Education Reform – Page 9 – Embrace the Absurd

Do Your Job ™

Thinking again about the role of state assessment programs Charlie DePascale This week, most of the nation is focused on tournament brackets and one type of madness in March. Some of us, however, are also celebrating our own special version March Insanity. Over the next twelve weeks, millions of students across the country will participateContinue reading “Do Your Job ™”

Growing Pains

Charlie DePascale “To ensure greater flexibility in tracking individual students’ annual progress, growth models provide states with more options for a nuanced accountability system, while adhering to the core principles of No Child Left Behind.” — Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings It all seemed so simple in 2005 when states wanted to include growth inContinue reading “Growing Pains”

One Small Step

Charlie DePascale Forty-seven years ago today, on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first people to walk on the surface of the moon. Their successful Apollo XI mission fulfilled the challenge proposed by President John F. Kennedy in a 1961 speech to Congress that “this nation should commit itself to achievingContinue reading “One Small Step”

We hold these truths to be self-evident…

Charlie DePascale (assisted by the words of Thomas Jefferson) We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. When in the course of human events, significant resources are allocated to educationalContinue reading “We hold these truths to be self-evident…”

Is that all there is?

One of the benefits of giving up a late Sunday afternoon to travel to the site of my Monday morning meeting is the opportunity to leisurely read the newest edition of the Late Late Bell from the Fordham Institute. Last Sunday, as the Amtrak Northeast Regional rumbled toward Providence, I read the following in theContinue reading “Is that all there is?”

It’s Déjà vu All Over Again

Charlie DePascale The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results. (source unkown) Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. (Santayana) Newman! (Seinfeld) This is one of those times when there are so many quotes that describe the situation so wellContinue reading “It’s Déjà vu All Over Again”

It’s January. Can Johnny Read?

While we spent the fall waiting for PARCC to set performance standards, NAGB to release NAEP scores, and Congress to reauthorize ESEA, students and teachers across the country were going to school day after day, week after week, month after month. Now it’s the middle of January and half of the school year is complete. Continue reading “It’s January. Can Johnny Read?”

Goals: Assets or Distractions

A noticeable difference between NCLB and ESSA is that ESSA is devoid of explicit goals. Yes, one could argue that “Every Student Succeeds” is a goal. I am still hedging my bet, however, on whether people will treat that tagline as a goal or as a policy statement, as in every student succeeds becomes theContinue reading “Goals: Assets or Distractions”

ESEA – It’s so much more than a test

Whether ESSA is signed into law before the end of the year – or like the release of the Iran hostages in 1981 we have to wait until Arne Duncan officially leaves office – it appears that we will finally see a reauthorization of ESEA. Much of the coverage of the long-awaited and hotly debatedContinue reading “ESEA – It’s so much more than a test”