Practice makes perfect. The best athletes and musicians never stop practicing. Principal Katie Yezzi says the same is true for educators: “The key to workplace satisfaction is doing a job well, and our most powerful tool for ensuring that is practice.” (New York Times)

More support for early ed. A new CALDER study links pre-K program participation in Texas with improved third-grade math Continue Reading »

This video by the New York Times illustrates just how much faster sprinter Usain Bolt is than Olympic medalists of yore.  The video’s key takeaway is that the crème de la crème of athletes have over the years pushed themselves to consistently higher standards.  Whereas breaking 10 seconds used to seem nearly impossible, it is now all but a requirement of medaling in the 100m sprint.  While the Continue Reading »

Lessons learned from New Orleans. In 2008, two charter schools opened, led by close colleagues with similar plans for their respective schools. Four years later, one is closing its doors, while the other is celebrating a college-going rate of 95 percent. What happened? (Title I-Derland)

Digital cheating. Some educators are creating multiple versions of tests to stifle students’ attempts Continue Reading »

Is it really punishment to proctor someone else’s classroom? Philadelphia teachers say they are being wrongfully punished, after being assigned to new classrooms today to administer state tests. The state Department of Education hopes the move will minimize any cheating in the district, which currently has 53 schools under investigation. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Overseeing e-learning. ColContinue Reading »

Clearly, we have Thanksgiving on the brain. So here, in the spirit of the season, are our Turkey Day Quick Hits. (We resisted the all-too-easy temptation to call anyone a turkey.)

Giving thanks. The public radio project Storycorps wants Friday to be a Day of Thanks for teachers. The goal is to encourage people to write to former teachers, interview them, or just “friend” them on FacebookContinue Reading »

We’re learning that there are many ways to cheat.

The legitimacy of test score increases in District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS),  in particular those at Crosby S. Noyes Education Campus, are the focus of the latest installment in USA Today‘s “Testing the System,” a multi-part series exploring the extent and causes of cheating — by teachers, principalsContinue Reading »

This USA Today story on testing irregularities in DCPS is worth a read (see Bill Tucker’s post on the entire series on cheating). The story doesn’t come to any firm conclusions about the reasons for these irregularities, so it will no doubt be a bit of a Rorschach test: Hate testing? you’ll see clear signs of cheating. Think testing is important? the evidence may look less conContinue Reading »

USA Today’s Testing the System series continues today, with a look at how clear oversight, better assessments, and new sources of information can help prevent cheating on high-stakes, standardized tests. Yet, there’s one group that may be the most overlooked buttress against cheating: students.

Earlier this week, a former principal reminded me that in many cases where cheatinContinue Reading »

USA Today’s important “Testing the System” series is exploring the extent and causes of cheating — by teachers, principals, and schools — on standardized tests. Like many issues, this is one where multiple things can be true — all at the same time:

1. Cheating is Wrong. Period. — I have little tolerance for those who excuse cheating by blaming stContinue Reading »

This week’s Chronicle of Higher Education has a pretty shocking first-person story by “Ed Dante,” the pseudonym of someone who gets paid by college students to write their assignments, papers, and even dissertations. It’s pretty provocative stuff:

I’ve written toward a master’s degree in cognitive psychology, a Ph.D. in sociology, and a handful of posContinue Reading »