Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2006 > June > 21
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Quitting teaching in disgust
Just after I mentioned that some of the best teacher blogs are probably not well known, I discovered an interesting one I’d not seen before through the Carnival of Education, hosted this week at the Why Homeschool? blog.
The carnival is a weekly compilation of the best education blogging of the week, usually hosted at The Education Wonks blog. The best post this week is from a first year teacher who has been agonizing about whether she should stick with her new profession in an appropriately-named blog called Should I Stay or Should I Go?
In this post, she makes her decision …
…and she’s decided to quit. The final straw? At the end of the school year she was pressured to pass two kids who should have failed. It’s a sad, discouraging story.
On another note, I’ve also been included for the past two weeks in The Carnival of Ohio Politics. This week, they included my post on Ohio voucher spin vs. reality, a post that also drew a response on the education blog, Edspresso.
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Ohio’s grad rate 13th in nation
By Scott Elliott
Staff Writer
Ohio ranked 13th in the nation with a 76.5 percent graduation rate in 2002-03, says a new report by Education Week.
But Ohio’s black-white achievement gap was one of the worst in the country, with 80.5 percent of whites graduating and 50.7 percent of blacks.
The gap has been a persistent problem in Ohio for several years, with blacks and whites also far apart on state achievement tests. And Ohio’s gap has been growing on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a federally backed test.
Education department spokeswoman Karla Carruthers said Education Week’s methods don’t account for student mobility, which might alter the results, but Ohio supports the state-by-state comparisons.
“It’s important to note that regardless of the calculation method used, the message for all Ohio’s educators is the same — the rates of all graduating students are too low,� she said.
Most of Ohio’s black students attend one of the state’s eight large, low-performing urban districts, which also serve high-poverty populations.
For its study, Education Week used a formula called “cumulative promotion index,� a more stringent standard that considers the number of kids who move to the next grade each year along with how many receive diplomas.
Education Week found most states’ rates were lower using its method, including Ohio, which officially reported 84 percent graduating in 2003.
Permalink | |
Ohio’s grad rate 13th in nation
By Scott Elliott
Staff Writer
Ohio ranked 13th in the nation with a 76.5 percent graduation rate in 2002-03, says a new report by Education Week.
But Ohio’s black-white achievement gap was one of the worst in the country, with 80.5 percent of whites graduating and 50.7 percent of blacks.
The gap has been a persistent problem in Ohio for several years, with blacks and whites also far apart on state achievement tests. And Ohio’s gap has been growing on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a federally backed test.
Education department spokeswoman Karla Carruthers said Education Week’s methods don’t account for student mobility, which might alter the results, but Ohio supports the state-by-state comparisons.
“It’s important to note that regardless of the calculation method used, the message for all Ohio’s educators is the same — the rates of all graduating students are too low,� she said.
Most of Ohio’s black students attend one of the state’s eight large, low-performing urban districts, which also serve high-poverty populations.
For its study, Education Week used a formula called “cumulative promotion index,� a more stringent standard that considers the number of kids who move to the next grade each year along with how many receive diplomas.
Education Week found most states’ rates were lower using its method, including Ohio, which officially reported 84 percent graduating in 2003.
Permalink | |
The best teacher blogs
Over at the LA Times’ School Me! Blog, Bob Sipchen and Janine Kahn are announcing their 10 favorite teacher blogs one per day over the next 10 days. (Great idea. Wish I had thought of it.)
The truth is, I’ll be interested to see the final list because there aren’t that many really good teacher blogs, or at least there aren’t that many that are well known in the blogosphere.
Even so, School Me! off to a strong start. Kicking off their list at No. 10 is one of my daily reads — Mrs. Frizzle. Mrs. Friz is a former Teach for America participant who stuck with the profession and still teaches in New York City. She’s about to embark on quite an adventure as she will be living in Istanbul next year as part of a teacher exchange program.
Since School Me! has already beaten me to highlighting one of my favorite teacher blogs, I thought I’d try to upstage them by releasing the rest of my list all at once. Here are my top SEVEN favorite teacher blogs:
No 7. From the TFA Trenches
Mr. AB is teaching at a school in California through Teach for America, a program that places top college students in urban and rural classrooms. He may be done for the summer, since he hasn’t posted in about a month, but this blog give a good flavor for the frustrations of a motivated, idealistic teacher in the face of the obstacles of urban education.
No 6. Polaski3’s View From Here
Ever wondered what your middle school teachers really thought about you and your classmates, the principal, the school, the textbook, etc? Polaski is very authentic voice with sometimes funny, sometimes outraged commentaries on the good, the bad and the insane of teaching in a middle school.
No 5. NYC Educator
This blog is updated daily with news items and commentary, often about New York City and New York state, but sometimes also discusses national or international issues. He tries a lot of different stuff, even the occasional narrative story, which I like. Lots of good photos and graphics, too.
No 4. The Shrewdness of Apes
The Oklahoma-reared “Ms Cornelius” is a thoughtful, versatile writer with interesting comments on a variety of school-related issues. It’s great when she gets fired up about an issue. And if you like movies, you can try to match her quote-for-quote on “Movie Madness Monday.”
No 3. Mrs. Frizzle
See my comments above.
No 2. The Education Wonks
In many ways, the Wonks are the kings of education blogs. The California-based teacher (influenced by his Wife Wonk and Teen Wonk) has an amazing talent for finding the weird, shocking, amazing or outrageous education news before anyone else. The Wonks launched and often host the weekly Carnival of Education, a compilation of the best education blog posts each week.
No 1. Mr. Babylon
OK, he’s posted sparsely for the past six months or so, but I am an absolutely addicted fan of this guy’s blog. Mr. Babylon is an often frustrated and occasionally inspired teacher at a, ahem, “crappy” high school in the Bronx. And the guy can really write. Like all good writing, his posts grab you because he really puts himself out there. He lets you experience what he thinks and feels as it happens, even if later he regrets those thoughts or actions. This blog is a really good window into the reality of inner city schools. Sometimes it’s hilariously bizarre. Sometimes it’s so exasperating you want to hit somebody. Sometimes it’s hard to stomach. But occasionally, good things happen too. For a really good flavor of this blog, check out his own list of “favorite posts.”
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