Education
41 posts · all topics
What's the point of a PhD?
Reading an o ld Slate article about why MOOCs (online classes) devalue the importance of a one-on-one relationship between professors and students, I have a few thoughts: Sure,…
College degree expiration dates
My daughter is thinking about the essays on the Common Application the long standardized form that most colleges now require as part of their admissions process. These essays,…
Doug Lemov’s Tips for Teachers
A few notes from Econtalk’s interview with Doug Lemov , founder of Uncommon Schools, who gives several practical tips on how to be a better teacher.Since we all…
Sustainable online education
Anant Agarwal, the president of EdX, MIT and Harvard’s massive open online course (MOOC)provider thinks the future of education doesn’t need have to maximize revenue: “It’s not at…
Are public schools better than private?
The Atlantic has a short interview with University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign professors Sarah Theule Lubienski, and her husband Christopher A. Lubienski: “a new book argues that public…
The future of college
View on Amazon College is such a critical part of modern life that sometimes we forget the difference between “college” and “education”. Now that my children are closing…
Don’t study engineering or science
Thomas Friedman writes today in his column, One Country Two Revolutions if one result of the downsizing of Wall Street is that more of America’s best and brightest…
"If you loved it, you'd be doing it"
Great one-hour video/podcast by Ken Robinso n, public education expert. I liked this part (about 43 minutes in) when he relates a conversation he once had with a…
The only way to improve schools
This week’s New Yorker is required reading of anyone interested in improving education. An article by Malcolm Gladwell (author of “The Tipping Point”, “Blink” and other books) points…
Maxwell wins
Many of us have been watching the shifting return counts since election night, but now it’s official: Marcie Maxwell won the election for 41st district state representative over…
Civics test: 90%
Ouch! I’m disappointed that I got three answers wrong on a new 33-question civics test created by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute , giving me a score of 90.1%.…
Litzow vs. Maxwell at the PTA
The Mercer Island Legislative Team of the PTA sponsored a discussion recently between the Washington State 41st district legislative candidates, Democrat Marcie Maxwell and Republican Steve Litzow .…
Confidence in Fred Jarrett
I think there are at least two kinds of politicians: the "populists" and the "wonks". Too many politicians are populists, who treat government like a popularity contest: a…
Seattle Times Endorses Steve Litzow
The Seattle Times endorsed Steve Litzow in the race for 41st State Legislative District . You have to chuckle at their follow-on comment His opponent, Democrat Marcie Maxwell…
Comparing teacher experience between Mercer Island and Bellevue
Good teachers deserve to be paid a lot more than they are, and if it were up to me there’d be a huge bonus pool, with big fat…
Salaries for Bellevue and Mercer Island Teachers
Public employee salary information is public record -- as it should be, since you and I pay for it through our taxes. Bellevue public school teachers went on…
Education voters: Litzow or Maxwell?
Continuing my slow, on-going look at the results of the August primary for the Washington State 41st Legislative district, this week I've been trying to answer the question…
Shy teachers
I think the Bellevue teachers strike is horrible. I don't care what the issues are in this dispute, the real competition is global, with kids in other countries…
Bellevue Teachers Strike
While my kids are busy packing for their first day of class here in Mercer Island public schools, their friends in nearby Bellevue get to take the day…
Our historical blind spots
It seems to me that each of us has a blind spot in our understanding of recent history that makes us unable to fully appreciate many of the…
League of Education Voters Endorses Marcie Maxwell
Marcie Maxwell picked up an endorsement this week from the League of Education Voters Political Action Fund , an important advocacy group focused on K12 issues for Washington…
Does more funding help schools?
Washington state Governor Christine Gregoire poured huge amounts of new money into education in the past four years: about $2.46 Billion. Most of this (80%) went to pay…
Who is Steve Litzow?
As I keep saying, local elections are more relevant than national ones, and for Mercer Island you need to know about the choices for 41st district state legislature,…
I'm (about) as smart as a third world tenth grader
The people behind Two Million Minutes, that film about high school education in China and India, released an online test that lets you get a sense of what…
Who is Marcie Maxwell?
Besides the presidential race, there's another election in November, one that will affect your house, your schools, and your neighborhood more directly than anything that happens in Washington…
Why Yong Zhao is wrong
While working at Apple Computer long ago, I became good friends with Andy Van Schaack , who later received his PhD in Instructional Technology and knows way more…
PTA Advocate of the Year
Look who was recently honored with this year's PTA Outstanding Advocate Award: Quite an achievement, but believe me, you don't know the half of what she advocates.
Ranking high schools
I received this email from a person who graduated from Mercer Island High School in the 1970s. (he can identify himself more fully in the comments if he…
Marxist teachers at Mercer Island High School
Oh dear, looks like I've seriously underestimated the challenges facing Mercer Island schools . Not only are we underfunded, but look at what one blogger uncovered about our…
2 Million Minutes [film]
Watch on YouTube Life's biggest challenges involve knowing which questions to ask. Once you know the right questions, schools in China and India are great at teaching students…
Yong Zhao on how to use technology in the classroom
The Mercer Island education community is talking about Yong Zhao , a professor at Michigan State University with ideas on how to improve schools global competitiveness. He'll be…
Compare my school
I'm always interested in school rankings , since competition is the only way to be sure your school is performing as well as it could be. Here's another…
Mercer Island Chess Tournament
For the past several years, Kate Elliot Smith has organized a wonderful Mercer Island-only chess tournament for kids in grades K through 6th grade. I like it because…
1,670 Naysayers
Although it was important to show our support, the last minute work of sign-wavers probably didn't make much difference since the Capital Projects Levy passed by a 68.98%…
Inoffensive fifth grade art
Among the excellent exhibits at last night's 29th Annual Fine Arts Showcase at Mercer Island High School: Apparently, this fifth grade class had prepared an exhibit that included…
What's in the school levy?
For the past year or two, I've been part of the Mercer Island School District's Technology Advisory Committee, which studied and commented on the $6.74 million of items…
Why you should support the school levy
Mercer Island is holding a special election on March 11th for a proposition to authorize the district to levy in the amount of $9,994,000 for the district's Capital…
Campaigning for the school levy
Oh boy, finally I get my chance for sign-posting Mercer Island fame. I'm going to be at the corner of Island Crest and 40th on Friday morning starting…
National trends don't count
Read with a big grain of salt the Washington Post reprint on today's Seattle Times front page: Girlhood Gone Wild: Drinking and Drug Use Grow . It's riddled…
[book] The Price of Privilege
Why are rich kids often so screwed up? Can you blame it on the parents, whose dog-eat-dog obsession with work and competition makes them "successful" in business at…
How to Improve Schools
The (always interesting) Seattle Public Schools blog points to an Economist article from last year about a large McKinsey world-wide study, " How the world's best-performing schools come…