About this Blog
The next of my to-be-abandoned blogs
The Texas House of Representatives just voted to reduce the number of end-of-credit exams required for graduation from a record 15 (five each year from freshman to junior year) to just five. The push to scale back our testing regime came from all corners of the state and enjoyed near-unanimous support from both parties. The bill, if it passes the Senate, would also create different pathways to graduation, including tracks for the humanities, STEM, and a vocationally-oriented path.
It’s interesting that Texas, whose test-based accountability model would serve as the blueprint for No Child Left Behind, would experience such a vocal backlash to its testing blitzkrieg, not to mention that it would cave to public pressure so quickly. The problems with this volume of testing are legion, but chief among them is the absolute hatchet job it would do to elective coursework. With so many kids struggling to pass five tests…
I got an e-mail from TFA linking to a blog post on Teacherpop(1) entitled “Feel Unprepared To Teach? You’re Not Alone.” Based on the headline, I thought that this pertained to my interests. The author, citing the Gates and Walton-funded National Council on Teacher Quality’s State Teacher Policy Yearbook report for 2012, begins by showing…
read more »It’s now been four weeks since I came back from a truncated paternity leave(1). It is killing me to go to work these days. Each morning I change his diaper and he’s started to get infectiously smiley right when we wake up. I try to get my wife some breakfast and take our dogs out…
read more »On Friday, January 11 at 12:59 PM, my life was irreversibly changed. My son Ben — all 10 pounds, 4 ounces, and 22 inches of him — joined our family. I cannot describe the feeling of seeing him for the first time. And I cannot express enough the gratitude for my wife who carried him…
read more »I’ve taken a decidedly more strident tone as of late, so I want to spend some time examining why this is so. It’s not that TFA or education reform as a whole has changed much in the last couple of years, but my analysis of it certainly has. The longer I spend in the classroom,…
read more »The 2012-2013 is the second year of implementation for the STAAR end-of-course exams, previously complained-about on this site here. For those of you who are not teaching in the once proud nation of Texas(1), you may not know about our testapalooza for our high schoolers, but here was the original plan in its inception: All…
read more »In previous posts, I have danced around possibilities of what a service-oriented TFA might look like. My complaints at this point are: TFA is no longer addressing teaching shortages as initially envisioned. Parachuting mostly white 22-year-olds into communities they don’t know working a job they are not adequately prepared for is not the best way…
read more »I’ve spent the better part of the last week stuffing myself with tamales(1) and teeth-ruining candies(2). This is the proper time to reflect on the holiday season. I got to play with my school’s band during their holiday concert! It was the first time in 10 years I had picked up a euphonium and boy…
read more »In my last post, I explained that I no longer believe TFA to be improving the educational landscape of my city for the better. My chief complaint is the organization’s courtship of private philanthropists whose primary objective is to weaken public schools and strengthen charter schools. A huge part of what rankles me about TFA…
read more »I started this blog over a year ago with a couple of posts about why I joined. The short versions of those two posts are: So, in short, the people working in this organization are super organized and professional and are tirelessly working to make my city’s educational landscape better. I’m happy to be a…
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