Education Roundup

A quick look at what's happening on the education front this morning. The bill (introduced by Calvin Ball) on budget oversight has passed. Also, air quality testing (this means: mold) has been completed in twelve schools by an independent contractor, at the direction of the County Executive. You can read more here.

Take a look at the Mold in Howard County Schools FB page for an update on asbestos found under tiles at Glenwood Middle School. Of course, asbestos is never good news, but it looks like the way this is being handled is refreshingly transparent. Progress? I hope so.

The Commission to review the use of testing in Maryland's Schools has released its report. In my opinion, it doesn't go far enough, but encouraging the involvement of teachers in evaluating the usefulness of assessments at the local level is a start. Their recommendations are just that: recommendations. They don't have the power of enforcement, so we'll have to see how this plays out.

Board of Education member Bess Altwerger was one of the organizers of the recent Save our Schools March in DC. From candidate Robert Miller, also present:

Jonathan Kozol speaking at Save Our Schools March DC: Fear of Failure instead of Joy of Learning in our Schools due to overtesting; Arts treated as distractions since they can't be measured with numbers...transformation is going to happen.

Learn more about the Save Our Schools movement here. Scroll down for the complete platform.

In closing, a little song that packs quite a punch. You all know my aversion to the ed reform buzzword du jour: rigor. It turns out I'm not alone. Barry Lane went so far as to write a song about it. "Superficialunrealisticrigorisatrocious" set to the tune of a familiar Mary Poppins song, makes short work of the ridiculousness of pushing meaningless struggle as a means of raising test scores. He says,

about

Legendary book blogger and high school teacher Paul Hankins sent me a wonderful draft of this. He wrote all the best parts. I finished it while jogging in a parking lot in Texas and realized it was a song that says what many teachers feel. We don't need "rigged, rigor," in schools but "real rigor," which I would call, VIGOR!. Repeat after me, VIGOR NOT RIGOR!

Amen.

*****

If you're not tired of singing yet, this song by Tom Chapin is highly recommended.

lyrics

 

aboutLegendary book blogger and high school teacher Paul Hankins sent me a wonderful draft of this. He wrote all the best parts. I finished it while jogging in a parking lot in Texas and realized it was a song that says what many teachers feel. We don't need "rigged, rigor," in schools but "real rigor," which I would call, VIGOR!. Repeat after me, VIGOR NOT RIGOR!

lyrics

 

abouLegendary book blogger and high school teacher Paul Hankins sent me a wonderful draft of this. He wrote all the best parts. I finished it while jogging in a parking lot in Texas and realized it was a song that says what many teachers feel. We don't need "rigged, rigor," in schools but "real rigor," which I would call, VIGOR!. Repeat after me, VIGOR NOT RIGOR!

lyrics