Volume 13, No.4
Summer 1999
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Confronting Racism, Promoting Respect
A union program tackles a difficult topic
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Bilingual Education: New Visions for a New Era
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To Improve Bilingual Ed…
Rethinking Schools asked a number of people involved in bilingual education about the challenges facing bilingual programs. Following are excerpts from their answers.
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Coming Soon: The Son of Unz
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The Columbine Tragedy
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Milwaukee: Who Won and Why
The school board elections garnered national attention as a vote on vouchers. But in the end, the results had more to do with issues of race and power, and poor campaign decisions.
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High-Voltage Protest
Across the nation, parent and student protests are growing against the use of "high-stakes" tests. In a number of cases, the protests have arisen spontaneously after students and parents learned of not only the tests' content, but also of the use of a single standardized score to decide promotion or graduation. Some protests involve a handful of parents or students and others are organized districtwide or statewide.
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Badger-State Parent Power
Wisconsin parents are organizing against the state's 'no social promotions' tests. Politicians are taking notice.
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One Size Fits Few
Do the people developing state standards have any clue about kids - and why should we force Moby Dick down the throats of 15-year-olds?
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Standards and Multiculturalism 13.4
Multiculturalism is a search, a conversation to discover silenced perspectives. Yet standardization emphasizes one “fixed” answer.
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Yours, Mine, or Ours?
A high-school teacher struggles with issues of control and responsibility as he works with students on their literary magazine.
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Students
For public high school students involved in publishing newspapers or magazines at their schools, an understanding of court rulings on censorship is essential.
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Lessons from the Reading Wars
On both the academic and political fronts of the 'reading wars,' the real issues have been ignored or trivialized by the heated rhetoric of the movement
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Fiction Posing As Truth
A Critical Review of Ann Rinaldi's My Heart Is on the Ground: The diary of Nannie Little Rose, a Sioux Girl.
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Eyewitness Accounts
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Why Assess Teachers?
Throughout the United States, one hears the din of criticism of our educational system. A number of contradictory proposals to "fix" the schools are currently popular.
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ED WEB
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Making Prejudice Visible
No one ever wants to admit to being prejudiced. My students used surveys to help uncover discriminatory attitudes. The surveys hit close to home.
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Creating Student Surveys
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Research Shows Benefits of Small Classes
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Students Say ‘Enough!
Chicago high schoolers say they will no longer feed the test-talking frenzy.
Volume 13, No.3
Spring 1999
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Why the Testing Craze Won’t Fix Our Schools
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Alternatives to Standardized Tests
There's only one thing worse than requiring students to reduce all learning to a single "correct" answer, and that is reducing assessment and accountability to a single standardized test.
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Social Studies Tests from Hell
The problem with Oregon's latest high-stakes test goes beyond any particular question. Its essential wrong-headedness lies with the assumption that learning is nothing more that fact-collecting.
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Testing Against Democracy
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Appropriate Use of Tests
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Hallmarks of Good Assessment
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Standards and the Control of Knowledge
How can parents and educator make sense of the increasing reliance of state-mandated standards and tests? How might such standards impact efforts to forge a truly multicultural curriculum?
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The Forgotten History of Eugenics
High-stakes testing has its origins in the eugenics movements and racist assumptions about IQ. We forget, at our own peril, that this legacy hangs over current demands for increased testing
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Chicago Teacher Paper Under Fire
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Limitations of the ITBS
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Welcome to Measurement Inc.
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Reclaiming Assessment
Instead of sending its essays off to a for-profit scoring company, Portland teachers score papers as part of a discussion about what is good writing and good writing instruction.
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Dancin’ Circles
Even the most rigid of state testing plans will never be able to control what every child does or thinks or writes. There may be hope.
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The Straitjacket of Standardized Tests
A Portland teacher wonders: Where is the standardized test that can measure passion for learning, respect for others, and human empathy?
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Monkeys, Pouches, and Reading
What does it do to young children, and how does it distort good teaching, when reading success is determined on the basis of a single test?
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“High-Stakes” Harm”
How can teachers maintain their critical stance toward assessment, yet still help prepare students to take ‘high-stakes’ tests?
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How Many Must Die?
Eight years of sanctions have taken their hardest toll on the people of Iraq. An estimated 1 million people, including 750,000 children below the age of five, have died as a result of scarcity of food and medicine.
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Prominent Voices on Iraq
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U.S. Sanctions on Iraq
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The Influential E.D. Hirsch
Hirsch's message strikes a chord with many teachers and parents. But what are the assumptions behind Hirsch's prescription for school reform? And will his proposals get us where we need to go?
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Drive-By School Reform
How hit-and-run approaches to reform can turn schools into passive targets of intervention, rather than active partners in change.
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Ed-Web: Africa-Descended Culture on the Web
Volume 13, No.2
Winter 1998/1999
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What Now for Bilingual Education?
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Does Bilingual Ed Work?
It seems logical: if a student needs to learn English, put them in an English-language classroom. But research and experience underscore the importance of bilingual education.
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Out Front
An "out' high school teacher discusses what schools can do to fight the pervasive problem with homophobia.
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$22 Million Siphoned from MPS to Pay for Private Schools
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What Color is Beautiful?
A kindergartner says he doesn't like his dark skin. His teacher grapples with how best to respond and finds a valuable resource in Nina Bonita.
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Trivial Pursuit Testing
An education professor takes the Massachuesetts teacher certification test. His conclusion? The test is excellent - if the goal is to train winners in competitions of Jeopardy or Trivial Pursuit
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Equity Takes a Hard Hit
Across the country, concern with equity is dwindling as voters, school boards, and federal courts look instead to "race neutral" policies
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Tracking and the Project Method
A fifth grade teacher reflects on alternatives to tracking, and how he deals with teaching to a range of skills so that all the children learn.
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Keeping Schools on Track
Research has documented the inequitable effects of tracking, yet the practice persists. Why do so many reformers sidestep the issue?
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Terriblehorriblenogoodverybad
Some days are like that. And some practices, such as tracking, are much worse
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What’s the Fuss?
Are the debates over bilingual education grounded in what is educationally best for children — or over issues of assimilation versus cultural pride?
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The Poetry of Protest
Martín Espada’s poetry is a weapon for justice for those who aren’t white, who don’t speak English, whose work as migrant laborers is exploited.
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Philip’s Transformation
An elementary teacher explains how she uses the book Crow Boy as part of a curriculum based on respect for differences — and helped reach a student who entered her classroom angry and alienated.
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The Trial
One early elementary teacher explains how she explores issues of homelessness. Her goal: to increases student compassion and understanding, yet sidestep an “us” vs. “them” dichotomy.
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Revolving School Doors
The high cost of housing means not only homelessness but, for many poor families, frequent moves. Some children switch schools once or more a year — with dire effects on learning.
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Past and Present
An Encounter with the Elders
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Hooking up with Commercial-free Education
Volume 13, No.1
Fall 1998
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Standardardized Tests
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Reconstituting Jefferson
Reconsitution is a nationwide trend, and example of "get tough" policies. At my school, it was mean-spirited and shallow - and did nothing to address the school's real problems
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Reconstitution Trend Cools
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What Happened to the Merger?
Did NEA delegates vote "no" because of irreconcilable differences, or do they just want time to ponder the proposal?
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New Battlegrounds
As charters and voucher schools decry the "burdens" of special education, advocates for students with disabilities prepare to defend hard-won rights
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Staying Past Wednesday
Death, an ever-present reality in life, is too often silenced in the elementary classroom. Does it have to be that way?
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Culturally Authentic Bias
Just because a book is "multicultural" doesn't mean it is free of stereotypes. Many cultures have stories replete with bias.
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The Voucher Threat
Many public schools in urban areas have such problems that it may be tempting to consider vouchers a legitimate reform. Don't be fooled. The very survival of public education is at stake.
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Of Eagles and Chickens
How a Teacher Uses a Modern Fable to Teach about the African-American Struggle for Identity
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Of Eagles and Chickens
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Great Eagle Wisdom
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Letters 13.1
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Lessons from the Other Side
A community-activist who is now a school board member offers tips to parents on how to effectively approach their school board.
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Transforming Teaching
Milwaukee’s teacher-run councils helped enrich districtwide reform. Their demise leaves a vacuum for progressive teachers searching to promote classroom-based innovation.
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K-12 Reform Goals
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Alternatives to Grade Retention
“No social promotion!” is the latest sound-bite of reform. But if the goal is to improve classroom learning, other strategies make more sense.
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Unz: Moving on to Arizona
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Resources on the Unz Initiative
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Religious Right Launches “Exodus 2000”
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Victory for Funding Equity
A New Jersey decision mandates extra money for low-income districts.
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MPS Suspensions Skyrocket
MPS suspensions have increased over 30% in recent years. In middle school, there were more suspensions than actual students.
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A Mother Speaks Out
What happens when schools fail to take action against harassment of gay and lesbian youth?
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Tinsel Town Teachers
You want to write a movie script, capture your finest teaching moments on film? Here’s how.
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13.Ed-Web: Native American Websites
