I think I’m officially out of the habit of blogging at this point, but I have written a couple of pieces for other places recently:
- I have a piece up at C3Teachers.org. If you’re a Social Studies teacher and you haven’t checked out the new C3 Framework yes, I highly recommend it. The site will be something special too as it expands over the course of the year.
- I was also recently asked to write a piece for the Education Funders Research Initiative discussing how NYC is doing on implementing Common Core:
Our current system, in which students who are not meeting standards in third grade are overwhelmingly not meeting standards in ninth grade, does not work for these students. As the report highlights, “despite this variability in students’ prior educational experience, New York City high schools are now expected to graduate every student” (3). It is insane that high schools are expected to change the course of a student’s previous nine years of education in four years. If our goal is truly to ensure that academic achievement gaps are closed, then we need to offer students and schools the time to do so. With that time, students can actually develop the skills of problem solving and persistence that are crucial for future success. If we shift measurement, and therefore accountability, towards growth on authentic tasks, we can then actually have a real conversation about how to make that happen for all students. This is a radical proposition, but given the overwhelming evidence, it seems only radical steps will serve all students, rather than just the ones for whom the system is currently working.
Outside the Cave 