The Core Knowledge Blog

Caught Being Good

Tom Wates
A British “maths” and PE teacher has solved the age-old problem of students tipping back their chairs and falling. He’s invented an untippable chair.

St. Paul Teaching Fellows
Since launching in late 2007, the alternative certification project has garnered applications from 430 prospective new teachers. The Minnesota program is seeking 30 to 50 new teachers for the fall; 250 in five years.

Names on the Blackboard

Ike White
The principal of Hamilton High in Memphis tells the local paper that other than two large fights last fall that resulted in multiple arrests each and a shooting this month, Hamilton is “not a den of violence.” Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how’d you like the play?

Will Okun
New York Times edublogger has important things to say about inner city schools, but quoting the mindless, juvenile rap of Dead Prez’ “They Schools” dulls the impact. Does your school teach kids they’re only three-fifths human beings?

Names on the Board With Checkmarks

Wonks!
My funder can whoop your funder’s @#$%!! Wait, your funder IS my funder! Can’t we all just get along?

Caught Being Good

The Humane Society of the U.S.
Undercover videotape catches workers slaughtering sick cattle and possibly distributing the meat to school lunch programs.

Gov. Phil Bredesen
Tennessee Governor’s major high school reform plan approved unanimously by the state board of education.

Mark Bauerlein
Emory English Professor’s piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Less Critical Thinking, More Learned Appreciation, is for college professors, but applies to all teachers.

Nancy S. Grasmick
Ed Week ranks Maryland’s schools third in the nation, but the superintendent of schools still smacked by Gov. as the “poster child for No Child Left Behind.”

Names on the Blackboard

Hawaii
A report shows about half of all math and social studies classes are taught by unqualified teachers

On the Board with Checkmarks

The National Association of Mortgage Brokers
NAMB has formed a Presidential Advisory Council which will help educate consumers about financial issues and “responsible decision making.” Your punch line here.

Caught Being Good

Chet Culver
The Iowa Governor has set a goal of the state adopting a “model core curriculum,” a road map for what students should learn, by 2010.

Joe Manchin
West Virginia’s Governor proposes that students have at least a 2.0 grade point average and good attendance to apply for a drivers license. Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina and Tennessee have similar laws on the books.

John McCoy
The Washington State representative is reintroducing a bill he sponsored last year to require K-12 schools to provide at least 30 minutes of physical activity during the school day, either from recess or PE.

Eduwonkette
The 154th Carnival of Education is up…and it’s….GOOD!

Sarah Prince
Fifth-grader speaks truth to power; asks the Waynesboro (Pennsylvania) Area School Board why she and her fellow students don’t have enough textbooks.

Names on the Board

Pennsylvania State Board of Education
The State Board of Education has abandoned an effort to adopt rules requiring all students to acquire at least basic foreign-language skills before they graduate.

Promoting Academic Success
$28.5 million Washington state program designed to help high-school students pass the WASL shows poor results.

On the Board with Checkmark

PBS
“Sesame Street is brought to you today by the letter $ and the number 9.95 (a month).” PBS is launching a paid online service that lets preschoolers “play and learn with the help of characters such as Curious George and The Berenstain Bears.”