June 16th, 2010
Cheating is not an option
The New York Times ran a story recently titled: Pressed to Show Progress, Educators Tamper with Test Scores. The article is about teachers supplying their students with test questions and in some cases, changing the answer sheets, all to raise their students’ scores.
Why would a teacher, a role model for his or her students, take such a drastic action?
June 10th, 2010
The President and perseverance
President Obama delivered the commencement address at Kalamazoo Central High School on June 7. His speech roused the graduates to consider the future they are holding in their hands. Here’s what the President said:
Now, graduates, all these folks around you, I have to say, though, with the cameras and the beaming smiles — they’ve worked hard to give you everything you need to pursue your dreams and fulfill your God-given talent. Unfortunately, you can’t take them with you when you leave here. (Laughter.) No one is going to go
March 20th, 2010
The calm, confident and focused teacher
As the health care debate nears some resolution (at least for the time being), the legislative agenda is already setting its compass to point towards education. A lead article in the New York Times titled “Obama Calls for a Major Change in the Education Law,” the President and his Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan are calling for a re-visioning of No Child Left Behind.
(see referenced article link to ‘Major Change in Education Law’)
One of the key features of the new policy is the focus on teachers and how they teach.
Quoting the article: The administration’s proposals would also rework the law’s teacher-quality provisions by requiring states to develop evaluation procedures to distinguish effective instructors, partly based on whether their students are learning.
I read this to mean: teachers are going to be tested. Big time. I don’t mean…
February 22nd, 2010
Calm, confident, focused
On November 4, 2008, 66 million people elected Barack Obama the 44th president of the United States.
How did he, a young man with a brief resume, make this dream come true?
