Archive for the ‘ Students ’ Category

Play Doh-Smeared Credentials

While I understand the need every parent has—on a weird, biological level—to do as much for their child as is feasible in order that said kid’s life path can be as smooth and highly elevated as is everly possible, I have never been able to be anywhere near fine with the insane pressure and bizarre [ READ MORE ]

‘H’ Is For ‘Half-Measure Haggis’

ABC News reported that the public high schools in Grand Rapids, Michigan, have decided to give out “H” grades in lieu of a failing “F” grade. The “H” stands for “held,” and means the student has twelve weeks to do the work and fix the problem. Yale University professor of psychology and child psychiatry, Alan [ READ MORE ]

Letters of Recommendation

For any prospective college student (graduate student or undergrad) in the throes of the college application process, you might want to read this hilarious post by Tenured Radical, aka Claire B. Potter of Wesleyan University. It will give you insight into the application process from the letter-of-recommendation writer’s point of view, be they high school [ READ MORE ]

Accountability

Diane Ravitch at Education Week has written one of the most eloquent and succinct arguments I’ve read against the use of standardized testing as the only meter for accountability in schools. By making test scores the sole gauge of progress, one can expect to see cheating and test prepping, and other quasi-legitimate and outright illegitimate [ READ MORE ]

Losing Academic Confidence

As a student, it’s sometimes helpful to see your academic situation from the professors’ point of view. It’s also valuable to note the fact that the educators are sometimes as flummoxed by students’ flailings and failings as the students are. When bright young things who were stoked to dive on into their pursuit of knowledge [ READ MORE ]

Obama’s Possible Choices For Secretary of Education

There’s a huge pile of work awaiting the next Secretary of Education. There’s the No Child Left Behind act to be dealt with, charter school issues, under-performing teacher improvement, accountability, a universal pre-K system, etc. It would be great if higher education were a priority on that to-do list, but historically, nearly all of the [ READ MORE ]

Super Flexible Learning Option

Online learning is already a pretty flexible education option, but now students in Louisiana have an even bendier education alternative via mobile devices. This is a prime example of necessity being the mother of invention: The state of Louisiana has a workforce shortage of 90,000 and the job openings require some education and training. Unfortunately, [ READ MORE ]

Write Or Die V2.0

Anyone who has more writing to do than motivation to get it done should check out Write or Die from Dr. Wicked, who claims to “put the ‘prod’ in productivity.” Write or Die is a lovely little web application that implements the Psych 101 principles of Operant Conditioning and Negative Reinforcement to get the writer’s [ READ MORE ]

Find Your Happy Place

I’m curious as to whether it’s the kids or the parents who need to be convinced to have elementary school students enroll at the “no-stress,” alternative Christa McAuliffe School in Cupertino, CA. The nearby Faria Elementary, a more traditional, all-standardized-tests-included school, has people lined up to enroll. But the no-pressure “research magnet school” where the [ READ MORE ]

Education Advice for the Next President

The Peabody Award-winning production company Learning Matters has an awesome podcast project going on as we speak (or, as I write—you know what I mean). The series is called “Education Advice to the Next American President.” Students, parents, educators and policy makers were asked what they thought the next president should do to fix the [ READ MORE ]