The Answer Sheet - A School Survival Guide for Parents (And Everyone Else) - May 16, 2010

California bill takes aim at new Texas standards

A bill introduced in California seeks to protect the country’s largest school system from the Texas Board of Education and its new social studies standards.

By Valerie Strauss | May 22, 2010; 10:56 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (60)
Categories: History | Tags: Texas social studies, Texas social studies standards, Texas standards, history, social studies standards, texas board of educaiton
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Forcibly tattooing a boy isn't bullying. It's assault

Tattooing someone against their will is not bullying. It is assault. The difference matters and is relevant in the case of a 14-year-old boy who was allegedly tattooed against his will.

By Valerie Strauss | May 21, 2010; 3:30 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Bullying | Tags: boy forced to get tattoo, boy tattooed unwillingly, bullying, tattoo and bullies, tattoo and bullying
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How to combine learning, assessment, accountability

By Lisa Guisbond and Monty Neill.... It’s a great irony of the current accountability movement that policies like No Child Left Behind starve our children of time to think, create and learn in order to measure them with simplistic tests.

By Valerie Strauss | May 21, 2010; 11:30 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Guest Bloggers, Lisa Guisbond, No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, Standardized Tests | Tags: accountability and nclb, accountability movement, assessment and accountability, fairtest, lisa guisbond, monty neill, no child left behind, standardized tests
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Prof to students: Campaign for me, skip final exam

A professor and state legislator offered his students this deal: Campaign for me and you don't have to take the final exam.

By Valerie Strauss | May 21, 2010; 9:30 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (4)
Tags: final exam and tobia, higher education, rep. tobia and complaint, tobia, tobia and students
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The worst Texas social studies standard?

I’ve been reading the social studies standards in Texas as well as the many proposed changes being pushed by religious conservatives on the Board of Education, and playing an entirely subjective game: Which is the most egregious twisting of history?

By Valerie Strauss | May 21, 2010; 6:30 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (15)
Categories: History | Tags: revising social studies standards, texas and standards, texas board of education, texas social studies standards, texas standards
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D.C.'s NAEP scores: Don't get excited

To hear all the crowing about rising standardized test scores in D.C. public schools, you might think it was the first time that this had happened in the District and that Chancellor Michelle Rhee has worked some sort of minor miracle. It isn’t so.

By Valerie Strauss | May 20, 2010; 7:31 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (13)
Categories: D.C. Schools, Math, Reading, Standardized Tests | Tags: D.C. schools and NAEP, D.C. scores rise, Michelle rhee, NAEP scores, TUDA and D.C., TUDA scores, rhee and schools, rhee and scores
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Harvard endowment losses fueled financial crisis -- report

Endowment losses at Harvard and five other universities that were triggered by risky investment strategies helped fuel the financial crisis, a new report says.

By Valerie Strauss | May 20, 2010; 4:38 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Higher Education | Tags: endowments and financial crisis, harvard endowment, report on endowments
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California sued over education funding crisis

Desperate educators in California are suing the state over a school funding system that has left many districts unable to provide all students with an equal opportunity to meet the state’s academic goals.

By Valerie Strauss | May 20, 2010; 1:05 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Equity | Tags: Robles-Wong v. California, california and schools and lawsuit, california budget crisis, california lawsuit, california school crisis, funding lawsuit, funding lawsuit and california, schools lawsuit
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Obama’s mistake with technology in ed reform

The Obama administration's plan for rewriting No Child Left Behind makes the mistake of relegating technology – a catalyst for all educational reform efforts for the 21st century – to just an “additional, cross-cutting priority.”

By Valerie Strauss | May 20, 2010; 11:15 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Guest Bloggers, Technology | Tags: blueprint for reform, obama and blueprint for reform, obama and mistake, obama and nclb, obamas, teachers college, teachers college at columbia university, technology in education, technology in schools
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Michael Jackson’s unexpected place in academia

It seems that there are no limits to the influence the late Michael Jackson had on our world. Not only did he dominate pop music for years. But, according to a new bibliographic guide to academic literature, he has been referenced in journals of law, psychology, medicine, chemistry, mass communications and even engineering.

By Valerie Strauss | May 20, 2010; 10:00 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (17)
Categories: Research | Tags: influence of michael jackson, michael jackson, michael jackson in academia
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Charters should leave D.C. teachers contract alone

Public charter school advocates are, not surprisingly, upset about a proposed new contract that will significantly boost the salaries of unionized teachers in traditional D.C. public schools. But D.C. school system officials have it right: They shouldn’t be.

By Valerie Strauss | May 20, 2010; 6:30 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Charter schools, D.C. Schools, Teachers | Tags: charter schools, d.c. charter schools, d.c. public schools, d.c. teachers contract, michelle rhee, teachers contract, washington teachers union
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Rand Paul’s views on education and reform

The political man of the moment is Rand Paul, an ophthalmologist and political novice who won the Republican Senate primary in a sign of the attraction of the tea party’s anti-government message. So let’s take a look at his views on education and reform.

By Valerie Strauss | May 19, 2010; 11:37 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (18)
Categories: No Child Left Behind | Tags: NCLB, abolish education department, nclb and rand paul, no child left behind and paul, rand paul and education, rand paul and education department, rand paul and school reform, rand paul views on education
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Ravitch on Obama's scary ed reform agenda

What does school reform really mean to the Obama administration? Education historian Diane Ravitch explains how privatization of public schools is high on the agenda.

By Valerie Strauss | May 19, 2010; 6:30 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (20)
Categories: Charter schools, Diane Ravitch, Education Secretary Duncan, No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top | Tags: charter schools and ravitch, death and life of the great american school system, democrats for education reform, diane ravitch, ed secretary duncan, newschools venture fund, race to the top, school reform
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Report looks at role of poverty, parents in student success

A new report by the Casey Foundation shows the close link between poverty and student success in reading, and makes recommendations for schools and community members.

By Valerie Strauss | May 18, 2010; 4:15 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (18)
Categories: Parents, Reading, Research | Tags: Casey Foundation, Casey Foundation report on reading, achievement gap, achievement gap in reading, new report on reading, parental involvement, parental responsibility in school, poverty and student achievement, reading research
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Adult student penalized for one curse word

The largest community college in Mississippi barred a 30-year-old student from a speech course because a professor became upset when the student uttered one curse word after class was over.

By Valerie Strauss | May 18, 2010; 12:54 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (12)
Categories: Higher Education | Tags: cursing at college
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Colleges should tell students odds of getting off wait lists

Colleges that insist on maintaining waitings lists that are longer than the phone book should tell students their odds of eventually being accepted.

By Valerie Strauss | May 18, 2010; 9:30 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: College Admissions | Tags: college admissions, waiting lists
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Getting started on 2010-11 college applications

Any high school junior who wants to get a head start on college applications now can look at a preview of the entire 2010-11 Common Application.

By Valerie Strauss | May 18, 2010; 9:00 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: College Admissions | Tags: college admissions, college applications, common application, common apps
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Protesters call IB program un-American. Is it?

How American history is taught is clearly on the minds of protesters in Idaho who trying to get the International Baccalaurate program tossed out of schools because, they say, it is, anti-American, and of Arizona legislators who passed a law restricting ethnic studies.

By Valerie Strauss | May 18, 2010; 6:30 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (23)
Categories: AP,IB,honors, History | Tags: IB protesters, arizona ethnic studies, arizona law and immigrants, ethnic studies law, history, international baccalaureate, law restricting ethnic studies
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Is education research all dreck? -- Willingham

Cognitive scientist evaluates whether education research is all garbage or has some value.

By Valerie Strauss | May 17, 2010; 12:26 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Daniel Willingham, Guest Bloggers, Research | Tags: Daniel Willingham, aera, education research, value of education research
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The real world of teachers

How much do teachers earn? Here's a look at one state, in which teachers are among the highest paid in the nation, but who still earn on average less than firefighters, cops, engineers and business middle managers.

By Valerie Strauss | May 17, 2010; 9:14 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Teachers | Tags: how much do teachers earn?, new jersey teachers salaries, salaries, star-ledger, teacher earnings, teacher salaries, teachers
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Why Obama, Duncan should have kept quiet about Rhode Island teachers

Lo and behold, several months after every teacher at a low-performing Rhode Island high school was fired so the school could get a fresh start, and after Education Secretary Arne Duncan praised the firings as an act of “courage,” and after President Obama declared that the firings showed a “sense of accountability,” well, after all of that, the teachers have been rehired.

By Valerie Strauss | May 17, 2010; 6:30 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (16)
Categories: No Child Left Behind, Teachers | Tags: central falls high school, central falls teachers, rhode island teachers rehired, teachers and rhode island, teachers fired in rhode island, teachers rehired
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Tentative agreement reached on Rhode Island teachers

The teachers at Central Falls High School in Rhode Island who were all recently fired may get to keep their jobs after all. A tentative agreement has been reached between the teachers union and school district officials and will be voted on tomorrow.

By Washington Post Editors | May 16, 2010; 2:52 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Teachers | Tags: central falls high school, deal in central falls, president obama and central falls, teachers and central falls
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Princeton Reviews takes down ad claims

The Princeton Review test prep company has voluntarily agreed to stop making certain advertising claims about how many points it can help students improve on various school admissions tests.

By Valerie Strauss | May 16, 2010; 10:00 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: College Admissions, Standardized Tests | Tags: Kaplan and ads, Princeton Review, Princeton Review and ads, claims by Princeton Review, claims by test prep companies, college admissions, getting better scores on tests, improving test scores, standardized tests, test claims, test prep companies
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A 94-year-old woman earns college degree

How’s this for inspirational? Hazel Soares, a 94-year-old great grandmother, earned her bachelor’s degree in art history this weekend at Mills College in Oakland.

By Valerie Strauss | May 16, 2010; 2:22 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: College Life | Tags: 94-year old earns degree, Mills College, college graduation, hazel soares, second oldest woman earns degree, second oldest woman graduates from college
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The Answer Sheet: May 16, 2010 - May 22, 2010