Was there a difference between intelligence and achievement tests 80 years ago?
Today’s passage touched briefly on the overlapping development of intelligence and achievement tests early in the 20th century. Most of the historiography has focused on so-called IQ tests, their flaws, and their political uses. But at the same time that school districts were purchasing millions of IQ tests, they were also purchasing millions of the […]
Willard Daggett, demotivational speaker
Last Monday, the teachers in Hillsborough County had to suffer through a bus ride downtown and stuffing themselves in our portside arena to hear Willard Daggett, most well known for … well, for talking and making lots of money talking about whatever strikes his fancy. From one friend in the system who e-mailed me: He […]
Educational historiography on Youtube
I’ve taken a few pieces from the historiography of common-school reform, mashed it up a famous pop-culture icon, and ruined it, but for instructional purposes. Oh, yes, and I’ve uploaded it to YouTube. See Version 1 starring Orestes Brownson as well as Version 2 starring Horace Mann (each 73 seconds long). Now, if only someone […]
The historians’ full employment act
ACTA has sent a letter to Arizona Governor Napolitano urging that the state require that undergraduates take history, something that is discussed in an Arizona Republic article today as well as in an ACTA blog entry. As any history department website in Texas will tell you, Texas has a core curriculum, and if I remember […]
Why teacher unions
Leo Casey has a great autobiographical entry on his entry into union activism. Hat tip to Sara Mead. Leo finishes with a discussion about the intertwining of teachers’ and students’ lives and contrasting that fact with claims that teachers and unions are only about material self-interest. Reframing the self-interest claim would be healthy for the […]