thanks to Michael Berson of the University of Southern Florida for this item:
http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBK5AH201F.html
The spin on Social Studies is interesting; but there’s a lot more emphasis in this article, at least, on education in World Languages – for which the rationale appears to be exclusively commercial.
Category Archives: Politics of Education
“World-class” standards for Florida?
April 27, 2007 – 5:21 pm
Kansas School Board Action on Science Standards
February 14, 2007 – 9:21 am
The KSBE voted Feb 13, 2007 to replace the 2005-2006 standards with revised science standards that return to a definition of “science” as a quest for explanations based on natural principles, rather than including non-natural or supernatural explanations, as the previous standards had done.
Cato: CHOICE would prevent curriculum conflicts
January 24, 2007 – 2:10 pm
The Cato Institute has release a report titled Why We Fight: How Public Schools Cause Social Conflict by Neal McClusky, which makes the case for school choice as a preventive solution for avoiding conflict over public school curriculum.
Washington State Parent Objects to Global Warming Video « Graceful Flavor
January 18, 2007 – 8:07 pm
Link to: School Board Folds After One Idiot Parent Objects to Global Warming Video « Graceful Flavor
“lesson study” & teachers’ unions
January 6, 2007 – 8:42 pm
Mike is asking about the role of teachers’ unions in education reforms … Another relevant source of examples, it seems to me, would be the role of unions in districts where “lesson study” has been implemented. Any real “lesson study” effort requires real time and other resources. In union-organized school districts, it seems to me commitment and support from both the District and the Union would be absolutely necessary.
NSTA rejects Inconvenient Truth - NCSS?
November 28, 2006 – 1:28 pm
The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) has reportedly rejected an offer to donate 50,000 free copies of the DVD “An Inconvenient Truth” for use in science classrooms; and fear of losing financial support from the oil industry is being suggested as among the motives. What about NCSS, the National Council for the Social Studies? The video could be appropriate in some social studies classes, and social studies teachers could share it with their science teacher colleagues.
Kansas School Board member Janet Waugh on Science Standards
November 21, 2006 – 3:31 pm
KS School Bd. member Janet Waugh: “I doubt if the current majority would agree to discuss changing the [science] standards; therefore, we will have to wait until January for the discussion to begin.”
NCLB & the New Congress
November 9, 2006 – 8:00 pm
Reauthorization of NCLB is a top item on the agenda for the U.S. Congress that will convene in January 2007. The November 2006 elections has set the table for what might happen this time around, and it is time for people committed to quality education to begin planning for effective advocacy.
Kansas evolution: 2006 election results
November 8, 2006 – 11:46 pm
Science standards in Kansas will be changed again, in some way that will not try to redefine “science” as a subject that includes non-natural explanations for phenomena in nature. … I will be making sure that a curriculum perspective is heard this time, and I expect that it will make a difference. Stay tuned …
Good use for Impenetrable Textbooks
October 22, 2006 – 3:27 pm
A candidate for Oklahoma state superintendent of education has come up with a way to put those massively impenetrable textbooks to good use: If students can use them to protect themselves from gunfire in the schools, school safety can be improved without using more taxpayer money.
