Monday, December 13, 2010

Snowy Monday

Most of the midwest is digging out today from a weekend snowstorm and cold front that reminded us all that winter is really here. Schools in our area are all on two hour snow delays today. Between carrying in loads of firewood, here are a few good links I ran across over the weekend.

Robert King's series on the kindergarten at Indianapolis School 61 featured Volunteers for kindergartners top wish list at IPS School 61 last week. He added School 61 is flooded with offers of help yesterday.

Sam Dillon tells of New Challenges for Obama’s Education Agenda in the Face of a G.O.P.-Led House on the New York Times.

The eSchool News staff have one about turnarounds in 730 U.S. schools trying to reinvent themselves.

Gates Study Offers Teacher-Effectiveness Clues by Stephen Sawchuk on Education Week looks at preliminary results from a big Gates funded study on teacher evaluation.

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Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Education "Reform" in Indiana

Tom Steiger, a professor of sociology and women's studies at Indiana State University, had probably the best description of what is going on in education "reform" in Indiana I've seen this Sunday in the Terre Haute Tribune-Star. He began:

A recent poll of Indiana parents revealed that 80 percent are satisfied with their local schools. To listen to Gov. Daniels or Education Sup. Bennett talk about Indiana public schools, those parents must be mistaken, duped, or school teachers.

Tom went on from there to reveal the underlying reasons for the Governor and State Super's education "reform" agenda and just how dangerous that could be to Indiana's public schools.

I'd hoped to link to this important column on Monday, but the Trib-Star inexplicably didn't put it online. Emails to editors at the Trib-Star have gone unanswered. Fortunately, going to the horse's mouth worked this time, and Professor Steiger promptly sent me the link to When schools are profit centers, wreckage will be the norm on his The Steiger Counter blog. While his article addresses education "reform" in Indiana, the potential outcomes he describes of privatization of public schools are applicable to the Obama/Duncan school reform plan as well.

Odds 'n' Ends

I think Walt Gardner gets my vote for best quote of the week. In Teacher Seniority Suffers Another Blow, he writes, "I don't think we can fire our way to better schools."

Mr. Teachbad has some fun with the education "reform" crowd with his Principal Seeks to Replace Student Body, Improve Scores.

Diane Ravitch writes in The Real Lessons of PISA:

The lesson of PISA is this: Neither of the world's highest-performing nations do what our "reformers" want to do. How long will it take before our political leaders begin to listen to educators?

Friday, December 17, 2010

Library of Congress Summer Teacher Institutes

The Library of Congress is now accepting applications for its free Summer Teacher Institutes. "The five-day institutes will provide educators with the tools and resources to effectively integrate primary sources into classroom teaching." The application deadline is February 4, 2011.