Blog Profile / Class Struggle
| URL : | http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/class-struggle | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed Under: | Industries / Education | |
| Posts on Regator: | 303 | |
| Posts / Week: | 2.8 | |
| Archived Since: | April 20, 2011 | |
Blog Post Archive
Miriam Hughey-Guy, one of best principals ever, transforms an Arlington school
Five years ago, I thought I was going to catch Miriam Hughey-Guy, principal of Barcroft Elementary School in Arlington County, making an excuse for her school’s failure to reach federal proficiency targets three years in a row. Read full article >>
A powerful term in U.S. high schools: DBQ
You may not know what a DBQ is. For most of my life, neither did I. But in the high schools of this region and the rest of the country it has become an important and in some ways fearsome term. It haunts the dreams of 400,000 teenagers who will take the Advanced Placement exam in U.S. Show More Summary
Two D.C. high schools dare to require deep research
I often despair over the sorry state of writing and research in our high schools. Only private schools and public schools with the International Baccalaureate diploma program require research papers of significant length. Two million...Show More Summary
Did D.C. schools cheat? Ask the students.
Dear D.C. parents and grandparents: Want to uncover the truth behind the D.C. schools’ test-tampering allegations? Ask your student if he or she ever made erasures on the annual D.C. tests, and let me know the answer. Read full article >>
Surprise! D.C. admits school test tampering at Meridian Public Charter
The Meridian Public Charter School is a well-regarded institution serving students in preschool through eighth grade on 13th Street between V and W streets in Northwest Washington. Nearly all of its 531 students are black or Hispanic. Show More Summary
Admissions 101: why smart, poor students are dumb
Selective colleges get plenty of applications from the top-scoring children of affluent parents, including many in this region. What the colleges need, their admissions officers say, are more high-achieving, low-income applicants. Places such as Georgetown and Duke don’t like being called country clubs for the rich. Show More Summary
Motivated student seeks challenge. School says no.
Fayette County, Ga., population 106,567, resembles many Washington-area suburbs. It has lovely trees, expensive cars and good schools. Most of the residents are middle-class. They set high standards for their kids. But what is happening to one particular Fayette County student is sadly at odds with the way ambitious students are treated here. Read full article >>
Nation’s best high school may be closed
I have been ranking the most challenging schools in the country and this region for 15 years. Rarely have I encountered anything like the American Indian Public Charter High School of Oakland, Calif., the No. 1 school on my 2013 list. It has risen to the top just as its city school board is trying to shut it down. Read full article >>
Hidden power of teacher awards
I used to think student test score gains were a good way to rate teachers. I don’t think that any more. Grading individual teachers with scores is too approximate, too erratic and too destructive of the team spirit that makes great schools. Show More Summary
Research projects harder than I thought, but worth it
One of education’s most serious flaws is the failure to require that students produce a research paper or project before they graduate from high school. I vent on this often. I once thought we just needed a change of attitude, but I am learning it is more complicated. Read full article >>
While fixing Prince George’s schools, don’t mess with successes
I understand the frustration of Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III over low school performance. I see why he wants to take power away from a sometimes ineffective school board. All over the country, conscientious leaders like Baker are looking for ways to improve learning, particularly for poor kids. Read full article >>
North Carolina superintendent defends Teach For America
As a superintendent, I am always glad to see questions of teacher preparation and training come center stage. Often though, as these debates unfold, I cringe. The latest emerged last week, when an alumnus of Teach For America declared...Show More Summary
Why my grandson, 4, won’t be taking a gifted ed test
My eldest grandson, Ben Mathews, just turned four. According to the New York Times, that is a perilous age in that big city. Many four year olds are toiling through exercises designed by their parents and tutoring companies to prepare for kindergarten gifted program entrance tests. Read full article >>
AP good for high school, bad for college?
I complained recently that college professors too often wrongly dismiss high school teachers as being unsuited to teach college-level classes such as the Advanced Placement courses so popular in the Washington region. Two scholars from distinguished universities gently chided me for being too hard on their academic colleagues. They might be right. Read full article >>
Ability grouping is back despite scholarly qualms
My elementary School in San Mateo, Calif., had reading ability groups in every classroom. I arrived in the middle of third grade in 1952, and I was put in the lowest group, the canaries. By June, I had clawed my way up to the top group, the bluebirds. Read full article >>
Arguing about school reforms that go nowhere
In the 1990s, Las Montanas High School (a fictional name for a real place) throbbed with excitement over technological advances in California’s Silicon Valley where it was located. Forty-four percent of the students were low-income but...Show More Summary
Biggest study ever says KIPP gains substantial
KIPP, previously known as the Knowledge Is Power Program, has had more success than any other large educational organization in raising the achievement of low-income students, both nationally and in the District. But many good educators, burned by similarly hopeful stories in the past, have wondered whether KIPP were for real. Read full article >>
Missed challenges more worrisome than tests
My long-time friend and source Ken Bernstein, known as teacherken to his many online fans, produced the most-read article on the Post’s Web site recently. He apologized to college professors for our high schools’ failure to prepare students “for the kind of intellectual work that you have every right to expect of them.” Read full article >>
More high school may be bad for this student
Is Laura Linder’s son Chris being pushed out of Thomas Stone High School? It seems that way. Charles County school officials did not honor several credits the transfer student earned in Yuba City, Calif., where he was a 12th-grader. He is 18, but Maryland says he is still in 10th grade. Show More Summary
Sad failure of two inspectors general in D.C. schools
In the 42 years I have worked for this newspaper, I have adopted many of this town’s mental habits. One is a deep respect for inspectors general, those stewards of truth whose work we often herald in the Post. That is why I am disappointed by the failure of not one, but two, inspectors general to expose test tampering in the D.C. schools. Read full article >>