AP as academic shock treatment
‘Tis better to have tried an AP class and failed the exam than never to have tried at all, argues Jay Mathews. His Challenge Index includes schools with high AP test participation rates but very low...
View ArticleMessing with success
Baltimore’s highest scoring middle school, KIPP Ujima Village, will have to cut its hours and drop Saturday classes to meet union demands for time-and-a-half pay for teachers, reports Jay Mathews in...
View ArticleCan schools make a difference for poor kids?
Teacher Dwayne Betts, guest-posting on Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Atlantic blog, asks: Can schools make a difference for children in poor neighborhoods? Two months into my first real job teaching poetry at a...
View Article'Suited for teaching' after all
Michele Kerr, who comments here as “Cal,” has earned a master’s degree from Stanford’s Teacher Education Program (STEP), despite threats to declare her “unsuited” for teaching. FIRE has the links. . ....
View ArticleFor achievers, it's not the money
High-achieving, low-income students aren’t kept from college over money, writes Jay Mathews in the Washington Post. He’s responding to one part of Columbia Professor Andrew Delbanco’s NY Review of...
View ArticleTeachers on ed degree's value
Teachers discuss an education degree’s value (or lack thereof) on the NY Times’ Room for Debate blog. From Mark: I am a 21-year veteran teacher who took a whole boatload of education courses in...
View ArticleNot new, just 21st century
“Has the P21 movement succeeded?” asks National Journal. Many experts weigh in. According to Ken Kay and Paige Johnson, P21 never claimed “21st century skills” were new. (Then why, I wonder, do P21...
View ArticleCrazy, but it works
Crazy Like a Fox: One Principal’s Triumph in the Inner City is Ben Chavis’ book about how he turned a failing charter school into one of the highest scoring middle schools in the state, even though 81...
View Article21st century skills: no substance
Bernie Trilling and Charles Fadel’s book, 21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times, is a disappointment, writes Jay Mathews on Class Struggle. Were the 21st century skills people finally...
View ArticleKeeping it real — or at least non-fictional.
Jay Mathews has had two short articles about non-fiction books in schools. The initial article is here, with a follow-up here. The problem he is addressing is an (alleged but probably true) dearth in...
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