First Bell 5-20-13

yes Pamela Tatz / May 20, 2013

A first look at today's most important education news:

In response to Democratic mayoral candidates’ bashing of Mayor Bloomberg’s education agenda, Dennis Walcott, New York City’s schools chancellor, has begun a campaign to remind voters of the administration’s accomplishments. (New York Times)

CREDO found that 42 percent of Michigan’s charters are outperforming traditional public schools in math, with similar results in reading, while just 6 percent of the charters underperform their traditional counterparts in math. (Wall Street Journal)

Anger has erupted in New York City and beyond over “field tests,” standardized exams intended to assess not students but future tests. (New York Times)

The Hechinger Report profiles a virtual classroom simulator that allows teachers-in-training to practice managing a classroom.

Laurene Powell Jobs, Steve Jobs’s widow, has quietly begun to assert philanthropy goals in education, global conservation, nutrition, and immigration policy. (New York Times)

A federal report finds that forty states have looked into allegations of cheating by school officials on tests in the last two years. (Curriculum Matters)

A Pew study

» Continued

First Bell 5-20-13

Am I a part of the cure...or the disease?

yes Michael J. Petrilli / May 17, 2013

This article originally appeared on Education Week’s Bridging Differences blog, where Mike Petrilli will be debating Deborah Meier through mid-June.

Confusion never stops 
Closing walls and ticking clocks 
Gonna come back and take you home 
I could not stop that you now know

Come out upon my seas 
Cursed missed opportunities 
Am I a part of the cure? 
Or am I part of the disease?
-Coldplay, "Clocks," A Rush of Blood to the Head, 2002

Dear Deborah,

I am haunted by the title of your last post: “The Testing Obsession Widens the Gap.”

Could this possibly be true? Is test-based school reform reducing opportunity for America's neediest children? Is everything for which we school reformers fight actually making things worse? Am I a part of the cure, or am I part of the disease?

"It's OK to ask: 'What if I'm wrong?'" you wrote last week. So let me ask it. It wouldn't be the first time. A year ago, for example, I explored the "test-score hypothesis"—a line of reasoning, undergirding

» Continued

Am I a part of the cure...or the disease?

First Bell 5-16-13

yes Pamela Tatz / May 16, 2013

A first look at today's most important education news:

The Chicago Teachers Union has filed suit over the city’s planned closings of more than fifty schools; parents are divided. (New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, and Hechinger Report)

Bill Thompson, a Democratic NYC mayoral candidate, outlines his education agenda, which includes a plan for teacher merit pay. (New York Times and Wall Street Journal)

Researchers are beginning to look at how to measure skills learned in preschool. (Inside School Research)

New York City parents with backgrounds in statistics are questioning the city’s method of determining gifted-and-talented eligibility, arguing that a flaw in the city’s calculations meant too many kids qualified. (Wall Street Journal)

Kiera Wilmot, the sixteen-year-old model student expelled and charged with felonies last week for a failed science experiment, will not be criminally charged—but she may still be expelled. (Atlantic Wire and Huffington Post)

The LAUSD, the nation’s second-largest school district, has decided to stop expelling or suspending students

» Continued

First Bell 5-16-13

First Bell 5-15-13

yes Pamela Tatz / May 15, 2013

A first look at today's most important education news:

As a result of budget cuts, NAEP will scale back its social-studies exam, offering it to only eighth graders for the time being. (Curriculum Matters and Politics K–12)

City councilmembers in Takoma Park, MD, have lowered the voting age to sixteen for city elections; the law takes effect in fifty days. (Associated Press)

Chicago is set to try a program that blends math tutoring with an anti-violence counseling intervention. (Curriculum Matters)

A new report argues that when their third grader cheats on a test, parents should not overreact; first and second graders are typically taught to work together, and the new focus on independent learning can be confusing. (Wall Street Journal)

Federal data find that states’ teacher exams are too easy to pass. (Education Week)

A report finds that the youngest English-language learners benefit most from dual-language instruction. (Learning the Language)

Yesterday in San Francisco, six current and former school district employees were charged with embezzling $15 million in grant money from the district. (Huffington Post)

» Continued

First Bell 5-15-13