Teaching & Learning Blog

Living in Dialogue

Anthony Cody spent 24 years working in Oakland schools, 18 of them as a science teacher at a high-needs middle school. A National Board-certified teacher, he now leads workshops with teachers on Project Based Learning. He is the co-founder of the Network for Public Education. With education at a crossroads, in this blog he invited you to join him in a dialogue on education reform and teaching for change and deep learning. This blog is no longer being updated, but you can continue to explore these issues on edweek.org by visiting our related topic pages: education reform.

Federal Opinion At the Department of Education, Warm Snow Falls Up
Anthony Cody, February 23, 2012
9 min read
Federal Opinion A Perfect Storm Hits Public Schools

Guest post by Steven Sellers Lapham.
Anthony Cody, February 22, 2012
5 min read
Equity & Diversity Opinion Jack Hassard: Test-Based Reform: What Values are we Adding?
Guest post by Jack Hassard. You can read Part One here.
Anthony Cody, February 19, 2012
6 min read
Federal Opinion Jack Hassard: Test-Based Reform: Where is the Common Core Leading Us?
Guest post by Jack Hassard.
Part 1 of 2.
Anthony Cody, February 18, 2012
9 min read
Federal Opinion Sorry Mr. Press Secretary, Multiple Measures Are Not Fairy Dust
Anthony Cody, February 16, 2012
8 min read
School & District Management Opinion Phil Kovacs Responds to the Latest Research on Teach For America
A few days ago, I ran a guest post authored by science educator Jack Hassard; Cobb County, Georgia, Rejects Teach For America. One cogent comment came from Stuart (EdOutsider), who wrote the following:
Anthony Cody, February 16, 2012
5 min read
Equity & Diversity Opinion Gerald Coles: The Growing Educational Achievement Gap: Don't Think What You Might Think You Should Think
Guest post by Gerald Coles
Last week the New York Times provided valuable, disturbing information by reporting recent research on the growing educational achievement gap between rich and poor students, which has grown substantially over the past few decades, even while the achievement gap between black and white students has narrowed. As the author of one study put it, "family income appears more determinative of educational success than race."
Anthony Cody, February 15, 2012
5 min read
Assessment Opinion Sarah Puglisi: The Heart Shaped Box
Guest post by Sarah Puglisi.
Often I ask people what they think or remember of school.
Anthony Cody, February 14, 2012
9 min read
School & District Management Opinion Jack Hassard Reports: Cobb County, Georgia, Rejects Teach For America
Guest post by Jack Hassard.
Cobb County, Georgia's second largest school district, decided not to consider the superintendent's request to hire 50 Teach for America (TFA) uncertified college graduates to work in under-performing schools in South Cobb. According to an editorial in the Marietta Daily Journal, Dr. Michael Hinojosa, the county's new superintendent (formerly superintendent of the Dallas ISD) had worked with the Atlanta office of the Teach for America program behind the scenes to bring the new teachers to the school district.
Anthony Cody, February 12, 2012
10 min read
Equity & Diversity Opinion Kelly Flynn Tackles the Learning Problem that Dare Not Speak its Name
Guest post by Kelly Flynn.
It's an unspoken pact: teachers will not talk about the biggest roadblock to teaching and learning. They'll talk about all sorts of other things, things you've heard a million times before: that it's hard to teach a hungry child, a frightened child, or a sick child.
Anthony Cody, February 11, 2012
4 min read
Standards & Accountability Opinion Texas Republican Blows the Whistle on the Techno-Scholastic Complex
Anthony Cody, February 7, 2012
4 min read
School & District Management Opinion Jack Hassard: We Have Low Expectations for American Students in Math & Science
Guest post by Jack Hassard
Who the #@!% would make such a statement? Why would such a statement be made about America's youth?
Anthony Cody, February 6, 2012
10 min read
School & District Management Opinion Katie Osgood: The Reform My Students Need
I have a pretty unique job. I work as a teacher on a child/adolescent inpatient unit at a psychiatric hospital in Chicago. My students come from all over Chicagoland and attend all types of schools: neighborhood, charter, turnaround, private, suburban, alternative, and sometimes no school at all. The vast majority of my students, however, come from low-income minority neighborhoods. My job allows me a rare birds-eye view of the educational landscape here in Chicago.
Katie Osgood, February 3, 2012
8 min read
School & District Management Opinion John Kuhn: America, Stop Making Excuses for Inequality
Guest post by John Kuhn.
Part Two of two.
Anthony Cody, February 1, 2012
11 min read