How poor districts will fare with CCSS

Prior to the Common Core, states set their own standards and chose their own tests to measure student progress, writes Marc Tucker in Education Week. States that required a test for graduation used exams that could be passed by students with a 9th grade level of English literacy and a deeply flawed understanding of middle school math. We currently recruit teachers from the lower ranks of those high school graduates,…

That fuss about AP History

In October 2012, the College Board revamped its AP History course to encourage greater depth in fewer topics, writes Emmanuel Felton for The Hechinger Report. The class is the College Board's second most popular after AP English Language and Composition, with 442,890 students taking the exam in 2013. Its course description for the first time calls for teachers to impart critical thinking skills to their students, ideas in line with…

e-Learning is growing in its capacity and accessibility.  As an increasing array of courses are developed, and the levels of instruction reach down into our high schools, they offer potential for variety and individualization that otherwise cannot exist. Getting in on the action now, before policy makers decide their use and impose limitations, is a good way to seize the moment. If school districts joined with state departments of education to analyze whether these online courses are…

Being connected is not just limited to educators as a method of directing an educator’s professional development, but rather it is a shift in culture in the way all people may collaborate and learn. Educators have seized the initiative claiming it to provide collegial collaboration, transparency in schools, as well as its ability to personalize a path to professional development. However, it is a shift that is taking place globally, and the educators’ use is the tip of the iceberg. That is…

Video consist of interviews with parents whose children were traumatized by Common Core.

Video is a bit long at 22 minutes but please watch it all. You will understand why a little girl might carve the word STUPID on her arm.

(I think the smart strategy is not to negotiate with Common Core, not to accept any part of it. The people behind CC are relentless, as the…

A “Good” Common Core Lesson?

Diana Senechal

On Education and Other Things…

Ed Week

Eight Qualities of a Great Teacher Mentor

By Kimberly Long

Papers are spilling off the desk. The voicemail light is blinking. Your email inbox is never ending, and little smiley face stickers are somehow stuck in your hair.

We’ve all been there. When it comes to teaching, there are always those days when the final bell rings and you just want to vent about the day,…

Schools continue to struggle to make sense of student engagement and its relationship to student achievement.  Some students come to class ready to learn and remain engaged no matter the lesson. This has always been the case. But far more students become increasingly disengaged with their learning. The response is to intervene with more teaching and learning time, counseling, removing privileges like clubs or sports, and/or the "call home" to engage parents in the solution. With the…

Here is a post on Bullies, Victims and Bystanders in Teen Fiction.  I hope these novels launch meaningful discussions during Bullying Prevention Month.

Happy reading,

Christine…