The HML Post 
 
 
Greetings!
 
Welcome to the June 2nd edition of the HML POST

 

The main HML website, click here.
Check out HML's Cornerstone on "FLIPBOARD."   (The public schools are the "Cornerstone" of our democracy.)
 

 

Tenuous Findings, Tenuous Policies    by Iris C. Rotberg in the Teachers College Record  
"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." -Albert Einstein

Methodological problems have plagued international test-score comparisons from the time they began 50 years ago. Since then the number and type of countries and other jurisdictions participating in the comparisons have increased, as have the methodological problems. At the same time, the results of the international comparisons have had an increasing impact on education policies throughout the world, despite the fact that the policy implications drawn from the comparisons are based on seriously flawed data. 

 

 
The Common Core backlash   in The Week.
Originally launched with bipartisan support, the ambitious education project is now facing a populist revolt.  What is the Common Core?
To opponents, it's an invasive national curriculum that brainwashes kids - or at least confuses them to the point of tears. To supporters, the Common Core State Standards Initiative is an attempt to ensure a good education for 40 million public school K-12 students across America by providing specific guidelines about what they should know, grade by grade, in math, reading, and writing. 
 

  

The Fordham Institute released an updated policy brief today on the Common Core, building off four blog posts published last year. It found more states are suspending or muting high-stakes accountability measures. For example, Florida recently passed a bill that suspends accountability for one year as the state transitions to new assessments. State leaders need to communicate this "accountability intermission" to students, parents and educators-- and make a full return to the stricter measures as soon as possible, the conservative think tank argues.

 

  

The One Percent at State U  by    Andrew Erwin and Marjorie Wood  

New report finds that student debt and low-wage faculty labor are rising faster at state universities with the highest-paid presidents.   State universities have come under increasing criticism for excessive executive pay, soaring student debt, and low-wage faculty labor. In the public debate, these issues are often treated separately. Our study examines what happened to student debt and faculty labor at the 25 public universities with the highest executive pay (hereafter "the top 25") from fall 2005 to summer 2012 (FY 2006 - FY 2012). Our findings suggest these issues are closely related and should be addressed together in the future.

  

Fast Start to No Improvement  by William Mathis on the NEPC website. 

Two recent proposals to reform teacher training offer glib diagnoses and remedies - but neither one is based on sound evidence to support their claims or their proposals, according to a new review released today.  Neither report is grounded in research, Mathis points out. Further, Time to Improve ignores  numerous technical and ethical issues, raised by a large body of recent experience and research, which caution against using standardized test scores to assess the quality of teacher preparation programs.  

 

 

Gary Marx presents individual chapters about an array of massive trends that have profound implications for everyone.  The second trend 

is the Technology Sphere:     

  

Ubiquitous, interactive technologies will shape how we live, how we learn, how we see ourselves, and how we relate to the world.

 

Identity and Privacy:  Identity and privacy issues will lead to an array of new and often urgent concerns and a demand that they be resolved. 

 

 

 

The full statement of Myth 9 might take the following form: "Dear Teachers, you are so overwhelmingly important in the education of our children, you are the be-all and the end-all, the Alpha and the Omega, that when the children aren't learning, it has to be your fault, that's why we are going to fire you if the test scores don't go up."

As obvious as it is to note the importance of good teachers, research makes it clear that teachers are not the most important influence in a child's education. 

 
 

education today will likely have a profound impact on our future.

  

At the Internet Week New York festival earlier this week, I had a chance to sit down with education experts working on implementing EdTech in schools, as well as startup founders dealing with education. Watch our full panel below.

 

  

An Unexpected Reason Americans Are Overweight  by Martha Rosenberg  on The AlterNet Blog

The documentary Fed Up, released in theaters on May 9, untangles the roots of obesity in America's youth. Directed by Stephanie Soechtig and narrated by Katie Couric, Fed Up does not shrink from telling viewers how the government's decades-long capitulation to Big Food and its lobbyists has fostered an epidemic of excess pounds. The national focus on diet, diet foods and exercise is not abating the obesity epidemic and actually making it worse,
 charges the film.
 
 
What if Finland's great teachers taught in U.S. schools?  by Valerie Strauss in the Washington Post.
The first belief is that "the quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers." This statement became known in education policies through the influential McKinsey & Company report titled "How the world's best performing school systems come out on top". Although the report takes a broader view on enhancing the status of teachers by better pay and careful recruitment this statement implies that the quality of an education system is defined by its teachers. By doing this, the report assumes that teachers work independently from one another. But teachers in most schools today, in the United States and elsewhere, work as teams when the end result of their work is their joint effort. 
 
 
A Gift:  On the Art of Teaching   by Horace Mann
In 1840 Mann wrote On the Art of Teaching. Its message has lived on as a timeless and inspiring appeal to educators.  Some of members present On the Art of Teaching to new teachers as part of their orientation program.  On the inside cover, some write a personal welcome message to the recipient.  Others present the book to school board members and parental organizations as a token of appreciation for becoming involved in their schools.  The book cover can be designed with the organization's name.  For more information, contact the HML (Jack McKay)
 
  
  

  

 
 More on the
 
  
 
The Horace Mann League website (click here) contains information about the League's projects, activities, past events, galleries, publications, and much more.
 
 
 
The HML Notes -Spring 2014 Edition, click here to download
 
All of the past issues of the HML Posts are available for view and search purposes.

 

 

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: Gary Marx, President, Center for Public Outreach, Vienna, VA
President-elect: Charles Fowler, Exec. Director, Suburban School Admin. Exter, HN
Vice President: Christine  Johns-Haines, Superintendent, Utica Community Schools, MI
1st Past President: Joe Hairston, President, Vision Unlimited, Reisterstown, MD
2nd Past President: Mark Edwards, Superintendent, Mooresville Graded Schools, NC

Directors:
Laurie Barron, Supt. of Schools, Evergreen School District, Kalispell , MT
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
James Harvey, Exec. Dir., Superintendents Roundtable, WA
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
Kevin Maxwell, CEO, Prince George's County Schools, Upper Marlboro, MD
Stan Olson, Director, Silverback Learning, Boise, ID
Steven Webb, Supt. of Schools, Vancouver School District, WA

 

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.