MORE ARTICLES

Stay Connected!

Receive the latest updates in your inbox.

LATEST ARTICLES

School choice for the POTUS

/0 Comments/in , /by

Politico reports today that the “pool” followed POTUS and FLOTUS to the Sidwell Friends private school. “We are told that POTUS and FLOTUS were both in the motorcade and are at the school. Your pooler assumes the visit is some sort of end-of-the-school-year event. But we have not been told what they are here for. Just that they are attending one of Sasha’s school activities.” Take a moment to look at Sidwell’s site. I am glad the President can afford the $30,000 tuition. Simple question – and it is the same one David Gergen asked Deval Patrick before he was elected Governor in 2006: This question: when you were young, you won a scholarship to go off to the Milton […]

National standards talking points

/1 Comment/in , , , , , /by

Across the country, the NGA and the CCSSO will be using these talking points over and over again. They will say that the proposed national standards are: 1) Aligned with college and career expectations; 2) Internationally benchmarked against high performing nations; 3) Reflective of vital cross-disciplinary skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, logical reasoning, communication, and team work; 4) Fewer in scope and deeper in meaning; and 5) Clearly written and user-friendly to educators. In Massachusetts, be prepared for them to focus on #4. Fewer they are right. Deeper they will claim.

Feel that boot on the neck yet?

/0 Comments/in , , /by

As the National Governor Association and the Council of Chiefs (CCSSO) roll out the state-led, oops, sorry, national standards, they are distributing a sort of loyalty oath to a number of players in the industry. Remember that this is primarily about money, and the K-12 industry spends hundreds of billions of dollars a year in this country. Much of that is textbooks, and the reason the feds were livid with Texas is that it was a large buyer of textbooks and was uninterested in a centralized, national curriculum. So it decided not to participate. CA is not in yet either. Those are two mighty big prizes. But the NGA and CCSSO can have a big impact, especially with the Gates […]

They're national, not state standards

/0 Comments/in , /by

Today, the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) released a set of state-led education standards, the Common Core State Standards, at Peachtree Ridge High School in Suwanee, GA. The English-language arts and mathematics standards for grades K-12 were developed in collaboration with a variety of stakeholders including content experts, states, teachers, school administrators and parents. The standards establish clear and consistent goals for learning that will prepare America’s children for success in college and work. That’s the first para in today’s NGA and the CCSSO’s press release. Notice the “state-led” language. For the longest time the Common Core standards have been marketed as “state standards.” This the CCSSI, […]

What A Difference 11 Months Makes…

/0 Comments/in , /by

Do you remember what the Patrick Administration spent last July doing? Carefully explaining that they would not kill cute, furry, beloved-by-children animals. Yep, it seems like a distant memory but the Administration was pinned down for a healthy chunk of July 2009 by the Franklin Park Zookeeper’s threats to shut down the zoo and let the state decide what animals would…ahem…be victims of cost-cutting.. Now, I’m a big fan of the zookeeper in question, but as a zookeeper not a political mastermind, so it was a curious sight to behold. The contrast with the present day is pretty clear. The GOV has found his political footing and is doing a creditable job of throwing political punches. Time flies in Massachusetts […]