Actually this is embarrassing. I write hostile articles about Common Core. I think I’m telling people the exact truth. And then I stumble on a new book that says things are Even Worse Than I’ve Been Saying.

OMG, that bad?!?

 In other words, this thing is not just at the level of a bad virus or a broken arm. This thing is toxic. It’s going…

Challenging “Gifted” Children Without Labeling Them

In this Education Week article, Scott Peters (University of Wisconsin/Whitewater), Scott Barry Kaufman (University of Pennsylvania), Michael Matthews (University of North Carolina/Charlotte), Matthew McBee (East Tennessee State University/Johnson City), and Betsy McCoach (University of Connecticut/Storrs) argue that when curriculum is delivered in an undifferentiated fashion, many students are…

Should More Low-Income Students Apply to Highly Selective Colleges?

“Access to the nation’s most selective colleges remains starkly unequal, with students in the lowest income quartile constituting less than 4% of enrollment,” say Michael Bastedo and Allyson Flaster (University of Michigan/Ann Arbor) in this article in Educational Researcher. “Students in the top SES quartile comprise 69% of enrollment at institutions that admit fewer than a…

Test teachers, but first train them

Cutting Through the Hype: Principals as Instructional Leaders | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

One of the weirder ideas to hang around for much of the past century is  that children can start off with advanced, adult activities, without bothering to learn the facts of history, science, or anything else.

Sure they can.

 Malkin Dare, one of the few famous educators you can trust, has a long piece on her site titled "Ten Keys to Successful Teaching." I asked her for…