Around The Blogs (And Some Leftover News)

NCLB on Letterman Campaign K12
Al Franken, who is challenging Sen. Norm Coleman, a Republican, for his Senate seat in the swing state of Minnesota, showed up on David Letterman on Tuesday night ... and bashed No Child Left Behind!

NCLB reform leaves California behind Educated Guess
Finally, some sensible changes to the No Child Left Behind law. And once again, California won’t be able to adopt them.

KidZui Lets Children Explore Web Safely WSJ
A new service called KidZui aims to offer kids a safe subset of the Internet where they can roam freely without triggering parental worry.

Text-messaging rumor mills AJC
Rumors spread by text messaging flew through three Gwinnett high schools this month. The rumor mill said a shooting would take place on campus or gangs were bringing weapons to school. Students panicked and left school early.

10 Signs of What Is Not a Crummy Poor-Kid School Jay Mathews
Two engaging books came out a year ago, each so compelling I planned a major column with guest commentators and debates and confetti and dancers and rock music. Then life intruded.

Principals May Gain Option To Jettison Bureaucrats NY Sun
High-performing principals could essentially opt out of the bureaucratic system, saving them thousands of dollars and putting pressure on central administration to downsize, under an idea being considered by the city Department of Education.

Comments

[anon]

Jay Matthews is great, but I wish he would be more clear about the term "high expectations for students" which his article lists as the number one key element in high achieving low income schools. Frankly, this phrase disturbs me, because people are using a distorted definition. Read literally, having high expectations is often illogical, since expecting students to do well just by "expecting" it is self-delusion. I think that this phrase is often a euphemism for "rigorous grading standards" or something similar which makes me wish people would say what they mean. Of course, once you commit yourself to enhanced "rigorous grading standards," you must face the reality that some students' performance will be below par. This might entail remedial work (which costs $), or more failures, or more demands that teachers produce "better teaching."

My question for the readers, and Alexander, is this: What is your definition of "high expectations," do you favor them, and what do you think should be the consequences for students who don't meet them?