Sarah Schwartz

1 week ago | edweek.org | Sarah Schwartz

As states continue to pass new legislation aimed at improving early reading instruction, one embattled instructional technique has become a special target for lawmakers: “three-cueing.”At least eight states have introduced or passed bills this session that take aim at the approach, in which teachers coach beginning readers to rely on “cues” in the text, such as pictures, context clues, or syntax to identify words, not just the letters.

1 week ago | flipboard.com | Sarah Schwartz

3 hours agoCAMBRIDGE, Mass. — In the days after Donald Trump’s reelection as president, Harvard political scientist Steven Levitsky was despondent. “I was in the fetal position,” he said. “I just wanted to put on sweat pants, eat ice cream and watch hockey.” Levitsky had spent two decades studying authoritarian …

1 week ago | edweek.org | Sarah Schwartz

Encouraging students to pursue higher-level science, technology, engineering, and math courses requires deliberate planning, especially for those students historically underrepresented in those fields. Schools can’t put more advanced courses on the schedule without teachers who feel confident taking on the material. And even then, simply offering such classes doesn’t necessarily mean students will enroll in them—or succeed.

2 weeks ago | edweek.org | Sarah Schwartz

At the beginning of this month, Isabel Baca was preparing for a two-week summer workshop for middle and high school teachers about the history and literature of the Chihuahuan Desert—an area that spans the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Baca, an associate professor of English at the University of Texas at El Paso, had sent out acceptance letters to selected teachers, scheduled speakers, and was planning to send out a required reading list.

3 weeks ago | edweek.org | Sarah Schwartz

State tests are a familiar annual ritual—every spring, students in grades 3-8 take exams that assess what they know and are able to do in reading and math. Mandated by federal accountability policy, these tests provide some of the most comprehensive data available on student achievement. They’ve also long been a flashpoint in education debates, with many advocates, educators, and parents claiming that preparing students to take them diverts valuable time away from classroom instruction.