In implementing the volunteer Common Core State Standards, the greatest danger is setting our aspirations too low.

Why link common core standards to Title I funding? The answer is simple—the governors and state superintendents wanted the President to make this link, and raise the stakes to force state adoption of the standards with few or any changes.

Answers to the NCLB quiz – Democrats versus Republicans – who said what?

Hopefully you have had a chance to read, the February Kappan article, “Tying Together the Common Core of Standards, Instruction, and Assessments,” by Vicki Phillips and Carina Wong. This article is available to all on the public side of the PDK website so encourage others to read it. View Free PDF The article certainly supports [...]

I rattled around the country quite a bit growing up — 18 moves and 10 schools in my first 18 years. And, no, neither of my parents was in the military! At a young age, I learned that different schools had different expectations for kids and different ways to teach those kids. I started learning [...]

In a prior life, I was a high school assistant principal and then principal for seven years.  My professional goals as a school administrator were identified using a time-honored evaluation process of mutually establishing objectives with my boss. At the time, I felt everything was as it should be, and that I did a good [...]

Hooray for NCLB! (read on to understand why I wrote that) The hard work of creating rigorous and internationally benchmarked education standards continues (see my October 28 blog post). The Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI) is a voluntary effort led by the nation’s governors and their highest-ranking education policymakers, state superintendents and commissioners. It has [...]

Linda Darling-Hammond is one of our nation’s most highly regarded education researchers on various topics including teachers and teaching, and international standards and assessment.  Linda also serves as a member of the Phi Delta Kappan board of editorial consultants. Tuesday, November 17, Edutopia is sponsoring two FREE webinars featuring Linda Darling-Hammond. The first, “What would [...]

In 1997, Checker Finn, a former assistant secretary of education during the Reagan administration observed that Republicans don’t like the word “national,” and Democrats don’t like the word “test,” suggesting that national tests, from a political perspective, were dead on arrival. Fast forward 12 years–politics aside, more rational education leaders recognize that the current patchwork of [...]