Wednesday, April 28, 2010

C-SPAN Helps Students Cram for AP U.S. Gov. Exam

Help your students "Cram for the AP U.S. Government and Politics Exam" on C-SPAN this Saturday 5/1 from 9-10am ET.

Burning Questions from Teachers: Meet Our Realities, Mr. Duncan

Burning Questions from Teachers: Meet Our Realities, Mr. Duncan


Here is a blog that offers questions to US Secretary of Education. These questions, I believe, are exactly what we should be asking. The focus is right where it should be.

A sample from the blog:
• How can we trust you if you support merit pay based on student achievement and charter schools that undermine public education? You said recently that a child who has a good teacher for three years has scores that show it. If a child has a bad teacher for three years, the scores show it. What about that child's home life? Do they go to bed hungry? Do they live in fear? Who are you to determine if a teacher is bad or good. You have never been a classroom teacher. You do not know the realities we face in the classroom every day.

•Research correlates economic status and nutrition to school achievement, much more so than teacher performance. How are we meeting the fundamental needs of our children first and foremost so that they are physically prepared to meet our academic standards. Teachers can teach children who are safe, well fed and rested. Teachers should not have to focus on these factors when they enter the classroom, but many go above and beyond to meet these needs of their learners since their professional performance is judged solely on test scores.

•If funding is linked to test scores, and high performing schools are rewarded, how can The Secretary of Education justify further neglect of the schools that need the most aid?


An interesting read.