Students want to be safe, and that’s a good thing
News broke today of a Tampa teenager arrested for plotting to detonate explosives at a local high school. The Tampa police chief said only that a tip came from “someone familiar with [defendant Jared] Cano’s plot,” and often that comes from family members or peers. If it turns out the tip came from a peer, this […]
All your speaking fee are belong to me
Alexander Russo has a long and somewhat confusing entry this morning, Smearing Ravitch Will Likely Blow Up In Reformers Faces, whose confusing presentation is probably rooted in the confusing presentation of Whitney Tilson, whom he quotes (and who quotes others in a style best described as confectionary). A few quick thoughts: Brill and Ravitch will both […]
The bituminous tower?
A few months after arguing that education was designed entirely around industrialization, Duke University English professor Cathy Davidson admiringly refers to Ken Robinson’s TED talk and argues that “we’re really, implicitly training students to be college professors” in K-12 schooling (Davidson’s words). Put the two together and I’m wondering where all those college professors in […]
Burn the technocratic suck
Jeff Henig, writing last week as a guest at Rick Hess’s blog: [T]he high promise of policy by algorithm mutates into cause for concern when data are thin, algorithms theory-bare and untested, and results tied to laws that enshrine automatic rewards and penalties. Technocratic accountability policy happens to be one of my favorite fads to study, […]
Cheating happens when it’s a salient option
Philadelphia Public School Notebook‘s article on the teacher who explains cheating should remind us that this is a tempting option that attracts both premeditated and pressure-related enactment. As a result, I’d advise a little ego-checking for those who are sure the Atlanta cheating scandal is primarily caused by high-stakes testing and also those who are […]