Bob Schaeffer of Fairtest writes:

Top national policy-makers finally took notice of the growing testing resistance and reform movement this week. The Council of Chief State School Officers (aka state superintendents) and the Council of the Great City Schools (urban supers) published a report admitting that standardized exam overkill was rampant across the country. In response, both U.S. Secretary of Arne Duncan and President Barack Obama issued statements of concern.

Weingarten: Four Solutions to Public School Problems   by Randi Weingarten on the Ed Week blog

 Public education is complex. And as income inequality grows and social mobility shrinks, it's become even more complex. Public education is one of the only highways to opportunity for many kids. Yet, its promise is not always realized, particularly for those who have the least.

A quick, myopic fix won't work. Education reforms-those based in ideology, not fact-have been oversold, yet have ultimately underdelivered on their promise, leaving even ardent supporters questioning their value.

A basic question is emerging as our schools are urged to embrace the Common Core State Standards and the computer-based learning systems aligned to the standards. Are these digital devices becoming central to the classroom-and coming to dominate the way we teach and learn? And how will this serve our students?  From Bill Gates in March of this year we heard the virtues of the Common Core explained this way:
 "If you have 50 different plug types, appliances wouldn't be available and would be very expensive," he said. But once an electric outlet becomes standardized, many companies can design appliances and competition ensues, creating variety and better prices for consumers, he said.  In the classroom, these "appliances" are the tablets and other digital devices now being aggressively sold."

Steep Drops Seen in Teacher-Prep Enrollment Numbers    by Stephen Sawchuk  on the Ed Week blog

  Massive changes to the profession, coupled with budget woes, appear to be shaking the image of teaching as a stable, engaging career. Nationwide, enrollments in university teacher-preparation programs have fallen by about 10 percent from 2004 to 2012, according to federal estimates from the U.S. Department of Education's postsecondary data collection.  Some large states, like heavyweight California, appear to have been particularly hard hit. The Golden State lost some 22,000 teacher-prep enrollments, or 53 percent, between 2008-09 and 2012-13, according to a report its credentialing body issued earlier this month.
 

On the 2008 presidential primary campaign trail, candidates Obama and Clinton both garnered the loudest applause when they condemned No Child Left Behind. We started the Obama years hoping that test-centered accountability was on the ropes. But instead of a new paradigm, we got the Common Core and promises of "better tests."

Now, as the Common Core loses support even as these supposedly superior tests are just being rolled out, we are already seeing proposals for "new accountability systems," offering a "new paradigm." 

Clueless about social media? Here are 17 clues for getting started  by Barry Feldman on the Next Web blog

Social media is not a trend, it's essential. Just as your customers rely on the phone and email, they rely on social media. It's where you connect. To believe otherwise can limit and threaten the growth of your business or career.

I intend to help you blast through the hardest part: getting started. Right here. Right now.   Here you go: the essential how to guide, no experience required. 

Former US Assistant Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch sets the stage in the foreword by outlining the political mindset that currently holds sway among federal and state lawmakers. "Public education is under attack," she writes. "So is the teaching profession. 

People who call themselves 'reformers' seek to transfer public funds to privately managed schools and even to religious schools . . . The attack on public schools and the teaching profession is fueled by a zealous belief in test scores. 
 

Happy "golden boy" showed anger; some cite student dispute  by  Mike Baker, Lewis Kamb and 

Shooter Dead At Marysville Pilchuck High School: Report  by 

Two dead, four hurt in shooting at Marysville-Pilchuck HS  by 

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