A Legacy of Blind Compassion

posted in: Briefings & Reports |

An Occasional Paper by J. E. Stone October 15, 2004 Briefing Government mandated measures such as the No Child Left Behind Act and New York City’s program to retain failing third graders would be unnecessary if the grades contained in student report cards were accurate indicators of student progress. In practice, however, objective tests and remedial programs are needed because many teachers worry more about discouraging their pupils than providing an accurate report. They are motivated by a … Read More

Why Tennessee Won: Tennessee’s Watershed RTTT Reforms and the Race for the Rest

By J.E. Stone, Ed.D. President Education Consumers Foundation April 7, 2010 On March 29, the U.S. Department of Education announced that Tennessee was one of just two states to receive a Race to the Top (RTTT) grant in the first phase of the competition. Within minutes – before reviewers’ scoring notes had even been released – pundits proclaimed that stakeholder buy-in, particularly union buy-in, was the determining factor. Their take and their skepticism were not unwarranted. In our … Read More

Motivating Students to Learn

posted in: Recommended Reading and Viewing |

Rewards help children learn but teachers are discouraged from using them. By Herbert J. Walberg & Joseph L. Bast To Reward or Not to Reward: Motivating Students to Learn The late Jere Brophy, a longtime Michigan State University professor of educational psychology, started the second edition of his 428-page tome titled Motivating Students to Learn with the following summaries of two opposing views about how best to motivate students: Learning is fun and exciting, at least when the … Read More

Sample Opinion 3

Teacher Training and Texas Education Reform: A Study in Contradiction Public Education Reform in Texas, December 7, 2000, The Driskill Hotel, Austin, TX. Abstract Parents, policymakers, and taxpayers want schooling that equips students with the knowledge and skills that are vital to subsequent learning and adult success. Most professors who train teachers do not agree. They believe teachers should employ an ideal form of teaching called learner-centered instruction (LC) -an approach that works best with ideal students. The … Read More

Current Members

The current member list of the Education Consumer Consultants Network Harold A. Black, Ph.D. Emeritus Professor of Finance Haslam College of Business University of Tennessee hblack@utk.edu Wayne Bishop, Ph.D. Professor of Mathematics Department of Mathematics California State University-Los Angeles wbishop@calstatela.edu William L. Brown, Ph.D. Coordinator of Test Development Michigan Education Assessment Program bbainc@sbcglobal.net Tom Burkard, B.A. Honors Director The Promethean Trust Norwich, England burkard@tiscali.co.uk Louis Chandler, Ph.D. Professor & Chairman Department of Psychology in Education University of Pittsburgh … Read More