HGSE in the Media

April 2007

Gold Stars and Dunce Caps
"There’s no decision that school districts make that’s more important than the decision regarding who is going to stand in front of the classroom." – Professor Tom Kane (New York Times, 5/1/07. Paid registration required.)

Advances In Genetics Should Make Learning Easier, According To Professor
"There’s a long history of biology being excluded from education, not in the teaching sense, but in understanding learning. We are not taking full advantage of how information from neuroscience and genetics can be used to motivate kids to learn, and how to deal with learning problems such as dyslexia and attention deficits. " – Professor Kurt Fischer (Science Daily, 4/27/07)

HGSE Makes Creative Efforts Visible
"One of Brittnay’s strengths was in pulling together a team that brought terrific skills to the task. It was a new role to her, but she really rose to the challenge." – Professor Steve Seidel (Harvard Gazette, 4/26/07)

AZ’s Tests to Gauge School Performance Spur Debate, Criticism
"The really fundamental problem is when all you do is tell people they are accountable for scores on one test, and turn up the heat on that test, you are setting up the opportunity to cut corners." – Professor Daniel Koretz (Arizona Daily Star, 4/25/07)

Military Model May Help Close Gap
"Does the military have anything to teach educators?
Absolutely, said Brookings Institution senior fellow Hugh Price, who, 18 months out of Yale Law School in 1968, gave up his career to become a youth counselor. At the Harvard Graduate School of Education this week (April 17), he outlined how the military’s rigor, reward systems, and facility for fast learning could be translated into school programs that ‘reach and respect’ troubled adolescents." (Harvard Gazette, 4/19/07)

Through a Child's Eye
"My real interest is: What do these kids want made public, what do they value? We don’t spend enough time treating kids as experts in their own lives." – Professor Wendy Luttrell (Harvard Gazette, 4/12/07)

My Pods: Schools Learn Smaller May Be Better
"While reams of education studies show size matters, pods can become expensive after grants end, said Katherine Merseth, a professor at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. She said many districts must hire more teachers and administrators to manage the smaller sections." (The Morning Call, 4/11/07)

Studies Examine How Starting at a Community College Affects the Path to a 4-Year Degree
"One study — by Michal Kurlaender, an assistant professor of education at the University of California at Davis, and Bridget Terry Long, an associate professor of education and economics at Harvard University — examined the fate of 1,700 students who entered community colleges in Ohio in the 1998-99 academic year. When they began college, the students had taken the ACT and indicated that they planned to earn four-year degrees. Six years later, only 20.6 percent of them had earned a bachelor’s degree or were still actively working toward such a degree." (Chronicle of Higher Education, 4/11/07. Paid registration required.)

Major Study on Software Stirs Debate
"This study misestimates the value of information and communication technologies by focusing exclusively on older approaches that do not take advantage of current technologies and leading-edge educational methods." – Professor Chris Dede (Education Week, 4/11/07. Free registration required.)

To Help Students, Plan Suggests Recruiting Parents
"Sometimes the parents who are better educated or have the opportunity to be engaged, they are the ones who always get tapped. You need to recruit families that are going to reflect the diverse families in your district." – Lecturer Karen Mapp (The News Journal [Del.], 4/8/07)

Tech’s ‘Greatest Potential’: Personalizing Instruction
"[Professor Chris] Dede moderated an opening general session that explored two creative yet very different approaches to personalizing instruction with the help of technology." (eschoolnews.com, 4/5/07)

Scholars Suggest Policies to Bolster Teacher Quality
"Thomas J. Kane, a professor of education at Harvard University, suggested that any reasonable system of teacher evaluation include both ‘value added’ measures that examine teacher effectiveness based on students’ test-score gains and more ‘practice based’ measures of competency." (Education Week, 4/5/07. Free registration required.)

In Homework Wars, Student Wins a Battle: More Time to Unwind on Vacation
"It’s unfair for children who are poor who don’t have a middle-class person who can help them." – Lecturer Katherine Boles (New York Times, 4/4/07)

Pay Teachers More
"Worried that public education has become a root cause of income inequality, policy makers have advocated a succession of school reforms, including small class sizes, test-based account-ability, and the alignment of high-school and college curricula." – Professor Thomas Kane (Chronicle of Higher Education, 4/4/07. Paid registration required.)

The New Math: Failure=Passing
"[Professor] Thomas Payzant, former superintendent of Boston public schools and now a senior lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, said school systems hurt students by lowering standards. That only makes the transition to college and the job market tougher, he said." (The Times Picayune, 4/1/07)