Walt Gardner's Reality Check
Walt Gardner taught for 28 years in the Los Angeles Unified School District and was a lecturer in the UCLA Graduate School of Education. This blog is no longer being updated.
Education
Opinion
The Reading Wars
The latest chapter in the book on the best way to teach reading was a study of 1,000 students at 20 schools in New York City that was released on Mar. 12. It found that children who were taught to read by the strategies advocated by the Core Knowledge Foundation outperformed children who were taught by the methods embodied in balanced literacy ("Nonfiction Curriculum Enhanced Reading Skills, Study Finds," The New York Times, Mar. 12). Specifically, scores were five times higher in kindergarten. By the third year, the differences were still wide, although not as great.
Education
Opinion
Overreacting To Classroom Discipline
When a ninth-grade science teacher in Florida placed a "cone of shame" on students who arrived late or misbehaved in class, she immediately put her job in jeopardy ("Florida teacher faces firing for placing 'cone of shame' on students," New York Daily News, May 10). The object in question is a plastic collar that veterinarians use to prevent animals from licking their wounds after surgery.
Education
Opinion
How to Commit Educational Suicide
No matter how compelling the evidence to the contrary, reformers persist in the fiction that a college-preparatory curriculum is the best way to prepare students for the future. By refusing to acknowledge reality, they are doing a terrible disservice to countless students whose talents and interests lie elsewhere. In the process, they're aiding and abetting educational suicide.
Education
Opinion
Two Cheers for Public Schools
At a time when public schools can't seem to do anything right, it's welcome news that the fourth edition of the rankings of the Best High Schools in the country by U.S. News & World Report awarded 500 gold medals ("U.S. News Ranks Nation's Best High Schools," U.S. News & World Report, May 8). This compares with 100 in 2009. California is home to the largest number (97), as well as the largest number of schools receiving gold, silver or bronze medals (577).
Education
Opinion
Evaluating Head Start
When Head Start began in 1965, its purpose was to prepare low-income children for school by developing their social, emotional and physical skills. Although math and reading readiness was a focus, Head Start was never intended to be primarily academic.
Education
Opinion
Honoring Teachers Now More Than Ever
Teacher Appreciation Week begins today and ends on May 11. It's the one time of the year that is officially designated to remember teachers who for one reason or another have played an important role in our lives. It's easy to dismiss the occasion as just another sop thrown to those in the front of the classroom. But I don't think most people realize how much teachers welcome being recognized for their accomplishments.
Education
Opinion
How Not to Prepare Students for Life
Schools are constantly under attack for graduating students who are ill prepared for college and career. There is much truth to the criticism. Yet one aspect has been less explored. It has to do with protecting young people from disappointment.
Education
Opinion
Don't Blame Schools for the Economy Again
It's not often that intellectual heavyweights disagree so fundamentally about the same issue in commentaries published days apart in the nation's two most respected newspapers. I'm referring to Paul Krugman, whose column "Wasting Our Minds" appeared on Apr. 29 in The New York Times, and to George P. Schultz and Eric A. Hanushek, whose essay "Education Is the Key to a Healthy Economy" appeared in The Wall Street Journal on May 1. The subject was the relationship between educational outcomes and economic growth.
Education
Opinion
Who's Right About Parental Rights?
A new report by the Schott Foundation documents policies and practices of the New York City Department of Education that create and reinforce unequal opportunities to learn ("A Rotting Apple"). It maintains that what is taking place in the nation's largest school district amounts to no less than education redlining because the census tract in which students live determines the quality of education they receive.
Education
Opinion
The Instruction War
The debate pitting supporters of discovery learning against supporters of fully guided instruction seems finally settled. "Decades of research clearly demonstrate that for novices (comprising virtually all students), direct, explicit instruction is more effective and more efficient than partial guidance" ("Putting Students on the Path to Learning," American Educator, Spring 2012).
Education
Opinion
No Relief for English Teachers
Every subject taught in high school has its unique downsides. But as a former English teacher for 28 years in the same high school, I'd argue that grading student compositions has to be the most arduous in terms of time and effort. That's why I was elated to hear about computer scoring because its designers claim "virtually identical levels of accuracy" as essays graded by teachers.
Education
Opinion
Lessons From Texas School Budget Woes
Even in a behemoth like Texas, cuts of roughly $5.4 billion to public schools made during the last legislative session to balance the state's two-year budget can't be ignored. They've resulted in larger class sizes, more layoffs of teachers and support staff, and fewer services and supplies ("At Texas Schools, Making Do on a Shoestring," The New York Times, Apr. 9). But the factors surrounding the cuts are less known. That's unfortunate because they have application to other states as well.
Education
Opinion
Rethinking the Open Educational Marketplace
When Milton Friedman wrote in 1955 that the best way to improve schools was to empower parents, he planted the seed of a movement that is now bearing fruit. But it is turning out to be a disappointing harvest, as events in New Orleans and New York City illustrate.
Education
Opinion
Why Schools Don't Teach Innovation
The call for schools to turn out students who can succeed in the 21st-century economy is so familiar by now that it hardly seems worthwhile revisiting the issue. But reading an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal by a former high school teacher changed my mind ("Educating the Next Steve Jobs," Apr. 14). Tony Wagner argues that young people in this country become innovators in spite of their schools - not because of them.