The HML POST 
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Greetings!
 
Welcome to the November11th, edition of the HML POST
More about the Horace Mann League of the USA at  HML website.
Recent research and editorials about America's public schools.  Click on the title to access the full article.

Note: Click here to view this issue of the HML Post on "FLIPBOARD."  Comments? Click here.
In Public Education, Edge Still Goes to Rich  by By Eduardo Porter in the New York Times.

"The debate about education reform is a lot about process," said David Sciarra, executive director of the Education Law Center in Newark, an advocacy group for disadvantaged students. "To a large extent it is a huge distraction. We never get to the question of what resources we need to get the students to meet the standards."
 
 
 
 
"The foundation is widely seen as the most influential independent actor in a period of nationwide-and deeply contested-experimentation with the fundamentals of the teaching profession. What its spending has wrought, however, and whether it will have the desired effect, remain the subject of heated debate."
 
Report: Use No Child waivers to innovate   by Caitlin Emma  in Politico Pro
"States should take student demographics into consideration when constructing school performance measures, move away from A-F grading of schools and be more innovative in measuring school accountability under No Child Left Behind waivers issued by the Education Department, a new paper presented in the journal Educational Researcher says."
 

A new study from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) will land on the desks of policymakers around the world next month. It will make sobering reading for political leaders in many countries. In Sweden Jan Bjorklund, the education minister, is prepared for poor marks too.  Why?



 

 

The Education Reform Conversation We Need is Not the One We Keep Having   by Jeff Bryan  AlterNet-Education

"This past week, two videos captured just about everything you need to know about the status of the movement known as "education reform."

The first filmed event was a staged encounter between two prominent advocates for what is conventionally thought of to be "opposing points of view" in the current debate over how best to implement top-down government mandates for public schools.  (Click here.)

The second video - in three segments (at the end of this post) - was an excerpt from [last] Saturday's Melissa Harris-Perry show on MSNBC, which had a different intent to be sure but ended up embracing the conversation the Hess-Duncan face-off refused to engage."(Click here.)

 

"Teacher evaluation policy should reflect the purpose of helping all teachers improve, not just low-performers. And if teacher effectiveness evaluations aim to help all teachers get better - including going from good to great - then all teachers need feedback."
 
 


Status and Stress  by By Moses Velasquez Manoff in the New York Times Opinionator 
"Becoming more affluent may lower the risk of disease by lessening the sense of helplessness and allowing greater access to healthful resources like exercise, more nutritious foods and greater social support; people are not absolutely condemned by their upbringing. But the effects of early-life stress also seem to linger, unfavorably molding our nervous systems and possibly even accelerating the rate at which we age."

 

The Case Against High-School Sports   by Amanda Ripley in the Atlantic Monthly
"The United States routinely spends more tax dollars per high-school athlete than per high-school math student-unlike most countries worldwide. And we wonder why we lag in international education rankings?  Athletics succeeded in distracting not just students but entire communities. As athletic fields became the cultural centers of towns across America, educators became coaches and parents became boosters."
 


 

 

 

 


Reprinted with permission.
 
 
About Us
The Horace Mann League of the USA is an honorary society that promotes the ideals of Horace Mann by advocating for public education as the cornerstone of our democracy.

 

Officers:
President: Joe Hairston, President, Vision Unlimited, Reisterstown, MD
President-elect: Gary Marx, President, Center for Public Outreach, VA
Vice President: Charles Fowler, Executive Director, Suburban School Superintendents
1st Past President: Mark Edwards, Supt., Mooresville Graded Schools, NC
2nd Past President: Julie Underwood, Dean, Sch. of Ed. U. of WI, Madison, WI
3rd Past President: George Garcia, (ret.) Supt., Boulder Valley Schools, CO
4th Past President: Steve Rasmussen, Supt., Issaquah School District, WA

 

Directors:
Martha Bruckner, Supt., Council Bluffs Community Schools, IA
Evelyn Blose-Holman, (ret.) Superintendent, Bay Shore Schools, NY
Carol Choye, Instructor, Bank Street College, NY
Brent Clark, Exec. Dir., Illinois Assoc. of School Admin. IL
Linda Darling Hammond, Professor of Education, Stanford U. CA
Charles Fowler, Exec. Dir., Suburban School Superintendents, NH
James Harvey, Exec. Dir., Superintendents Roundtable, WA
William Hite, Supt., Philadelphia City Public Schools, PA
Christine Johns, Superintendent, Sterling Heights, Michigan 
Eric King, Superintendent, (Ret.) Muncie Public Schools, IN
Steven Ladd, Superintendent, Elk Grove Unified School District, Elk Grove, CA 
Barry Lynn, Exec. Dir., Americans United, Washington, DC
Stan Olson, Superintendent, (Ret.) Boise Public Schools, ID

 

Executive Director:
Jack McKay, Professor Emeritus, University of Nebraska at Omaha, 
560 Rainier Lane, Port Ludlow, WA 98365 (360) 821 9877
 
To become a member of the HML, click here to download an application.