‘Good effects’ of small classes
A long-term study in the USA suggests children benefit from being taught in small classes over several years.
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Time is nature's way to keep everything from happening at once.
—John Wheeler
Education
Do parents matter?
Parents matter–but maybe not for the reasons you thought.
Evaluating charter schools
Charter schools are just as good–and just as bad–as conventional public schools, and that’s a problem for NCLB.
Computers considered harmful
Use a computer, go to fail.
The seven deadly absurdities of No Child Left Behind
The more one digs behind NCLB’s noble goal of universal proficiency (for some definition of proficiency), the more one is forced to question the good faith–or good sense–of its authors. Bracey’s litany of absurdities is worth a look.
Gerald W. Bracey is an associate professor at George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia and an Associate of the [...]
Jerry Brown and charter schools
In an LA Times article, Oakland mayor and ex-gov Jerry Brown preaches to the charter school choir.
There’s certainly something to be said for charter schools, especially to the extent that they’re able to provide a greater diversity of educating style, but I’m not sure what to make of this:
Brown said he successfully lobbied Gov. Arnold [...]
All kinds of minds: Mel Levine
Last night, I was struggling to remember the name of an educator I had come across a couple of years ago. He was stressing the need for a pluralistic approach in teaching children, something that our one-size-fits-all approach to academic proficiency seems to entirely ignore–except in the special education arena.
In one of those small miracles [...]
Advice for high school students
“Rebellion is almost as stupid as obedience. Nearly all textbooks are bad.”
Exploding the Self-Esteem Myth
Self-esteem may not be all it’s cracked up to be.
Boosting people’s sense of self-worth has become a national preoccupation. Yet surprisingly, researchshows that such efforts are of little value in fostering academic progress or preventing undesirable behavior
From Scientific American, via Danny Yee.
Budget follies: round one
From the Governor’s new budget proposal:
Total 2005-06 Proposition 98 support for K-12 education will increase 6 percent over the revised 2004 Budget Act level, as adjusted for changes in local revenues, average daily attendance growth (ADA), and forecasted economic factors.
You’d almost think we were looking at an increase in funding for next year, but as [...]
Merit Pay: Gerstner, Kevin Drum
Kevin Drum links to an article by Lou Gerstner on the merits of merit pay for teachers.
I don’t entirely buy Drum’s contention that principals don’t know enough about teachers to adequately evaluate them. Or rather, I’m convinced that, under the right circumstances (in particular a manageable number of teachers), a good principal has a [...]
BBC: Small-class pupils ‘do no better’
New British research suggests that there “is no evidence that children in smaller primary classes do better in maths or English”.
Via Sam Smith, who points out that small schools, on the other hand, are another matter entirely.
Yet California continues to fund class-size reduction to the tune of over a billion dollars per year while ignoring [...]