Originally Published: October 14, 2016 in Ed Week Educators have the odd habit of taking simple ideas and making them inexplicably complex. Granted, there are always subtleties and nuances in education related to the varied contexts in which teaching and learning occur. But adding complexity to...
Originally published: 06.25.13 Much ado has been made in recent years about the problem of zeros in grading. Some districts have responded by stipulating that the lowest grade teachers can assign students is 50% rather than a zero. Districts that enact such policies have no...
Educators today struggle in their efforts to change parents' and students' attitudes about grading. They want parents to see grades as a means of communication between teachers and families, and not as the currency students need to advance in school and life. They want students...
A few months ago, Peter wrote a blog suggesting that certain words in our educational vocabulary should be banished (read full blog here). It was inspired by the idea that people often use the same word, but the way they use it conveys a very...
Recent social media posts by standards-based advocates extol the virtues of failure: "Failure is success in progress." "Failure is an initial attempt at learning." "Failure is the best way to learn." Statements like these give the impression that failure is a good thing—maybe even an...