My Five Favorite Ed-Posts (Week 2): 7/22-28/06

Back by popular (or not) demand--my five favorite education posts for the week! My list last week excited readers so much that it inspired a total of one comment. (Thank you to EHT for enabling me to avoid the shutout.) So here they are, in no particular order, Fermoyle's five favorite ed-posts for the week of July 22nd thru July 28th.

Private vs. Public Schools: A New Study at Education Wonks and Vouchers and Test Scores: Stalking Horses in the War Over Education, by Ms. Cornelius at Shrewdness of the Apes. I'm kind of cheating here by counting these two as one, but they both involved very lively discussions emanating from the study that came out a couple of weeks ago saying that when socio-economic class was taken into consideration, private schools and public schools performed about equally. Great discussions in the comment sections, and they inspired two of my posts this week.

Off Board by Margaret Soltan at University Diaries. Some people, including me, tend to have the perception that private schools, especially the more expensive ones, have an ideal situation and are problem free. This post made it clear that that is not the case. Liz, from "I Speak of Dreams" referred me to this one, and I'm glad she did. Very interesting post for someone who is as unfamiliar with private schools as I am.

Students Are Not Customers at ChemJerk, which I found at the Carnival of Education. This was the first time I'd ever visited the Carnival--I had no idea what it is. (That just shows how "with it" I am.) I remember the first time I heard our principal, who had been to some sort of workshop, talk about treating our students like customers. I have a great deal of respect for this man, but I almost gagged when he pushed this idea. It's a ridiculous concept, and this post does a good job explaining why.

Parent Involvement Gets Results at Education by Sistrunk. DCS is back! That's great news; I know I really missed her. DCS cares a lot about public education, but she has a little different perspective than teachers, and she articulates it so well.

Jargon Jungle, Edition 3 at California Live Wire which I was directed to by Education Wonks. Good post if you're in the mood for a little sarcastic humor. This post by a group of bloggers gives "definitions" of some educational terms that are in vogue. I went to their archives and checked out Jargon Jungle, Edition 2, and it was even better. My personal favorites are "best practices," "research driven," and "teachable moment."

So there it is for this week. If there are some good blogs out there that regularly discuss education issues, please feel free to let me know about them. I know I'm missing a lot--not checking out the Carnival of Education until this week proves that. Will you accept it if I just plead old age????