This week: Oakland students hold a forum for District 5 school board candidates; the state testing data is in and the results are flat — improvement is stagnant and the same proficiency gaps are not budging; 9 out of 10 school districts across the country are struggling to hire teachers, which makes you wonder who’s not struggling?; plus more news from around The Town, state, and nation.
testing
Opting out in Brooklyn- Fuhgeddaboutit?
As testing season begins in New York, it’s another round of the opt-out wars—well war might be an exaggeration, given that the-opt out percentage is relatively low—let’s say the opt-out melees. While pundits and shills (myself included) spout slogans and dominate the airwaves, there is a better and deeper conversation taking place between parents. This…
How We Effed up the Common Core
Flying from California to New York and stopping in the middle, I moved from relative balmy and calm debates over the common core to fierce storms. In CA, implementation was delayed, and relatively smooth, with minimal pushback and very few opt outs from testing. In other places it is very different with an astounding 20%…