The Answer Sheet: curriculum


Posted at 11:05 AM ET, 04/03/2013

The new kindergarten: Kids write 'informative' reports
By Valerie Strauss
Remember back in the olden days when kindergarteners used to be allowed to learn from playing? Look what they are doing now.

By Valerie Strauss  |  11:05 AM ET, 04/03/2013 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  Common Core, Curriculum, The Common Core

Posted at 10:14 AM ET, 02/23/2013

Should cursive writing be required? A N.C. bill would mandate it
By Valerie Strauss
Many schools don't bother teaching cursive writing anymore, but efforts are being made to require that they do.

By Valerie Strauss  |  10:14 AM ET, 02/23/2013 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  Curriculum, So Much For The Internet

Posted at 12:35 PM ET, 10/17/2012

Yes, students should take chemistry. Here’s why
By Valerie Strauss
A doctoral student rebuts a post that said students shouldn't take chemistry if they don't want to: "People don't have to become scientists if they don't want to, but they should have a fundamental understanding of scientific concepts. That way, people like myself need not be terrified that an ignorant public will vote to slash funding for scientific research and understanding. That way, iconic moments such as the landing of Curiosity on Mars will not be overshadowed in viewership by shows such as Honey Boo Boo."

By Valerie Strauss  |  12:35 PM ET, 10/17/2012 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  Curriculum, STEM

Posted at 11:00 PM ET, 01/10/2011

Has American education peaked?
By Valerie Strauss
Educator Marion Brady argues that our current reform road will do nothing to fix our school system, and he offers a way to imagine real alternatives.

By Valerie Strauss  |  11:00 PM ET, 01/10/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  21st century skills, arne duncan, marion brady, obama school reform, president obama and school reform, school curriculum, school reform

Posted at 12:30 PM ET, 10/20/2010

Threats to school reform ... are within school reform
By Valerie Strauss
Educator Mike Rose writes: "There is a crisis in American education, and it involves mostly poor children, and thus it is a moral as well as educational outrage. But it is just not accurate to characterize public education itself as being in a 30-year crisis."

By Valerie Strauss  |  12:30 PM ET, 10/20/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  Harlem children's zone, KPP, Teach for America, a nation at risk, curriculum, deborah meier, how to fix our schools, joel klein, manifesto, mike rose, narrowing of curriculum, no child left behind, poverty and schools, race to the top, reform manifesto, school reform, stephen j. gould

Posted at 04:00 PM ET, 10/19/2010

Missing from reform debate: The power of caring
By Valerie Strauss
The founder of YouthBuild programs writes: "We are woefully off the mark when the conversation is all about superintendents and principals needing power to fire inept teachers and not about using their power to create a caring, learning community."

By Valerie Strauss  |  04:00 PM ET, 10/19/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  curriculum, harlem schools, learning process, parent involvement, school reform, teachers development, youthbuild

Posted at 11:00 AM ET, 09/21/2010

Too many curricular aims creates assessment problems
By Valerie Strauss
A v eteran teacher says that the curriculum for many courses of study in American public schools tries to cover too much, and this creates serious problems for how students are assessed.

By Valerie Strauss  |  11:00 AM ET, 09/21/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Curriculum, Curriculum, Curriculum, Curriculum | Tags:  curriculum, curriculum and assessment, kenneth bernstein, value added

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 08/24/2010

How ed reformers push the wrong theory of learning -- Brady
By Valerie Strauss
A veteran educator and curriculum expert explains why today's education reformers are operating under the wrong theory of learning.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:00 AM ET, 08/24/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Curriculum, Curriculum, Curriculum, Curriculum, Curriculum | Tags:  joel klein and schools, marion brady, michael bloomberg and schools, new progressives, school curriculum, school reformers

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 08/20/2010

Where’s the rigor in U.S. schools?
By Valerie Strauss
The release of new ACT results shows that much of what U.S. schools offer is “rigorous” in name only.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:30 AM ET, 08/20/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  a nation at risk, academic rigor, common standards, curriculum and schools, hechinger report, justin snider, national standards, standards and curriculum

Posted at 07:25 AM ET, 07/21/2010

Primer for ed reformers (or, it’s the curriculum, stupid!)
By Valerie Strauss
A curriculum expert says school reformers are ignoring this truth: "I say the familiar “core curriculum” in use in America’s schools and colleges is a problem-plagued, dysfunctional,19th Century relic that fits the 21st Century about as well as the first Model T Ford fits into I-75 traffic." And here's how to fix it.

By Valerie Strauss  |  07:25 AM ET, 07/21/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  changing the curriculum, common core standards, curriculum reform, how to design curriculum, how to reform a school, marion brady, national standards, primer for reforms, race to the top, school reform, the answer sheet

Posted at 09:00 AM ET, 06/16/2010

Ravitch: 'Are we in an era of National Stupidity?'
By Valerie Strauss
Education historian Diane Ravitch looks at the accumulating evidence revealing how our "accountability policies are a great fraud," and asks: "Are we in an era of National Stupidity or National Insanity?"

By Valerie Strauss  |  09:00 AM ET, 06/16/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch | Tags:  Arne Duncan, Diane Ravitch, accountability and nclb, accountability movement, accountability policies, bridging differences, diane ravitch and deborah meier, holding teachers accountability, how to hold teachers accountable, narrowing the curriculum, president obama and education bluerpint, president obama and school reform, teachers and merit pay

Posted at 04:30 AM ET, 06/09/2010

MCPS selling its reputation to Pearson
By Valerie Strauss
Some may call Project North Star a pretty smart deal. I would use less flattering words to describe the deal into which Montgomery County Public Schools just entered with the world’s largest for-profit educational publishing company to nationally “brand” a newly created K-5 curriculum.

By Valerie Strauss  |  04:30 AM ET, 06/09/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Montgomery County Public Schools | Tags:  mcps, mcps curriculum, montgomery county public schools, pearson and montgomery county schools, pearson education, pearson education and curriculum, project north star

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 04/07/2010

Texas did not really rewrite history--Sewall
By Valerie Strauss
The director of the independent American Textbook Council says that the reports that came out of Texas about conservative changes to the social studies curriculum are wrong.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:30 AM ET, 04/07/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  History | Tags:  T, Texas and history, Texas board of education, Texas conservatives, Texas curriculum, Texas social studies, Texas standards

Posted at 06:29 AM ET, 04/02/2010

James McPherson on Texas history curriculum
By Valerie Strauss
I asked award-winning historian James McPherson how much we should worry about the changes to social studies curriculum being made by conservatives in Texas. Here's what he said.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:29 AM ET, 04/02/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  History | Tags:  history curriculum, texas, textbooks

Posted at 11:30 AM ET, 11/04/2009

Brady: The one reason Duncan's 'Race to the Top' will fail
By Valerie Strauss
When "Race to the Top" fails, as it will, the main reason won’t be any of those currently being advanced by the corporate interests and politicians now running the education show. It won’t fail because of lack of academic rigor, poor teaching, weak administrators, too-short school year, union resistance, differing state standards, insufficient performance incentives, sorry teacher training, or lingering traces of the early-20th Century Progressive movement. It will fail primarily for a reason not even being mentioned by leaders of today’s reform effort.

By Valerie Strauss  |  11:30 AM ET, 11/04/2009 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Race to the Top, Race to the Top, Race to the Top | Tags:  Marion Brady, Race to the Top, curriculum