eduwonkette
Through the lens of social science, eduwonkette took a serious, if sometimes irreverent, look at some of the most contentious education policy debates in this opinion blog. Find eduwonkette’s complete archives prior to Jan. 6, 2008 here. This blog is no longer being updated.
School & District Management
Opinion
skoolboy's Platinum Law of Educational Research
eduwonkette's "Iron Law of Qualitative Research in Education" is that the number of participants in the study should exceed the number of authors on the paper. Ha-ha, very funny, but the subtext is that (a) we cannot learn anything of value from studies that have small sample sizes; (b) qualitative research often has small samples; (c) therefore, we can't learn very much from qualitative research. Eduwonkette would protest that that's not what she's saying at all—"qualitative research is critical to educational research and policy," and I know that she does believe this. But poking fun at a paper reporting qualitative data without explaining why does her readers, and those who believe that qualitative research can be of great value, a disservice. I'd like to upgrade eduwonkette's Iron Law to skoolboy's Platinum Law of Educational Research: Poorly designed and conceived research is poorly designed and conceived research, regardless of the sample size.
School & District Management
Opinion
Violation of the Iron Law of Qualitative Research in Education, #1,321
The Iron Law: The number of participants in the study should exceed the number of authors on the paper.
College & Workforce Readiness
Opinion
Gender Bender: The AAUW's New Report on Gender Equity
The American Association of University Women released a 124 page report this morning debunking the myth of a "boy crisis" in education. Lots of long-term NAEP and ACT/SAT trend data to mull over.
Education
Opinion
Geeked Out Monday Links
1) Oh data!/ I wanna get wit-cha/ Regress and fit-cha: More evidence that I am a nerd, but so are you, all you ed researchers and data-driven teachers who read this blog. "Baby Got Back" gets remixed as "Baby Got Stats, " i.e.: But when you get some data / And you put it in Stata/ And it’s spits out a beta of 10 / You get sprung. Can't Fordham put together a respectable rap about ed policy?
Education
Opinion
Should State Tests Require Students to Advocate for Specific Education Policies?: NY's ELA Test on Teach for America
A Voice Cries Out reports that this year's high school ELA retest required students to complete the following task:
Education
Opinion
School Closings and Teacher Salaries in New York City: There's Something For Everyone Here
Last fall, the New York City Department of Education graded each of its schools on an A-F scale. Schools were warned that those with Fs – there were 49 altogether - faced closure. Shortly thereafter, the New York City Department of Education announced its intention to close 14 schools. Somewhat perplexing was that 6 of these schools had earned Ds on their progress reports. Why would the Department of Education, we wondered, close D schools before F schools if it believed in its own Progress Report system?
School & District Management
Opinion
Brain-Based Education: Don't Get Snookered!
"Brain-based education" is K-12's latest fad. Dan Willingham, a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, has put together a 10 minute video about what we know - and what we need to know - about brain-based education. If you know nothing about cognitive psychology (like me) but want to size up this trend, this video is a helpful introduction. Kudos to Dan Willingham for putting this resource together.
Teaching Profession
Opinion
In Which We Make Sweeping Generalizations from a Sample of 69 Teach for America Teachers in North Carolina
A special shoutout goes to the New York Times editorial board for making national policy recommendations based on the Urban Institute's study of Teach for America in North Carolina, which included a whopping 69 Teach for America teachers - a .5% sample of all TFA teachers placed during those years. The study found that North Carolina TFA math and science teachers produced results slightly better (about a tenth of a standard deviation) than experienced teachers in the same school. Because every state in the country is just like North Carolina, the NYT argues that "states that want students to do better in math and science need to focus recruitment on more selective colleges instead of on traditional teacher education programs, which are often little more than diploma mills."
Teaching Profession
Opinion
Teacher Salaries, ATRs, and Closing Schools: A Preview
I've got NYC's school-level teacher salary data fired up, and will write a few posts using these data next week. Here's a preview. New York City is slated to close 14 schools this year, though many will not close immediately, but will phase out over the coming years. Per the whole "Absent Teacher Reserve" (ATR) debate (here, here, here, and here), how many teachers are employed at these schools, and what are their average salaries?
School & District Management
Opinion
Dean Millot's Comment on the Ayers AERA Affair
Regarding the Ayers affair, Dean Millot posted the following comment below and over at Flypaper, but it is worth reprinting in full:
Education
Opinion
Cool People You Should Know: Doug Ready
Doug Ready is a sociologist of education who teaches at Teachers College. His research examines the influence of educational policies and practices on educational equity and access. With Valarie Lee, he co-authored Schools Within Schools: Possibilities and Pitfalls of High School Reform, which warns that schools within schools can become powerful tracking devices. Recently, he penned an excellent review of the class size literature. You can listen to a podcast of his class size talk and read the report here.
School & District Management
Opinion
Must See TV! Schwarzenegger Doppelganger Promotes Algebra II!
KnowHow2Go has a new college access campaign encouraging kids to take tough classes like Algebra II and Foreign Languages. Think KISS x Schwarzenegger, but with Mr. Rogers' intentions. I'm going to hide under my bed now.
Education
Opinion
Unsolved Mysteries: The Joel Klein Budget Edition
Imagine that you had 8 staff that cost a total of $904,636. Next year, you will also have 8 staff, but they are only budgeted at $1117, for a mean salary of $139.63. (See p. 446.) That's the deal with Joel Klein's staff - his 8 staff stay, but they are working for sweatshop wages.
School & District Management
Opinion
Mike Petrili and the Meese Police
Earlier in the week, Mike "Milli" Petrilli asked if I "favor electing former terrorists to key positions of authority within the education research community." Here's the backstory: In his Memo to the AERA, Petrilli suggested that the AERA council should unseat Bill Ayers as Vice-President Elect of Curriculum Studies. I disagree. While I do not condone his actions, Bill Ayers was democratically elected, and the right of professional associations to self-govern should be respected.