Weekend Reads: Moving past standards to teach joy

  • Joy, not “standards,” should be taught in school — especially at schools that educate the neediest. (Atlantic
  • It’s important to factor student poverty into education policy as it is a strong predictor of a child’s success, but is the “free and reduced-price lunch” qualification the best measurement of economic circumstance? (NPR Ed)
  • A possible model for teachers incorporating Common Core standards into the classroom, a Manhattan computer science teacher has relied on his love of fiction to help teach his students to learn HTML coding and explain how computers work. (Hechinger Report
  • While educators and policymakers have embraced “grit” as a characteristic that leads to students being successful both in the classroom and in life, some critics argue it is a “racist,” sought-after trait that could harm low-income students. (EdWeek
  • How many amendments does the Constitution have? What severed ties with Great Britain? Take part of the civics test that Arizona students must now take to graduate high school. (Huffington Post Education
  • A viral social media campaign has raised more than $1 million for a Brooklyn middle school serving many low-income students after a 13-year-old praised his principal on the popular Humans of New York blog. (New York Times)
  • Following allegations that one-third of California’s charter schools require parents to volunteer their time, the state superintendent reiterated that such policies are not permitted. (KPCC
  • Ms. Lee Goes to Washington: Watch a Manhattan special education teacher give her take on testing to a U.S. Senate committee. (Ed Notes)
  • A Philadelphia teacher sees the power of a nightly reboot to stay present in the classroom. (NewsWorks
  • This — more or less — is the amount of snow it would take to cancel school in your state. (Vox