Posted: May 3rd, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | No Comments »
Kenny Moreno was among the very first MATCH students when we opened our doors in July 2000.
He’s done well. I don’t know how to embed the video. But if you click below, you can go to the local CBS affiliate’s website, and see a 1-minute story about him.
Local Vet Awarded Prestigious Goldwater Scholarship « CBS Boston.
We’re all proud.
Posted: April 30th, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | 3 Comments »
This past weekend, 7 teams of young Boston entrepreneurs Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: April 30th, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | 1 Comment »
Just got a mass email from philanthropist Eli Broad. He is publishing an autobiography called “Be Unreasonable.” I am in favor of the general thesis, and he’s made some interesting big bets on ed reform. So I look forward to it.
Some clicking around led me to an intro by Mike Bloomberg. It reads:
When I was first elected mayor of New York in 2001, I set out to transform the city’s broken and dysfunctional Board of Education and turn around a school system that had been failing for decades. It was a daunting challenge: the NYC school system has 1.1 million students, which would make it the 10th largest system in the United States, just behind Dallas.
Ahem. My guess is a copy editor edited that passage from its original, but messed it up. Who knows. In any case, it should read:
the NYC school system has 1.1 million students, largest in the nation — in fact so large that if the NY schools were their own city, it’d the 10th largest in the United States, just behind Dallas.
You’re welcome.
Posted: April 23rd, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | 4 Comments »
A friend questioned me recently.
How do you develop your “content” in your teacher trainees?
Good question.
1. Developing an expertise in what you teach (often called “content knowledge” in our little word), and in how to get kids to learn that subject (“pedagogical content knowledge”), is a lifetime’s work.
Our goal is that some of our trainees grow up to be like Charlie Sposato. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: April 20th, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | No Comments »
Via my brother Steve, this is from a Malaysian newspaper. Evidently Fifty Cent is worth $1.50 in that country.
Posted: April 8th, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | 7 Comments »
1. UM
On Tuesday I am going to the University of Michigan to give a talk. I have thought about the talk. I have corresponded about the talk. But I haven’t yet, you know, written the talk.
I feel relaxed though. The next 5 hours are mine. I’m at Starbucks, so all caffeinated, and free until our first cookout of spring. (Ribeyes were on sale at Shaw’s for $5.99 a pound. Plus I’ll throw a little Hebrew National on there. And asparagus for Illusion Of Nutrition.™ Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: April 6th, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | No Comments »
Who makes the best chili?
Our teacher prep team — Laura, Randall, Stacy, Orin pictured below — decided that this was a question which needed answering.
Of course they made a complicated evaluation rubric. “Complexity and Balance.” “Alignment between look and tastiness.” “Decisions on Ingredients.” Etc. For example, a good score on complexity and balance reads this way:
The chili comes across as a little pushy, but generally creates an interesting experience for your mouth.
Okay then. Our teacher residents then did the blind taste test.
Yes that is matzah in there as a “fixing.”
Winner: Stacy’s chili.
She’s from Texas.
Posted: April 1st, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | No Comments »
Via Instapundit, via HuffPost, I bring you this story from the Detroit Free Press and from Fox Detroit:
About 50 students were suspended Thursday from the all-boys Frederick Douglass Academy in Detroit, Mich. for walking out of classes in protest, demanding “an education.”
Among their complaints: a lack of consistent teachers, the reassignment of the school principal, educators who abuse sick time and a shortage of textbooks.
“We’ve been wronged and disrespected and lied to and cheated,” senior Tevin Hill told the Detroit Free Press. “They didn’t listen to us when we complained to the administration. They didn’t listen to the parents when they complained to the administration, so I guess this is the only way to get things solved.”
One math teacher, parent Sharise Smith tells WJBK-TV, has been absent for more than 68 days.
The students marched outside the school and chanted, “We want… education! When do we want it? Now!”
Students and parents became increasingly alarmed when Frederick Douglass was no longer listed as an application school in the district — current students had to apply to attend. Smith told the Free Press that her son was given an A in geometry without taking a final exam.
Without a struggle, there can be no progress.
Posted: March 30th, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | 2 Comments »
1. In 1996, Bill Clinton talked about charter schools in his State Of The Union. From the New York Times:
When President Clinton spoke in his State of the Union Message about teachers’ forming their own schools, he was talking about people like Sarah Kass, the principal of the City on a Hill charter school here.
Disheartened by the conditions in public schools where she had taught, Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: March 28th, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | 4 Comments »
Hi folks. This 5-minute video is what some school leaders thought of our MATCH Teacher Coaching experiment. We still have a lot to learn, but we were pleased to see the positive reaction.
[Note: If you receive this blog in email form, and a video doesn't appear, you should simply click to www.StartingAnEdSchool.org and you can see it that way.
Same with the "Teacher Perspectives" from yesterday].
Thank you to Max for compiling the video.
I'm Mike Goldstein, founder of the MATCH Charter School in Boston. MATCH does 3 things.
1. Through good teaching and high-dosage tutoring, we help kids become first-in-family to get a college degree.
2. Our teacher prep program tries to generate jaw-droppingly-good rookie teachers for high-poverty schools.
3. We partner with four struggling local district schools, providing high-dosage math tutoring.
My mentors: Charlie Sposato taught me about schools, courage, and life; Tom Loveless schooled me in ed policy. Currently fascinated with a guy named Daryl Morey.
On or have been on some advisory boards. Transition teams for the past two MA governors, National Council for Teacher Quality (love 'em), Lee Academy Pilot School, Harvard's Futures of School Reform, Boston Schoolchildren's Consortium, and some others. Not sure I've added much value, though.