Monday, October 13, 2008

Sometimes it's feast or famine when hunting good stories for Educators' News. Today it's a feast.

All About Testing

Three related posting on testing have appeared recently that I'd like to share. The first, More Schools Miss the Mark, Raising Pressure, tells about the effects of test results having become a primary focus in our schools. The New York Times' Kristin Hussey looks at the good and the bad of NCLB in the Connecticut schools.

Guest Eduwonk blogger Elizabeth Green looks at the differing views of school reform in What Kind of Democrat Are You? A Litmus Test. She summarizes the approaches of the Broader, Bolder Agenda and the Education Equality Project, and also runs a quick, fake poll to see how teachers in general feel. (See the links at the end of her blog posting.)

Included in Green's blog posting is a quote from a Kenneth Bernstein column in the New York Times, What’s Behind the Curve. Bernstein discusses how individual differences of students in his AP classes effect his grading. He really hits his stride at the end of the column when he speaks of what the current testing mentality is doing to teaching, students, and teachers. He writes in part:

Teaching is at the heart of the educational experience. Teaching, not testing. I increasingly believe that our educational system’s emphasis on testing in the name of improving our schools will have the effect of driving away good and dedicated teachers who refuse to apply practices harmful to the ultimate wellbeing of the students in their care.

"Eyes"

How many times have you motioned and said, "Eyes," when working with students, especially those with disabilities? ScienceDaily reports on an Important Clue To Learning Deficit In Children With Autism that affirms efforts at eye contact with the disabled to improve learning.

Characters on Milk Cartons

Rob Walker's Milk Cartoon tells about "the proliferation of kid-friendly characters who have leapt from pop-culture entertainment onto product packaging," especially the ubiquitous half pint school milk carton. He tells of increased milk consumption by school children as a result of the promotions, along with some criticism by some of "companies exploiting current concerns about children’s health and food consumption in order to market in schools."

Finding a Superintendent

Calvin Hennick's Not enough chiefs in the Boston Globe reminded me of an article I'd linked to from Educators' News in March, Rise of the "Rock Star" School Superintendent. The problem remains the same in both articles. Finding a good school superintendent is difficult and probably getting harder all the time.

The Day the World Didn't End

Science@NASA has a good article about the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in The Day the World Didn't End. In a posting probably best suited for older, high school students, Dr. Tony Phillips tells of how the LHC could create microscopic black holes and might provide the "first experimental evidence to support an elegant but unproven and controversial 'theory of everything' called string theory."

Odds 'n Ends

A principal from Westfield (IN) Middle School will be spending a night on the roof this week to settle a bet he made with his band students. I can see a night of music and stargazing in his future. I also wonder if anyone has ever made a list of all the crazy things school administrators have done to promote fund raisers at their schools.

The UFT has filed a lawsuit "claiming that a policy banning political pins and signs in schools violates teachers’ First Amendment rights by blocking them from political expression."

Maybe you could call this one "equal time," but it really isn't, as I tend to post a lot of negative stuff about the current merit pay proposals going around. Kilian Betlach's blog posting, If “Profession” Is the Butterfly, We Are the Larva, on Teaching in the 408, is really a good discussion of some things that need to happen in the teaching profession (except the merit pay stuff :-).

Today, of course, is Columbus Day. If you're teaching today and looking for morning work or a handout, try Googling it.

And since today's posting is totally devoid so far of any color, let's just skip the usual closing ad and enjoy the sunset from last night.

Have a great week in the classroom.

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