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Common Core Confusion
Last Friday I was writing about my good mood as the week ended. Seven days later, I’m sorting through some confusion, and wondering how many other teachers out there are feeling it too. The Common...
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Half-Baked Teaching Analogy
This blog has been following Education Nation quite closely, out of a great curiosity regarding this latest big-media venture into education coverage. We’ve run a few blog posts about the Teacher Town...
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California Education Data Systems Stuck in Political, Financial Mire
Today’s InterACT guest contributor is Alice Mercer, a Sacramento teacher and blogger, and member of Accomplished California Teachers. Alice’s prior contribution to InterACT can be found here...
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Looking Beneath the Surface of Good News in California Education
What a surprise I had when I picked up my newspaper at breakfast this morning! The front page of the San Francisco Chronicle featured not one, but two positive stories about public education! Under...
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Diane Ravitch in Sacramento, Continued
In a prior post, I shared two video clips from Diane Ravitch’s speech at the Sacramento Convention Center on January 20th. I managed to record two other portions of the speech, and have embedded those...
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The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves
As I sit down to compose my thoughts at the end of this week, I’m sitting in an office on the ground floor of a building on the Stanford University campus. (I teach three days a week and work for ACT...
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LAUSD Ruling Clear on the Law, Won’t Shake Up the State
One week ago, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge James Chalfant issued a ruling on the use of student test scores in teacher evaluations. Reformers are crowing, unions are complaining, and most...
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Writer’s Block Unblocked
Summertime makes writing routines a bit more challenging to maintain (photo by the author) Hello everyone – I’m back. Writer’s block got me good the past few weeks. Part of the issue was a general...
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ASCD Conference Highlights: Day 2
My second day at the ASCD Conference in Chicago brought another good variety of interactions and learning opportunities. (Read about Day 1 highlights here). I started the day at the ASCD Forum, which...
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Common Core Presentations and Omissions
Diane Ravitch (Jan. 2012; photo by the author) Still thinking over the presentations I attended at the recent ASCD Conference, I was struck by some other recent blog posts about the Common Core...
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Common Questions About Common Core
Chris Miraglia Today’s InterACT guest blog post was written by Chris Miraglia, an intermediate school US history teacher from Santa Ana USD. A frequent commenter at this blog, Chris also writes at his...
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You, Me, and AGT – Part 2
Last week, my classroom children took the California Standards Test. This is about as thrilling as walking the plank during Shark Week. In February, John Deasy announced that he wants 30% of my...
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Teaching to the Wrong Tests
California students are thankfully done with the old Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) program, and for better or worse, are moving on to the Common Core aligned Smarter Balanced assessments....
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GERM Spreading, New Zealand Infected
Pasi Sahlberg at Stanford University, 2012. (photo by the author) Pasi Sahlberg, the well-known Finnish education expert and author of Finnish Lessons, has described the negative trends in education...
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On Cheating, Blame, and Accountability
I must confess that I do check my blog stats once or twice a day. I’m not driven by pursuit of big numbers, though of course I’m pleased when a post is widely shared and read. But I’m drawn to the...
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