In software development, there is a system called test-driven development or TDD. It’s a five-step process that gets repeated until a finished product is obtained. Its core mechanic consists of writing tests to check if your software works before you write the software, and when you write the software, you write it just to pass… Continue reading Can This Software Development Process Be the Key to Raising Standards at All Schools?
I have a confession to make: I’ve always been confused by New York City calling itself “progressive” when it comes to education. To me, progressive means moving forward, implementing new, bold, downright radical ideas, bucking the status quo and breaking down old – especially failed – systems. Yet when it comes to educational policy, NYC… Continue reading New Report Asks: Why Does Progressive New York City Have Larger Student Achievement Gaps?
Computers are fast and stupid, people are slow and clever. This is an axiom that anybody who works with computers must accept in order that computers and people may cooperate effectively. Yet, schools seem to ask students to do tasks to which computers are much better suited, and then let them graduate without ever having… Continue reading Don’t stop them now! Students can learn more than you think
On Monday, September 23, the Community Education Council of Brooklyn’s School District #16 (Bedford-Stuyvesant) voted to ask New York City to get rid of all Gifted & Talented programs as advised by the Student Diversity Advisory Group (SDAG). There was the by now familiar rhetoric of how District #16’s schools are not racially or socio-economically… Continue reading Follow the Money and See Where It Goes: NYC Schools Edition.
I give up. New York City School Chancellor Richard Carranza has decreed that the most important issue facing our public high schools isn’t that close to 80% of students aren’t graduating college-ready, SAT scores are well below the national average, or there’s a lack of access to Advanced Placement (AP) classes. No, according to the… Continue reading 3 Things NYC Can Do TODAY To Integrate Public High Schools!
New York City released elementary school test scores for the 2018-19 school year on Thursday, August 22, 2019. In the past, I’ve listed the Top 10 Schools by Test Scores for 2017, and the Top 25 Schools by Test Scores for 2018. While there is some juggling for placement every year, the top-scoring schools tend… Continue reading 10 NYC Public Schools Which Went Up In Test Scores in 2019 — And 10 That Went Down.
“What if kids who look like me didn’t have to work so hard to navigate an inequitable school system? What if adults were invested in making that navigation possible?” That’s Tracy Fray-Oliver, Associate Vice President of Bank Street Education Center (part of the Bank Street College of Education in New York City) speaking to a… Continue reading In Yonkers, Teachers Leaders Are “The Unit Of Change”: A Report From the Field.
