World News Center
Foreign language emphasis is often just talk
September 6, 2010My online discussion group, Admissions 101, recently exchanged verbal blows over foreign language courses in high school. Most of us defended the conventional wisdom. Learning another language improves cognitive development, we said. It enhances academic skills, encourages a sense of the wider wo...
Pr. George's principal succeeds with a startling shake-up
September 6, 2010One of my education reporting maxims is that principals of schools in troubled districts never seek me out. Journalists are poison to them. We only want to write about bad stuff. Anything they say can be held against them.
Betts set a standard for learning that will live on
September 6, 2010 It is difficult to adjust to any 6 a.m. phone call, but the one I received this morning was particularly jarring. Brian Betts, one of the most energetic and enthusiastic educators I have ever met, had been found dead in his home in Silver Spring, just months before what I expected would be good n...
Washington area education bloggers wanted
September 6, 2010Several weeks ago, my blogging colleague Valerie Strauss (The Answer Sheet) and I announced our picks for best education blogs of this year. Our favorites were a diverse bunch, with many witty teachers, incisive journalists and droll experts of other kinds providing unusual perspectives.
High school teachers disagree on benefits of reading aloud
September 6, 2010Recently, I visited a history class at a local, low-performing high school, where students read in turn from the autobiography of a famous American. The teacher was bright and quick. He interrupted often with comments and questions. The 18 sophomores and juniors seemed to be into it, but it was s...
The Fixer: Former Wakefield High principal Marie Shiels Djouadi works to improve other schools
September 6, 2010Former Wakefield High School principal, Marie Shiels Djouadi successfully reformed a struggling school. Now her mission is to improve others.
No news about a Washington area school can be great news
September 6, 2010 Cedric Sheridan, a Prince George's County parent, worries about the high school where his son is a senior and his daughter a junior. He told me, "I fear that it started on a downward slide a few years ago."
Essence of D.C. parenthood: Overschedule for college success
September 6, 2010Two economists who work 2,274 miles away have identified the essence of parenthood in the Washington area since 1995. It turns out we have been spending more time with our older children -- chauffeuring, applauding, coordinating, correcting, planning, obsessing -- because we have a deep need to b...
Jaime Escalante didn't just stand and deliver. He changed U.S. schools forever.
September 6, 2010From 1982 to 1987 I stalked Jaime Escalante, his students and his colleagues at Garfield High School, a block from the hamburger-burrito stands, body shops and bars of Atlantic Boulevard in East Los Angeles. I was the Los Angeles bureau chief for The Washington Post, allegedly covering the big...
An exceptional teacher forges bonds that can last a lifetime
September 6, 2010I usually skip Frazier O'Leary's annual Advanced Placement reunion. It's always a Friday evening in December at the old Sumner School in downtown Washington on M Street, where parking is tough. But O'Leary, a veteran English teacher at Cardozo High School in the District, is a persuasive man. I h...
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