The Grade

Sometimes I get calls complaining about news coverage or a particular story but can’t really dig up all that much to complain about, in terms of large-scale inaccuracies or massive misunderstandings. That’s what happened with yesterday’s Washington Post story about kindergarten overtesting. Written by T. Rees Shapiro, the piece (What is making one first-year teacher […]

‘ EdWeek’s political blog Politics K-12 notes that the AFT is already running digital ads in New Hampshire: “in an effort to raise the profile of education issues in the 2016 primary.” Alas, one of the teachers featured in the video above appears to use the word “literally” in a way that might not be […]

Mike Petrilli’s latest foray into Twitter analytics attempts to determine not just rankings (via Klout) but also tone and emotion. His conclusion: It appears that many of the leading tweeters in education policy are “arrogant/distant,” meaning we are “well read” and “use big words.” Good for us!” From a media perspective, there’s one other thing to […]

Today’s big news includes Hillary Clinton’s appearance at the NEA (she met with the AFT last week), plus studies showing learning effects from Sesame Street, plus an amazing look at the school life of a transgendered student at a progressive NYC school: Hillary Clinton Meets With NEA, Talks Testing, Accountability PK12: With the AFT, she talked […]

Rick Perry is back, and that gives us the chance to revisit the iconic debate gaffe when he tried to name three federal agencies (including the US Department of Education) that he’d eliminate.. but couldn’t. “I will tell you, it’s three agencies of government when I get there that are gone. Commerce, education, and the, […]

If you’re a veteran education pro, the reporter who’s asking you questions may be relatively new to the beat, and may not know all the acronyms and personalities you refer to. And you may know that she or he may not have much as much guidance from colleagues or newsroom editors as in the past, […]

Today’s roundup includes new reports showing inadequate and inequitable access to school funding and qualified teachers, plus Hillary Clinton’s leftward strategy for winning the White House: Nation’s ‘Disinvestment’ in Public Schools Is Crippling Poor Students, Reports Say State EdWatch: Are prominent school funding advocates satisfied that states are now giving schools robust and well-targeted financial support? Not […]

Last week’s “On The Media” included a segment (The Wrong Hypothetical Question) about how reporters and media outlets have been missing out on an opportunity for self-reflection and future improvement, and unintentionally letting political candidates off the hook: In interviews over the past two weeks, 2016 hopefuls are facing a hypothetical question on the Iraq War: […]

Four outlets — EdWeek, BuzzFeed, the New York Times, and MSNBC — all covered recent meetings between the AFT and Democratic presidential contenders. What can we learn by taking a quick look at them all together?   *EdWeek was first and included some useful broad observations about the candidates’ responses to union questions but had little […]

Today’s education news roundup includes stories about a failed effort to revamp teacher evaluation in Michigan, efforts to undo tenure in Wisconsin, and the AFT’s meetings with Hillary Clinton and other Democratic Presidential contenders: How a senator stopped serious teacher evaluation reform in Michigan MLive.com: Today, the group’s cutting-edge efforts to improve teacher accountability, which seemed like […]