Universal Pre-K: Benefits and Downsides
The push for universal pre-K echoes from the White House on down and nowadays is the talk all about town. As Education Secretary John B. King put it, "Because of historic investments from the Obama administration, states and cities, more children-particularly those...
The Atlantic Takes on Homework
In The Atlantic's article, "When Homework Is Useless," education experts are asked if schools should assign, grade and use take-home assignments; the following are pulled from their comments: "Homework is absolutely necessary for students to demonstrate that they are...
The Atlantic Asks, “What Should Students Know upon Graduation?”
More specifically, The Atlantic asked various education experts the question: What should students be expected to know by the time they leave school." Here are some snippets from their responses: "Students should leave school with the ability to think critically and...
Brian A. Jacob’s Take on Student Test Scores
The study, "Student Test Scores: How the Sausage Is Made and Why You Should Care," was written by Brian A. Jacob, a University of Michigan professor and senior fellow at the Brookings Institute. What he figured out is definitely worth noting in this day and age of...
Reasons for the Current Teacher Shortage
Reasons for the Current Teacher Shortage By Carol Josel | Submitted On August 19, 2016 America has a teacher shortage problem, and there's plenty of blame to go around, especially since the Obama administration took over and the federal government doubled-down on...
The Sorry State of Writing Instruction under Common Core
As reported by The Washington Post's Jay Mathews, The Education Trust collected 1,876 school assignments from 6 middle schools in two big cities in two states to uncover how well English, the humanities, social studies, and science are being taught in this age of the...
Pew Research Center Poll on News Consumption Trends
Recently released results of a two-part Pew Research Center survey conducted early this year queried 4,654 adults about their favorite national and international news sources and viewing habits. The findings reflect a number of age-related trends. For instance: 20%...
Fewer College Students Majoring in Education
The message is clear: Fewer and fewer of our college students are opting for teaching careers, suggesting a dim outlook for school districts in need of filling vacancies. Indeed, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, enrollment continues to rise,...
Teacher Absenteeism Makes Headlines
Kids are missing school in droves—6.5 million of them last year according to the U.S. Department of Education, but they’ve got company in that regard. According to a 2014 National Council on Teacher Quality study, teachers, on average, are absent 11 days each year,...
NOTE: Avatar-Driven Teacher Licensing Program
The powers that be keep taking their education reform agenda to new lows, even as they speak at the same time about raising standards, a la the ever-controversial Common Core State Standards. In reality, most teachers held their students to high account well before...
The Case for Putting Handwriting Back in the Curriculum
Back in 2014, journalist M. English penned an article for 21st Century Media that led with the line, "When John Hancock signed the Declaration of Independence, he couldn't have known he'd become a penmanship icon," and adding that January 23 is National Handwriting...
Quotes from Sebastian Junger
In a piece in Time Magazine's June 27, 2016 issue, Sebastian Junger, author of Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging, is asked several questions by Karl Vick. One such question was, "So it's not just service members who feel isolated," to which the author responds: "The...
A Word about Millenials
The following insights come with thanks to Laura L. Carstensen, the director of the Stanford Center on Longevity writing for Time Magazine's June 27, 2016 issue. Entitled, "What millennials already know about growing up," she highlights findings on the university's...
Physical Activity and Academics: A Proven and Positive Link
Here's one more reason--and a very convincing one--why parents should make their kids put down their electronic devices and get their kids moving. The research also has implications for schools and their government-sponsored obsession with data and standardized test...
Chronic Absenteeism: Students and Teachers, A;ike
Sure it’s summer and classrooms are empty for now, but it’s still worth taking note that, every year it seems our kids are staying away from school in droves. In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s 2013-14 Civil Rights Data Collection's 2016 update,...
Chronic Student Absenteeism: Stats, Underlying Factors, and the Federal Response
Some time before schools had shut their doors on the 2015-16 school year, the U.S. Department of Education’s 2013-14 Civil Rights Data Collection's 2016 update reported that over 6.5 million kids had been “chronically absent.” In other words, they missed 15 or more...
The New SAT: Need-to-Know Changes
As reported by Nick Anderson, on the retooled SAT, the emphasis is on measuring "core skills taught in school, such as reading charts, analyzing evidence and applying algebra in mathematical problems." One caveat, though: "It turns out that the new test comes with a...
Actor Marlo Thomas Tackles Kids and the Scary Media Climate
Actor and national outreach director for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital Marlo Thomas says, "Whether the story is terrorism, economic turmoil, global warming, or racial tensions, children are being raised in fear and are having an increasingly difficult time...
ADHD: Why the Cases Are Doubling in Number
In a recent article, Health Day reporter Amy Norton posited that maybe, just maybe, the global rise in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder may be due to us adults having "unreasonable expectations of young children," just as researchers have been noting. Indeed,...
Peter Greene on a Tech Fix for Teacher Prep Programs
As a student teacher supervisor working out of two colleges, I just had to include this excerpt from a piece by Peter Greene, a veteran high school teacher in Pennsylvania who also happens to author the Curmudgucation blog. In it he tackles tech-based teacher prep...
