Principal Apologizes for Testing

Amazing story at EdNotes about a principal who felt compelled to apologize for all of the time and money spent on testing and “For making his focus as a principal no longer helping his staff teach students but helping them teach test indicators.”
Wow.
Read the post here.

True Student Performance

In an age where student performance is measured by drive-by-test taking, it’s heart warming to read a story which shows that not everything about children can be measured empirically. It’s also a testimony of what can happen when a teacher fosters a relationship with a student over several years.
Click here to read “John” by [...]

The NCLB Sky is Falling!

According to This Little Blog, Chicken Little is struggling to keep up with those standardized tests!
Click here for the really clever post.

“Some thoughts on Obama’s education plans… merit pay, charter schools, and a whole lot of money”

Click here for a must-read over at Schooling Inequality…

Finally, An Insider Admits to the True Purpose of No Child Left Behind

Gerald Bracey of the Huffington Post provides a commentary on the June 8th issue of Time Magazine, in which Susan Neuman, who was an assistant secretary of education at the time that NCLB was being proposed admits that the law was looked at as a ‘Trojan horse” and that “There were a number of people [...]

Conflict of Interest?

Charlotte K Frank, former member of the New York State Board of Regents and Vice President of the McGraw-Hill Educational and Professional Publishing Group.
Did you pay attention in school? I think I did for the most part. Well, truthfully, I definitely day dreamed my way through some classes, but in the end, I walked [...]

When Did Our Children Become Commodities?

Balanced Literacy. Ramp Up. SAT’s. ACT’s. CTB’s. Riverside Tests. NCS. Whole Language. NWEA. Acuity. The list goes on…
Different year, different program, different method of assessment. As teachers we enter in September, only to learn that the program we used to teach our kids last year isn’t going to be used anymore.
This year, we have [...]

Did You Get The Memo?

Posted by avoiceinthewilderness
I was teaching summer school classes in a voluntary program for high school children. My class was playing Jeopardy to review some of the concepts we had been learning. The game was heating up; the score was really close. In retrospect, I should have calmed the kids down a bit, but I [...]

The Brilliant Plan That Paved the Way for the New York City Teaching Fellows Program

Posted by Avoiceinthewilderness
 
My good friend, Learnersinherit, makes some brilliant points about alternative teaching programs. I love her candor and insight and could not agree more with her comments. I’m not sure if she realizes, however, that the conditions that paved the way for the New York City Teaching Fellows were deliberately and [...]

Alternative Teacher Certification Programs Damage the Soul of Education

Programs like Teach for America and the New York Teaching Fellows have helped to staff some of the most difficult school districts, but while the idea of these programs often looks good, the truth is that they are aiding and abetting in the destruction of education.
As an unsatisfied graduate of the NYTF program, I have [...]