Teaching & Learning Blog

View From the Cheap Seats

Peter Greene, a veteran high school teacher and writer in Northwest Pennsylvania, authored the popular Curmudgucation blog and can be followed on Twitter at @palan57. The posts on this blog were exclusive to Education Week Teacher. This blog is no longer being updated.

Education Opinion Administrators Must Choose
Some schools are feeling more reformy disruption than others. What makes the difference? Not state or federal policy. Not the Big Standardized Test. Not even the wise arguments of thinky tanks and bloggers. Administration.
Peter Greene, August 18, 2015
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3 min read
Education Opinion Why a Teacher 'Shortage'?
August is apparently our month to contemplate a teacher shortage. Or reports of a teacher shortage. Or a completely fabricated teacher shortage. What nobody seems to be able to answer is why, exactly, we're having this conversation? What is causing the shortage-- or at least the repeated reporting of one. What is the actual problem?
Peter Greene, August 12, 2015
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4 min read
Education Opinion Curmudgucation Digest (August 9)
Merit pay, Robert Putnam, and how to evaluate your evaluation.
Peter Greene, August 9, 2015
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1 min read
Education Opinion New Orleans: Success or Failure?
With the release of the latest bundle of number crunching, Doug Harris and the Education Research Alliance have once again launched the Debate of the Decade-- is the New Orleans privatization experiment a success or a failure?
Peter Greene, August 5, 2015
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5 min read
Education Opinion More Bad News for SAT/ACT
More and more people are coming to see the SAT and ACT for what they are-- products for sale. Much of the SAT and ACT customer base is people who pay for the product because, well, you know, you have to, right? There's no choice, right?
Peter Greene, July 29, 2015
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2 min read
Education Opinion Curmudgucation Digest (July 26)
Quotes and lessons and reformy baloney.
Peter Greene, July 26, 2015
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1 min read
Education Opinion The Human-Proof Classroom
I am a big believer in having a teacher toolbox chock full of many and varied tools. I also believe that just because a tool doesn't work well for me, that doesn't mean it can't work for someone else. Nevertheless, there are some approaches that simply don't belong in a classroom eve
Peter Greene, July 22, 2015
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4 min read
Education Opinion Curmudgucation Digest (July 19)
Activism, politics, journalism, and pretend journalism—it was a busy week in the edublogosphere.
Peter Greene, July 19, 2015
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1 min read
Education Opinion Kansas: Digging a Deeper Hole
News came last evening that Kansas has taken a bold new step in making their schools Even Worse. Tuesday, the Kansas State Board of Education voted to allow unlicensed people to teach in Kansas schools.
Peter Greene, July 15, 2015
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3 min read
Education Opinion Curmudgucation Digest (July 12)
Charters, a new documentary, and politicians on parade. Just another July in educationland.
Peter Greene, July 12, 2015
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1 min read
Education Opinion We Can't Go Back
Those of us who argue against reformster policies in education sometimes fall into the mistake of wanting to go back, to roll back the clock to the days before high-stakes test driven accountability, federally-coerced standards, and privateering began messing with public education in earnest. We can't, and we shouldn't want to. Because there is real work we need to do.
Peter Greene, July 8, 2015
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3 min read
Education Opinion Curmudgucation Digest (July 5)
Creating great teachers and putting them in the right classrooms. More gaps. And a happy Fourth of July.
Peter Greene, July 5, 2015
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1 min read
Education Opinion Sad Days in PARCCland
PARCC, built on the dream of a national scale standardized testing system, has been dumped by yet another state. Governor John Kasich of Ohio yesterday signed a budget that severs Ohio's connection to the PARCC consortium. The dream is dying.
Peter Greene, July 1, 2015
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2 min read
Education Opinion Curmudgucation Digest (June 28)
It has been a busy week, and the news for public education has been none too good.
Peter Greene, June 28, 2015
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1 min read
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