I wonder. In the world of teacher evaluation might we examine our beliefs more closely. Could we not learn from a bit of real life reflection. Let us not so quickly endorse the data that proves what we came to believe in childhood. Read Full Post >
Groups advocating for children with disabilities are among those fuming over a Congressional move to reverse a court ruling preventing interns and teachers in training from being labeled highly qualified. Read Full Post >
Atul Gawande's latest New Yorker article on efforts to rein in health care costs by better serving the highest-cost/highest-need patients is great reading. But this paragraph near the end particularly jumped out at me: Yet the stakes in health-care hot-spotting are enormous, and go far beyond heal... Read Full Post >
Tom Vander Ark's recent post about the idea of using "merit badges" to create a more customized educational experience is well-worth checking out. Vander Ark is focusing on K-12 education, but the needs in higher education seem even greater, given the diversity of needs and skill levels with which p... Read Full Post >
Great Britain, like the United States, is in the middle of a major push to use student achievement data to improve instruction and school policy. And, like us, the implementation is still a bit hit or miss, in part because teachers find their classroom data more accurate and useful. Read Full Post >
Alexander Russo asks: "Where are the Best Novels About Education?" and gets some pretty solid answers. I'm surprised, though, that no one mentioned youth classics like These Happy Golden Years, Anne of Avonlea, Anne of Windy Poplars, or Jo's Boys. To be sure, these books are for teenage girls, rathe... Read Full Post >
My colleague the Eduwonk has taken to referring to Fordham's Mike Petrilli as "Chicken Little," and I think that there's more than a bit of that in Petrilli's recent post worrying that reform-y types are transforming themselves into the compliance police. That said, I do think Petrilli hits on som... Read Full Post >
I've been writing a lot* lately about instructional quality, particularly about new models with promise to help us both better measure and also improve the quality of instruction in early childhood settings. But I thought it might be helpful--and more engaging--if I actually showed you what I'm talk... Read Full Post >
Over the past 10 years, the universal pre-kindergarten movement has made tremendous strides: Annual state spending has grown at a roughly 10% annual rate since 2001, roughly doubling to some $5 billion today. The number of children served in state pre-k has nearly doubled as well: from less than 700... Read Full Post >
Kindergarten Cutoffs and Transitional Kindergarten in California : I'm not all that psyched about California's recent decision to move up the cut-off date for kindergarten entry. Given that their December 2 date was the latest in the country, moving it up might make sense. But available evidence su... Read Full Post >
