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The Center on Education Policy just released a new report on changes to the elementary curriculum since NCLB. Their findings: Schools have put subjects like social studies and the arts on the chopping block to make way for more time in mathematics and reading.  (Way back in 2004, yours truly wrote a similar, though less sophisticated, report that reached similar conclusions.) Given the wide range of skills and knowledge students will need to thrive (see here, here and here), this is unsettling news. ...

I recently spoke with Professor Yong Zhao from Michigan State University, a leading international education expert who worries that American fears for its economic competitiveness are actually fueling counterproductive education policies.

A native of China, Dr. Zhao is University Distinguished Professor of Education at Michigan State, the founding director of the US-China Center for Research on educational Excellence and a Phi Delta Kappa International Board Member. He and I spoke about the dangers of following in China's educational footsteps, the kinds of skills youth need in a global society, the promise of educational technology, and the importance of international education.

Listen to the following excerpts of our conversation, or read through the highlights below: ...

The New York Times is launching a new multimedia series following a "communitywide effort" to turn around a struggling school in Newark, New Jersey. The result of a partnership between the Newton Street School, Seton Hall University and the Newark Teachers Union, the school's reform strategy includes a longer school day, more attention to teacher professional development, integration of reading and mathematics instruction into other subjects, and more money for enrichment programs.

It's worth a look. ...

I wish the above title were my own creation, but it's the very clever title of a new poll demonstrating that Americans of all stripes see imagination as a core ability all schools should teach.  Perhaps that's not so shocking, but another finding really did surprise me:  Namely, that most Americans believe our schools are falling behind other countries' schools in their ability produce imaginative, innovative students. 

Ouch. 

It seems we're losing our formerly unshakable belief in America as a country where Thomas Edisons and Bill Gateses come as naturally as the leaves to a tree.  Other countries might be good at math, we've told ourselves, but we're the natural-born innovators.

Maybe not.  Americans appear to understand that developing an innovative spirit takes work, and that such work begins in our public schools.  More and more worry that policies focusing too exclusively on mathematics and reading threaten to crowd out innovation and dull our competitive edge.  ...