Listen to an interview with Russ White about my book: http://spartanpodcast.com/?525
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Touching Hearts, Educating Minds a book by Richard Njus was recently released. I wrote the Foreword for the book and with permission, I am posting it here.
Foreword
American education is facing many challenges, two of which are so serious that I call crises. The first crisis is the loss of purpose and the other the loss of faith. Richard Njus has written a book to address both. With a passionate account of his personal journey to create a school, he tells us the direction and restores our faith.
In his book The …

Student performances on international tests such as TIMSS and PISA have often been used to show the poor quality of American education and America’s future is in danger. Proponents of national standards have also used them to justify their efforts. I have in different places cited evidence and analysis to show that international tests do not predict the future of nations. Here is another article that provides yet another perspective on how we should interpret international test scores.
Published by the weekly science journal Nature, the article says:
“International testing that is …

A few days ago, I received an email in response to the press release about my book. This email tells a story that many parents may face and one that illustrates the point I try to make. So I asked for her permission to post it here.
From Jessica Stern:

I just ran across an item about the book you published
http://news.msu.edu/story/6755/
about standardized testing and how it is killing education in this country.
I don’t usually write to authors, but I really wanted to say THANK YOU for saying this. I have a wonderfully …

“Singapore Teachers: Lead. Care. Inspire.”
This is the vision statement recently unveiled by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Singapore for its teachers. Since 2008, the MOE has engaged in a nationwide effort to develop a vision for the teaching profession that express “the aspiration of the professionals and points the way forward,” according to a speech by Ms. Ho Peng, Director-General of Education of the Ministry of Education delivered on August 26, 2009. The MOE worked with teachers and school leaders to identify the core values and aspirations of educators. …

Detroit Free Press published my comments on the current movement towards national standards today. You can read the online version here: http://www.freep.com/article/20090830/OPINION01/908300438/1069/OPINION01/National-education-standards-can-end-up-hurting-students
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A talk with Yong Zhao, conducted by Lucy Robertson, Educational Leadership assistant editor: http://ascd.org/Publications/Books/ASCD_Talks_With_an_Author.aspx
U.S. vs. China: Thoughtful Chinese Author Says U.S. Schools are Better: Comments about my book by Jay Mathews, education columnist for the Washington Post: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/class-struggle/2009/08/us_vs_china_thoughtful_chinese.html#more

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What is happening in China? and why I disagree with Bob Compton and his film 2 million minutes?
Just returned from a 10-day trip to China:
August 17, lecture at the training program for directors of Confucius Institutes in Beijing, flew to Kunming, Yunnan
18-19, meeting of the Board of Directors of the International Society for Chinese Language Teaching in Kunming, back to Beijing.
20, Presentation about Zon and trends of online language learning at Hanban, flew to Shanghai
21-22: Meetings with East China Normal University Press, Institute for Curriculum Research, Shanghai Municipal Education Commission’s …

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is now using nearly $5 billion to entice states to adopt internationally benchmarked standards. The National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) have argued forcefully for internationally benchmarking education standards as well in a report titled Benchmarking for Success. As a result, NGA and CCSSO are leading the Common Core State Standards Initiative, which aims to develop common standards in math and English. What has been used to justify “international benchmarking” and common standards is the claim that …

In my upcoming book “Catching Up or Leading the Way: American Education in the Age of Globalization,” I make the case the virtual world is real in many ways while schools continue to view technology as simply a tool to improve the teaching of traditional subjects. I saw a CNN story about emerging jobs yesterday. Out of the 7 jobs, the fastest growing and highest paying job is simulation developers–those who create virtual worlds and objects. The expected growth rate is 38% and salary is $58,163.
Our schools need to prepare …