“When rewarded or punished solely on test scores schools are encouraged to push out or not take students who will not score well, narrow the curriculum to basic skills, cut out enrichment and engagement activities, and narrow teaching to rote memorization drills.”

Changing the emotional, and especially socioeconomic reality of what parents (and subsequently teachers) face is the foundation of proper, non-corporate, lasting and rewarding education reform.

“A shift in principals, and teacher turnover already happens frequently at struggling schools and creates instability that is part of the problem.”

“Ravitch’s reversal represents a tacit acknowledgment that no kind of educational reform will work without a fundamental change in the way America’s poor are treated in every aspect of their lives.”

“What parents need to be taught specifically is how to support the linguistic, cognitive, social and emotional development of their children.”

“… all teachers will get a cost of living increase of 3 percent, and in each of the next two years, salary will increase by an amount equal to the Consumer Price Index plus .25 percent.”

‘The public schools have always been the friends of the people, and no other system has ever accomplished the good that they have. The different legislatures in the several states have long since decided this, in establishing public schools, that the rich and the poor, side by side, might attend, and receive the self-same instruction, [...]

Be fair. Be honest. Be trustworthy. Be generous. Respect others.

“The mission of the Invitation to ETI is to establish communication with any form of extraterrestrial intelligence able to monitor our World Wide Web.”

As a teacher, NCLB and the mentality surrounding it threaten to suck the life and joy and quality out of teaching as well.

Test madness and centralized curriculum control squeeze creativity out of the classroom.

“I can assure Hart that teachers are not well-compensated and will most likely use those “25 gift cards” to purchase classroom supplies not furnished by the school district.”

Happy Beethoven’s Birthday!

“New evidence flatly contradicts statements NTSA has made in defense of its suspect partnerships, and efforts appear to be underway to wipe out online evidence showing that what the oil industry got in exchange was the group’s imprimatur on classroom videos, teaching guides, and other “educational” materials that play down threats like global warming and play up the glories of continued oil dependence.”

Make sure Santa’s address is correct!

“Some Fond du Lac parents have asked school officials to remove former U.S. poet laureate Maya Angelou’s autobiography from the high school curriculum.”

Ah. The Great American Culture War. Always fun when it spills into the classroom.

Lovely.

“He credits much of his success to the nonprofit organization that taught him how to use a computer.”

“A novel plan to develop a $100 laptop computer for distribution to millions of schoolchildren in developing countries has caught the interest of governments and the attention of computer-industry heavyweights.”

The implications are huge. And if schools don’t get ahead of the curve, the chaos will be huge as well.

“Two-thirds of America’s poor do not have access.”

Now comes a new angle on the issue: White flight in the face of over-achieving Asian students in Silicon Valley.

“Darwin did not use evolution to promote atheism, or to maintain that no concept of God could ever be squared with the structure of nature.”

“They wrote about learning to use a bow and arrow, sitting inside a tepee and petting a buffalo.”

“Other educators applaud high expectations but question how many second-graders — most of whom are 7 years old when they start the school year — are developmentally ready for the new tasks.”