Great Teachers Don't Always Want to Become Principals

The Common Core and Core Knowledge

(Originally titled “Why Content Is King”)

“Text complexity, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder,” say E.D. Hirsch Jr. and Lisa Hansel (Core Knowledge Foundation) in this Educational Leadership article. “Simple or dense, fictional or informational, what matters most for comprehension of a particular text is whether the reader has knowledge relevant to the text.” Which student will…

Toy Story

By BILL…

Not Feeling the Love

In this Chronicle of Higher Education article, Allison Vaillancourt (University of Arizona) tells about a colleague who is thinking seriously about leaving the university despite having an important role, being exceptionally well regarded, frequently hearing validation from colleagues, enjoying his work, and having strong ties to the university and the community. Why? Because the senior leadership doesn’t tell him that his…

Ten Pieces of Advice for a Job Interview

In this helpful Chronicle of Higher Education article, Robert Sternberg (University of Wyoming) offers suggestions for those about go before a hiring committee:

• Ask in advance if there are concerns about your record. Most interviewers have one or more questions about your credentials or suitability for the job, and it’s wise to find out about them before the…

What Motivates Educators to Work Harder and Smarter?

In this thoughtful Education Week article, Deborah Stipek (Stanford University) says the theory of action behind America’s current accountability movement is that rewards and punishments will motivate teachers and administrators to do better work. Behaviorism is a well-accepted theory of human motivation, but decades of research have shown that for people to change, three elements must be…

Long-Term Benefits of Music Lessons

By SINDYA N. BHANOO

Childhood music lessons can sometimes leave painful memories, but they seem to carry benefits into…

Rethinking the Rise of Inequality

By …