Policy & Politics Blog

K-12 Schools: Beyond the Rhetoric

In this blog, Jack Schneider, assistant professor at the College of the Holy Cross, hosted productive dialogues about contentious K-12 policy issues. This blog is no longer being updated.

Education Opinion Common Core and Corporate Interests
Jack and guest Julian Vasquez Heilig discuss whether testing companies like Pearson are behind the Common Core State Standards.
Jack Schneider, October 23, 2014
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5 min read
Education Opinion Do Curricular Standards Get a Bad Rap?
Is there any point in having curricular benchmarks at the district, state, or national level? Jack Schneider and Julian Vasquez Heilig discuss.
Jack Schneider, October 21, 2014
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4 min read
Education Opinion A 'Third Way': Intra-District Choice
Choice, for all its pitfalls, does offer a glimmering hope of countering school segregation. Julian Vasquez Heilig and I consider a choice plan that might work.
Jack Schneider, October 16, 2014
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5 min read
Education Opinion Vouchers and Equity
Vouchers are back as a topic, and this time they've been given an equity gloss. Julian Vasquez Heilig and I discuss whether or not vouchers are still a bad idea.
Jack Schneider, October 14, 2014
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4 min read
Education Opinion What Is the Damage Done by TFA?
What is the damage done by TFA's claims that their program is as good or better than college- and university-based programs? Julian Vasquez Heilig and I discuss.
Jack Schneider, October 7, 2014
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4 min read
Education Opinion Better Off Without Teach For America?
Julian Vasquez Heilig and I have both been critical of Teach For America. But we tend to take different positions on the overall impact of organization.
Jack Schneider, October 6, 2014
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3 min read
Education Opinion Should Communities Determine Their Own Accountability Measures?
Should the community have input in what they are held accountable for in educational outcomes? Julian Vasquez Heilig and I weigh the possibilities.
Jack Schneider, October 3, 2014
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4 min read
Education Opinion Why Are We Using Standardized Tests?
What should be included in a measure of school quality? If not by standardized test scores, how should we measure student achievement? Julian Vasquez Heilig and I each have some thoughts.
Jack Schneider, October 2, 2014
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3 min read
Education Opinion Is Testing Designed to Promote Inequality?
While corporate lobbying and palm-greasing is disturbing in its own right, we can't pin the obsession with testing on Pearson.
Jack Schneider, September 30, 2014
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4 min read
Education Opinion What's a 'Corporate' Charter?
I use "corporate" as a term to describe the large chains and franchises that are dominating and leading the charter movement.
Jack Schneider, September 25, 2014
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3 min read
Education Opinion Charters and the Profit Motive
Private interests, concerned foremost with the bottom line, can be problematic in education; but the vast majority of charters are operated on a non-profit basis.
Jack Schneider, September 22, 2014
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4 min read
Education Opinion Introducing Julian Vasquez Heilig
I decided to invite a new conversation partner to jump in, hoping we might go even further in unpacking the overheated rhetoric that swirls around our public schools.
Jack Schneider, September 18, 2014
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1 min read
Education Opinion What Makes a Great Teacher?
It is deeply misguided to believe that those skills alone make a great teacher.
Jack Schneider, September 8, 2014
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10 min read
Education Opinion Education Is an Ecosystem
Education is less like a vast machine than it is like a rain forest.
Jack Schneider, August 31, 2014
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2 min read
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