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Source: Washington Post
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Michele Kerr talks about criteria that should be met if teachers are assessed by student test scores. I agree with her completely. One of my favorite parts is what she says about her first point, only including students in teacher evaluations that are present at least 90% of the time:

Without the missing students, the tests won’t yield a complete picture of learning. But the tests’ purpose is to yield a picture of teaching, which isn’t the same thing as learning. Teachers can’t teach children who aren’t there.

And further, her reasoning for positing that students who cannot score at a “basic” proficient level should be “prohibited from moving forward to the next class in the progression:”

Students who can’t prove they know algebra can’t take geometry. If they can’t read at a ninth-grade level, they can’t take sophomore English — or, for that matter, sophomore-level history or science, which presumes sophomore-level reading ability. Not only is it nearly impossible for these students to learn the new material, but they also slow everyone else as the teacher struggles to find a middle ground.

That point alone could solve the issues of high school students who can’t read at a high school level. If they can’t read that well, why are they in high school? Who failed to do their job by promoting them? They will just fall through the cracks more and more until someone actually sits them down and gives them intensive reading programs until they get it. Because they can be taught, no matter what it takes.

There’s so much more good stuff in this article and I could quote every word she says. It’s a really good read.

Source: boston.com
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A former Harvard University senior is facing 20 criminal charges for allegedly creating a fraudulent life history that led to his admission to Harvard, and for using forged academic materials from Harvard when he applied for the prestigious Rhodes and Fulbright scholarships.

Just shameful. I hope he has to pay all that money back to the schools and organizations that awarded it to him, because he truly did “steal” it. Even worse, he took the spot of someone who probably legitimately could have gone to the school.

Thanks to my girlfriend for this one – it’s a really good video on how to change word problems to actually encourage real problem solving rather than just blindly looking for the formula.

Source: boston.com
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The major question this article asks:

Could anti-bullying programs be more successful if they dropped their primary focus on bullies and victims and instead took aim directly at the sidekicks and other key members of the bully’s posse? After all, if a supportive audience is what fuels the bully, wouldn’t the sidekicks be the most logical place to try to choke off that oxygen supply?

Definitely give it a quick skim; it’s a long one.

Source: boston.com
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Milton High School went into lockdown this morning after a live shotgun round was found outside the building’s main entrance, police said.

The school was locked down as a precautionary measure after a parent discovered the ammunition around 9 a.m., Police Chief Richard Wells said.

I don’t know where these shotgun rounds come from. What I really want to comment on, however, is that I feel like locking down the school in situations such as these is the right course of action. If you read the comments you’ll see remarks from the sarcastic, asking if they locked down the school because a shotgun round is a choking hazard, to the straightforward “no one’s life was at risk and this was a waste of time”. I believe it’s always important to take these precautionary measures because you never know if someone actually is carrying any sort of weapons and ammunition and happened to drop one. Never. Even if the chance is ridiculously low and near statistically impossible, you never want to take that chance. Things that may only happen a small percentage of the time can still happen, and when they do, people are held just as accountable and put in harm’s way as if the occurrence was a commonality.

You always have to play it safe.

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