EWA's blog about education issues and topics from a journalist's perspective. The Educated Reporter is anchored by Emily Richmond with contributions from EWA staff and guests.
EWA’s blog about education issues and topics from a journalist’s
perspective. The Educated Reporter is anchored by Emily Richmond with contributions
from EWA staff and guests.
The press releases flowing into my inbox in the past week are
mostly some form of “Association for XX Reacts to
Administration’s Blueprint for ESEA Reauthorization,” and they
are utterly unsurprising. A sampling (and I am not doing this
again, so please do not take this as an invitation for
more press releases):
When we are talking about, say, buildings, the word “blueprint”
means a detailed model of what a structure is going to look like.
When we are talking about federal education policy, it turns out
“blueprint” means something far vaguer.
“Structured recess” sounds like an oxymoron, especially to those
people who are, as one girl in Not Much Just Chillin’ put
it, “allergic to anything with the word ‘ball.’” For the
introverted and athletically uninclined, fresh hell might be a
coach forcing you into a game of kickball during a precious
half-hour you could be spending slumped along the wall of the
school building, undisturbed by the classmates who will never
understand you, reading kiddy manga.
Yesterday’s Education Sector panel on college and career
readiness was a success; you can see the video
here. Which is funny given that one of the presenters
announced that everything she was about to say was on background.
I know congressional staffers often aren’t supposed to be quoted
instead of their bosses, but this is one Washington habit that
will never make sense to me.
Yes, I am overdue in saying something about Diane Ravitch’s book,
and I intend to. But in the meantime I will just say this: The
reviews of a book are not the book. Especially when I wrote
Tested, I was amazed at how people misinterpreted what I
wrote; later I would learn they did not read the book but only
reviews of it. So an offhand comment by Sandy Kress in National
Journal’s conversation about
how the feds would hold states accountable on RtTT hit a raw
nerve for me.
When it comes to food I maintain what I see as a sensible balance
but what others might find hypocritical or insane—there may be
cookies in my house, but they are made from scratch and washed
down with organic milk, and while this afternoon I snapped at my
husband for getting me a doughnut filled with “kreme” rather than
custard, far more often (and with nearly equal enthusiasm) I
snack on cherry tomatoes.
People often ask me for updates about the kids from
Not Much Just Chillin’, who were in middle school eight
years ago. I’m in touch with all of them to varying degrees, from
Facebook friend to practically siblings—way too close to retain
any professional distance. So despite Lily’s mother’s pleas to
write another book about her daughter so that she might get into
her brain again, I never did so.
Now that turnaround is the concept of the moment, we need to
investigate what it yielded in the olden days when it was called
“restructuring.” Last week
I suggested journalists keep in context that zero-based
staffing, as whole-school firings (or reassignments) are called,
is not new.
Check out this
thorough piece by Sarah Carr of the New Orleans
Times-Picayune about the toll on teachers at no-excuses charter
schools. Let’s say that the time commitment these teachers make
must be kept up to be effective at the school, and that within a
couple of years they will burn out and leave because of it. Does
it matter? Well, that should be broken down into a few questions.
Does it matter for student achievement, as long as strong new
teachers take their place?
This
Inside Higher Ed article about Stuart Rojstaczer’s latest
grade inflation project suggests three possible reasons grades
have crept higher: professors are sucking up to the students who
write their evaluations, trying to help them do well after school
or indulging their sense of entitlement. What about the idea that
students might be doing better? Just saying!
I met a woman recently who might occasionally babysit for my son
when we are visiting rural Virginia. She seemed unflappable in
her oversight of several little kids.
I am surprised at how much coverage the teacher firings in
Central Falls, R.I., have gotten, given that schools around the
country have gone through these kinds of transformations for
years. We should not write about this like it’s brand-new; it is
not even close to the first time this has happened. It is usually
called “making teachers reapply for their jobs.” Provide some
context, keeping in mind that frequently when an entire staff is
thrown out, many of them reapply and are rehired.
Press release roundup: blueprint reactions.
The press releases flowing into my inbox in the past week are mostly some form of “Association for XX Reacts to Administration’s Blueprint for ESEA Reauthorization,” and they are utterly unsurprising. A sampling (and I am not doing this again, so please do not take this as an invitation for more press releases):
The blueprint: more questions than answers.
When we are talking about, say, buildings, the word “blueprint” means a detailed model of what a structure is going to look like. When we are talking about federal education policy, it turns out “blueprint” means something far vaguer.
Story of the moment: recess coaches.
“Structured recess” sounds like an oxymoron, especially to those people who are, as one girl in Not Much Just Chillin’ put it, “allergic to anything with the word ‘ball.’” For the introverted and athletically uninclined, fresh hell might be a coach forcing you into a game of kickball during a precious half-hour you could be spending slumped along the wall of the school building, undisturbed by the classmates who will never understand you, reading kiddy manga.
College-ready: off the record.
Yesterday’s Education Sector panel on college and career readiness was a success; you can see the video here. Which is funny given that one of the presenters announced that everything she was about to say was on background. I know congressional staffers often aren’t supposed to be quoted instead of their bosses, but this is one Washington habit that will never make sense to me.
A review is not the book.
Yes, I am overdue in saying something about Diane Ravitch’s book, and I intend to. But in the meantime I will just say this: The reviews of a book are not the book. Especially when I wrote Tested, I was amazed at how people misinterpreted what I wrote; later I would learn they did not read the book but only reviews of it. So an offhand comment by Sandy Kress in National Journal’s conversation about how the feds would hold states accountable on RtTT hit a raw nerve for me.
How fat are our kids?
When it comes to food I maintain what I see as a sensible balance but what others might find hypocritical or insane—there may be cookies in my house, but they are made from scratch and washed down with organic milk, and while this afternoon I snapped at my husband for getting me a doughnut filled with “kreme” rather than custard, far more often (and with nearly equal enthusiasm) I snack on cherry tomatoes.
The NMJC kids and college.
People often ask me for updates about the kids from Not Much Just Chillin’, who were in middle school eight years ago. I’m in touch with all of them to varying degrees, from Facebook friend to practically siblings—way too close to retain any professional distance. So despite Lily’s mother’s pleas to write another book about her daughter so that she might get into her brain again, I never did so.
Everything old is new again: turnaround edition.
Now that turnaround is the concept of the moment, we need to investigate what it yielded in the olden days when it was called “restructuring.” Last week I suggested journalists keep in context that zero-based staffing, as whole-school firings (or reassignments) are called, is not new.
Living on Doubleshot in New Orleans schools.
Check out this thorough piece by Sarah Carr of the New Orleans Times-Picayune about the toll on teachers at no-excuses charter schools. Let’s say that the time commitment these teachers make must be kept up to be effective at the school, and that within a couple of years they will burn out and leave because of it. Does it matter? Well, that should be broken down into a few questions. Does it matter for student achievement, as long as strong new teachers take their place?
Let me be uncharacteristically not-cynical for a moment.
This Inside Higher Ed article about Stuart Rojstaczer’s latest grade inflation project suggests three possible reasons grades have crept higher: professors are sucking up to the students who write their evaluations, trying to help them do well after school or indulging their sense of entitlement. What about the idea that students might be doing better? Just saying!
Colleges and the profit motive.
I met a woman recently who might occasionally babysit for my son when we are visiting rural Virginia. She seemed unflappable in her oversight of several little kids.
A word of caution about Central Falls.
I am surprised at how much coverage the teacher firings in Central Falls, R.I., have gotten, given that schools around the country have gone through these kinds of transformations for years. We should not write about this like it’s brand-new; it is not even close to the first time this has happened. It is usually called “making teachers reapply for their jobs.” Provide some context, keeping in mind that frequently when an entire staff is thrown out, many of them reapply and are rehired.