2006-2007 Volume 88

Overview of the June issue (2:22 min) Listen/Download (2.17 MB)

The Seven Deadly Sins of No Child Left Behind, by Paul D. Houston (28:21 min)
The pending reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is prompting much discussion about what should be done to improve NCLB. But Mr. Houston believes that the law has been taking U.S. education in entirely the wrong direction and that a totally new agenda is needed. Listen/Download (25.9 MB)

Teaching More Than English: Connecting ESL Students to Their Community Through Service Learning, by Natalie M. Russell (10:36 min)
While service learning has long been recognized as a powerful method for engaging students, Ms. Russell has discovered that it is particularly well suited to the learning and social needs of ESL students. Indeed, it can be the key to making them feel more at home in their school and community while reinforcing the language skills they learn in the classroom. Listen/Download (9.70 MB)

New Domains: Navigating the World of Academic Writing, by J. Christine Gould, JoAnne M. Katzmarek, and Patricia A. Shaw (25:10 min)
Three junior faculty members decided to meet regularly to discuss their experiences and frustrations with academic publishing. The authors reflect on the obstacles they faced and the revelations that helped them become successful writers. Listen/Download (23 MB)

Overview of the May issue (2:40 min) Listen/Download (2.45 MB)

Why High School Must Go: An Interview with Leon Botstein, by Robert Epstein (24:35 min)
Does our culture protect teens from themselves, or does it create the very irresponsibility we are trying to protect them from? Mr. Epstein believes the latter and so decided to have a conversation with someone who has been saying that for years, Leon Botstein. Listen/Download (22.5 MB)

Four Practices That Math Classrooms Could Do Without, by Nick Fiori (6:54 min)
While the big debates about mathematics instruction focus on the question of reform versus back to basics, Mr. Fiori would like us to consider a different question. Why does school mathematics bear so little resemblance to the way practicing mathematicians think? Listen/Download (6.32 MB)

World Citizenship: A Humane Alternative to ‘Drill and Kill’, by Bruce Mitchell (8:36 min)
Even though Joel lived a continent away, many sixth-graders at a Title I school in California could easily identify with his life of poverty. Their empathy motivated them to launch an ambitious charitable project, which, Mr. Mitchell argues, had far greater educational value than the relentless test preparation that is standard fare in most low-income schools today. Listen/Download (7.87 MB)

IN CANADA
Bend It Like Azzy, by Heather-Jane Robertson (15:09 min)
Listen/Download (13.8 MB)

Overview of the April issue (2:38 min) Listen/Download (2.42 MB)

Columbus and the Flat Earth Myth, by Mano Singham (12:56 min)
Perhaps it is not the people of the Middle Ages who should be accused of clinging to erroneous beliefs, Mr. Singham suggests. Listen/Download (11.8 MB)

What Happened to Social Studies? The Disappearing Curriculum, by Margit E. McGuire (28:04 min)
In the face of pressures to focus on literacy and mathematics, schools and textbook publishers are attempting to “integrate” social studies into the teaching of reading. Beyond ensuring a superficial treatment of the subject matter, this practice threatens the continuing development of reflective, engaged citizens, Ms. McGuire fears. Listen/Download (25.6 MB)

Accelerating the Learning of Low-Achieving Students: The Transformation of a Dropout,
by Christine Finnan and Gene Chasin (21:31 min)
Anthony’s story was the same as that of many dropouts: he was bored in school, he had no support or encouragement from his family or his teachers, and he lacked motivation. But it was after he quit high school that his story took a different turn. Ms. Finnan and Mr. Chasin explain how Anthony has been able to succeed against all odds. Listen/Download (19.7 MB)

Overview of the March issue (2:57 min) Listen/Download (2.71 MB)

Radically Redefining Literacy Instruction: An Immense Opportunity, by Mike Schmoker (23:11 min)
Students in today’s English and language arts classes typically are not asked to read, discuss, or write analytically. But by emphasizing such authentic literacy activities, Mr. Schmoker maintains, we could bring about the results that all our reforms seek: higher test scores, intellectual development, and a narrowing of the achievement gap. Listen/Download (21.2 MB)

What I Learned About Teaching at the Great Wall of China, by Gary Squire (26:37 min)
You wouldn’t think a veteran teacher with more than three decades of experience would need to reinvent himself and his methods. But half a world away, Mr. Squire did just that. Listen/Download (24.3 MB)

Confronting the Achievement Gap, by David Gardner (25:59 min)
Why is there an achievement gap? Why has it persisted in spite of everything we’ve tried to do to eliminate or at least narrow it? What should we be doing? Mr. Gardner takes a hard look at these questions and offers some answers that we don’t usually hear. Listen/Download (23.7 MB)

FEBRUARY 2007

Overview of the February issue (3:32 min) Listen/Download (3.24 MB)

Surprise – High School Reform Is Working, by Thomas Toch, Craig D. Jerald, and Erin Dillion (21:14 min)
High school reform has now been on the national agenda long enough that we can begin reaching conclusions about the effectiveness of various approaches to it. The authors report on the strategies and their results thus far, finding that progress is indeed possible. Listen/Download (19.4 MB)

Teaching Even 100 Hours a Week Leaves Children Behind, by Erik Gleibermann (25:14 min)
Suppose a teacher in an urban high school wanted to do more than survive. Suppose he wanted to do the job right. Sharpening his pencil and firing up his calculator, Mr. Gleibermann decided to find out just how long that would take. Listen/Download (23.1 MB)

THOUGHTS ON TEACHING
On Kentucky Fried Children and the Educational-Industrial Complex, by Bobby Ann Starnes (13:38 min) Listen/Download (12.4 MB)

RESEARCH
Things Fall Apart: NCLB Self-Destructs, by Gerald W. Bracey (16:26 min) Listen/Download (15 MB)

Overview of the January issue (2:49 min) Listen/Download (2.59 MB)

A Bronx Tale: Creating Common Ground for High School Success, by N. Gerry House (30:57 min)
The situation at two large high schools in the Bronx seemed hopeless. It was only when that point was reached that the door was opened for radical reform. The schools were divided into a number of small autonomous schools, which have achieved remarkable turnarounds. Ms. House describes the exciting programs in two of those schools. Listen/Download (28.3 MB)

Dare to Be Different, by Selma Wassermann (36:16 min)
Can a school choose its own path despite the pressures of accountability? In the end, Ms. Wassermann says, it is possible to act on our beliefs within the constraints that bind us. Listen/Download (33.2 MB)

Educational Rituals: Questioning How We Educate Our Children, by Steve Trowbridge (19:01 min)
How often do we ask ourselves whether what we do in school is good for children? Not often enough, Mr. Trowbridge says. Listen/Download (17.4 MB)

How Well Has NCLB Worked? How Do We Get the Revisions We Want?, by Anne C. Lewis (20:06 min)
PDK’s 2006 Summit on Public Education opened with a stimulating panel discussion on the hottest topic in education: NCLB. Ms. Lewis reports on the panel’s views and how they were received by the conferees in the subsequent breakout sessions. Listen/Download (18.4 MB)

Overview of the December issue (2:45 min) Listen/Download (646 KB)

The Goals of Education, by Richard Rothstein and Rebecca Jacobsen (41:52 min)
In the NCLB era, accountability has focused almost exclusively on basic academic skills. It is time, Mr. Rothstein and Ms. Jacobsen believe, to ask if the accountability system we have is producing the kind of graduates we want. Listen/Download (9.58 MB)

From the Inside Out: A Look at Testing Special Education Students, by Claudia Meek (23:10 min)
Ms. Meek invites us into her classroom to watch what happens when Dominic, one of her students with learning disabilities, has to take the same high-stakes test as his regular education peers. She wishes that everyone setting today’s testing policies or asserting that they are good for the Dominics of the world could witness such a scene. Listen/Download (5.30 MB)

No Child Left Behind: The Death of Special Education?, by Michael J. Wasta (11:43 min)
NCLB’s requirements for students with learning disabilities are based on faulty assumptions about the power of special education to overcome those disabilities. Mr. Wasta fears that the law’s unrealistic expectations for these students and their teachers give schools incentives to eliminate their special education programs altogether. Listen/Download (2.68 MB)

Overview of the November issue (3:01 min) Listen/Download (710 KB)

One Teacher’s Story: Creating a New Future or Living Up to Our Own History?, by Wendy Zagray Warren (23:05 min)
For those who might question whether a law such as Indian Education for All is necessary, Ms. Warren offers her own story as a perfect example of why it is. Listen/Download (5.28 MB)

Myths and Stereotypes About Native Americans, by Walter C. Fleming (23:10 min)
Most non-Indians don’t know a great deal about the first peoples of the Americas, Mr. Fleming avers. But what’s worse is that much of what they do “know” is wrong. Listen/Download (5.30 MB)

Restructuring High-Poverty Elementary Schools for Success: A Description of the Hi-Perform School Design,
by Stanley Pogrow (36:09 min)
In this, the second of a two-part series, Stanley Pogrow outlines the basic structure of the kind of school that will help the children of poverty gain ground and so reduce the learning gap. Listen/Download (8.27 MB)

TECHNOLOGY
Privacy Update, by Royal Van Horn (14:12 min)
Listen/Download (3.25 MB)

Overview of the October issue (3:19 min) Listen/Download (3.03 MB)

A Subtractive Education, by Herb Childress (29:35 min)
The goal of today’s schools seems to be to outfit children in the educational armor that will enable them to soldier on to their appropriate places in the white-collar hierarchy. Mr. Childress wants schools instead to chip away at that armor, to discover the true core of each student. Listen/Download (27.0 MB)

Reflective Moments, by Jay Petrillo (10:07 min)
Mr. Petrillo shows that reflective teaching is indeed an art. He urges readers to express their own art in the classroom. Listen/Download (9.26 MB)

The Bermuda Triangle of American Education: Pure Traditionalism, Pure Progressivism, and Good Intentions, by Stanley Pogrow (45:16 min)
The pendulum has been swinging back and forth between traditional and progressive educational approaches for more than 100 years, but we still haven't figured out how to reduce the learning gap. In this first article in a two-part series, Mr. Pogrow suggests fundamental policy changes and argues for finding ways to combine the best of the philosophical traditions to produce substantially better schools. Listen/Download (41.4 MB)

Overview of the September issue (2:39 min) Listen/Download (2.43 MB)

Barking Up the Right Tree, by Paul D. Houston (18:27 min)
Reports of U.S. jobs, especially high-tech jobs, going to India and China have led to calls on the schools to emphasize math and science. Wait a minute, cautions Mr. Houston. What if the future belongs to the artists, storytellers, and poets? Listen/Download (16.9 MB)

Getting Personal About Teaching, by Carolyn Bunting (12:37 min)
In this era of test-based accountability, data-driven decision making, and research-based practices, Ms. Bunting urges teachers to carve out a space for their dreams. Listen/Download (11.5 MB)

Taking Hope Out of Teaching, by Dara Wakefield (21:29 min)
At a time when states are being pressured to put “highly qualified teachers” in their classrooms, Mr. Wakefield draws attention to a factor that is blocking some of the most promising teacher candidates from entering the profession. Listen/Download (19.6 MB)

IN CANADA
The New, Improved Water Cycle, by Heather-Jane Robertson (15:35 min)
Listen/Download (14.2 MB)