Blog Archives

“My default is polemic”: Bringing sass to education writing

12/17/2014

Conor Williams isn’t shy about sharing his stories or his opinions. He’s shared with the whole Internet, for example, that he was mugged during his second year of teaching, and that he thinks white progressives have overlooked how systemic racism is in America. When Conor writes about education, he writes fun, compelling prose. Some people find education policy boring, but they don’t when they read Conor Williams.

Conor’s writing is so interesting to read because his reflections exist at the intersection of education journalism, research, and social commentary. He is a senior researcher at the New America Foundation, but he’s also a regular columnist for Talking Points Memo. He writes policy papers about early education and gets riled up about police brutality on Twitter.

But how did Conor get here? I asked him about his trajectory to this point, his experience with trolls, opting out, and more. Read our conversation below.

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Closing the Achievement Gap by Granting Students Access to the Culture of Power

12/15/2014

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By now, we’ve all seen the varying strategies experts have suggested in order to close the achievement gap. We need to teach critical-thinking skills; we need more highly-qualified teachers; we need teachers to conduct more home visits; we need more-targeted math and literacy instruction; we need national standards by which all students are taught; we need more money so all schools can have the appropriate resources; we need to regulate teacher preparation programs … and the list goes on and on.

However, one idea missing from the current achievement gap conversation is Lisa Delpit’s “Culture of Power” theory.

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Rating the Ratings: How Should We Evaluate Colleges and Universities?

12/10/2014

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Every fall, U.S. News and World Report releases its much-read (but oft-criticized) college rankings. This year, U.S. News had new competition from the New York Times, which ranked colleges based on socioeconomic diversity, and LinkedIn, which tracked graduates’ employment outcomes. Meanwhile, the U.S. Dept. of Education has been preparing to release the most significant instrument yet: a ratings system that will eventually be tied to federal funding.

With college ratings growing in significance for both consumers and policymakers, we asked our contributors: What criteria should weigh most heavily in college and university ratings? How should the department hold institutions accountable for these variables?

What’s the right way to judge our institutions of higher education? Join the conversation: You’re seated at the Field Day blog round table.

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Where Is Student Voice?

12/9/2014

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In healthcare, patient voice is becoming an irreplaceable input of systemic improvement. A patient’s subjective rating of his or her healthcare experience is now one of the measures on which hospital reimbursement for medical care is based. As such, the value of hearing from the primary stakeholders impacted by these changes has been recognized, and patient voice has been elevated in this ongoing debate.

Could this translate to education reform? Could the education reform movement benefit from more student voice?

Education may not have the Affordable Care Act shaking things up, but it is nonetheless a field in flux. Student loan debt surpassed $1 trillion last year, overtaking credit card debt. The College Board announced changes to the SAT earlier this year to better reflect college- and career-ready standards. Some colleges are beginning to consider the value of prior learning assessments, which grant college credit for life experience. And the rollout of the Common Core State Standards is an ongoing shift in K-12 education, one that is increasingly politicized.

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Are DC Schools Ready for New PARCC Tests?

12/2/2014

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Credit: Network for Good

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, otherwise known as PARCC, is a set of words that D.C. students and families are about to become extremely familiar with.

PARCC assessments are the new Common-Core aligned tests that will replace the often-controversial DC-CAS exams, which were criticized for providing “point-in-time” measures of student achievement and for ignoring critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. Similar to the Common Core State Standards, the PARCC is aimed at creating more of a common ground for students to compete on, regardless of race or socioeconomic status. No matter where a student attends school, he or she will take the same assessment, based on the same standards students in the same grade levels across the country.

But perhaps one of the biggest differences with the PARCC is that these assessments are online. Students will be required to read, write, and annotate text and numbers on a computer. Are D.C. schools technologically ready for this?

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about

YEP-DC is a nonpartisan group of education professionals who work in research, policy, and practice – and even outside of education. The views expressed here are only those of the attributed author, not YEP-DC. This blog aims to provide a forum for our group’s varied opinions. It also serves as an opportunity for many more professionals in DC and beyond to participate in the ongoing education conversation. We hope you chime in, but we ask that you do so in a considerate, respectful manner. We reserve the right to modify or delete any content or comments. For any more information or for an opportunity to blog, contact us via one of the methods below.

Bloggers

MONICA GRAY is co-founder & president of DreamWakers, an edtech nonprofit. She writes on education innovation and poverty.

LYDIA HALL is a legislative aide in the U.S. House of Representatives, where she works on education, civil rights, and other issues. Lydia is interested in helping to bridge the gap between Capitol Hill and the classroom.

MOSES PALACIOS is an advocate for student rights and works as a Research Manager for the Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS) - a coalition of urban school districts across the nation. He writes on issues regarding the children of immigrants and students learning English as a second language. His views are his own and not representative of CGCS.

PATRICIA RUANE is a
research associate at an education nonprofit. She is an editor of Recess.

LESLIE WELSH is a high school social studies teacher in DC. She is an editor of Recess.

“My default is polemic”: Bringing sass to education writing

Closing the Achievement Gap by Granting Students Access to the Culture of Power

Rating the Ratings: How Should We Evaluate Colleges and Universities?

Where Is Student Voice?

Are DC Schools Ready for New PARCC Tests?

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