The Core Knowledge Blog

The first step to solving a problem is admitting there is a problem and the Fordham Foundation’s Liam Julian says ed schools could use a good long look in the mirror. His op-ed in the Detroit News, says ed schools are “rife with courses about child psychology and development, and with courses about how to best educate students from different socioeconomic or racial backgrounds. What’s missing is the content.” Without content knowledge and a belief that all children can learn, writes Julian, “the education system will remain incapable of developing better teachers.”

The prize for Best New Year’s Resolution goes to Patrick Riccards, aka eduflack, who promises among other things to blog for national standards, “even if it is as unpopular as a skunk at a garden party these days.” Huh? Even the New York Times likes national standards!

Speaking of unpopular ideas, here’s today’s analogy, class: Texas teacher Susan Creighton is to faculty lounge as WHAT is to picnic? I suspect the correct answer is “ants,” if her colleagues have read her piece in the Dallas Morning News. The brave English teacher has fingered an unlikely culprit for low teacher salaries: teachers. “It’s our fault because somewhere along the line, we’ve settled for security over accountability,” she writes.