StickWithANose

No Edu-Wonk… Your construct only works in the context of a false functionalist dichotomy that doesn’t exist in the actually existing world in which we live.

Despite all the fawning coverage afforded Michelle Rhee the more we learn about the model of “reform” she and her edu-philanthropist backers are imposing on the DC school system the more we discover that the entire project is a fraud.
There’s no polite way to say this: The procedures described in the DCPS IMPACT Guidebook [...]

In a classic example of projection, EduWonk serves up two points of critique which tell us more about the ol’ Wonkster than the relationship between teacher credentials and student outcomes. The first point relates to what the Wonkster calls the piling up of weak studies that he counters with his own… conveniently provided for him [...]

It was during the 1990’s that a convergence in education policy took place between the two American political parties. The Democrats made the biggest shift by adopting many of the policies and ideas traditionally associated with the Republicans. One of the driving forces behind this shift was the growing support of civil rights groups long [...]

Well, it looks like the Sherrod incident has brought the issue of race back into the spotlight of popular discourse and [predictably] the same old narratives are surfacing to obscure and dismiss the racial character of American culture. This week Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia offered up more boilerplate opinions that race is no longer [...]

Valerie Strauss offers more details on the farce that is Michelle Rhee and IMPACT…
The overall impact of IMPACT is not only unfair but not likely to do the job it is supposed to do: Root out bad teachers. Some great teachers are likely to be tossed out, and others, who know how to [...]

We Americans sure do love the tough guy take no prisoners archetype. It is a media image that many attempt to cultivate but few actually achieve. For those who do, the reward is un-critical praise and on-going features that construct narratives of a highly motivated individual fighting the forces of entrenched interests. The best example [...]

One of the frustrating narratives now common in policy circles is that traditional teacher training is ineffective and does not make a positive contribution to student learning. As I’ve noted previously, this is one of the key narratives behind the Teach for America program and other alternative credentialing programs, however it is a narrative that [...]

Ed continues to offer some of the most thoughtful [& profane] critiques of modern American culture to be found on the inter-tubes. In this post, he tackles an issue that appears to be taboo for the “family values” crowd…
Parenting is miserable in part because we make it miserable. Other countries have a year of paid [...]

It looks like Team Obama stands a good chance of getting its extension of Race to the Top funding for next year. EdWeek reports that the extension cleared the House Appropriations committee chaired by the same Rep. Obey who helped to pass the current EduJobs bill that acquires a good deal of its funding from [...]