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
Core Knowledge is a 21st Skill
“The common idea that we can teach thinking without a solid foundation of knowledge must be abandoned, notes Lauren Resnick, a professor of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. “So must the idea that we can teach knowledge without engaging students in thinking.”
On Curriculum: The Silence of the Dems
Why do education reformers have so much to say about funding, choice, teacher quality and incentives–yet virtually nothing about what children are actually taught inside the classroom?
Gates Foundation Standards. Why Not?
If it’s OK for the insurance industry to write health care legislation or the oil industry to craft energy policy, how can helping to draft national standards and assessments be off-limits for the Gates Foundation?
Obama and the War On Brains
The New York Times
American voters have just picked a president who is an open, out-of-the-closet, practicing intellectual, writes Nicholas Kristof. “Maybe, just maybe,” he notes, “the result will be a step away from the anti-intellectualism that has long been a strain in American life.”
In Education Blogs
Teachers don’t care, and they’re boring me at The Gradebook
Less than half of middle and high school students think teachers care about their problems and feelings, and less than a third think teachers make school exciting, according to national survey.
Assessments for Learning at Borderland
If we’d have used an NCLB-style approach to the Apollo moon mission, writes teacher Doug Noon, “President Kennedy would have simply ordered NASA to fly conventional airplanes higher and higher until they fell out of the sky, and then blamed the pilots for lacking the will and the know-how to get the job done.”
Efficiency and Spelling at D-Ed Reckoning
“It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of constructivist and child-centered teaching practices,” writes Ken DeRosa. “And traditional practices aren’t very efficient either. In fact they are downright primitive compared to what we know about how children learn.”
Elementary math stumps teachers at Joanne Jacobs
Too many elementary teachers didn’t like math when they were in school, took very little in college and don’t understand it well enough to explain concepts like place value to children.
Teaching and Curriculum
Growth Data for Teachers Under Review
Education Week
As states’ information-collection systems grow more sophisticated, officials are grappling with where to draw the line on how “value added” data on teachers can be used.
Measuring Skills for the 21st Century
Education Sector Report
Multiple-choice tests in reading and math are useful for meeting the proficiency goals of NCLB and state accountability systems. But leaders in business, government, and higher education say the intellectual demands of 21st century work require assessments that measure more advanced skills.
School Districts Caught in a Squeeze
USA Today
School superintendents nationwide say the struggling economy threatens to reverse progress they have made in closing historic achievement gaps as schools face trimmed budgets now — and possibly worse ones next fall.
Thousands of families shut out of pre-k programs
The Associated Press
State prekindergarten programs reserved for low-income students are squeezing out thousands of middle-class families unable to afford early education. A study by the Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group Pre-K Now shows that 700,000 middle-income families in 20 states are feeling the “pre-k pinch” as the economy spirals toward a recession.
School District Tries to Lure Asian Parents
The New York Times
The suburban Jericho, Long Island school district is trying to lure Asian parents into the schools with free English classes and a multicultural advisory committee that, among other things, taught one Chinese mother what to wear and what to bring to a bar mitzvah.
Education Policy
Gates’ New Approach Gets Good Reviews
Education Week
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation intends to refocus its education grantmaking efforts on three pillars: identifying and promoting higher standards for college readiness, improving teacher quality, and fostering innovations to aid struggling students.
Obama Is Expected to Put Education Overhaul on Back Burner
The Wall Street Journal
Critics of the Bush administration’s education policies had hoped that putting a Democrat in the White House would mean dramatic changes. But with the financial crisis and other priorities bearing down, President-elect Barack Obama’s education initiatives are expected to be more about tinkering than bold change.
Homeschooling and Parenting
A Crucial Decision For the Obamas: Public or Private?
The Washington Post
Like many parents moving their children to Washington, Barack and Michelle Obama will be told to avoid D.C. public schools. Jay Mathews wonders: Is that good advice?
Obama may make parents a stronger player in education
The Providence Journal
By supporting the parents’ right to choose where their children go to school during his campaign, writes Julia Steiny, ”Obama signaled that he was willing to shift some power back to the families who have too long been left out of the education equation.”
Et Alia
Revenge of the Black Nerd
New York Magazine
In his speech at the Democratic convention four years ago, Barack Obama memorably challenged the myth that holding a book is “acting white.” Now that he’s been elected president, he might actually be able to do something about it.
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