Twin Cities Daily Planet (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/author/michael-diedrich/page/4/)
They may seem like an eternity ago, but the 2010 elections should still cause our adrenaline to spike. Massive conservative victories across the country set the stage for years of obstruction, counter-productive “austerity,” and quality erosion. That memory should be a call to action for progressives in 2014, in education and other areas.
We have reached February, for decades identified in the U.S. as Black History Month, which has generated a host of mixed reactions. A result of Carter G. Woodson’s efforts almost a century ago to call more attention to the achievements of African-Americans, it started with a week-long focus (the second week of February, encompassing both Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln’s birthdays). The expansion to the whole month happened in 1976, and is now cause for themed work by historical societies, public agencies, and media programming.
There are some hopeful signs for education policy coming out of the new federal spending bill, and not just for the programs that got big wins. In addition to restoring most of the federal money cut during the sequester, the bill also includes some tweaks to school turnaround that suggest a rewrite of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) might actually be possible at some point. Continue Reading
The Common Core State Standards have been pitched as everything from the Great Savior to the Great Demon of U.S. public education. This has been confusing for many people, including me, since the actual content of the standards doesn’t seem particularly off-putting. There’s room for informed debate on pedagogy, developmentally appropriate objectives, and other inside baseball, but the political aspect of it is a bit perplexing.
A Georgia high school has revamped its technical education courses (otherwise known as “shop class”) to be more helpful and more equitable. Less auto shop, more 3D printing. Less tracking, more entrepreneurship. Some schools in Minnesota are taking similar steps, and it would be good to see that trend continue. Continue Reading
Despite the rhetoric from national school reformers, with their grand plans to overhaul education, some of the most successful education advancements come when we listen and work with students, parents, and teachers. Minnesota 2020’s latest report examines five examples where community-driven education reform helped make a positive change in learning.
The U.S. is doing terribly! China is beating us! It’s all the other guy’s fault! Continue Reading
It may seem like a no-brainer, but teachers are often left out of conversations about the quality of their work. For as much attention as policies like linking teacher evaluations or pay to test scores get, there’s not nearly the same focus on what can be done to help teachers improve. Fortunately, teachers are working to gather feedback and ideas from communities across the state. A couple weeks ago in Rochester, Education Minnesota—the state’s teachers’ union—kicked off a statewide tour of community conversations around teacher quality. The next conversation is scheduled for Thursday, December 12, in Brooklyn Park. Continue Reading
New Orleans families have had a turbulent time of things these past few years. Shortly before Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans was put into a Recovery School District by the state of Louisiana, opening the doors to more school choice and competition. After the hurricane killed or displaced many of the poorest families in the city, reformers doubled down on the competitive choice model and claimed victory when test scores seemed to rise. They were less upfront about the change in student demographics. Since then, the PR campaign on behalf of New Orleans-style reform has been relentless. Continue Reading
What about the money? Unemployment and labor force participation are important economic conditions, but the rubber meets the road when work becomes income. If many people are employed, but most aren’t paid much, that’s still not good. Continue Reading