The Bada** Teachers Association is a group of more than 51,000 educators, who have decided to band together to organize resistance to school reform that places standardized testing front-and-center as the way of telling if a student is “ready” for the world. Among the major gripes that the BTA has with current educational reform is […]
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Pearson, the textbook and testing giant, had to eat a large slice of humble pie recently when an angry mom caught a mistake in some of their materials. Sarah Blaine, a New York-based attorney as well as a mom and former teacher, noticed that one of the math questions her daughter had gotten right was […]
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A fourth grader just handed proponents of standardized testing their walking papers in as passionate of an address to a school board as I’ve ever seen. The girl’s name is Sydney Smoot. She is a fourth grader at Brooksville Elementary School in Florida. She’s also a new Internet celebrity thanks to her unabridged thoughts on […]
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For the last few years, some in the education community have asked the question as to whether or not it’s still necessary to teach cursive handwriting in school. The thinking is that you never have to use cursive after about the sixth grade, so what’s the point? Well, the debate over cursive will rage on, […]
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Robert Reich is one of the more respected members of former President Bill Clinton’s administration. He was a major driver of Clinton’s platform during term one (1992-1996) and left at the end of that four-year term to spend more time with his sons. He’s never been a particularly controversial figure in spite of the doings […]
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One thing to come out of the massive open online course (MOOC) revolution is that many believe the educational constructs will end college as we know it. You know, paying $70,000 or more per year to attend a school that loads you up with debt and gives you no guarantee of a decent paying job […]
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Student loan debt is out of control. How out of control? According to a recent article from Good Magazine, it now rests at $1.1 trillion, and there’s little chance of it shrinking or staying the same. (Grim implication.) Perhaps more disturbing, however, is the amount that is past due or unpaid — 11.3 percent, or […]
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The state of education is both exciting and full of turmoil depending on where you’re at in the proverbial food chain and where you’re headed in the future. Every now and then, we like to take a look at the industry as a whole — from the job market to the political implications — and […]
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Freshman lessons are often learned the hard way. That’s how it was for me and millions of other newbie college students around the globe since the history of man’s foray into higher education. Unfortunately, hindsight is 20/20, but never foresight. That’s where listening to your elders comes in mighty handy. If you’re on the verge […]
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While the need to cram for a test isn’t ideal, we all go through times in our lives when there is simply too much going on at once and things get pushed to the last minute. It doesn’t mean you’re a bad student, and it doesn’t necessarily mean you could have avoided it. Definitely try […]
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