The Public School Insights Blog
A little-noticed item in Science Magazine points out a whopper of a quantitative error in Rising Above the Gathering Storm, a respected National Academy of Sciences report on the nation's declining standing in mathematics and science. According to Science, one important claim in the report--that "there were almost twice as many U.S. physics bachelor's degrees awarded in 1956 [pre-Sputnik] than in 2004"--is "dead wrong." ...
Retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is teaming up with two law schools (and presumably a lot of twenty-something computer programmers) to create civics education video games. At the Games for Change conference yesterday, she announced a project to develop interactive on-line games that let students "engage in real legal issues"--and, in the process, learn how courts work. ...
This month's School Administrator includes Jay Matthews' paean to departing AASA executive director Paul Houston. It offers a profoundly respectful account of Houston's 42-year career in education.
In a couple of weeks, Public School Insights will publish its own interview with Houston. ...
While poking around the internet today, we encountered what looks like the trailer to Dave Eggers' and Vanessa Roth's planned documentary on the professional lives of teachers. Eggers told me in our recent interview that they intend the documentary to transform public perceptions of teaching and fuel much stronger public support for public schools.
Eggers, a best-selling author, and Roth, an Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker, certainly have the talent and fame to get their film noticed. Still, they have their work cut out for them.
Anyway, I suspect we'll hear more about this documentary in the coming months. ...
The recent dust-up between Senators Obama and McCain over a new "GI Bill" for veterans has drowned out news of a measure in the same bill that could save districts billions in the coming years.
This seemingly arcane measure has very important implications for public schools. As we pointed out in March, a Bush administration decision to prevent schools from claiming Medicaid reimbursements for transportation and administration costs could have an enormous impact on school district budgets across the country.
In late 2007, Congressional opponents of this change managed to delay implementation of the new rules until June 30, which is of course just around the corner. ...
I couldn't swing a cat over the past few days without hitting a reference to the virtues of performance assessment--thanks in large part to the Coalition of Essential Schools' effective promotion of National Exhibition Month, which "promote[s] and celebrate exhibitions as a preferred form of student assessment" ...
Alexander Russo's recent blog posting about the French film that received the Palme d'Or at Cannes last week caught my attention. The Class (Entre les Murs), which depicts a year in a junior high school that serves one of Paris's poorest neighborhoods, won nearly unanimous praise at Cannes--which is no mean feat. Here's hoping that the film crosses the pond soon and finds a large American audience. ...
In this third and final installment of our interview, Eggers announces his plans to create a new documentary depicting the professional lives of teachers. (You heard it here first.)
Eggers and Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Vanessa Roth are collaborating on a film they hope will do for teaching what An Inconvenient Truth did for the environment. Featuring footage taken by teachers themselves, the film aims to offer a first-hand view of the challenges educators face every day--and to inspire greater public support for teachers' work.
...
In the first installment of our interview with best-selling author Dave Eggers, Eggers told us about 826 National, the network of community-based centers he co-founded to help students with their expository and creative writing skills.
In this second installment, Eggers describes his strategies for motivating reluctant writers. These strategies include:
...
We've received and published five new public school and district success stories in the past weeks. Have a look at these inspiring accounts of what's working in American public schools and schools districts:
- Pateros School District, Washington: Arts Education Broadens Horizons in Washington State, May 5
- Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School District, Texas: In Texas, a Second Chance at a Bright Future, May 8
- Coachella Valley Unified School District, California: Awareness Initiative Boosts College Attendance, May 12
- Spencer County High School, Kentucky: Changing a Culture by Building Relationships, May 15
- Walker County High School, Tennessee: Innovative Courses in Math & Science Take Students from the Earth to the Sky--and to High Achievement, May 20
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The views expressed in this website's interviews do not necessarily represent those of the Learning First Alliance or its members.
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Excellence is the Standard
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