This has been making the rounds. Montgomery County, MD Superintendent Josh Starr said this: Montgomery County Superintendent Joshua Starr said Monday that the country needs a three-year moratorium on standardized testing and needs to “stop the insanity” of evaluating teachers according to student test scores because it is based on “bad science.” He also said […]
#RtTT asking schools to crap or get off the pot…
September 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment
… only states can’t really get off the pot. They’re chained to it. Or, kind of like in Lethal Weapon (2?) where Danny Glover was trapped on the toilet because a bomb would go off. Yeah, a pressure sensor, that’s a better analogy. Well, Education Week is reporting that the Federali’s or whatever want states […]
#Maryland petition to #opt-out of #testing
September 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The state will ruin the environment
June 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment
So, I’m back in Bloomington, Indiana to give a talk on urban agriculture and eduction during a meeting for the Association of Literature and the Environment. I know right: what am I doing here? Although, I miss Bloomington a lot and I’m sure all the hipsters around me at Soma Coffeehouse are itching to see […]
#Professor of the year
April 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Not surprised that a professor of human sexuality would win MD professor of the year. Just saying. And no, I’m not jealous and I’m sure she’s deserving. But still: human sexuality? I mean, you could stand up there and talk about positions and all of that for 90 minutes or whatever, sure your audience will […]
Green ed.
September 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Although the measure is laudable, let me go ahead and shoot down the overall effectiveness of the MD state department of education’s recent approval of environmental education in K-12 schools. I’m not trying to be a Negative Nellie here (is that how it’s spelled?), but how exactly is this supposed to be done when all […]
Cheers or jeers
July 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment
My state of residence and employ is one of the 19 current finalists for Race to the Top, competing for a few billion dollars of federal funding. Here are some of the proposed changes: To make the state more competitive for Race to the Top, Maryland has changed laws governing teacher tenure and evaluations, adopted […]
Hey Matt?
April 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Hey Matt, Matt Joseph, do you know what you’re talking about? Seriously. The MD state school board is looking to increase the weight of test scores on teacher and principal evaluations to fifty percent. First, what does 50% even mean? So, half is quantitative and half is qualitative: a teacher’s effectiveness (also a vague term) […]
Race to the trough
March 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Details on #sequestration and #edreform… blah, blah, blah
Both poles of the political spectrum have been trying to game the impacts of the sequester. I wanted to take a closer look at its effects in education, particularly in the state where I reside, Maryland. Fortunately for us plebes, documents are available detailing the impact of the sequester in each state. Here’s Maryland’s, for […]