The Answer Sheet Archive: Congress
The "three great teachers in a row" myth
It's time to stop the constant recitation that the achievement gap could be closed if all students had three, or four, or five great teachers in a row. Here's a history of the myth.
By
Valerie Strauss
| February 25, 2011; 5:00 AM ET |
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Comments (26)
Categories:
Congress, Diane Ravitch, Research, Teacher assessment, Teachers
| Tags:
center for american progress, diane ravitch, education trust, standardized tests, teacher evaluation, teachers
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Why politicians should spend time at school
Pop your head into a room of first-graders for a few minutes and all may seem well. Stay awhile longer and your observations may paint a different picture - one that reveals some of the pernicious ways that current test-and-punish policies distort teaching and learning, a teacher explains.
By
Valerie Strauss
| February 23, 2011; 8:00 AM ET |
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Comments (9)
Categories:
Congress, Guest Bloggers
| Tags:
adequate yearly progress, education policy, no child left behind, politicians, president obama, teachers, teaching
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Why my fellow blogger Jay Mathews is wrong
Jay, Jay, Jay. You know I don’t like arguing with you because you know more than I do about a great many things. But in this case, not so much.
By
Valerie Strauss
| February 22, 2011; 2:44 PM ET |
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Comments (13)
Categories:
Congress, School turnarounds/reform, Vouchers
| Tags:
charter schools, class struggle, d.c. vouchers, detroit schools, jay mathews, joe lieberman, no child left behind, race to the top, school reform, susan collins, voucher program, vouchers
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Principal: Congress gets it wrong again
The U.S. House is holding a hearing on education today, the first of the year, and it lost a great opportunity for a real discussion on reform.
By
Valerie Strauss
| February 10, 2011; 5:00 AM ET |
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Comments (4)
Categories:
Congress, George Wood, Guest Bloggers
| Tags:
congress, education committee, education hearing, george wood, guest bloggers, innovation, rep. john kline, school reform, school reform hearing
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A principal on standardized vs. teacher-written tests
Educator George Wood urges Congress not to rely on standardized tests to measure achievement. If you don't think that "data-driven decision-making" is really test-driven decision making, consider this: Ohio’s school report cards consist of 26 “data” points, and 24 of them—92%--are test scores.
By
Valerie Strauss
| January 6, 2011; 5:00 AM ET |
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Comments (15)
Categories:
Congress, George Wood, Guest Bloggers, No Child Left Behind, Standardized Tests
| Tags:
arne duncan, disaggregated data, education secretary duncan, elementary and secondary school act, esea, esea reauthoraization, george word, nclb, new congress, new york performance assessment consortium, no child left behind, reauthorization of no child left behind, standardized tests
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Congress approves weird definition of 'highly qualified’ teachers
So they’ve gone ahead and done it. U.S. legislators have passed legislation that includes a provision that will turn into law a definition of a “highly qualified” teachers that would include people with only a few weeks of training.
By
Valerie Strauss
| December 23, 2010; 5:00 AM ET |
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Comments (6)
Categories:
Congress, No Child Left Behind, Teachers
| Tags:
congress, continuing resolution, highly qualified teachers, teachers
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