It’s all over the news that there is a renewed effort to foster national curriculum standards beginning with English and Math, known as the “Common Core State Standards” Initiative. The Obama Administration is backing this effort and is expected to connect millions in grants for schools and states to the adoption of such standards and the standardized tests to measure them; it is joined by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers. Forty-eight states, including Michigan have signed on to the effort; one holdout is Texas, which blasted the standards as “the first step toward nationalization of our schools.” So far, the standards don’t cover history, and considering the fate of the last attempt at national history standards, it’s not clear whether such an effort would go this far.
The news magazines are filled with recent buzz about how to “build” a better teacher, as if this were like some kind of construction project. The latest issue of the New York Times Magazine has a lead article this past weekend on efforts to rethink how teachers teach. One conclusion: the teacher’s content knowledge is important, not for the purpose of getting kids to swallow piles of facts, but to enable a teacher to think quickly on his feet in response to changing class circumstances and student questions. The implications for teaching history are significant.
By Kym Reinstadler | The Grand Rapids Press
March 09, 2010, 7:21AM
KENT COUNTY — Five additional school boards Monday adopted a template one-year labor contract negotiated by the Kent Intermediate Superintendents Association and the Kent County Education Association, bringing to 10 the number of districts signing on — one more than needed for the offer to be a go.
To continue reading the Grand Rapids Press article, click here.
In an interesting article encouraging parents to become involved in class schedule choices, Julie Mack sounds out
“One mistake that many parents make is assuming that the school will craft the optimal schedule for each child. The reality is that the typical school counselor is overseeing hundreds of students, and just doesn’t have the time to thoroughly investigate the strengths, weaknesses, hopes and dreams of each child.”
Julie’s article continues with some suggestions to parents on how to help tailor their student’s schedule. Click here for more of the article.
Please click on the Calendar link above for information on history-related events. The calendar has been updated to March 1, 2010.
The MCHE 2009 conference, “Lessons and Assessment: Making the Connections” will take place on Wednesday, November 4 at the Lansing Center in Lansing, Michigan. Please see the conference program for more information.MCHE 2009 program