stumbling toward clarity, balance, and insight
Posted in Educational on Jun 17th, 2008
[I realize this post is long. If you'd rather read this post as black text on white background, you can use the "Print This" link to view the post in that format without actually having to print.]
In an earlier post, Humanities and the DY/DAN Method, I linked to Dan Meyer’s blog and his take on [...]
Posted in Educational on May 18th, 2008
Dan Meyer has a famously-interesting perspective on grading and homework. In a recent post, he offers a scenario of a student (Aaron) who has only attended 20% of the classes but whose grade is a C+. This is possible in Dan’s class because he’s only concerned with assessing a student’s comprehension. In his words:
I chase [...]
Posted in Educational on Apr 16th, 2008
Mike Petrilli, in a recent post on the Flypaper blog, comments on a study in Philadelphia that measured the impact of a “healthy-eating” initiative in schools. Petrilli’s argument is that, since the study found that school intervention in students’ diets measurably decreased the incidence of obesity in those students, schools can have a “big [...]
Posted in Cultural, Educational on Apr 15th, 2008
I’ve been reading the “Bridging Differences” blog for a few months now and love it. These are two really smart, well-informed, thoughtful, and passionate educators engaged in one of the best examples of extended civil debate I’ve found online … and the hyperbole is justified.
A few days ago, Deborah Meier posted “Let’s Play with [...]
Posted in Educational on Jan 3rd, 2008
From Cognitive Daily’s “Does test-taking help students learn?”
Practice tests need not duplicate the format of the final test. Instead, practice tests should require as much effort as possible from the test taker. If the goal is long-term retention, final tests should also be in a free-recall format rather than, say, choosing from a list of [...]
Posted in Educational on Dec 21st, 2007
The Freakonomics Blog (hosted by the New York Times) held a quorum on standardized testing and posted the contributions yesterday. The questions were:
Should there be less standardized testing in the current school system, or more? Should all schools, including colleges, institute exit exams?
Of the five responses, W. James Popham and Thomas Toch had the [...]
Posted in Educational on Nov 13th, 2007
Education Sector has posted the text of a presentation1 delivered by co-founder and co-director Thomas Toch. In it, Toch gives a brief but helpful recap of recent educational policy struggles, defines three main areas of tension, and suggests the likely outcome of each:
National vs. local authority in school reform; verdict: national standards are inevitable
Low-performing [...]
Posted in Educational on Oct 29th, 2007
I’m teaching a dual-enrollment freshman composition course through NVCC, the local community college. The course lets high-school seniors take the introductory college English courses in place of typical “English 12.” We’re fortunate enough to be working in a computer lab, so I asked the students to set up Google accounts and work with [...]
Posted in Educational on Aug 15th, 2007
While I disagree with the way NCLB has been conceived and enforced, I agree with this approach from teachers to students:
We decided it was our duty to do everything we could to help our students beat this test—everything, that is, except give up powerful, purposeful instruction.
I’ve also found that an “outside enemy” (like a standardized [...]
Posted in Educational on Jun 6th, 2007
A recent report from the Center on Education Policy suggests that students are improving on state reading and math tests. More than that:
the achievement gap between black and white students is shrinking in many states and … the pace of student gains increased after the law was enacted - Scores Up Since ‘No Child’ [...]
