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What’s Inside…
On measurement, education, teaching and learning in the age of NCLB
Steve Jubb (3/4/0 
Recently I observed a ninth grade “Pre-Algebra” class of 18 students in a small high school in Oakland in the one of the lowest income, most crime-ridden parts of town. Three young people were actively engaged in a teacher-led review of a quiz, four more were receiving tutoring in the back of the room from an aide, the other eleven slept, daydreamed, drew in their notebooks, or just sat staring. About two-thirds of the students were young men. Only once did the first-year teacher challenge one of the non-participants to answer a direct question. (Read more)
On curiosity (with help from Albert)
Steve Jubb (2/2/0
I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious. ~Albert Einstein
I survived schooling with my curiosity intact probably because I found other things to think about most of the time. How do they get the lead inside of pencils? What is acoustic tile made of? The girl in the first row, second seat, I wonder what she is like? When a bird flies, does it feel like swimming? I was an expert daydreamer and took many mental field trips in school, and these sustained my interest despite the endless stream of unrelated and disconnected content that was junior and senior high school. (Read more)
On our interconnectedness
Steve Jubb, (1/21/0
We did not weave the web of life; we are merely a strand in it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.
– Chief Seattle
Every child is part of a human network. The nature and extent of a child’s network — its structure, interaction and exchanges of non-monetary value between the people in it — shape what learning is possible and predict much about who a child can become. (Read more.)
We need a new education paradigm
Steve Jubb (1/08/0
After five years of No Child Left Behind data trends show that its ambitious goals will not be met by 2014. Several well-respected leaders have been saying publicly that the emperor has no clothes, as did recently resigned San Diego City Schools Superintendent Carl Cohn when he said, “I believe there is a place where no child is left behind, where all children achieve grade-level proficiency and there is no achievement gap. It is called heaven.” (Read more)
The real opportunity gap
Steve Jubb (1/3/0
Posted by nonebutourselves in Ideas and Reflections.
Mario enters kindergarten and within the first few months the school tells his parents he is “behind” and “not on grade level.” Mario comes from a working class family of loving parents with very limited resources. Like many children entering school in the NCLB era, Mario is behind before he starts. What’s wrong with this picture?
Perspectives on motivation
Steve Jubb (10/31/07)
As a former coach, classroom teacher, mentor, father and grandfather with 40 years immersed in teaching and learning from children and youth, I remain frustrated that the education establishment does not better understand the central role of motivation in learning and why it is critical that we carefully cultivate it.
What guides or constrains learner autonomy?
Steve Jubb (9/27/07)
One of the key questions that we keep hearing from you and others concerns learner autonomy in the social and institutional architecture we are proposing. Parents especially often feel young people have too much autonomy already–they want to know what will guide or constrain an autonomous learner’s choices.
How is our proposed system vision different?
Elizabeth Lian (10/10/07)
What I find most powerful about a caring, learner-centric education system is its shift to empower learners. One tangible form of empowerment is giving learners and their families personal learning accounts, so they can make their own educational choices.
Three cups of tea
Elizabeth Lian (10/8/07)
Last week I finished reading Three Cups of Tea, an inspiring story of one man’s efforts to fill a tremendous education gap in the remote villages of Pakistan and Afghanistan. It left me feeling that anyone who perseveres with integrity in a mission can overcome any obstacle.
