[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”] I love math! I find fascination in numbers and how they work together. But, I also remember being confused in math classes, especially in upper level math. Often the procedures […]
Common Core
Posted inCommon Core, Current Events in Education, From the Front Lines
{Editorial} A Teacher's Experience with PARCC in Tennessee
By Jon Alfuth In my sophomore year of high school, my AP European History teacher gave us a test on ancient Rome in week two of the course. The problem? We hadn’t learned anything about Roman history! To this day I still don’t understand her decision, but the experience left me with a strong distaste […]
Posted inCommon Core, Current Events in Education, Featured, From the Front Lines, Uncategorized
The Tyranny of the Datum
Data is a big deal. A great deal of innovation is happening right now in the field of data collection, storage, and management in the field of education. There are some well-documented fears among parents and teachers regarding these trends. Who will control the data? How will the data be used? Will my child’s data […]
Posted inCommon Core, From the Front Lines, Uncategorized
Ed Reform's Atari Problem
My cousin, John Michael, had the first Atari I ever saw. Not long after, my cousin Philip got one. I went to their houses every chance I got, and while I was there I hogged their video game machines as much as I could. I still remember the spongy feel and new plastic smell of […]
Posted inCommon Core, Current Events in Education, Featured, Principals' Corner, Uncategorized
Five New Years Resolutions for Public Education Supporters
2013 was a pivotal year for parents, teachers and students who support a free public education for American children. In California, Governor Jerry Brown refused to over-test the state’s students to satisfy bureaucratic demands for data, even in the face of federal threats to withhold Title 1 education funding. In Seattle, Jesse Hagopian and fellow teachers at […]
Posted inCommon Core, Current Events in Education, Featured, From the Front Lines, How to Fix Education, School Improvement, Uncategorized
The Wizards of Ed- The Conundrum of Education
There is a conundrum facing American K-12 education. It is the same conundrum that has always faced American K-12 education. How do we educate “those” kids? “Those” refers to the kids who are dealing with any (or all) of a host of disadvantages. They are from the “wrong” side of the tracks. They are from […]
Posted inCommon Core, Featured, From the Front Lines, School Improvement, The State of Education
Education, Circa 2038
Twenty-five years from now, I will be just shy of 65 years old. I should be retired by then. As I read recently about Amazon’s delivery drone idea and at the same time thought about the seeming inevitability of the Common Core State Standards and their associated tests (even, eventually, in my non-CCSS home state), […]
Posted inCommon Core, Current Events in Education, Instruction & Curriculum
Teachers and Their Students Practice, Not Perform
“A bad dress rehearsal foretells a great performance.” This theatrical superstition is a great comfort to those who botch lines, drop lines, break props, or miss entrance cues before performing in front of an audience. Rehearsals are for practice, to fix what could go wrong so that the performance before a critical audience is perfect. […]