Posts Tagged physical education
An open letter to President Obama on schools, education and teaching
Dear Mr. President,
I am writing to you as a National Board Certified Social Studies Teacher who voted for your as President even despite my concerns about your approach to educational policy. You were not my first choice, precisely because I, like many educators I know, were concerned both about your approach to some educational issues and some of the people advising you. Nevertheless, we all enthusiastically supported your candidacy, in many cases before you clinched the nomination.
I will not speak for anyone except myself. Others are also writing open letters, as you can see at this website.
Tags: american school, american schools, certification, charter school, charter schools, children, college, course, courses, department of education, design, e learning, education, education and, education department, educational, educator, essay, essays, high school, instruction, international education, learning, no child left behind, of education, parents, physical education, private school, private schools, professional development, program, programs, public education, public school, public school system, public schools, quality, research, scale, school, school board, school system, school systems, school teacher, schooling, schools, score, scores, secretary of education, special, staff development, student, students, teach, teacher, teachers, teaching, teaching and learning, the school, thinking skills, website, writingRelated posts
Education: LISTEN TO THIS MAN!
How do you personally feel about the future of American education?
I’m panicked, I’m worried. I think if we continue along the path that we’re going, our greatest days are behind us. But, I still believe we can turn it around. That’s why I’m still in the classroom, and I’m gonna do my best. But as long as we embrace “testing is everything,” and as long as we keep shrinking art programs and physical education programs, we’re not in a good place. Those are the things that inspire kids to do great things, so I hope we keep enlarging them, not shrinking them.
The words are those of Rafe Esquith, at the end of an interview currently freely available from Teacher Magazine in a piece called Lighting Fires With Rafe Esquith. Esquith is one of America’s great teachers, winner of many awards, a notable author. The key is the impact he has upon his students.
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Testing and the False Promise of Educational Improvement
As New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg moves toward near certain reelection, an interesting article appeared in the New York Times last week, looking at his stewardship of the public school system. The numbers look impressive. This year, 82 percent of city students passed statewide tests in math and 69 percent in English, up from 42 and 38 percent, respectively, in 2002. Staten Island and Queens have seen dramatic rises in comparison to other New York counties, and even the lowly Bronx is improving. And the racial gap has declined when measured by the number of students passing.
Yet the numbers are deceiving when one delves deeper. For one thing, it appears that the increase in passing rates relates more to making the tests easier rather than any real improvement in student performance. For another, the actual racial gap in scores has not changed much. This was made clear when looking at the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress, which showed that eighth graders showed little improvement in reading or math. So what’s the story? As with many neoliberal reforms, testing justifies a shift to a curriculum based on testing, narrowed away from a broader, more holistic approach. Yet the tests don’t really measure student performance or what they’re learning in a real sense. The push to hold schools accountable leads state leaders to simply cook the books and make sure they are showing improvement – even if it means little. The improvements then legitimates the very system the tests themselves are undermining.
Tags: curriculum, e learning, education, educational, institute, learning, of education, physical education, public school, public school system, school, school system, schooling, schools, score, scores, student, students, thinking skillsRelated posts