180 days assignment

Name

Date

180 Days: A year inside an American High School

 

Today’s tasks:

1. Choose one news story from the list below. Summarize the main point of the piece in a tweet. (140 characters, or 1-2 sentences)
   
   
2. Find at least two other sources on the same topic. Write down the two other sources. Be sure they’re reliable! In a well-written paragraph, explain how each source either validates or 
contradicts the original.
   
   
3. Write a blog post (in class essay in blog format) explaining how the things you read were supported or contradicted by things you 
saw in 180 Days. Also include a reflection on how the topics discussed might affect your own job performance.

 

1.    The U.S. spends more than $500 billion a year to educate kids (Reuters)

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/08/02/usa-education-investment-idINL2E8J15FR20120802

2.    Michelle Rhee transformed Washington into Ground Zero of America’s education reform movement. (New York Times)

www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/opinion/22kristof.html?_r=0

3.    Many Public Schools in DC’s Poorest Areas Should be Transformed or Shut, Study Says (Washington Post)

www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/2012/01/24/gIQAXI9sRQ_story_1.html

4.    Public High Schools Are Not Doing Their Jobs (U.S. News and World Report)

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/economic-intelligence/2012/08/28/public-high-schools-are-not-doing-their-jobs

5.    New Rating System Will Put More D.C. Teachers at Risk (Washington Post)

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-08-02/local/35491645_1_evaluation-system-link-teacher-highly-effective-teachers

6.    Childhood Poverty Rate is Worse in D.C. Than Mexico, Says New Report (DCist.com)

http://dcist.com/2012/09/many_kids_beset_by_poverty_in_washi.php

7.    Civil Rights Data Show Minority Students Often Face Discipline and Less Likely to Have Experienced Teachers (Jamaal Abdul-Alim)

http://diverseeducation.com/article/16882/

8.    Race to the Top has encouraged states to double down on high stakes testing – Diane Ravitch (Education Week)

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/does-obama-understand-race-to-the-top-- ravitch/2012/01/31/gIQAUnI7eQ_blog.html

9.    The New Teacher Project found that almost all – 99% - of teachers were given satisfactory evaluations even in the lowest performing schools. Andrew Rotherham (TIME.com)

 http://ideas.time.com/2011/10/20/blame-game-lets-talk-honestly-about-bad-teachers/

10. The black white achievement gap in DC is more than twice the national average. (Washington Post)


www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/dc-schools-have-largest-black-white-achievement-gap-in- federal-study/2011/12/06/gIQArNnMcO_story.html

11. When standardized test scores soared in D.C., were the gains real?

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/education/2011-03-28-1Aschooltesting28_CV_N.htm

12. Politics Could Torpedo D.C. Schools’ Progress (Washington Post)

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-07-22/local/35489111_1_veteran-teacher-charter-school-leaders-rhee

13. Class matters. Why won’t we admit it? (New York Times)

www.nytimes.com/2011/12/12/opinion/the-unaddressed-link-between-poverty-and-education.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0

14. For poor children trying hard is not enough. (CNN)

www.cnn.com/2012/07/12/opinion/shanks-education/index.html


Name

Date

180 Days: A year inside an American High School

 

1. Choose one news story from the list. Summarize the main point of the piece in a tweet. (140 characters, or 1-2 sentences)

1.    Article #:



Tweet:










2.    Find at least two other sources on the same topic. Write down the two other sources. Be sure they’re reliable! In a well-written paragraph, explain how each source either validates or 
contradicts the original.

Source #1:






Source #2:








Paragraph (on back or separate piece of paper):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 3.  Write a blog post (in class essay in blog format) explaining how the things you read were supported or contradicted by things you 
saw in 180 Days. Also include a reflection on how the topics discussed might affect your own job performance.

Name

Date

180 Days: A year inside an American High School

 

2.

 

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