The Core Knowledge Blog

Our weekly roundup of the week’s most important news, information and blog posts about curriculum, teaching, education policy and other items of interest to the Core Knowledge community.

Best of the Blogs

Meet Jake at Teaching in the 408
“Jake’s gonna report for duty at the TFA Los Angeles Training Institute sometime in the middle of June…”

The Layman’s Guide to Reading First at D-Ed Reckoning
Ken DeRosa explains it all.

Philosophy in Bricks and Mortar at The Blue Skunk Blog
Buildings reflect the values of those who design them. What principles will be on display in Mankato Schools new elementary building?

My not-so-friendly library, boring teachers, and other marketing interactions at Techlearning Blog
Schools do a host of wonderful things. But they also engage in a number of behaviors that chip away at thtrust and goodwill.

Let Parents and Students Choose Teachers, by Grant Wiggins in The Faculty Room
I cannot for the life of me understand educator rationalization of denying choice to parents and students. That said, I have far less interest in school choice than in teacher choice.  Want schools to reform more quickly? Let parents and students choose teachers.

Teaching, Content and Curriculum

 Is Supervising the Heck Out of Teachers the Answer?
By Kim Marshall, Education Week
In most schools, teacher evaluation is something of a joke. Could it be that the time-honored process of teacher evaluation is an ineffective strategy for improving teaching?

Keeping the boys away from the girls
By Tracy Jan, The Boston Globe
A Middle School in East Boston is one of the few public schools in the state experimenting with single-sex classes as a way to tame raging hormones, refocus students on their studies, and begin addressing a worsening achievement gap between boys and girls.

To Curb Truancy, Dallas Tries Electronic Monitoring
By Gretel C. Kovach The New York Times
Instead of sending truant students to juvenile detention, school officials in East Dallas have begun an electronic monitoring program to improve attendance rates.

Education Policy

No Child Left Behind Lacks Bite
By Robert Tomsho, The Wall Street Journal
The more-radical restructuring remedies put forth by the law have rarely been adopted by failing schools, many of which aren’t doing much to address their problems.

Parenting and Homeschooling

Are Parents Really Necessary? A Guide to Preschool Education
By Amelia Harper, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
I were a disinterested observer, I would certainly conclude that they are not. I would conclude that the government alone had the responsibility to provide for the future of its citizens and that parents were simply accidental providers of a human commodity: the youth of our nation.

Man Jailed After Daughter Fails to Get GED
WCPO-TV/Cinncinnati
A judge ordered a Kentucky father to stay on top of his daughter’s education months ago. when she failed to earn her GED, Brian Gegner was sentenced to 180-days in the Butler County jail.

Remember ‘go outside and play?’
By Rosa Brooks, The Los Angeles Times
Overbearing parents have taken the fun out of childhood and turned it into a grind.

Et Alia

Peerless Educator: The Life and Work of Isaac Leon Kandel
Book Review by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., in Education Next
The history of American education as taught today to prospective teachers makes scant mention of Kandel. In the typology of educational theories, he is labeled, if mentioned at all, an essentialist. Kandel thought that a politically progressive and democratic education should offer equal opportunity to all students and also strengthen the solidarity of the nation by providing all students with common learning.

The Politics of Commencement
By Michael Paulson, The Boston Globe
Catholic colleges and universities are shying away from politicians as commencement speakers and honorary degree recipients. Instead, the schools are scrutinizing the public records of potential honorees for evidence of open dissent from key church teachings.