| News and Views |
| Election Day by Executive Director George Wood |
I always try to be first to vote in my town, and  usually lose out to a local electrician whose job starts even earlier than mine. Part of the reason for my early arrival is that it gives me time to check in and chat with our former students who are working the polls as well as those that are showing up to vote.
Some educators claim that their decisions are "data-driven." By this they mean that they spend hours parsing standardized test scores to see what tweak they can make to the curriculum in order to raise scores a percentile or two. At my school we do "data-driven" decisions as well-but we use data that actually has meaning to our community and school. And part of that data I was collecting on Election Day; seeing which of our graduates were voting and working at the polls. |
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The Opportunity to Learn Agenda: Building Strong and Fair Public Schools Across America
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| On November 5, in conjunction with its involvement in the Rethink Learning Now campaign, the Forum for Education & Democracy held the second of its three scheduled policy briefings - one for each of the campaign's core pillars of successful education reform - powerful learning, highly effective teaching, and a system committed to fairness for all children. Speaking to a capacity crowd on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, Forum Convener Linda Darling-Hammond was joined by the Schott Foundation's John Jackson, New America Alliance Chairman Carlos Loumiet, and DC Teacher and Creative Writing Workshop Director R.Dwayne Betts. Additionally, U.S. Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-PA) gave closing remarks. Together, the panelists outlined a comprehensive plan for addressing the inequities of the current system and building a strong and fair public school system that offers every student an equal opportunity to learn. To read more about the Forum's plan for a comprehensive fairness policy, and/or to watch videos of the panelists' presentations, click here. |
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Featured Resource
The Hardest Questions Aren't on the Test by Linda F. Nathan
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This edition's recommended resource is  the newbook The Hardest Questions Aren't on the Test by Linda Nathan, principal of the Boston Arts Academy, a public pilot school in Boston. Forum Convener Deborah Meier has this to say about this new work: "Linda Nathan's wonderful account of piloting the Boston Arts Academy is personal, anecdotal, and yet focused on the critical Big Questions. Through stories of how these questions play out in hallways and classrooms, Nathan articulates a vision of how urban schools can flourish. Nathan makes it so clear why having a team of teachers over time makes such a difference and builds an adult culture that kids so badly need. These are adults one wants kids to keep company with for years. I want to send this book to everyone who should be speaking up about new directions in public education." To find out more, click here. |