It's hard to know which teenagers President Obama was thinking about in his State of the Union speech when he urged making school attendance mandatory until age 18. But his proposal will not decrease the dropout rate because it is premised on a dated view of young people. The truth is that teenage... Read Full Post >
When reports with the imprimatur of two prestigious think tanks draw opposite conclusions about the same issue within days of each other, the public is bound to be confused. That's what happened when the Economic Policy Institute and the Center for American Progress published views about the connect... Read Full Post >
Repeating something often enough does not make it true. This axiom has particular relevance in the debate over how to improve test scores in today's accountability movement. In this context, no phrase is as overused and misunderstood as "teaching to the test." The reason is a failure to distinguish... Read Full Post >
Whenever I attend a social function, I'm invariably confronted by other guests who can't understand why schools have gotten so bad. They are angry and frustrated. Truth to tell, if I hadn't taught for 28 years in a public school, I would probably feel that way too because the media are notorious for... Read Full Post >
It's easy to understand taxpayer frustration when the pace of school improvement has admittedly been glacial. Patience has its limits, even among supporters of public education. But blaming teachers alone, in the belief that they are overwhelmingly responsible, is counterproductive. To understand ... Read Full Post >
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