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
Thoughts on Election Day
May our students understand and appreciate that regardless of what lever is pulled inside the voting booth, every vote cast is a vote of confidence in something both grand and delicate.
How Not to Evaluate Teachers
UVA professor and Core Knowledge board member Dan Willingham says plans to evaluate teachers based on standardized test scores are “fatally flawed.”
Elvis is in the Building
Hats off to the Traut Core Knowledge Elementary School in Ft. Collins, Colorado, where 6th graders transformed their school gym into a living “wax museum” to show off what they learned about various historic people.
“I’m a Teacher and I’m Tired”
Educating all of our children requires “something more than sounding warning bells and asking teachers to pull up their boot straps time and again,” notes teacher-blogger Bill Ferriter.
In the Education Blogs
An Open Letter to President-Elect Barack Obama at Eduflack
Now is the time to be innovative and offer new ideas for the problems that have ailed our public schools for decades now. Now is the time to build a non-partisan approach based on what is needed, what is sought, and what works.
Post Election Odds & Ends at Eduwonk
Real reform has an edge and, in the short term, requires picking some winners and losers if you really want to focus on traditionally ill-served students, writes Ed Sector’s Andy Rotherham. “Balancing all this will be a tougher political act. But, if the last two years are a guide, this guy’s up to it.”
Obama Wins! Have We Overcome the Scourge of Race? at Eduwonkette
Despite the election of Barack Obama, the social, economic and political forces that shape the educational opportunities of African-Americans in U.S. society remain deeply entrenched.
Looking Forward to NCLB at Ed Money Watch
The list of topics that is likely to make or break reauthorization of NCLB process is extensive and overwhelming, writes Jennifer Cohen of the New America Foundation. First and foremost is the looming 2014 deadline for 100 percent proficiency on academic tests.
Curriculum and Teaching
An Addition to the Classroom
Washington Post
As pressure mounts to prepare elementary students for high-stakes tests and for algebra in middle school, the focus on instilling math’s most basic skills is intensifying.
Goal is to help those struggling in classes
San Diego Union-Tribune
The San Diego Unified School District will put together its most detailed account of student progress this year with help from new data analysis using the so-called “value-added” method.
Time Invested In Practicing Pays Off For Young Musicians
ScienceDaily
A Harvard-based study has found that children who study a musical instrument outperform children with no instrumental training on tests measuring verbal ability and visual pattern completion–skills not normally associated with music.
Texas considers online teacher certification
Cox News Service
Texans seeking an alternate way to a teaching certification could obtain some of their required training online under a proposal being considered by a state education panel.
Education Policy
Obama’s Possible Candidates for Education Secretary
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The suggested names include campaign advisers, current and former governors and state education officials, policy-research professionals, and people Mr. Obama knows through personal friendships or home-state ties.
Oregon public boys school to close
The Associated Press
Oregon’s only public all-boys school has failed to attract enough students and will be shut down.
Incentives Can Make Or Break Students
The Washington Post
Critics of student incentive initiatives are pointing to a body of psychological research suggesting that tangible rewards can erode children’s intrinsic motivation.
Healing America’s Sick Schools
The Boston Globe
Public and political support for NCLB reauthorization will require changes that give good schools some freedom from inflexible federal requirements while providing failing schools with more hands-on help.
Homeschooling and Parenting
5 Ways to Improve Children’s Literacy Skills
Stargazette.com
“Spending time together and learning as a family can be a simple, inexpensive and easy activity. It just requires a little time, imagination and creativity,” says the head of the National Center for Family Literacy.
Program trains parents to weave reading into kids’ lives
The Tennesseean
Even the busiest parents can play a big role in helping their children learn to read. That’s the message behind “Love. Read. Learn!” a new program to teach parents how kids learn to read.
Et Alia
When Homework is a Headache–Literally
Children who develop headaches while reading or who struggle to complete their homework may be sufferring from an under-diagnosed vision problem.
Online Grading Systems Mean No More Changing D’s to B’s
The Washington Post
Parents and students can track fluctuations in a grade-point average from the nearest computer in real time, a ritual that can become as addictive as watching political polls or a stock-market index.
