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Curmudgucation Digest (October 19)

By Peter Greene — October 19, 2014 2 min read
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It was a busy week. Here’s what popped up on my other blog.

College-ready Five Year Olds

If we can tell that five year olds are “on track” for college, why not just have them fill out college applications in first grade?

What We Haven’t Learned from the Widget Effect

TNTP has been celebrating the anniversary of their “paper” about the widget effect. They share four lessons from the years since. I share why their four lessons are bunk.

The Teacher Jobs Shortfall

The Economic Policy Institute says we’re short over 300K teacher jobs. Is that a problem?

How We Pay Public Servants-- And Why

Performance-based incentive pay is incompatible with public service-- including teaching.

Super Quote Re: Public vs. Private

Bruce Dixon offers a great quote about the public/private school debate.

Fordham and CCSS and Reading and Writing

Robert Pondiscio thinks there are three big ideas in the Core worth saving. I’ll argue about their worth, but I don’t believe they’re in the Core at all.

We’re Here To Help

If we were going to design a teacher evaluation system to really help teachers, what would it look like?

Charters as Money Funnels

The Gulen charters show how easily charter schools can be used for purposes other than educating students.

Kindergarten Slackers Threaten Civilization As We Know It

Mississippi needs to crack down on its slacker five year olds. Don’t they understand how important kindergarten is?

The Public Charter School Test

Modern charters like to repeatedly remind us that they are public schools. They aren’t. But if they’d like to be legitimate public schools, here are the four requirements to meet.

It Is Not Sunny in Philadelphia

Things in Philly just get worse and worse. Here’s how many favorite reformsters tricks lead to the destruction of a city’s public school system.

CCSSO & CGCS Offer No Useful Change on Testing

There was much fuss this week about a conference call purporting to present a new plan and direction for standardized testing. It was a big plate of baloney.

Arne Blows Standardized Smoke

Arne Duncan tried to jump on CCSSO’s and CGCS’s bandwagon. Mostly he just ended up trying to dodge responsibility for creating the big testing mess.

Can Any Teacher Make a Case for CCSS?

After reading my five zillionth puff piece in praise of the tansformative power of the standards, I ask if it’s even possible for a teacher to make a good case for the Core. (Spoiler alert-- so far the answer is “no”)

Bad News from Minneapolis

Minneapolis public schools are in trouble, and their chief thinks it’s a marketing problem. One more example of how the free market does nt go with education.

The opinions expressed in View From the Cheap Seats are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.