A weekly roundup of the week’s most important news, information and blog posts about curriculum, teaching, education policy and other items of interest to the Core Knowledge community.
Core Knowledge
Prelude to Excellence, by E.D. Hirsch, Jr.
Forbes
It is not the job of our colleges and universities to make up for the shoddy education offered by K-12 schools. It is the job of those schools to ensure they produce future undergraduates who are fully prepared to do college-level work.
Critical Thinking Not Possible Without Content Knowledge
Critical thinking is not a skill like riding a bike or diagramming a sentence that, once learned, can be applied in many situations. You have to buckle down and learn the content of a subject–facts, concepts and trends–before the maxims of critical thinking will do you much good.
Sunshine Is Still The Best Disinfectant
Diane Ravitch calls on Congress to authorize national testing, based on coherent curriculum standards, but without stakes or sanctions. “If states and localities don’t want to improve their schools, then we are in deeper trouble as a nation than any law passed by Congress can fix.”
Is It Better To Read Junk Than Not Read At All?
he kind of book you used to sneak into school, and hoped not to get caught reading, has gone mainstream. Is “Captain Underpants” the only way to turn boys into readers? Does time spent with ”Sir Fartsalot Hunts the Booger?” help reading comprehension?
Poll: Confidence in Public Schools & NCLB Slipping
A nationwide poll shows confidence in America’s public schools and the No Child Left Behind Act is declining. The survey by Education Next also shows Americans believe Democrats are the party “more likely to improve the nation’s schools.”
Best of the Blogs
Sweating the Small Stuff at the Education Gadfly
Like firm parents, teachers at six remarkable inner-city gap-busting schools profiled in a new book are engaged in explicit character training, aimed at creating a culture of kindness, decency, integrity, and hard work.
50 Things New Teachers Need To Know at Gently Hew Stone
For years I’ve watched new teachers start their first year with no clue about how to manage all that gets thrown at them, and I’ve wanted to have something to give them, samizdat style, that lets them in on what really matters, what really works, and what they should studiously ignore.
Che Studies at Jay P. Greene’s Blog
Raza Studies is part of the Ethnic Studies program in Tucson public high schools emphasizing Latino history and pride. But the particular way in which Tucson’s program does this has raised some critical scrutiny.
Advanced Readers at Unwrapping the Gifted
We don’t put as much effort into teaching the advanced learners as we do into teaching the struggling learners. This is educational neglect, folks.
Teaching and Curriculum
A Marshall Plan for Reading
City Journal
A Marshall Plan for reading as a means of closing the black-white achievement gap, Sol Stern writes, is a worthy platform for anyone hoping to be New York City’s next mayor.
Studies of Popular Reading Texts Don’t Make Grade
Education Week
Open Court Reading and Reading Mastery failed to earn ratings from the What Works Clearinghouse because they do not have any studies that satisfy the agency’s rigorous evidence standards.
Test scores show need to get more help to students
Detroit Free Press
Paying more attention to what’s happening in middle school strikes at the heart of the Michigan’s other academic high hurdle — stemming the tide of high school dropouts.
Teacher’s ‘branding’ case opens a religious divide
The Chicago Tribune
A well-known and popular Ohio middle school science teacher known for strong religious beliefs is charged with branding the shape of a cross onto the forearm of an eighth-grader.
Education Policy
How Well Are They Really Doing?
The New York Times
The states have made a mockery of accountability, using weak tests, setting passing scores low or rewriting tests from year to year, making it impossible to compare progress — or its absence — over time.
Exit Scramble
Education Week
States that rushed to tie high school graduation to passing a high-stakes test now face pressure to come up with alternatives, even as critics warn against a dilution of standards.
Homeschooling and Parenting
Parents may home-school children without teaching credential, California court says
Los Angeles Times
Parents may legally home-school their children in California even if they lack a teaching credential, a state appellate court ruled Friday. The decision is a reversal of the court’s earlier position, which effectively prohibited most home schooling.
More African-Americans Being Home Schooled
National Public Radio
According to the National Center for Education Studies, the number of African Americans being home schooled is growing.
Up to 11, Most Kids Aren’t Heavy Internet Users
Media Post Marketing Daily
Today’s kids are extremely tech-savvy, still relatively few kids are heavy Net users. Furthermore, most are still into TV, books and “old fashioned” toys, according to a new report.
Parents Shape Whether Their Children Learn To Eat Fruits And Vegetables
Science Daily
Providing fruits for snacks and serving vegetables at dinner can shape a preschooler’s eating patterns for his or her lifetime.
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