World News Center
Is Recess Necessary?
January 6, 2009I often spout opinions on matters about which I know nothing, so I understand when my favorite peer group -- the American people -- does the same. The latest example is a survey of 1,000 U.S. adults by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which specializes in public health projects, and Sports4Kids, a national nonprofit organization that supports safe and healthy playtime in low-income elementary schools.
Geoffrey Canada and Education's Future
January 6, 2009I have devoted many years to writing about schools, but much of the time I am really writing about poverty. Paul Tough has devoted several years to writing about poverty, but much of the time he is really writing about schools.
Why I Changed the Challenge Index
January 6, 2009The minute I saw that Coolidge High School in the District had given a startling 750 Advanced Placement tests last May, and that only 2 percent of those exams had received passing scores, I knew I was in trouble.
7 Habits of Highly Ineffective Principals
January 6, 2009 Joe Nathan, a University of Minnesota school leadership scholar, dropped by recently to tell me about his latest project: the Minnesota Leadership Academy for Charter and Alternative Public Schools. He wants to produce all-star principals for innovative schools, including the charter school movement he has been studying since its beginnings.
Should Teachers Ignore Poverty's Impact?
January 6, 2009I received a message from a young woman named Erika Owens recently that was so honest and so important to our national argument about teachers that I decided to coax responses from smart people on both sides of the issue. It is an uncomfortable topic, making it all the more important that we pick at it a bit.
A Surprisingly Sensible 21st-Century Report
January 6, 2009Only six weeks have passed since my last cranky diatribe about teaching what are called "21st-century skills" in our schools. I think the 21st-century skills movement is mostly a pipe dream, promoted by well-meaning people who embrace the idea of modernity but fail to consider how these allegedly new and important lessons can be taught by the usual victims of such schemes, classroom teachers.
The Most Promising Schools in America
January 6, 2009My publisher and I had a fight over the subtitle of my upcoming book, "Work Hard. Be Nice," about the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP). Okay, it wasn't a fight exactly. My editor at Algonquin Books, Amy Gash, is too polite and professional for that. It was a spirited discussion. Gash said the Algonquin view was that my subtitle, "How Two Inspired Teachers Created America's Best Schools" was off-putting and hyperbolic. Who was I to say what was best and what wasn't?
Why the Next Education President Will Be Like Bush
January 6, 2009 My unassailable election prediction: The guy who wins Tuesday will be an education president. There is no way to avoid it. They all grab that title, whether they deserve it or not.
Will 8th Grade Algebra Help All Kids?
January 6, 2009Heated messages are still pouring in about my Sept. 22 Metro section column for The Post, " Recalculating the 8th Grade Algebra Push." It revealed new research by Brookings Institution scholar Tom Loveless showing that many students who performed very poorly on the National Assessment of Educational Progress eighth grade math test said that, nonetheless, they were considered math whizzes at their schools. Astonishingly, they were enrolled in Algebra 1, Geometry or Algebra 2 in the eighth grade.
Five Great Educators Who Make a Difference
January 6, 2009Columbia University's Teachers College Press comes out next month with a book about five important reformers: James P. Comer, John I. Goodlad, Henry M. Levin, Deborah Meier and Theodore R. Sizer. If you were assembling the leading American thinkers and writers about education, you would have to include these five. They tell the stories of how they became so obsessed with education and what they learned about improving schools in the book "Those Who Dared: Five Visionaries Who Changed American Education."
