Last week the anniversaries of No Child Left Behind and the War on Poverty sparked civic confab over how to deal with America's persistent race and gender gaps. The opinions expressed below run the political spectrum from liberal Maria Shriver to conservative Eric Hanushek, and the ed policy continuum from Diane Ravitch, to Randi Weingarten, to Michelle Rhee. ● Are you confused by the politics of the Common Core State Standards? Reporter Joy Resmovits dubs CCSS the bogeyman of education policy. Read her excellent primer on the topic and get unconfused. ● Find articles here to make you smarter about the word gap, the global achievement gap, the fixed vs. growth mindset, and the famous marshmallow test. (Eat it. It might be fine to flunk now.) ● Like robot toys? Check out the smartphone-controlled, dronified, accelerometered, bluetoothed playthings revealed last week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Parenting
We Didn't Eat the Marshmallow. The Marshmallow Ate Us. - Michael Bourne, NYT Magazine
The Case for Nagging Kids About Homework - Lisa Endlich Heffernan, The Atlantic
Why Adolescence Is More Brutal for Parents Than Teens - Jennifer Senior, NY Magazine
Good Praise, Bad Praise - Judy Willis, MD, MEd, Parent Toolkit
3 Counterintuitive Lessons from Science on Better Parenting - Barking Up the Wrong Tree
How to Talk to Kids About Death - Abby Sher, New York Times
Learning
Infants Babble More When Parents "Baby Talk" - Molly McElroy, Futurity
Goodnight. Sleep Clean. - Maria Konnikova, New York Times
Talking Math with Kids - Annie Murphy Paul, Brilliant Report
Kids Learn Faster with Breaks and Time to Explore - Gwen Dewar, PhD, babycenter
Long Gaps During Revision Better Than Cramming - Sean Coughlan, BBC
The Most Focused Kids in the World - Wray Herbert, Huff Post Science
Education
Zero-Tolerance Discipline Policy: New U.S. Guidelines - Motoko Rich, New York Times
No Child Left Behind Turns 12 Today. Now What? - Alyson Klein, Education Week
Battle Over School Reform: Michelle Rhee vs Diane Ravitch - John Buntin, Governing
Teaching and Learning Over Testing - Randi Weingarten, Huff Post Education
How the Common Core Became Education's Biggest Bogeyman - Joy Resmovits, Huff Post
Why the U.S. Results on the PISA Matter - Eric Hanushek, Education Week
The Female Face of Poverty - Maria Shriver, The Atlantic
Who Takes the Advanced Placement Computer Science Exams? - Eleanor Barkhorn, The Atlantic
Parents: Resolve to Find New Ways to Support Student Learning - Karla Scoon Reid, Ed Week
Universal Preschool May Help Parents More Than Kids. That's Okay - Reihan Salam, Reuters
Public Or Private College. Is the Outcome Any Different? - Deborah Jacobs, Forbes
Resources
Parents: Tips To Help Your Child Complete the FAFSA - Susan Thares, Dept of Education Blog
12 Toys to Help Prepare Your Child for Preschool - Shar Gehrs, ParentMap
Wallace and Gromit's Comic Strips, in Book Form - Jenny Williams, GeekDad
10 Things Every Kid Should Experience Before the Age of 10 - Mary Fischer, CafeMom
Most Incredible Toys at Consumer Electronics Show - Samuel Gibbs, The Guardian
Balefire Lab's Best Educational Apps of 2013 - Balefire Labs
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