Raise your hand if you think something is very wrong here. Yesterday, I wrote about Maryland Superintendent of Schools stepping down after a 20 year run. Yesterday, Cathie Black is leaving her post as New York City chancellor. Her tenure? Three months. This is an “only in New York” thing…
First Grade Skills and Second Grade Skills are two iPad apps put out by Visual Learning Aids. I love the idea of this app. But these are not a good apps. The premise is fantastic. Reading comprehension, vocabulary, science question, all in multiple choice format that is very “standardized testish”.…
Maryland’s legislature passed Senate Bill 985 this week which tightens the screws a bit on for-profit colleges by tightening regulation of these institutions. Governor O’Malley supports the bill and is expected to sign it soon. Where are the feds on this? The for-profit college industry doubled spending on lobbying this…
Maryland State Superintendent of Schools Nancy Grasmick, the longest-serving appointed head of state schools in the country, announced yesterday that she is retiring after 20 years. Good for her. And she probably did a great job (I’m in no position to access). I don’t like parsing the words of someone…
I read last night a really thought provoking article in Time about the educational system in Finland. The article calls Finland’s system in the title “anti-Tiger” playing off the subject of yesterday’s blog post. In a recent study, Finland was second in science literacy, second in reading and third in…
I am a huge fan of the iPad app Math City. There are many iPad applications that are high definition, high tech and just feel (to me) like 2020. Math City feels like 2002. It has a simple and, frankly, unimpressive design. But Math City really works and, to boot,…