Education Policy Archives - Page 35 of 37

We’ll Get What We Get, and We Should Throw A Fit

April 17, 2011Mike Lee Education, Education Policy

If we do go down this path, there has to be an increase in up-front compensation for teachers. Who is going to invest $30,000 or more into the rising cost of a university education to go after a job that will leave them in debt and incapable of raising a family on its income? We’ll get what we pay for: a lack of talent and major shortages of quality instruction.

Not On The Test

April 8, 2011Jen Robinson Assessment, Education Policy, Elementary

Yes, it is that time of the year again – Standardized State Testing. Oh my, everything that we have taught all year must be regurgitated in six tests over the course of three days. Unless you are in one of

“Oh, the Humanity!”

April 4, 2011Alaina Adams Assessment, Education, Education Policy, Life in the Classroom, Teacher Leadership

Now that I've moved into the last grading period of the school year, the magnitude of the year has started to sink in. In August, I felt scared – the national trends in education seemed daunting and overwhelming (to say the

A New Metric System: Part II

March 1, 2011Eve Rifkin Education, Education Policy

In my last blogpost, "A New Metric System", I took issue with a couple of key points that Diane Ravitch regularly makes in her book and while on tour. This was after I gave Dr. Ravitch major kudos for igniting

Connecting Policy to Practice, But What’s Connected to the Policy?

February 26, 2011Mike Lee Current Affairs, Education, Education Policy, Professional Development

I had the good fortune to be one of over 2,000 faces in the room at the Phoenix Convention Center this week for the Professional Learning Communities Summit. How was it? Invigorating. Energizing. Engaging. Affirming. But, also frustrating. Disappointing.

A New Metric System

February 26, 2011Eve Rifkin Assessment, Books, Current Affairs, Education, Education Policy, Life in the Classroom

Ravitch believes that as long as charters are working strictly with at-risk kids who are on the verge of dropping out of school, that is just fine. But as soon as charters start to attract the “regular” kids, they become the enemies of the public education system.

The Damning of Intellectualism

February 13, 2011Mike Lee Current Affairs, Education, Education Policy, Social Issues

Can we continue to hear the voices of our Founding Fathers, or will they forever be drowned out by the clang and clamor of the Damnation of Intellectualism?

Leaving the Classroom?

January 24, 2011Alaina Adams Education, Education Policy, Life in the Classroom, Mentoring, Professional Development, Teacher Leadership

So I’m reading Katy Farber’s book, Why Great Teachers Quit: And How We Might Stop the Exodus, which explores the demands, challenges, and rewards experienced by classroom teachers across the country who are staying in the trenches of public education

So Few Students; So Much Time

January 6, 2011Eve Rifkin Assessment, Education, Education Policy, Elementary, Life in the Classroom, Mathematics, Parent Involvment, Social Issues, Teacher Leadership

Every single student, all 190 of them, have a 30-minute long, midyear conference to which they invite parents, guardians, peers, teachers, and other staff members. They share work from their portfolios, talk about their accomplishments and struggles, reflect on their growth in the Habits of Heart and Mind, and set goals for the short and long term. The advisor facilitates each conference, but the student is truly in the driver’s seat. It’s not strictly a time to show off, although that happens sometimes. The roundtable conference is a time for honest reflection and hard conversations too.