China’s Peking University (or Beida) has been under fire for trying to answer the nation’s call for more innovative and creative talents. In an attempt to attract more “unusual or extraordinary students” who may not do well on standardized testing, in this case, China’s infamous Gaokao (College Entrance Exam), Beida, one of the two most sought-after universities, decided to admit a very small number of (less than 3%) students based on recommendations of high school principals. Although these recommended students would still take the College Entrance Exam and go through …

The Fall issue of AASA Journal of Scholarship and Practice includes a commentary of mine on the common core standards. This article gives me more space to lay out my views and bring evidence to support them than the Op-ed piece published in Detroit Free Press. The issue also includes a thoughtful editorial on standards. You can read the entire issue here and my article starts from page 46.

Yesterday(September 24, 2009)  Secretary of Education Arne Duncan delivered his first major speech about the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) 1965. The law’s last reauthorization took place in 2002 and resulted in what is known today as No Child Left Behind (NCLB). In his speech, Duncan acknowledged that NCLB has significant flaws and promised to work with Congress to correct the problems. But based on this and his previous speeches as well as the actions of the US Department of Education under his leadership, I must …

With the release of the official public draft of the college- and career-readiness standards in English-language arts and mathematics by the NGA and CCSSO’s yesterday (September 21, 2009), the U.S. is moving closer to national standards. Incidentally I read a study published in a recent issue of the American Educational Research Journal (AERJ) that expels the other myth that has been used to support national common standards.
Proponents of national common standards have basically used two myths to support their efforts: the international achievement gap and the domestic achievement gap. I …