posted on
Here are news and opinion stories educators, advocates, policy wonks and makers are talking about today:
News and Analysis
Americans overwhelmingly think there is too much emphasis on standardized testing in public schools and that test scores are not the best way to judge schools, teachers or students, according to a national poll. (The Washington Post)
Americans aren’t as pissed off about standardized testing as headlines often make it seem. In fact, it looks like most of the country’s adults support it. What the public isn’t so fond of are the people who are pissed off—the ones who are so pissed off they’re boycotting the assessments as part of a growing “opt-out movement.” (The Atlantic)
Two high-profile public-opinion polls released this month offer contrasting snapshots on the public’s support for common-core standards and mandatory standardized testing—intertwined issues that are arguably among the most divisive in K-12 public education. (Education Week)
Chester E. Finn, Jr. has three very bright granddaughters. He thinks they “have considerable academic potential and are not always being challenged by their schools.” But Finn is not just a proud grandpa; he’s a long-established expert on education policy with the Fordham Institute and Hoover Institution. (NPR)
It’s a sea of black graduation gowns in the belly of the Barclays Center in Brooklyn one rainy Tuesday evening in June. On the floor of the stadium, where the basketball court should be, sit thousands of students awaiting the start of the 75th Commencement of the New York City College of Technology, better known as City Tech. Everywhere, students are snapping selfies, craning their necks to find family members in the upper decks, and fastening last-minute bobby pins to caps bearing messages like “Thanks Mom!” and “Dream Big” scrawled in glitter and puff paint. (Wired)
Billie Dolce’s memories of her final day as a teacher at Colton Middle School haunt her. With Hurricane Katrina headed toward New Orleans, Dolce pleaded with her classroom aide, Gertrude Hackett, to flee the city and seek refuge with out-of-town relatives. (Education Week)
Americans in large numbers are still unaware of the Common Core State Standards and hold incorrect beliefs about the standards, a new survey conducted on behalf of The Seventy Four found. (The Seventy Four)
John Thompson’s teaching methods wouldn’t work for everyone. One day in a hallway at Marshall High School in Oklahoma City, he grabbed a student with a criminal record whom he had taught at a summer camp, pushed him against a wall and told him to go pee in a cup. This got the laugh from the boy and his friends that Thompson had anticipated, since they knew of the unusual teacher-student bond and saw the joke. (The Washington Post)