I'll be closing the current Bogus Bowl pretty soon. You might remember that this BB, which is the 4th in the series, provided alternative answers for the question, "How do you know that [teaching practice] is effective?" Jump over to it, vote, leave a comment, see which answer has garnered the most votes, or [...]...

In an editorial opposite the editorial page of the Boston (MA, US) Herald, Edward Moscovitch advocated continuation of the Reading First program. Under the 8 July 2008 headline "No time to close book: Though threatened, reading program is working," Mr. Moscovitch addresses many of the concerns discussed about Reading First. Here's his lead: Reading First, [...]...

Over on LD Blog I'm running a survey to get a sense of readers' opinion about how response-to-instruction approaches will affect the identification of students with Learning Disabilities. Jump to the entry and vote....

In an editorial published by the Houston (TX, US) Chronicle, Ashley Herzog takes direct aim at schools' oft-expressed interest in promoting self-esteem. The opinion piece is entitled, "No Way to Succeed: The flaws of the self-esteem fad: Research doesn't justify obsession in U.S. schools." Here's her lead: "Self-esteem," it seems, is the 1990s fad that just [...]...

According to an analysis by Gregory J. Palardy and Russell W. Rumberger, differences in teacher effectiveness have larger effects on young children's outcomes in reading and math than do differences in teachers' backgrounds factors such as level of education and types of certifications held. The teacher quality effects were also substantially greater than the effects [...]...