Learning Matters: Reporting you trust on education stories that matter

June 6, 2011 at 2:57 pm
Brian Beabout says:

Better link:
A summary of my work on site-visitation as a model for school accountability:
http://fs.uno.edu/bbeabout/visitations_UCEA_proposal2011.pdf

June 7, 2011 at 12:53 pm
Jorge says:

I am thankful to be part of this important conversation about how we evaluate schools, leaders, teachers and student academic growth!

June 9, 2011 at 11:49 am
Julie Stroeve says:

It’s time to look at the test models. If children in 3rd grade can extract context from the written page, perhaps it’s not the student (or the school); perhaps it’s the test itself. Also learning standards; perhaps they’ve exceeded developmental capabilities of children — when I was in kindergarten I certainly wasn’t required to read. I think the discussion of what public education is all about needs to be re-examined. The DOE isn’t doing the discussion any good whatsoever by condemning teachers as the evil doers and charter schools as the be-all-end-all solution of educational outcomes. When we look at the whole child, we can have a rational discussion about delivery of education and student achievement in the public school system.

June 14, 2011 at 3:40 pm
juggleandhope says:

this nice video pseudo-naively failed to problematize the core reality. what do you do when a school with caring professionals and good practices fails to help high-needs students demonstrate proficiency on basic skills tests?

the laughable little, “gee, i guess the low-skilled kids can answer the questions all right when on camera with a strange old guy asking, but the little dears get too nervous when facing a bubble test” lacks persuasiveness to those of us who work in the schools and see the important skills deficits every day.

the problem of lack of basic skills is real. the tests are often badly made, and that’s a real issue, but pretending like the test is the whole problem is missing the point.

July 25, 2011 at 11:41 am
aunttammie says:

“they take the joy out of [reading], and it’s hard to infuse it back.” Well said!