School Reform Opinion Archives

District chief: Why school success stops and ends with teachers

July 25, 2017 by Krish S. Mohip

After much discussion, deliberation, and thoughtful review of reams of data, the team agreed that investing in the growth of YSCD’s teachers had to be the central pillar…

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Ravitch: The ‘White House’s obsession with data is sick’

February 5, 2014 by Staff and wire services reports

Education historian and activist Diane Ravitch has been blasting the Obama administration for a long time for education policies that have expanded the importance of standardized tests and…

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Joy & rigor: The And-Both solution

January 20, 2014 by Staff and wire services reports

Is it possible to create a high-engagement school where students do interesting and relevant work and meet high expectations? Erin Mote and Eric Tucker are a smart duo…

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Does middle school need an image makeover?

January 16, 2014 by Staff and wire services reports

Middle school has a terrible reputation, The Atlantic reports.

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A real school reform agenda for 2014

January 16, 2014 by Staff and wire services reports

If you remember your No Child Left Behind history, 2014 is the year that all children were supposed to be scoring proficient on standardized tests, the Washington Post…

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7 myths about rigor in the classroom

January 13, 2014 by Staff and wire services reports

Despite all the research, there are seven myths about rigor that are often heard, TeachThought reports.

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School reform: What matters to teachers and students

January 10, 2014 by Staff and wire services reports

I’d like to turn the conversation about American public education decidedly combative, says John Flavin for The Oregonian.

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Teaching isn’t rocket science. It’s harder.

January 1, 2014 by Staff and wire services reports

One of the biggest misconceptions about teaching is that it is a single job, writes Ryan Fuller for Slate.

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Accountability without autonomy is tyranny

August 22, 2016December 27, 2013 by Staff and wire services reports

When educational research reaches the public through the corporate media, the consequences are often dire, explains P.L. Thomas for the Daily Kos.

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Esther Wojcicki: “American schools are becoming more like classic Chinese schools”

December 19, 2013 by Staff and wire services reports

Hysteria. That is what I predict will be happening in education circles next year, EdSurge reports.

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Inspired vision: Classrooms of the future

October 23, 2013 by Staff and wire services reports

You may recall the dramatic leaps in technology of the Seventies — how we hopped from books of “log tables” to slide rules and on to hand-held calculators…

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How to fix education: Flip it upside down?

October 23, 2013 by Staff and wire services reports

Nearly everyone agrees the online education is going to be huge, but ask what exactly that means in practice and how that will impact students, and the bickering…

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What poor children need in school

October 18, 2013 by Staff and wire services reports

Most educational policy elites, whether in government or in the nonprofit sector, mean well, the Washington Post reports.

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The failures of for-profit K-12 schools

October 7, 2013 by Staff and wire services reports

The Washington Post reports that for all of the three-decade hype about how business practices applied to K-12 schools will make them more efficient and high performing.

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Time to focus on the real education problem: Poverty

October 3, 2013October 3, 2013 by By Daniel A. Domenech

Many Americans believe public schools are failing our students. Public officials, the media, and investors seeking to cash in on the billions of dollars supporting education by privatizing…

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How to stop high school from stifling creativity

October 1, 2013 by Staff and wire services reports

“Education is not the learning of facts,” said Albert Einstein, “but the training of the mind to think,” The Globe and Mail reports.

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Education’s ‘shiny toy syndrome’

September 30, 2013 by Staff and wire services reports

It’s elementary, the Marietta Daily Journal reports. Public education bureaucrats do the darnedest, stupidest things.

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Veteran teacher: The key failing of school reform over decades

September 30, 2013 by Staff and wire services reports

The tug of war over standardized tests is just the latest round of a struggle I’ve watched many times before, The Washington Post reports.

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Bill Gates: ‘It would be great if our education stuff worked but…’

September 27, 2013 by Staff and wire services reports

“It would be great if our education stuff worked, but that we won’t know for probably a decade.” That’s what Bill Gates said on Sept. 21 (see video…

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Will technology save public education?

September 25, 2013 by Staff and wire services reports

There's no doubt that technology is the new "panacea du jour" for public education in America today, the Huffington Post reports.

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Is education about increasing earning power?

September 20, 2013 by Staff and wire services reports

The Washington Post reports: In “The Smartest Kids In The World,” journalist Amanda Ripley’s new book about effective educational systems around the globe, there’s a scene in which…

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How ed tech can help with Student Learning Objectives

November 6, 2013September 18, 2013 by By Kimberly Fleming

Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) have gained tremendous momentum in K-12 education over the last 15 years and hold great promise for improving student learning. An SLO is an…

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Getting students to engage — not just comply

September 17, 2013 by Staff and wire services reports

I have students in my mainstream ninth-grade English and in my English as a Second Language (ESL) classes complete a simple “Reading Log” every Friday, the Washington Post…

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Is it time to redefine “gifted and talented”?

September 16, 2013 by Staff and wire services reports

Manhattan mom Heather McFadden is grateful that entrance into the prized New York City Gifted and Talented program has worked out for her two kids, Mind/Shift reports.

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Technology will not replace teachers

September 13, 2013 by Staff and wire services reports

There, I said it, Karen Cator writes on LinkedIn. And with these words, I am jumping with both feet into a debate that has alternately raged and simmered…

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Why is innovation so often synonymous with disappointment?

September 11, 2013 by Staff and wire services reports

The Harvard Business Review reports: Because a pure idea is a beautiful thing, and seeing it get mauled as it struggles to become something real can be highly…

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If Massachusetts was a country

September 9, 2013 by Staff and wire services reports

The self-proclaimed educational "reform" movement is busy packaging Common Core standards with high-stakes assessment, scripted curriculum, packaged test prep, the de-professionalization of teachers, and the privatization of school…

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How schools are failing nonconformist kids

September 3, 2013 by Staff and wire services reports

Of the possible child heroes for our times, young people with epic levels of the traits we valorize, the strongest contender has got to be the kid in…

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Should teachers be parents first?

September 3, 2013 by Staff and wire services reports

Should people who want to be teachers become parents first? asks The Washington Post. The idea is raised in this ... Read more

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How much ‘value’ can teachers really add to student achievement?

August 30, 2013 by Staff and wire services reports

As a high school English teacher, it’s heartening to think I can “add value” to all of my students, according to The Washington Post.

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What we know about schools — but choose to ignore

August 19, 2013 by Staff and wire services reports

Here’s an important piece on school reform by P.L. Thomas, an associate professor of education at Furman University in South Carolina, the Washington Post reports.

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Five absurdities about high-stakes standardized tests

August 8, 2013 by Staff and wire services reports

The Washington Post reports that barely a day goes by when the education world isn’t treated to some new story involving high-stakes standardized tests, the chief metric of…

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A story about Michelle Rhee that no one will print

August 1, 2013 by Staff and wire services reports

Michelle Rhee lobbies across the country for greater test-based accountability and changes in teacher tenure rules, John Merrow blogs in Taking Note.

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School choice: Part of the solution to our broken education system

July 29, 2013 by Staff and wire services reports

One of the most important things we do as a society is educate our kids, The Huffington Post reports.

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In search of the benefit of homework

July 25, 2013 by Staff and wire services reports

The debate about homework is growing heated in education circles. With more and more demands being placed on teachers, students, and educational leaders, homework can provide valuable practice…

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Beyond design thinking in education and research

July 25, 2013 by Staff and wire services reports

What the heck is ‘design thinking?’ I can’t seem to find a concise definition, Forbes reports.

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Why we need a new education law—and why ed tech should play a role

July 23, 2013 by By Daniel A. Domenech

The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act has eluded Congress for too long. Without Congressional action, the current administration has seized the moment and used regulatory…

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4 reasons why the Common Core Standards are losing popularity

September 4, 2013July 19, 2013 by By Meris Stansbury, Associate Editor

In what could be compared to, well, many education reform initiatives over the years—educational technology included—a once-widely, and quickly, accepted initiative is dividing the education community; begging the…

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Why schools aren’t businesses: The blueberry story

July 9, 2013 by Staff and wire services reports

Larry Cuban’s 2004 book “The Blackboard and the Bottom Line: Why Schools Can’t be Businesses,” is nearly a decade old but still highly relevant to the education reform…

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Eight ways kindergarten holds the key to 21st-century instruction

July 3, 2013 by By Sam Gliksman

Several of the "revolutionary" changes we've been calling for in our schools have actually been around for quite a while—just talk a stroll down to any kindergarten class.

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