Five Best Blogs: Belated Attention For The Common Core

How Big a Change Are the Common Core Standards? Rick Hess: For good or ill, the Common Core represents not a modest technical exercise, but a serious overhaul of how states approach math and reading instruction... Waiting for a School Miracle Diane Ravitch:  The accounts of miracle schools demand closer scrutiny. Usually, they are the result of statistical legerdemain... Is Teach for America Becoming 'Too Big to Fail?' Sam Chaltain: Does [Kopp] believe, given the choices available, that bigger is better; that the meaning of "community" is fungible; and that the people who make up a school system need not develop deep and lasting roots to ensure its long-term success?... An Eloquent, Well-Reasoned, Cooly Logical, Bitingly Witty Take on a Key Educational Issue Two Years At The Blackboard: There are maggots... ...in the staff bathroom... Will Popular High School Gays Also Suffer Curse of Sad Later Lives? The Awl: Don't worry, young people. Everyone popular in high school gets her comeuppance later on. Wait till your 10th high school reunion, when all the popular people come back sad and poorly dressed and puffy-faced and grey...  Each Generation Lazier Than the Last The Awl: No, but seriously, the kids today are soooo much lazier...