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Recent Posts
- Mary Byrne’s letter to US Education Department regarding information collection under FERPA 18 January, 2021
- The Sabotage of Public Education 18 January, 2021
- Comments of Mary Byrne to Springfield, MO public schools board on critical race theory 30 December, 2020
- K–12: The Life and Death of the Mind 2 November, 2020
- Hoping for a Stronger Focus on Public Education after November 3, 2020 1 November, 2020
- Stanford Professor Jo Boaler’s Math Revolution and War Against Algebra 2 28 October, 2020
- Academic Fitness 6 October, 2020
Comments
- AMIDU EDSON on Test Critics Fail the Test: Critics of Testing Don’t Understand the Basics of Testing
- amidu edson on K-12 is a land of mystery
- Sheldon Bennett on About Us
- Bruce Deitrick Price on K-12 is a land of mystery
Authors
Category Archives: K-12
Comments of Mary Byrne to Springfield, MO public schools board on critical race theory
Mary R. Byrne, Ed.D.December 8, 2020______________________________________________________________ I’d like to address Focus Area 5, Goal 1 of the 2019-2020 Strategic Plan End of Year Report that will be presented tonight specifically with regard to the following language: Facing Racism training objectives … Continue reading
K–12: The Life and Death of the Mind
By Bruce Deitrick Price The life of the mind. This lovely phrase states what education is supposed to be about.. All things bright and cerebral. Play chess. Write a story. Devise a plan for any goal. Weigh evidence for and … Continue reading
Hoping for a Stronger Focus on Public Education after November 3, 2020
Whether Donald Trump or Joe Biden wins in the presidential election of 2020, we need a new kind of Secretary of Education—someone who has classroom teaching experience beyond grade 5 and has administered an elementary, middle, or high school for … Continue reading
Stanford Professor Jo Boaler’s Math Revolution and War Against Algebra 2
Recently, Stanford GSE professor Jo Boaler, the foremost champion for reform math, has scaled up her campaign to displace algebra 2 with “data science” in American high schools: https://www.salon.com/2020/09/26/teaching-data-science-instead-of-calculus-high-schools-math-debate/?fbclid=IwAR2_EUTcMIrSEK2Y2HffJchGn4EKZ7IQOK4ePvGxttvl407m2Oo8Ut8nj7Q. For decades, Stanford University has lent its prestigious fame to help … Continue reading
Posted in constructivism, Curriculum & Instruction, K-12, math, Mathematics
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Academic Fitness
A few years ago I was at a conference of a few hundred History/Social Studies educators, consultants, etc. at the Center for the Study of the Senate in Boston. I was introduced, as The Concord Review and I had recently … Continue reading
Posted in Curriculum & Instruction, History, Humanities, K-12, reading, Will Fitzhugh
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Breaking the Spell of Math Reformists
by Ling Huang, Palo Alto, California In “My Childhood Schooling In The Soviet Union Was Better Than My Kids’ In U.S. Public Schools Today,” https://thefederalist.com/2019/08/27/childhood-schooling-in-soviet-union-better-than-u-s-public-schools-today/ Katya Sedgwick wrote, “Math was the dissident’s favorite in the Soviet Union. It was believed that … Continue reading
Posted in constructivism, Curriculum & Instruction, K-12, math, Mathematics
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Here’s how Idaho can develop academically strong ELA and Mathematics Standards when it revises its current standards*
By Sandra Stotsky, Professor Emerita, University of Arkansas Idaho can develop effective non-Common Core standards for mathematics and English/reading if its Legislature requires the development of K-12 standards in mathematics and in English/reading with the following features and guiding policies: … Continue reading
Posted in Common Core, Curriculum & Instruction, Education policy, K-12, Mathematics, Reading & Writing, Sandra Stotsky
Tagged Idaho, standards
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What can we do now: Education in America is a victim of Covid 19
AL’s education rating is already at the bottom of the heap nationally, but I don’t think any states are faring well today, and I don’t think any states have a solution. Am I alone in thinking that American education is … Continue reading
K-12 is a land of mystery
Bruce Dietrick Price* For those who enjoy a good puzzle, K-12 education is more intellectually entertaining than most people imagine. Classrooms are full of convoluted theories and mystifying methods. Probably the teachers themselves can’t explain the reasoning behind approaches that … Continue reading
Who’s Telling the Truth about Alabama’s Constitutional Amendment One?
As a former member of the Alabama State School Board (2003-2019), I would like to share my concerns about the ballot language for Amendment One. When voters get a ballot on March 3, this is all that is printed in … Continue reading
Posted in Common Core, Curriculum & Instruction, Education Fraud, Education policy, information suppression, K-12
Tagged Alabama
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Response to John Merrow’s advocacy of Project-based Learning
John Merrow has started a series of posts advocating project based learning. I just posted the following to his website: Last Week, Water. This Week, AIR. (The Series Continues) John, It’s disappointing to see you disparaging the teaching of factual information: … Continue reading
Test Critics Fail the Test: Critics of Testing Don’t Understand the Basics of Testing
by Glynn D. Ligon, now posted in the Nonpartisan Education Review. https://nonpartisaneducation.org/Review/Articles/v15n2.htm The Preface: Critics of testing students don’t understand the basics of testing. We let critics get away with bogus arguments that undermine the benefits of testing our students. … Continue reading
Posted in Education policy, K-12, Testing/Assessment
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Romanian officials’ nonchalant reaction to 2018 PISA results
Juan A. Martinez Constanta, Romania Two Romanian officials have reacted publicly to the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results. They appear to be unfazed by the results. This is atypical for persons responsible for national education quality. Their … Continue reading
Posted in International Tests, Juan A. Martinez, K-12, math, OECD, reading, Testing/Assessment
Tagged PISA, Romania
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Beware New Quality Counts State Rankings
Education Week just released the final segment on its 2019 ranking of state education systems, and it is unfortunate that this generally pretty good news outlet continues to mess this up. Point of Order: I just ranked Kentucky’ s All … Continue reading
Posted in Education journalism, Education policy, K-12, Richard Innes, Testing/Assessment
Tagged Education Week, Kentucky, NAEP, statistics
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Richard Phelps: Is our education system failing us? Critically Speaking
CriticallySpeak @CritiSpeak https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/013-dr-richard-phelps-is-our-education-system-failing-us/id1463016517?i=1000445232433 K12 is in trouble! Johnny can’t read, write or do arithmetic, even with a college degree. Interview with Dr. Richard Phelps CriticallySpeaking podcast Critically Speaking on Apple Podcasts @@string1@@ · 2019 podcasts.apple.com
Indoctrinating our youth: How a U.S. Public School Curriculum Skews the Arab-Israeli Conflict
https://www.camera.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Monograph-Spring-2017.pdf Anti-Israel Indoctrination Continues In Newton Public High School
Posted in Censorship, Education policy, K-12, Sandra Stotsky, Social Studies
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News Flash! AL’s Senate Pro Tem, who has previously stopped all anti-CC bills, filed an anti-CC bill today
http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/alison/searchableinstruments/2019RS/bills/SB119.htm?fbclid=IwAR1PKg4sFJhE3A1QxjyAJDPTQm6V2HTJ306VURV2jm-17KGp7lR7MBBxFNo The AL Senate has 35 members; 27 sponsored it.
Links to articles on standards-based grading
Competency based ed which is the method that will come as an outgrowth of SBG. What is measured will improve. So this from Peter Greene applies. https://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2015/11/can-competency-based-education-be.html?m=1
Interesting review of Arne Duncan’s book, by fellow Chicagoan Bill Ayers
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R1X8WUX1KNXQ3B/ref=cm_cr_getr_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=1501173065 Arne Doesn’t Learn customer review, by Dr. William C. Ayers If you pick up Arne Duncan’s How Schools Work hoping to learn something about, well, unsurprisingly I suppose, about “how schools work,” you’ll be sorely disappointed. There’s no policy … Continue reading
Letter to NPR’s Ari Shapiro and producers of their “individualized learning” podcast
From: Erich Martel Sent: Sunday, November 25, 2018 To: ‘mediarelations@npr.org’ Dear Ari Shapiro and Individualized Learning (and Project Based Learning) Podcast Producers, I want to make three points re “Individualized Learning” and all claims pertaining to education: 1) Always look … Continue reading
