A good Sunday read.

(Diane Ravitch’s education ideas in historic context).

Is it, as the French say, “Plus la change, plus la meme chose”? That is, the more things change the more they stay the same.

We have worked on education reform for the better part of the 20th, and now,
the 21st century. Ravitch envisions the worst case scenario: higher test scores and worse education. Since the early 1900’s, have we made progress? Where do we go from here?

As I said, a good Sunday read.

(Study: too much self esteem in teens).

We saw this coming. The self esteem movement has run its course, I hope. The best book I’ve found on these issues is Carol Dweck’s Mindset. There are two types of mind sets: fixed mindset (which gets praised for being smart, pretty, athletic, etc) and growt mindset (which gets praised for effort, working hard, trying, succeeding, etc). Too much praise in high schools comes from the fixed mindset, so that when kids in college actually get a ‘C’, as in this story, they are insulted! I believe it’s time fo us to push the growth mindset. Thank you, Carol Dweck for that clear distinction!

What is your favorite book or program on this issue?

(Grouping students by achievement, not age).

Just as we were fretting about the failure label we slap on students, a district in Kansas has come up with a better way–group students by their achievement, not age. Thus, students can continue to work on what they need–whether they are behind or ahead of their age peers. Let’s hope this works well. First reports look positive.

What a country! We always create anew. Happy 4th of July indeed!