Class Struggle - Jay Mathews on education.

Posted at 01:00 PM ET, 07/30/2012

Large study says great teachers get little respect

By Jay Mathews

They are the irreplaceable teachers, but few people seem to care, a new study of 22,000 teachers shows.

By Jay Mathews | 01:00 PM ET, 07/30/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 06:25 PM ET, 07/27/2012

What it means when test scores plummet

By Jay Mathews

D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray has praised this year’s rise in school proficiency, but his statement ignores evidence in the just-released results that some schools thought to have tampered with their test results had unusually sharp drops after security was tightened.

By Jay Mathews | 06:25 PM ET, 07/27/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 02:55 AM ET, 07/26/2012

How academic standards disappear

By Jay Mathews

The professor thought she had given the student a plagiarism-resistant assignment. Maybe she had, but he came up with something she knew was wrong. What did she do?

By Jay Mathews | 02:55 AM ET, 07/26/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 01:24 PM ET, 07/24/2012

Admissions 101: One dad’s promising college selection system

By Jay Mathews

Chris Katucki has a way to find hidden gems.

By Jay Mathews | 01:24 PM ET, 07/24/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 07/22/2012

Perilous time for D.C. schools

By Jay Mathews

The D.C. schools are controlled by the mayor, but when he is in trouble, so are they.

By Jay Mathews | 05:00 AM ET, 07/22/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 07/19/2012

Bogus college essays graded F

By Jay Mathews

A college professor, worried about students submitting essays purchased off the Internet, pretended to be a student and ordered papers from four companies. The results were full of surprises.

By Jay Mathews | 05:00 AM ET, 07/19/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 03:12 PM ET, 07/18/2012

A cure for bad teaching of writing

By Jay Mathews

Many teachers don’t understand good writing. Those who do lack the time to teach it. Here is a way to fix that — courses that give teachers time to edit in the student’s presence.

By Jay Mathews | 03:12 PM ET, 07/18/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Tags: why teaching of writing is bad, how to fix the teaching of writing, many teachers don't recognize good writing, those that do don't have time to teach it, create classes that just edit student work

Posted at 02:23 PM ET, 07/15/2012

How computers can hurt schools

By Jay Mathews

Seventh-grader Melvin Marshall was given a computer to help improve his reading. It didn’t work. What was missing?

By Jay Mathews | 02:23 PM ET, 07/15/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Tags: how computers can hurt schools, ACLU of Michigan, story of 7th grader Melvin Marshall, an online reading program that lacked a teacher

Posted at 08:54 PM ET, 07/11/2012

Private schools leader vs. me

By Jay Mathews

I wrote that private schools wrongly hide vital data. The head of a large private school association says I am wrong.

By Jay Mathews | 08:54 PM ET, 07/11/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Tags: Jay Mathews debates National Association of Independent Schools president Patrick Bassett, do private schools hide data?, Bassett says it is wrong to rank schools

Posted at 12:35 PM ET, 07/10/2012

Admissions 101: Should community colleges give four-year degrees?

By Jay Mathews

A new essay by two scholars points out that what we consider two-year colleges don’t necessarily have to stay that way for all students. Would this expand opportunity in our beleaguered higher-education system?

By Jay Mathews | 12:35 PM ET, 07/10/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 12:33 AM ET, 07/09/2012

Erasures: The unsolved mystery

By Jay Mathews

A look at school data in detail shows a big hole in the D.C. cheating investigation.

By Jay Mathews | 12:33 AM ET, 07/09/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Tags: D.C. investigation ignores test tampering, Alvarez & Marsal investigation, D.C. chancellor Kaya Henderson ignore big hole in the report, one class with huge and mysterious corrections left out of report, Office of the State Superintendent of Education

Posted at 01:55 AM ET, 07/06/2012

Immigration voted best teaching strategy

By Jay Mathews

Our best teaching strategy competition has a winner — a smart social studies teacher at Connelly School of the Holy Child.

By Jay Mathews | 01:55 AM ET, 07/06/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)

Posted at 02:21 AM ET, 07/05/2012

Is our neighborhood school really bad?

By Jay Mathews

Aaron McMahon asked me if he should leave Alexandria because the local high school was bad. I told him why he was wrong about T.C. Williams High School, and others like it.

By Jay Mathews | 02:21 AM ET, 07/05/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Tags: why your neighborhood school might not be bad, the power of great teaching and high standards, T.C. Williams High School, low-income students do not mean a bad school

Posted at 02:15 PM ET, 07/01/2012

How inspections would embarrass schools

By Jay Mathews

I would like to try them, but recent inspections in D.C. reveal how embarrassing they can be.

By Jay Mathews | 02:15 PM ET, 07/01/2012 | Permalink | Comments ( 0)
Tags: Should inspections replace test scores to rate schools?, recent DC inspections were embarrassing, test access in doubt, teachers reluctant to be interviewed, well-trained inspectors could help identify what needs fixing, but would be stressful

Class Struggle: July, 2012