Posted: March 26th, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | 2 Comments »
MATCH’s New Orleans teacher coaching experiment is wrapping up for the year. I blogged about some of the coaching here and here and here.
Below is a 5-minute video where teachers describe the MATCH coaching.
From the exit surveys, these teachers Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: March 18th, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | 1 Comment »
That’s Annie (left) with Malia.
The Boston Globe has a nice article today about MATCH Community Day, the school we launched last September.
The task before 4-year-old Jeury Sanchez was spelled out on a vocabulary card and recited by a tutor: “Hop.’’
The preschooler at Match Community Day Charter School, who speaks Spanish at home, scanned a tray of letters on a table, grabbed an “H,’’ and placed it in front of him. Then Jeury was stumped. With scrunched eyebrows, he slowly sounded out the word, tapping a finger to his thumb to each letter sound: “hhhuh . . . aaaw . . . pppuh.’’
His eyes lit up and he quickly reached for the “O’’ and the “P.’’
My wife believes we should emphasize teaching the spelling of IHOP before hop. She’s a big believer in the educational power of unlimited choices of syrup.
Thanks to our partner in Lawrence.
Posted: March 15th, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | 5 Comments »
Rock music has been cranking outside my office for the past hour. Beasties. Metallica. Survivor.
Math teacher Matt Collins challenged all the kids to Guitar Hero. They’re playing him one by one. He’s dispatching most with ease. But a roar just went up. An upperclassman beat him 201,000 to 194,000. If I understand correctly, Collins now has to donate $10 to the prom fund. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: March 14th, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | No Comments »
Those kids include Chalayna, Jimmy, and Dani — MATCH students who made the front page of US Rowing’s website.
They’re in a great new program.
The wind was whipping the waters of the Charles River into an uninviting frenzy, but because it was a mid-February Sunday morning, the chances of there being any rowers on the water were slim anyway, particularly for high school crews.
That didn’t stop the group of inner city high school aged boys and girls sitting on rowing machines inside the MIT boathouse from dreaming about being outside on the river in front of them.
“Just look at that beautiful river,” said MIT student Noam Angrist Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: March 9th, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | 2 Comments »
Short story.
Charter school teacher goes to grad school. Leadership program. My view is he is very talented. We’ll call him Jeremy Chin.
Jeremy has 2 placements as a grad student. One is a No Excuses charter. One is a traditional district school* – what Roxanna calls a “Choose Your Battles School.” Impressed, they offer Jeremy an assistant principal job for next year. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: March 8th, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | 2 Comments »
Folks, I’ve been remiss in blogging. But I’ve been thinking about you. Hi Mom.
Good news.
New Leaders For New Schools has a grant program called EPIC. NLNS hires Mathematica, a wonky think tanky organization. Mathematica crunches student achievement data to compare charters across the USA. Then NLNS awards Gold and Silver medal winners. These schools then share best practices with the world. The teachers and leaders get $$ bonuses from NLNS.
Shout outs to: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: February 24th, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | No Comments »
Reprinted with permission:
Dear Mike,
I’m a first-year teacher in a large Mississippi high school. I certainly agree that high expectations for behavior, and a consistent system of discipline, are essential for any school. I wish my own school’s approach was as deliberate.
I really enjoyed, and mostly agreed with, Kelly Flynn’s post. [MG note: read it here. Good stuff].
I’m interested in your thoughts on those behavior issues. I agree that school has to be one place that good behavior is enforced, but as you well know these issues start early. It’s never too late to correct them, as many successful charter schools demonstrate.
But the more time I spend teaching, the more I want to see some sort of grassroots effort from parents/the community working to hold students accountable from another angle. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: February 22nd, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | 4 Comments »
Thank you Cormac Harkins. It was good of you to point me to some great blogging by Larry Cuban. Three of ‘em, about Rocketship charter schools. Hopefully it gave you a moment of distraction from your boy Brady Quinn’s attack on Tim Tebow.
*
Update Feb 23: Scott Given and Tinu Akinfolarin from UP Academy — a turnaround school in Boston — are spending their school vacation week in California visiting Rocketship. He sent me this photo so I threw it up here.
*
Larry Cuban co-wrote one of my favorite edubooks, Tinkering With Utopia. I read it back in 1997 in Tom Loveless’s intro class on education policy.
Cuban is a retired Stanford professor, and — this is key — a tech-in-schools skeptic.
That’s why his blog series on Rocketship is worth reading. He was impressed. Kudos to the teachers and team at Rocketship. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: February 21st, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | 24 Comments »
Laura is an MTR alum who teaches in the Noble Charter School network in Chicago. They’ve been in the news recently, for a $5 fine controversy. From the Chicago Tribune:
There are a lot of reasons for Noble’s success. One is its strict disciplinary policy. A student caught chewing gum earns a demerit. Late to class—that’s not tolerated. Untucked shirts and untied shoes—not allowed. You don’t shout or throw things in the lunchroom. And so on. It’s a matter of respectful personal conduct.
A student who gets four demerits within two weeks must attend a three-hour detention class and pay a $5 fee for the class. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: February 20th, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | 6 Comments »
Pru started her oncology training in 2003. I asked her: What has your field learned about breast cancer since 2003? To keep it simple, just tell me about chemo — ignore radiation treatment and surgery advances.
(Cautionary note: this is undoubtedly my highly inaccurate translation of what she said. Do not use this blog for medical advice. Or financial advice. Though I do think Groupon is overvalued).
Pru replied something along the lines of: Read the rest of this entry »
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.