The Answer Sheet - School Survival Guide for parents (and everyone else).

Posted at 11:00 AM ET, 03/31/2012

‘A statement of our just grievances’

By Valerie Strauss

A superintendent of schools in Texas delivers ‘a statement of our just grievances’ about the consequences of corporate-based school reform.

By Valerie Strauss | 11:00 AM ET, 03/31/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 11:46 AM ET, 03/30/2012

Mega Millions: Do lotteries really benefit public schools?

By Valerie Strauss

State lotteries, including the game Mega Millions, have been sold to the public as a worthy gambling enterprise because proceeds help fund public education.

By Valerie Strauss | 11:46 AM ET, 03/30/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 09:00 AM ET, 03/30/2012

50-plus banned words on standardized tests

By Valerie Strauss

States actually try to keep certain non-profane words out of standardized tests — words like Halloween and dinosaur — to avoid what officials think are negative reactions among some students. Really.

By Valerie Strauss | 09:00 AM ET, 03/30/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 03/30/2012

A blow-by-blow account of fight over charter school bill

By Valerie Strauss

Here is a highly revealing and engaging blow-by-blow account of how the Mississippi House’s Education Committee dealt this week with important charter school legislation.

By Valerie Strauss | 05:00 AM ET, 03/30/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 04:00 AM ET, 03/30/2012

A modern history lesson (or, there’s nothing new under the sun)

By Valerie Strauss

Next month, city students take the standardized tests on which their progress, and perhaps the fates of their teachers and schools, depend—all amid a debate over testing that, it turns out, is nothing new.

By Valerie Strauss | 04:00 AM ET, 03/30/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 02:43 PM ET, 03/29/2012

Study: Historical inaccuracies in films can hinder learning

By Valerie Strauss

Historical flaws in popular movies that are used by teachers as learning tools can confuse students, Duke University researchers conclude.

By Valerie Strauss | 02:43 PM ET, 03/29/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 03/29/2012

High school that monitors students’ tweets expels senior

By Valerie Strauss

A high school in Indiana that tracks students’ tweets expelled a senior close to graduating.

By Valerie Strauss | 05:00 AM ET, 03/29/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 04:30 AM ET, 03/29/2012

Give me charters or give me....

By Valerie Strauss

Here is a list that shows how state lawmakers are moving to expand charter schools and make it easier for charter managment companies to come into a state and set up shop. As a result, the door is being open to huge investment opportunites for land, buildings, and leasing opportunities, all on the taxpayers’ dime.

By Valerie Strauss | 04:30 AM ET, 03/29/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 04:00 AM ET, 03/29/2012

Questions about NAEP benchmarks

By Valerie Strauss

Questions are raised about the benchmarks used in the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

By Valerie Strauss | 04:00 AM ET, 03/29/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 12:40 PM ET, 03/28/2012

Researchers blast Chicago teacher evaluation reform

By Valerie Strauss

Scores of researchers and academics sent a letter to Chicago’s mayor and education officials warning against implementing a test-based evaluation system.

By Valerie Strauss | 12:40 PM ET, 03/28/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 03/28/2012

Ravitch: The toll of school reform on public education

By Valerie Strauss

Education historian Diane Ravitch adds up the toll that modern school reform has taken on the country’s public education system.

By Valerie Strauss | 06:00 AM ET, 03/28/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 03/28/2012

The longest task force name in history?

By Valerie Strauss

“The name of a man,” Marshall McLuhan once said, “is a numbing blow from which he never recovers.”

By Valerie Strauss | 05:00 AM ET, 03/28/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 04:00 AM ET, 03/28/2012

How to remake the Education Department (or, it’s time to give teachers a chance)

By Valerie Strauss

A professor references Jared Diamond to explain what he sees as the fundamental problem with the U.S. Education Department and lays out a plan to fix it.

By Valerie Strauss | 04:00 AM ET, 03/28/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 01:34 PM ET, 03/27/2012

‘Bully’ film highlights cockeyed rating system

By Valerie Strauss

The documentary “Bully,” which follows some students who were bullied at school by their classmates over the course of a year, is at the center of a ridiculous battle.

By Valerie Strauss | 01:34 PM ET, 03/27/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Tags: Movies

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 03/27/2012

Largest charter network in U.S.: Schools tied to Turkey

By Valerie Strauss

Can you identify the largest charter school network in the United States? You may be surprised to learn that it is operated by people in and associated with the Gulen Movement, a secretive and controversial Turkish religious sect

By Valerie Strauss | 06:00 AM ET, 03/27/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 03/27/2012

Education Department’s own Etch-a-Sketch

By Valerie Strauss

Education Secretary Arne Duncan seems to have changed his tune about the release in New York City of teacher “value-added” scores. Why did he do it?

By Valerie Strauss | 05:00 AM ET, 03/27/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 04:00 AM ET, 03/27/2012

Secrets of ‘miraculous’ charter management organizations

By Valerie Strauss

A four-year study aimed at identifying best practices of effective charter management organizations is unintentionally revealing in its conclusions. Here’s how

By Valerie Strauss | 04:00 AM ET, 03/27/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 09:58 AM ET, 03/26/2012

South Korea’s surprising stand-down on digital textbooks

By Valerie Strauss

South Korea has for years equated the advance of technology with societal progress, including in the area of education. Not now.

By Valerie Strauss | 09:58 AM ET, 03/26/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 04:00 AM ET, 03/26/2012

20 questions for parents about K-12 school reform

By Valerie Strauss

Here’s a test for parents to take so they can assess just how serious they are about school reform in their own children’s schools.u

By Valerie Strauss | 04:00 AM ET, 03/26/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 04:00 PM ET, 03/25/2012

What the latest revelations on test cheating really mean — updated

By Valerie Strauss

An education researcher looks at the data that was being used as part of a national study released by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and affiliated Cox newspapers and expresses some concerns. Plus a response from the AJC.

By Valerie Strauss | 04:00 PM ET, 03/25/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 08:00 AM ET, 03/25/2012

Ignoring a reform that works

By Valerie Strauss

Class size reduction has been shown to improve teaching and learning, but education officials seem to be ignoring it,

By Valerie Strauss | 08:00 AM ET, 03/25/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 07:00 AM ET, 03/25/2012

‘There is no joy in education these days’

By Valerie Strauss

As Alabama considers a bill to allow charter schools in the state, a resident writes that the Legislature is deluding itself as it addresses education policy.

By Valerie Strauss | 07:00 AM ET, 03/25/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 10:09 AM ET, 03/24/2012

‘Rhee Effect:’ Why depending on private cash for reform is a bad idea

By Valerie Strauss

Why depending on private money to fund reforms is a bad idea.

By Valerie Strauss | 10:09 AM ET, 03/24/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 09:48 AM ET, 03/24/2012

‘Occupy’ the Ed Department starts Friday

By Valerie Strauss

Activists unhappy with the administration’s education policies are planning a four-day event called “Occupy the DOE in D.C.”

By Valerie Strauss | 09:48 AM ET, 03/24/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 12:05 PM ET, 03/23/2012

In Texas, a revolt brews against standardized testing

By Valerie Strauss

In the state where No Child Left Behind was born, there is something of a revolt brewing against the standardized testing regime it has forced on public schools across the nation.

By Valerie Strauss | 12:05 PM ET, 03/23/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 04:00 AM ET, 03/23/2012

Teacher: One (maddening) day working with the Common Core

By Valerie Strauss

A high school English teacher and colleagues spend a day working with an “exemplar” from the Common Core standards and are distressed at what they found.

By Valerie Strauss | 04:00 AM ET, 03/23/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 02:00 AM ET, 03/23/2012

Why not Race to the Top for political reform?

By Valerie Strauss

If the policies undergirding the Race to the Top education reform are good enough for learning, shouldn’t we use them to improve other public systems? Let’s start with political reform.

By Valerie Strauss | 02:00 AM ET, 03/23/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 04:00 AM ET, 03/22/2012

What standardized tests should assess

By Valerie Strauss

A veteran educator makes a new modest proposal: That all new standardized tests actually assess higher order thinking. Here’s how they they can that.

By Valerie Strauss | 04:00 AM ET, 03/22/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 03:00 AM ET, 03/22/2012

Student mocked by teacher for missing state standardized test

By Valerie Strauss

A middle school student who didn’t take the writing portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test because he was sick at home was later forced by a teacher to wear a sign that said: “I decided to come to school today, but I didn’t come to school during the FCAT.”

By Valerie Strauss | 03:00 AM ET, 03/22/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 04:00 AM ET, 03/21/2012

Best part of ‘schools-threaten-national-security’ report: The dissents

By Valerie Strauss

The most interesting part of the new Condoleezza Rice-Joel Klein report, which bemoans how American national security is threatened by the poor state of public education, is not in the body of the document itself. The real story is in the dissents at the end of the report.

By Valerie Strauss | 04:00 AM ET, 03/21/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 03:00 AM ET, 03/21/2012

A million teachers may be on the march — out of the classroom

By Valerie Strauss

The biggest red flag in the new Metlife survey of American teachers: There has been a 70% increase, over the past two years, in the number of teachers who are likely to leave the profession in the next five years. That amounts to about 1 million teachers, and doesn’t include the roughly 1 million teachers who are baby boomers approaching retirement age.

By Valerie Strauss | 03:00 AM ET, 03/21/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 02:00 AM ET, 03/20/2012

Condi Rice-Joel Klein report: Not the new ‘A Nation at Risk’

By Valerie Strauss

The new report released today by a Council of Foreign Relations task force chaired by Joel Klein and Condoleezza Rice seems to want very much to be seen as the new Nation at Risk, the seminal 1983 report that warned that America’s future was threatened by a “rising tide of mediocrity” in the country’s public schools.

By Valerie Strauss | 02:00 AM ET, 03/20/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 01:00 AM ET, 03/20/2012

Bribing students: Another ‘magical solution’ that doesn’t work

By Valerie Strauss

A Cincinnati high school’s effort to pay students to attend class and to follow school rules is the latest in a series of unfortunate efforts to use bribery to force students to learn.

By Valerie Strauss | 01:00 AM ET, 03/20/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 12:00 PM ET, 03/19/2012

Teacher: I dare you to measure my ‘value’

By Valerie Strauss

An ESL teacher tells about the reality of her classroom and issues a dare to school officials who insist on evaluating teachers by value-added methods that rely on standardized test scores.

By Valerie Strauss | 12:00 PM ET, 03/19/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 04:00 AM ET, 03/19/2012

Teach for America’s new partnership with largest for-profit charter network

By Valerie Strauss

Teach for America has announced a new partnership with the Imagine charter school network, the country’s largest for-profit charter chain which has been controversial for several reasons.

By Valerie Strauss | 04:00 AM ET, 03/19/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 04:00 AM ET, 03/18/2012

How retaking the SAT changed test prep tutor’s view

By Valerie Strauss

An SAT test prep tutor decides to retake the college admissions exam to see if her advice still makes sense. Here’s what she found.

By Valerie Strauss | 04:00 AM ET, 03/18/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 11:00 AM ET, 03/17/2012

Fourteen reasons schools are troubled (and no, it’s not all about teachers)

By Valerie Strauss

Here’s a list of just some of the reasons that school reformers are ignoring in their misguided effort to blame teachers for public education’s problems.

By Valerie Strauss | 11:00 AM ET, 03/17/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 04:00 AM ET, 03/17/2012

The 10 most read Irish authors

By Valerie Strauss

In time for St. Patrick’s Day, here’s a list of the 10 most read Irish authors on the online research site for students, Questia.

By Valerie Strauss | 04:00 AM ET, 03/17/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 12:05 PM ET, 03/16/2012

Survey: Teachers work 53 hours per week on average

By Valerie Strauss

A new report quantifies just how hard teachers work: 10 hours and 40 minutes a day on average. That’s a 53-hour work week!

By Valerie Strauss | 12:05 PM ET, 03/16/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 11:51 AM ET, 03/16/2012

A new poverty-doesn’t-really-matter-much argument

By Valerie Strauss

And so drumbeat keeps getting louder

By Valerie Strauss | 11:51 AM ET, 03/16/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Tags: Education, Paul Petrson, School reform, teating

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 03/15/2012

Climate of disrespect for teachers gets worse

By Valerie Strauss

Just when you think the climate of disrespect for teachers can’t get any worse, it does.

By Valerie Strauss | 05:00 AM ET, 03/15/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 01:30 PM ET, 03/14/2012

Reading and language growth: What it really takes

By Valerie Strauss

Here are the intriguing results of a pilot program by the Core Knowledge Foundation that sees reading for the complicated, cumulative process it is.

By Valerie Strauss | 01:30 PM ET, 03/14/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 11:41 AM ET, 03/14/2012

Telling students it’s okay to fail helps them succeed — study

By Valerie Strauss

Telling children that learning new things can be difficult and that it is normal to sometimes fail can actually help them succeed, according to new research.

By Valerie Strauss | 11:41 AM ET, 03/14/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 03/14/2012

Who won the Black Hole Awards and why

By Valerie Strauss

The Society of Professional Journalists annually hands out what it calls the Black Hole Award for a government action that goes above and beyond in violating the public’s right to know.

By Valerie Strauss | 05:00 AM ET, 03/14/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 04:00 AM ET, 03/13/2012

The Joel Klein-Condi Rice ed report: What it will and won’t say

By Valerie Strauss

Sometime soon we can expect a report from the Council on Foreign Relations’ Independent Task Force on U.S. Education Reform and National Security. And here’s what you can expect it to say.

By Valerie Strauss | 04:00 AM ET, 03/13/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 04:00 AM ET, 03/12/2012

The war on teachers: Why the public is watching it happen

By Valerie Strauss

Why has the war on teachers attracted such strong bipartisan support and why has most of the public failed to speak out loudly against it?

By Valerie Strauss | 04:00 AM ET, 03/12/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 12:30 PM ET, 03/11/2012

Robbing kindergartners of play in the name of reform

By Valerie Strauss

In Hartford, Conn., the superintendent wants to extend the school year for some kindergartners to 11 months of the year.

By Valerie Strauss | 12:30 PM ET, 03/11/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 10:45 AM ET, 03/11/2012

Why the Ed Department should be reconceived — or abolished

By Valerie Strauss

A professor at the University of Georgia writes: “Although I agree with very little else of Rick Perry’s vision for America, I think that either abolishing or thoroughly reconceiving this office would make for a better nation, given that for the most part it has done teachers and students far more harm than good.”

By Valerie Strauss | 10:45 AM ET, 03/11/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 01:00 PM ET, 03/10/2012

Sleep deprivation and teens: ‘Walking zombies’

By Valerie Strauss

How bad is epidemic of sleep deprivation facing today’s teens?

By Valerie Strauss | 01:00 PM ET, 03/10/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 11:00 AM ET, 03/10/2012

Five ways school reform is hurting teacher quality

By Valerie Strauss

What school reforms are doing in the name of improving education is actually harming the teaching profession, resulting in less effective teaching. Here are five reasons why.

By Valerie Strauss | 11:00 AM ET, 03/10/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 04:42 PM ET, 03/09/2012

Why Florida’s parent trigger bill failed in state Senate

By Valerie Strauss

Florida parents didn’t want it, because they didn’t see it as a parent empowerment bill. Instead, they thought that the bill would lead to the takeover of public schools by for-profit companies.

By Valerie Strauss | 04:42 PM ET, 03/09/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 01:04 PM ET, 03/09/2012

School district’s Twitter account becomes source of embarrassment

By Valerie Strauss

A New York school district’s Twitter account acquired inappropriate material because of a lack of appropriate security settings.

By Valerie Strauss | 01:04 PM ET, 03/09/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 11:06 AM ET, 03/09/2012

Teach for America wins millions more from the feds

By Valerie Strauss

The Education Department announced that it was awarding some $25 million to three organizations with the aim of “increasing the effectiveness of teachers and principals.”

By Valerie Strauss | 11:06 AM ET, 03/09/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 04:00 AM ET, 03/09/2012

No Child Left Behind’s effect on literacy

By Valerie Strauss

While it is customary to give three cheers to something that we want to celebrate or commemorate, the author says that when it comes to literacy instruction in America’s schools over the past decade, he can only manage two cheers for No Child Left Behind.

By Valerie Strauss | 04:00 AM ET, 03/09/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 04:33 PM ET, 03/08/2012

Arne Duncan-led event interrupted by Occupy Austin

By Valerie Strauss

Protesters from the Occupy Austin movement interrupted a gathering being led by Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

By Valerie Strauss | 04:33 PM ET, 03/08/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 03:30 PM ET, 03/08/2012

On Charles Murray, the black lawyer’s son, the white plumber’s son and college admissions

By Valerie Strauss

Here’s a response to a piece that Charles Murray wrote in The New York Times about affirmative action in college admissions.

By Valerie Strauss | 03:30 PM ET, 03/08/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 01:00 PM ET, 03/08/2012

Does Bloomberg understand the state of NYC schools?

By Valerie Strauss

Does New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg truly understand the state of education in New York City? You couldn’t tell by his comments recently in Washington D.C.

By Valerie Strauss | 01:00 PM ET, 03/08/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 04:00 AM ET, 03/08/2012

Teach for America is great! Just not for my kid....

By Valerie Strauss

Teach for America founder Wendy Kopp wrote in an article that she was upset when her child had a young inexperienced teacher. Why, then, a teacher wants to know, does Kopp run an organization that places young inexperienced teachers in schools filled with at-risk students?

By Valerie Strauss | 04:00 AM ET, 03/08/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 09:17 PM ET, 03/07/2012

Who won millions in Walton Foundation grants in 2011

By Valerie Strauss

Teach for America made out big in 2011 in terms of receiving grants from the Walton Family Foundation, which handed out more than $159 million to scores of organizations to help promote school choice.

By Valerie Strauss | 09:17 PM ET, 03/07/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 02:12 PM ET, 03/07/2012

Firing of D.C. teacher reveals flaws in value-added evaluation

By Valerie Strauss

The firing of D.C. teacher Sarah Wysocki is a perfect example of what’s wrong with value-added methods to evaluate teachers, the newest trend in school reform.

By Valerie Strauss | 02:12 PM ET, 03/07/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 10:48 AM ET, 03/07/2012

Ravitch: A war on public education in Louisiana

By Valerie Strauss

Education historian Diane Ravitch writes that the governor of Louisiana is waging a broad assault on public education in the name of school reform, closing traditional public schools while expanding privately managed charter schools, vouchers, etc.

By Valerie Strauss | 10:48 AM ET, 03/07/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 12:01 AM ET, 03/07/2012

Teacher job satisfaction plummets — Survey

By Valerie Strauss

Over the past two years of gut-punching, teacher job satisfaction has fallen from 59 percent to 44 percent. That’s according to the newly released annual MetLife Survey of the American Teacher.

By Valerie Strauss | 12:01 AM ET, 03/07/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 11:06 PM ET, 03/06/2012

What GOP candidates said about education in Tuesday night speeches

By Valerie Strauss

The four Republican presidential candidates vying in states around the country on Super Tuesday all addressed supportive crowds Tuesday night as the results came rolling in. What did they say about education?

By Valerie Strauss | 11:06 PM ET, 03/06/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 03:37 PM ET, 03/06/2012

School official outs 8th-grader as pregnant

By Valerie Strauss

A middle school student who told school officials in New Mexico that she was pregnant was first kicked out of school, then readmitted, only to be “outed” by the school director at an assembly.

By Valerie Strauss | 03:37 PM ET, 03/06/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 02:08 PM ET, 03/06/2012

Parent trigger: A farce in Florida

By Valerie Strauss

There’s one important thing missing from the effort in Florida to pass a bill that would institute a “parent trigger” allowing parents to force specific changes at low-performing public schools: support from Florida parents.

By Valerie Strauss | 02:08 PM ET, 03/06/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 01:06 AM ET, 03/06/2012

Romney, Santorum, Paul, Gingrich: Where they stand now on education

By Valerie Strauss

The American public education system is going through historic changes but you couldn’t tell that if you have been following the Republican contest to tap a candidate to take on President Obama in the fall. Here’s where the four Republicans competing on Super Tuesday stand on education issues.

By Valerie Strauss | 01:06 AM ET, 03/06/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 03:06 PM ET, 03/05/2012

Obama to give commencement speeches in Joplin and at sister’s alma mater

By Valerie Strauss

President Obama will return to Joplin, Mo., in May to give a commencement speech at the local high school and will also speak at the graduation at his sister’s college alma mater.

By Valerie Strauss | 03:06 PM ET, 03/05/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 01:28 PM ET, 03/05/2012

Test yourself against the brains at the Brain Bee

By Valerie Strauss

Here is a quiz to see how you would fare with the kind of information students competing in the U.S. National Brain Bee had to learn.

By Valerie Strauss | 01:28 PM ET, 03/05/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 11:16 AM ET, 03/05/2012

Snowe in the forecast: What her decision to leave Senate means to education

By Valerie Strauss

A high school vice principal tells his staff that Sen. Olympia Snowe’s decision to retire from the Senate because of a lack of bipartisanship has meaning for the education world right now.

By Valerie Strauss | 11:16 AM ET, 03/05/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 04:00 AM ET, 03/05/2012

Why STEM is not enough (and we still need the humanities)

By Valerie Strauss

The world of education is somewhat obsessed on the STEM subjects — science, technology, engineering and math. But they aren’t enough for any student. Here’s why.

By Valerie Strauss | 04:00 AM ET, 03/05/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 11:15 AM ET, 03/04/2012

Teaching kids to be ‘digital citizens’ (not just ‘digital natives’)

By Valerie Strauss

Technology is not value-free. John Merrow explains how to turn kids — who are digital natives — into good digital citizens.

By Valerie Strauss | 11:15 AM ET, 03/04/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 04:00 AM ET, 03/04/2012

A rare break from testing madness

By Valerie Strauss

This year a race to testing everything in sight was on in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District in North Carolina. Here’s why it has slowed and why it just may be temporary.

By Valerie Strauss | 04:00 AM ET, 03/04/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 11:30 AM ET, 03/03/2012

Why school should be funnier

By Valerie Strauss

School is too often deadly dull for students and teachers. Here’s an argument for why it is important that humor gets injected into classrooms.

By Valerie Strauss | 11:30 AM ET, 03/03/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 04:09 PM ET, 03/02/2012

Six things you probably don’t know about Dr. Seuss

By Valerie Strauss

It’s the late Theodor Seuss Geisel’s birthday and, not coincidentally, Read Across America Day. Here are some things you might not know about Seuss.

By Valerie Strauss | 04:09 PM ET, 03/02/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 11:44 AM ET, 03/02/2012

Could school prayer bill allow Satanic messages in schools?

By Valerie Strauss

The Florida legislature has approved legislation that would allow students to deliver “inspirational messages” of their own choosing at school events.

By Valerie Strauss | 11:44 AM ET, 03/02/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 04:00 AM ET, 03/02/2012

Overconfident experts as poor predictors in education

By Valerie Strauss

Veteran educator Larry Cuban explains just how badly overconfident experts predict the future and why this matters in the area of school reform.

By Valerie Strauss | 04:00 AM ET, 03/02/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 05:28 PM ET, 03/01/2012

Why it is easier for a kid to get a gun in Ohio than in many other states

By Valerie Strauss

It is easier for children to get a gun in Ohio than in many other states because of its lax laws.

By Valerie Strauss | 05:28 PM ET, 03/01/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 01:00 PM ET, 03/01/2012

Santorum ’s flawed remedy for improving education

By Valerie Strauss

Rick Santorum’s call for a new approach to education is right, but his remedy — homeschooling — is wrong, writes Arthur Levine, former president of Teachers College, Columbia University.

By Valerie Strauss | 01:00 PM ET, 03/01/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 04:00 AM ET, 03/01/2012

What Florida is doing to its public schools

By Valerie Strauss

Florida’s parent trigger bill is called a “Parent Empowerment bill.” It should rightly be called the “Corporate Empowerment bill.”

By Valerie Strauss | 04:00 AM ET, 03/01/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

The Answer Sheet: March, 2012