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How To Talk Publicly About the Common Core
BY JIM DUNN
A 38-year veteran in school district communications suggests ways to counter the media pundits, bloggers and politically motivated individuals expressing doubts about the value of Common Core standards in elementary and secondary education. Well-funded opposition on both the political left and right is showing up in various places.
The Common Core C’s of Change
BY SUSAN SMITH BUNTING
The superintendent of a forward-looking Delaware school district details her hard push to put in place the new standards in the face of opposition in her community.
Common Core: Too Little Change, Not Too Much
BY MICHAEL J. PETRILLI
A conservative supporter of the new academic standards puzzles over the critics’ claims he hears about nationalized curricula and too-burdensome demands on students. The real challenge will be in how local school districts adjust math and literacy instruction in classrooms.
Curricula for the Common Core
BY LYNNE A. MUNSON
With all content producers claiming to be “Common Core-aligned,” how do you separate the strong from the weak? The new academic standards offer the chance to consider a new breed of curriculum sources. Should your school district create its own or find the best options in the marketplace?
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STARTING POINT
Practical thinking from school leaders who are countering the Common Core’s critics.
STATE OF THE SUPERINTENDENCY
Evaluation Frequency
An infographic about the frequency of performance evaluations.
BEST OF THE BLOGS
Four excerpts from AASA members’ recent postings.
ETHICAL EDUCATOR
Unmagnetic Appeal
Our panel considers a superintendent’s response to complaints that magnet schools are destabilizing the district’s neighborhood schools.
LEGAL BRIEF
What’s in That Phone? Searching Students’ Devices
BY NANCY F. KRENT
Administrators must confront when and what they can lawfully search inside students’ handheld devices when determining whether misconduct has occurred.
BOARD-SAVVY SUPERINTENDENT
Virtues of Board Unanimity
BY GENE I. MAEROFF
A school board president concedes the nine members of the board tend to vote alike and most decisions are unanimous. Why should this warrant public criticism?
OUR VIEW
Teachers Are the Solution, Not the Problem
BY GEORGE GOENS AND PHIL STREIFER
All we need is a better brand of teachers, the critics argue, ignoring one critical fact: Teachers do not control significant factors affecting student performance, notably poverty.
MY VIEW
The Penalty Box for Our Students
BY KIMBERLY MORITZ
From her time at the hockey rink, a superintendent refers to her district’s in-school suspension room as “the box” in a rethinking of student discipline.
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RESOURCE BANK
Superintendent Selection
A doctoral study examines selection criteria school boards use in the eyes of professional search consultants.
WHY I WROTE THIS BOOK
AASA member George Goens, consultant in Litchfield, Conn., on why he wrote (with Phil Streifer) Straitjacket: How Overregulation Stifles Creativity and Innovation in Education (Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2013)
BOOK REVIEWS
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