Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Dave Eggers on Teacher Layoffs

The lives of public school teachers have never been more surreal. While they're being pilloried in film and in the press - for their unions being too strong, among other things - last week, 2,800 teachers in the Bay Area were told they might not have jobs in the fall. How's that for job security?

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Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Test Prep Season


Yes, it's that happiest, most educational season of the year! I would rather see parents working on skills, and we spend too much time saying so at the store, but that doesn't stop the wave of parents buying books to improve scores. This year, we cut the number of titles down to 1. That's right - we chose one series: Prepare and Practice from Teacher Created Resources. We've reviewed many titles - Spectrum, Carney, Kaplan, but all those publishers have failed to keep their books current. The Prepare and Practice series is new, and best of all, it is straightforward, with an emphasis on test-taking skills. These books strike a good balance, and students will finish the book ready to do their best!