Most Popular Education Posts
DonorsChoose.org Launch 2009 Social Media Challenge for Education
Published October 11, 2009 @ 03:03PM PT
Donors Choose are one week into their 2009 social media campaign to help fund public school projects through donations. But these are not just any donations. You can see the exact school project and every item that your money will help fund. Want to help fund media skills by donating towards graphic novels? Do it! When the amount required is reached, Donor Choose donate the material and the generous givers help change lives. All donors get photos and a thank-you from the teacher.
The social media campaign challenges various niches (tech blogs, music blogs, Twitter) to raise the most money. They will be trying hard to beat last year's total of $270,000 which benefited 65,000 students. One week into the month-long push, and they've already raised $120,000.
Krugman: America is Falling Behind, A Stimulus For Education Is Essential
Published October 09, 2009 @ 06:41AM PT
Paul Krugman linked America's historic economic success directly to education in a recent New York Times op-ed saying, "If you had to explain America’s economic success with one word, that word would be 'education.'" He fears the opinion that governmental spending is always wasteful, and that this fear of spending has resulted in America falling further behind other countries.
So what's the suggestion then Mr Nobel Prize Winner? Answer: Money! Money to retain teachers, and maintain funding of community colleges that help bright students from less affluent families get into universities. Krugman demands that we must "approve another big round of aid to state governments." He's right to fear calling it a stimulus. He wants America to remember that education made America great, and our actions must reflect a commitment to keep education spending high. With that in mind, it shouldn't matter what we call it. But money isn't the be and end all, and it must be spent wisely, either on innovation, resources, or reform. It seems obvious that more money is required. The real debate is where and how to spend it.
Closure of Schools in Chicago May Have Led to Teen Violence
Published October 07, 2009 @ 04:37PM PT
Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Attorney General Eric Holder have been sent by President Obama to Chicago to address teen violence, following the death of a 16-year-old sophomore. The President has also asked for $25 million for crime-prevention. Some fear that the closure of a dozen Chicago schools has exacerbated the gang problem. Arne Duncan responded with cliches: "This is a fork in the road, this is a line in the sand, and we need to get dramatically better."
Jim Horn at Schools Matter has more on the link between the closure of schools and subsequent increase in teen violence. Most worrying is that money has been thrown at this problem before: "$60 million over 2 years for a data system and intervention program to identify and assist 10,000 of over 400,000 Chicago school students."
High School Dropout Factories Stuck in an Investment Catch-22
Published October 06, 2009 @ 08:40AM PT
Dropout factories — the nations lowest performing schools — maintain their bad streak due to a lacking of investment, investment they miss out on because of bad results. It's a catch-22 situation that sees the status quo perpetually maintained for the "2,000 or so high schools that produce half of the country's dropouts," explains Catherine Gewertz. She argues that a separate stream of money for these dropout factories could get results.
Arne Duncan is proposing to close 35 dropout factories, and reopen them as charters. But the Massachusetts Teachers Association explain that many Boston charter school have become dropout factories, and that by Arne Duncan's own standard, "Boston’s charter high schools are among the worst ‘dropout factories’ in the state." Duncan would likely counter with examples where charters have worked, but is closing schools, accepting defeat, and hoping new schools will be better ever a good idea, even for the very worst schools?
More Navy Seals in Schools! Alternate Paths to Teaching Improves Results
Published October 05, 2009 @ 11:44AM PT
Should teachers without traditional education degrees be expected to teach at as a high a standard as traditionally qualified teachers? Many non-traditional teachers are entering the Indianapolis public school system, with the superintendent a big fan, noting the ex-Navy Seal commander who taught science, and did so excellently.
Critics wonder whether non-traditionally schooled teachers can handle special cases, like helping students struggling with reading problems or learning disabilities. Despite these cases, a 2008 study "found that programs such as The New Teacher Project drew smarter teachers and that students benefited." These teachers are more likely to be smarter and pass teaching tests first time.
A few more ex-Navy seals has got to be a good thing for kids' education, but it's up to The New Teacher Project and Teach for America to ensure that these teachers have learned enough. Year-long courses seem the right course, rather than intensive five-week courses.
Deepening Segregation In Schools Missed By Mainstream Media
Published October 04, 2009 @ 12:57PM PT
Are schools today more segregated than in the 1950s? That's the conclusion of a UCLA study that was missed by the mainstream media earlier this year, so much so that it's one of the Top 25 Censored Stories for 2010; "the 25 most significant news stories that were largely ignored or misrepresented by the mainstream press," explains the San Francisco Guardian.
Appearing alongside stories of US arms being used for war-crimes, and the carbon-trading fiasco, the story of deepening segregation is an important one. It explains that millions of non-white student are locked into "drop-out factory" high-schools, finding that "the two largest minority groups, attend schools more segregated today than during the civil rights movement forty years ago."
Marking Standardized Tests During Happy Hour Proves Problematic
Published October 02, 2009 @ 06:45AM PT
Who should be marking standardized tests? How about people that are well into happy hour, then receive a call saying there's more marking to be done, and it's got be to done immediately, over the phone. This is a situation Todd Farley found himself in as project director of a private testing company. This isn't about marking multiple choice papers, which can be done by machine, but marking the more open ended answers, the response and correct answer to which can be entirely subjective and arbitrary.
Todd suggests some solutions in a New York Times op-ed suggesting, "we could start by requiring that scoring be done only by professionals who have made a commitment to education — rather than by people like me." It seems obvious that someone qualified should have to do it, but would schools be happy to have the costs of testing further stretched? And that's without even getting into whether standardized testing is the best way to measure student performance.
