Education News, Analysis, and Commentary
Jay Mathews rounds up the latest “debate” about learning styles*. But this whole teleprompter/notes “debate” about President Obama and Sarah Palin raises a question in a related vein: Why do we prioritize some kinds of intelligence over others in how we view people. For instance, why is being able to speak well extemporaneously better than speaking well …
Winners! Please stop emailing about winners in the NCLB naming contest, they’ve been announced. Charters! This new study from RAND on charter schools is important (pdf). Good analysis on several key questions across multiple states. Has some implications around the paper Sara Mead and I did on state laws and characteristics (pdf) but the data there …
There is a lot to recommend in this commentary by Pedro Noguera, but right at the end he tosses out one of today’s most popular and misleading lines: “…we must also acknowledge that if unions were the problem, the South would have the best schools.” It must be fashionable to say this because you hear it …
Today’s NY Times – no data yet, but big feature on small schools anyway…. “In the beginning I wasn’t too happy because they were so unorganized,” said Marlene McLeod, whose son, Justin, attends Peace and Diversity [High School in NYC]. But she said she had quickly learned that the principal, Andrew M. L. Turay, was …
Continue reading “Tom Vander Ark’s cappuccino today: half full, half empty”
Last Sunday the NY Daily News ed board weighed-in on the NYC teachers’ contract. It was the first of a series, Monday’s editorial here, Tuesday’s here, Wednesday’s here. Less important on specifics (though the Daily News does challenge both the Bloomberg-Klein administration and the UFT to get it right, an important point because both sides …