It’s unsettling to hear that some 90 percent of teachers believe that today’s technologies are creating “an easily distracted generation with short attention spans.” Unsettling, not for the fear mongering it conjures about the future of student achievement, but for the belief that technology exposure actually reduces the ability to learn and progress and achieve. Technology is ever-present in oContinue Reading »

“My manicurist requires a license to do my nails, but our nation isn’t sure we should license teachers.” Camilla Benbow in an excerpt from John Chubb’s new book, The Best Teachers in the World. (Defining Ideas)*

More Chicago woes. District leaders are working to identify as many as 100 schools eligible for closure. (The Atlantic)

Preparing high-schoolers for life. At least 4Continue Reading »

Silly question—it might seem. How could someone be expected to teach piano if they do not know how to play themselves? Yet that is what the public schools are about to ask of teachers more generally. In two years, most public schools will administer new student assessments in reading and math, pegged to the higher academic standards of the Common Core. Although performance standards—how high a Continue Reading »