Greenhaus Education and Other "Effects"

I am very tired of all the negative things I read and hear about the Common Core. As a math teacher and teacher trainer, I applauded the Common Core when they came out because FINALLY, here were some standards that focused on helping students think, become problem solvers, communicate - so many things that unfortunately standardized testing and NCLB have forced out of learning. The Common Core themselves are NOT the problem - the problem is our culture of standardized testing and need for immediate results and improvement, when change, particularly quality change, takes time. Having been involved in the education arena for the last 24 years and having seen it from many perspectives - teacher, administrator, student, PD provider, publishing, etc., I realize that one of the biggest downfalls of our education system is the need for immediate results and unrealistic expectations for a quick turn-around. True change in the system will take a long time, but unfortunately, we are not willin...

(I cannot believe I haven't posted for a week! My goal of at least 2 posts a week, preferably more, seems to be getting more difficult, especially as my travel schedule picks up.  I will have to be more diligent.  The good thing about the travel though is I am out and about talking with teachers, teaching myself, and so getting some fodder for my posts.  This should get the creative juices going). I wanted to reflection on another talk from the Learning without Frontiers 2012 because I find them quite thought provoking, especially as I go back and re-listen to them.  (See my previous 2 reflections, "Technology Is Neutral" and Mobile Devices In Education ). The talk I want to focus on this post is from Francis Gilbert , a teacher in the UK. Francis gave a great talk called Escaping the Education Matrix , which I have posted below. I agree with all Francis' points, and, even though he was speaking from a UK perspective, I found what he said about assessment a...

Well, I have to give a shout out to closed-captions at the gym.  In the midst of my morning cardio I caught Arne Duncan's interview on Morning Joe and was really pleased to at least "see" what he said - it looks like a promising change in policy.  Whether it comes to fruition is another story, but as a long-time proponent for doing away with NCLB since it began, it's nice to see that there may be some hope.  Here are a couple of my favorite Arne Duncan quotes from the interview: 1) "We are encouraging states to raise standards, not dummy them down like we did for NCLB" 2) " Give them a high bar, but give them a lot of flexibility to hit that high bar" 3) "What we are much more focused on rather than absolute test scores is growth and gain, progress.  How much are individual students getting better each year? Mr. Duncan gives a nice example of this growth - you are a great teacher if a student comes to you three grade levels behind and ...