Here is my annual update:

http://www.free-press-release.com/news-k-12-education-reform-starts...

 For those not familiar with the site, my emphasis is on identifying and explaining the worst theories and methods used in the public schools. Generally speaking, I don't know if there are any good ideas in the public schools. It is as if some of the smartest people in the country got together and said how do we keep the wheels turning but make sure not much happens.

From this perspective, most discussions about education are superficial. People want to discuss finance, administration, testing, training, and who can be blamed for everything. Meanwhile, we have reading instruction that doesn't teach kids to read. We have math instruction that doesn't teach kids to do arithmetic. We have instructional theory (constructivism) which basically keeps teachers from teaching. And many more.

 I would urge everyone to be a bit more cynical, and to study how these various sophistries actually work in practice. Children absolutely cannot learn to read by memorizing sight-words. But that was absolute dogma in this country for 70 years, 1930-2000. Now, to keep from admitting this huge mistake, our education establishment still tries to stir sight-words into the mix. So we still have a great deal of illiteracy and semi-literacy. For me, this is the great battle. If we could just get every kid reading in the first grade, half of our problems would evaporate.

 Improve-Education.org has 70 articles on these topics. More than 120,000 words. The simplest thing is to visit the site, find site-search on the home page, and check out any topics you are interested in.

Or scan the titles on the homepage.

Improve-Education.org