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
The Unbearable Whiteness of Newbery?
The last time a Newbery Medal winner featured a black protagonist was Christopher Paul Curtis’ depression-era historical novel Bud, Not Buddy in 2000. The last Hispanic protagonist? Maia Wojciechowska’s Shadow of a Bull in 1965. A new study shows precious few nonwhite protagonists—or even secondary characters in Newbery winners
Why Nature (and Recess) Might Help Kids Learn
New research finds that interaction with nature is “restorative” — it provides a rest from the kind of directed that many people believe is important to schooling. Dan Willingham notes this finding fits well with other data showing that recess provides a cognitive boost for students. ”
Class Discussion For Sale
You attended school in the bad old traditional days. Don’t deny it. Back then, the teacher lectured while you took notes, read dead authors, and regurgitated dry facts. There was no class discussion. Today, you would not have to suffer, writes teacher Diana Senechal Schools across the country have purchased and mandated an exciting new type of classroom conversation called Accountable Talk®.
Reclaiming the Value of Knowledge in Public Life
It’s time to reclaim the value of knowledge in our political and civic life, argues UCLA professor Mike Rose. Not merely academic knowledge, but broad, practical know-how that enables people to solve problems.
Best of the Blogs
The conceit of “21st Century Skills” at Flypaper
21st Century Skills is “the latest incarnation of the ‘all kids need to learn is how to learn’ argument,” writes Mike Petrilli. Call it the “life adjustment” movement, call it “outcomes-based education,” call it “21st Century Skills” or call it a “doomed pedagogical fad.” Or simply call it bunk, because that’s what it is.
The Boston Pilot/Charter School Study: Some Good News, and Some Cautions at Eduwonkette
“A study on the efficacy of charter and pilot schools is a well-done, careful study that provides us with a range of estimates of charter and pilot school performance. There is certainly enough positive evidence here to support the creation of more charter schools in Boston,” notes Eduwonkette, ”but I want to offer two cautions.”
Blaming Special Ed at Jay P. Greene’s Blog
“It’s all too common but also completely mistaken to blame special education for the shortcomings of the public k-12 system,” Jay Greene writes. ”Most attempts to blame special ed don’t even bother presenting data or make the most crude use of data to support their claims.”
Curriculum and Teaching
Spelling Is an Integral Part of Learning the Language, Not a Matter of Memorization
American Educator
A common perception is that visual memory–taking a mental picture of the word–is the basis of spelling skill. Teachers often teach spelling by encouraging whole-word memorization. More recent studies, however, do not support the notion that visual memory is the key to good spelling.
The Rush for ’21st-Century Skills’
Washington Post
The phrase has inspired a flood of programs, notes Jay Mathews, including Lego engineering clubs for elementary schools, and the National Geographic’s science adventure Jason Project for middle schools. But many teachers say it is just good teaching with a jazzy name.
Maryland schools rank 1st in nation in analysis by ‘Education Week’
Baltimore Sun
Maryland’s schools rank first in the nation in an analysis of factors such as high school graduation rates, student achievement, academic standards and accountability by Education Week.
Education Policy
Schwarzenegger proposes 5 fewer school days
Los Angeles Times
A proposal by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to shorten the school year by five days is creating panic among educators across California, who say they barely have enough time to fit the state’s academic standards into the existing 180-day calendar.
Rhee Plans Shake-Up of Teaching Staff, Training
Washington Post
At the heart of Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee’s vision for transforming D.C. schools is a dramatic overhaul of its 4,000-member teacher corps that would remove a “significant share” of instructors and launch an ambitious plan to foster professional growth for those who remain.
Are we testing kids too much?
Mlive.com (Michigan(
An increased reliance on assessment tests is a trend that some find unsettling but others see as one of the most positive recent developments in education. Advocates say assessment tests help school districts measure the quality of their curricula and instruction. Still, for some, subjecting students to so many tests sums up what’s wrong with American education.
Homeschooling and Parenting
Homeschooling Grows
USA Today
The number of home-schooled kids hit 1.5 million in 2007, up 74% from when the Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics started keeping track in 1999, and up 36% since 2003. The percentage of the school-age population that was home-schooled increased from 2.2% in 2003 to 2.9% in 2007.
On the table
Boston Globe
Even as families feel the economic pinch, many eligible students don’t take advantage of free or low-cost breakfasts served at schools. Why?
Rhodes Scholar says parents rewarded achievements in the classroom over football field
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
FSU junior safety Myron Rolle has played his final college football game. But he’s not leaving to join the National Football League; Rolle is one of 32 U.S. students who have been awarded an all-expense paid scholarship for up to three years of study at Oxford University in England.
Politically correct parents ditch ‘offensive’ traditional fairy tales
Daily Mail (U.K.)
Two-thirds of British parents believe traditional fairytales have “stronger morality messages” than modern equivalents. But some are ditching Cinderella and Rapunzel in favor of The Gruffalo or The Very Hungry Caterpillar, believing the older stories are politically incorrect or “too dark” to read to children.
Et Alia
Playing outside can prevent children becoming short-sighted
Daily Mail (U.K.)
Playing outdoors dramatically cuts a child’s risk of becoming short-sighted. Spending two or three hours outside each day halves the chance of developing the condition. The finding by researchers in Australia challenges the belief that short-sightedness is caused by computer use, TV watching or reading in dim light.
Also newsworthy just this morning was Tom (The World Is Flat) Friedman’s column in the New York Times. Talk about thinking outside the box! HIS PROPOSAL: “One of the smartest stimulus moves we could make would be to eliminate federal income taxes on all public schoolteachers so more talented people would choose these careers.”
Even though he mentions early on in his piece that his wife is a public schoolteacher in Maryland I hardly believe he compromises himself at all with his proposal. I doubt if the additional income in the Friedman household would be needed.
I like his idea, a lot.
I just saw that piece, Paul, and made a mental note to blog about it. Here’s what I was thinking: great idea, but how long will it be before someone insists that it be tied to performance?
Robert,
Let’s hope not.
Massachusetts, always the educational trendsetter, frees all retired teachers from state income tax. So with state income tax, pension contributions, and union dues not being taken out of our checks upon retirement, our monthly checks almost amount to something. It’s really a pretty good deal. I hope other sates do the same for their retired teachers.
Re: Freidman’s idea…
Why not bite the bullet and have a Federal initiative to pay teachers more — maybe even specifically math and science teachers more — rather than the backwards “tax break” approach?
To me the problem with the tax break approach is that it seem like the foot in the door to hoards of professions asking for similar exemptions. Police, fire fighters, doctors, nurses, private school teachers (aren’t they teachers too?), child care workers…
And they all really are deserving of support, but I’m not sure the Federal tax code is the way to do it.