Category Archives: Education Reform

Diane Ravitch Says It…

Posted on April 28, 2011 by Mike

I will spare you a rant today, because Diane Ravitch says it better than I could, so I send you the link:   http://www.npr.org/2011/04/28/135142895/ravitch-standardized-testing-undermines-teaching The audio, it seems, will not be available until after 5 PM today. The accompanying rebuttal by … Continue reading →

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Common Sense

Posted on March 25, 2011 by Mike

Today’s Idaho Statesman http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/03/25/1579773/3rd-reform-bill-clears-big-hurdle.html quoted some good sense on the part of a couple of Idaho’s state Senators, and good sense has been notably lacking in the debate over education reform. Sen. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert said This bill is completely … Continue reading →

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Computers for Students

Posted on March 20, 2011 by Mike

An original provision of Idaho Superintendent of Schools Tom Luna’s Students First initiative as expressed in SB 1113 was that every student in Idaho would be issued a laptop computer as a 9th grader. He would keep the computer throughout … Continue reading →

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Thoughts on SB 1113

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Mike

A computer for every student in Idaho – what’s not to like? I taught English. I regarded a major responsibility to be teaching writing, and to this end, I assigned my students to write as many essays as I could … Continue reading →

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House Education Committee Remarks for 3-2-2011

Posted on March 3, 2011 by Mike

Bills 1108 and 1110 We English teachers like booklists. Here are the five best I have read relevant to current issues in School Reform. All are currently in print, I think: The Death and Life of the Great American School … Continue reading →

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What Are Most Students Learning in College?

Posted on January 19, 2011 by Mike

Today, 1/19/11, I read a most interesting article in the newspaper. Oddly, it does not seem to be available on The Statesman’s website. Find it at the Hechinger Report’s site. http://hechingerreport.org/content/what-are-most-students-learning-in-college-not-enough-study-says_4979/ Predictably, the article laments that “An unprecedented [longitudinal] study … Continue reading →

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Senior Project Inception

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Mike

December 8 and 9, 2010, I returned to Nampa High School to evaluate Senior Project Presentations, as I have continued to do since retirement. Earlier this semester, in correspondence with colleagues at NHS, I was asked how the Senior Project … Continue reading →

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First, Fire All the Teachers

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Mike

I have read in this morning’s paper that “School Hits Bumps on the Road to Reform.” http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/01/06/1478112/troubled-ri-school-hits-bumps.html It seems that the school district fired the entire faculty of the high school, en masse, “in a radical, last ditch attempt to … Continue reading →

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Thoughts on Bad Teachers

Posted on January 6, 2011 by Mike

Politicians, Pundits, Polemicists, and some Professors Who Probably Know Better harp at us through the media that American Public Education is sick unto death. It needs to be reformed from top to bottom. The very assumptions that form the basis … Continue reading →

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Education and the Military

Posted on December 25, 2010 by Mike

The big news this past week has been the Education Trust report that twenty percent of young recruits fail the ASVAB. This is presented as yet more proof positive of the abject failure of American public education. It’s like Chicken … Continue reading →

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