Different ways to think about the “Florida package”
My second email Q&A over Florida’s recent reform history is up at Valerie Strauss’s blog. I’m flattered that she calls me an expert on Florida reform. I’m more of a scholar of accountability who was also a local observer for 18 years, and one of those who have written about the state’s education reforms. (See a […]
American preschoolers dangerously behind world in mastering jargon
Researchers argue in a new paper that young American children are endangering the nation’s economy by not learning corporate buzzwords as fast as their peers around the globe. “This is a crisis,” said report writer Amelie Schafer-Berenzoit, Senior Reform Enthusiasm Scientist at the Washington think tank The Group Group. “Research proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that American […]
Research synthesis requires giving up information
What do we want? Evidence-based change! When do we want it? After peer review! – sign at 2010’s Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear Ten years after ((Okay, about 9-1/2 years.)) his most famous article, Why Most Published Research Findings are False, John Ioannidis has been interviewed by Vox. The interview does not explore Ioannidis’s underlying […]
Developing courses for others
Yesterday, I found myself hip-deep in course planning at the undergraduate, masters, and doctoral level. The doctoral course is for a major initiative that is on my plate this year, the undergraduate course helps the Division of Teacher Preparation with one of their curriculum initiatives, and the third is from a very clear need for redevelopment of the masters-level […]
Irregular verbs in federal law rewrite debates
At one level, the most recent debate over federal elementary and secondary education policy is about annual testing: will the next rewrite of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act continue to require that states test public school children annually in grades 3-8? The draft bill released by Senator Lamar Alexander (TN) suggested he was considering two possible policies: a […]