Welcome to 2015
If you’re like us you read some of the lists of the best of 2014; the best dressed, the best athletes, the best TV shows, the best photos and even the best news stories. ED WEEK compiled their Top Education Commentaries of 2014: Education Week’s Most-Viewed. They capture the topics and controversies that not only define the important ideas of the past year, but also suggest how we might move ahead in 2015 and create schools that will better serve our students. You’ll recognize the buzz words from our field: grit, bullying, the marshmallow test, social emotional intelligence, diversity, equity, reform and of course standards and common core. Here are quotes from three of these articles. You will recognize the names. Collectively, they make compelling cases for what we must do:
“Neglecting the emotional education of children and adults risks leaving children at the mercy of every emotion they feel and every aggressor who comes along.” – Marc Brackett
“Focus less on ‘fixing kids’ and more on improving what and how they’re taught.” – Alfie Kohn
“The transition to simple, priority-driven school improvement might require a kind of civil disobedience: a refusal, by a critical mass of educators, to implement anything unless it has been adequately piloted, amply proven, and then made clear and simple enough for educators to learn and implement successfully.” – Mike Schmoker
The NY Times editorial The Central Crisis in New York Education addresses the schism among Governor Cuomo, the Regents and the NYS Teachers concerning the $2 billion it will take to ensure educational equity for New York’s students.
You can also read the Campaign for Educational Equity blog: New York Times Challenges Governor Cuomo to Face Educational Reality in State of State.
For additional postings, check out our Ed Trends page. We update it regularly and are sure it will stimulate conversation among your colleagues.
We thank you all for the work you do each and every day on behalf of this nation’s children and wish you all the best in 2015.
Warmly,
Jane Sandbank Group
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