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Education researchers set out to examine the non-academic impacts of homework loads at top high schools in California. The results should give us pause. It appears tough to make the case that the benefits outweigh the costs, especially when average homework loads approach 2.5 or 3hrs a night and some spend considerably more time. read more

After five years of service under a lapsed contract, UFT teachers in the NYC DoE look to start the next school year under a new CBA. The De Blasio administration might be giving the NY schools a chance at a fresh, more collaborative phase in teacher-administration relations. We certainly hope so!
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The comedian and NY public school parent took to Twitter this week to vent his spleen against the Common Core testing his daughters were getting ready to face. He’s a prominent voice for the many parents expressing outrage at the madness of state testing. read more

A recent study suggests that when it comes to actively intervening in our children’s education, less may be more. Much of what conventional wisdom dictates, like helping with homework or a parental presence at school, had a neutral or even negative effect on academic performance. The balance between supporting and inhibiting a child’s progress is more delicate than we thought.  So what should we be doing (and not doing)? read more

In teaching math, as with teaching foreign languages, we encounter students who begin to struggle after an initial phase of success.  Often, it comes when expectations shift and the student is expected to take seemingly disparate concepts and use them together.  Some of the fault is in the way these subjects are conventionally taught. An experienced tutor will help the student rebuild the foundation, integrating each new chapter into a growing base of knowledge. read more