World News Center
Revised AP courses will emphasize concepts, not memorization
March 12, 2010If someone told you the College Board was about to rip apart the SAT and rebuild it, would that excite/surprise/aggravate/frighten you? Me too. It's about to happen, not to the SAT, but to our nation's second-most influential test, Advanced Placement, with large consequences for our high schools and colleges.
Class Struggle: Fix schools with ideas, not money
March 12, 2010President Obama is apparently about to tell the nation he wants to freeze federal spending for three years in several areas, including education. I like the idea. I would also support cutting back entitlement payments for financially secure geezers like me, and find ways for everyone to make some sacrifices for our country.
Five areas where colleges could use some schooling
March 12, 2010 My family has much experience in higher education, not all of it happy. I spent six years as an often-struggling undergraduate and grad student. My journalist wife did 10 years in higher ed, including three of what she considered hard labor as a visiting professor. Our kids add additional 11 years, with the youngest child about to sign up for three more. Please don't ask me what that will cost.
Local education reporting is alive and well
March 12, 2010Those of us who write about schools were supposed to rise in anger and frustration when the Brookings Institution revealed that during the first nine months of 2009 "only 1.4 percent of national news coverage from television, newspapers, news Web sites, and radio dealt with education." A headline on the Brookings Web site said: "Invisible: 1.4 Percent Coverage for Education is Not Enough."
Class Struggle: School boards shouldn't fear competition from charters
March 12, 2010Why are there so few public charter schools in the District's suburbs? It seems obvious. Virginia and Maryland let school boards decide whether somebody, or anybody, is going to get a charter to compete with their schools. It is a conflict of interest as bad as if The Post could overrule any new newspapers in the region.
What are the lessons in nonstandard teaching standards?
March 12, 2010A little-noticed but detailed study of teaching practices, reported by Robert Rothman in the November-December issue of the Harvard Education Letter, delivers a depressing message to keep in mind when reading anything about raising school achievement. I don't care if it's by an education school dean, a governor, the U.S. secretary of education or me. If this new study is true, then none of us knows what we are talking about.
Class Struggle: More freedom, fewer rules for gifted students?
March 12, 2010 My Dec. 10 column about that Washington area troublesome but gifted child, future billionaire Warren Buffett, said our schools are never going to help such kids much. I said the gifted designation was often arbitrary and should be disposed of. Instead, we ought to find ways to let all kids explore their talents.
In D.C. teacher assessments, details make a difference
March 12, 2010I am still receiving e-mails about my Nov. 23 column on Dan Goldfarb, the first teacher to share with me the results of an evaluation under the new D.C. teacher assessment plan, IMPACT.
The Washington region's schools are many-splendored things
March 12, 2010The end of the year is a time to count blessings. Let's start with the underappreciated fact that the Washington area is the best place in the country for children to learn the mysteries of science, math, English and history and to become comfortable with stark racial and cultural differences.
D.C. schools fitness plan fine if class time remains intact
March 12, 2010Sometimes it is the smartest, most concerned policymakers who do the most harm to schools. My favorite recent example is the Healthy Schools Act, a bill introduced two weeks ago by D.C. Council member Mary M. Cheh and Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray.
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