Brain Frieze

My Personal Parental Protest Against the Culture of Testing: Why Our Daughter Won't Be in School Today

My daughter is staying home from high school today. Not because she's sick, not because of any pressing appointment or family emergency, but only because her time at school will be wasted today as the campus goes into lock-down during school district-mandated diagnostic testing. Since her school won't be offering juniors and seniors who have passed their required testing regimen anything more than long hours sitting in the gym while other students take diagnostic tests across the campus,...

How to Get 13 1/2 Hours of Extra Flying Time on a Cross-Country Trip

Some of my more sadistic friends who follow me on twitter asked for a complete listing of all the travel delays I ran into when I flew from San Jose CA back home to West Palm Beach FL the other day. So, for those who just didn't get enough of my live updates from the road as I ran into one problem after another, here's a complete listing of the events that led to me arriving back home 13 1/2 hours later than I...

No Teacher Failed by their Administration

NTFA may not have quite the ring to it as NCLB, but as I think about what the real issues are that have historically faced schools and the whole question of student achievement, I'm a bit perplexed that the finger of blame hasn't been pointed at the real culprits behind most "failing" public schools--their administration. Instead, the focus always seems to be on the classroom teacher, and their inability to reach all of their children and improve their standardized test scores....