. Pearson employees may be off for the weekend but when they get to work tomorrow they will find they have a big mess to deal with. The news broke on Friday that Pearson has been monitoring student social media, and has worked with District officials in several instances to ferret out and reprimand …
By Anthony Cody. We all remember the game of musical chairs. At a children’s party, the adults count the number of children, and put chairs in a circle, with one fewer chair than children. The children circle the chairs as the music plays, and when the music stops, everyone tries to get a seat. In each round, …
By John Kuhn. With the debate over testing roiling Congress and state capitals nationwide, it is important to recognize the damage done to American pedagogy by high-stakes testing and the deleterious effects of punitive accountability on the students who depend on public schools. In The Big Idea of School …
Parents gathered from many different communities in New Jersey to make a short film to voice their concerns and share their stories about the effects of CCSS and the PARCC tests on their children, teachers, schools and lives. Thanks to filmmaker Michael Elliot for bringing their voices to Living in Dialogue.
By Michelle Strater Gunderson. “What the best and wisest parent wants for his child, that must we want for all the children of the community. Anything less is unlovely, and left unchecked, destroys our democracy.” John Dewey Last week the Local School Council at Nettelhorst Elementary School in Chicago …
By Anthony Cody. Last week as I was tweeting in support of the Newark Students Union occupation of their state-appointed administrator’s office, I was surprised to see a familiar name joining the chorus of support for these young activists. Montel Williams was right in there, tweeting his own support, and …
By John Thompson. Anya Kamenetz’s The Test comes from the conversation she’s had again and again with parents. She and they have “seen how high-stakes standardized tests are stunting children’s spirits, adding stress to family life, demoralizing teachers, undermining schools, paralyzing the education …
