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An exceptional teacher forges bonds that can last a lifetime
September 9, 2010I usually skip Frazier O'Leary's annual Advanced Placement reunion. It's always a Friday evening in December at the old Sumner School in downtown Washington on M Street, where parking is tough. But O'Leary, a veteran English teacher at Cardozo High School in the District, is a persuasive man. I h...
Jaime Escalante dies, inspired 1988 film 'Stand and Deliver'
September 9, 2010 Jaime A. Escalante, the most famous and influential American public-school teacher of his generation, died March 30 of cancer at his son's home near Sacramento. He was 79.
Jaime Escalante and the price of fame: Celebrity leads to a drop in test scores
September 9, 2010This report was published Aug. 2, 1988, in The Washington Post.
Jaime Escalante turns students into calculus whizzes
September 9, 2010This report was published Dec. 12, 1982, in The Washington Post.
Troubled high schools in District prepare for citywide test
September 9, 2010Five months after my first visit to Dunbar High School in the District, its new administrators appear to have made progress, but they say they have a long way to go. The security guards are more active in urging straggling students to get to class. Those who are frequently late must listen for an...
Data on college success could change high schools
September 9, 2010 Montgomery County School Superintendent Jerry D. Weast loves numbers like most human beings love steak, and he shares what he loves. He dumps on me stacks of graphs and flow charts. They follow a familiar theme, the rise of student achievement in his district. But sometimes he surprises me.
Mathews: Teacher's cheating solution fails with principal
September 9, 2010Last week's column, full of practical suggestions on how to limit cheating, did not seem controversial to me. Many teachers sent their own ideas. Many recommended small adjustments, such as having the questions in different order for different students, to hinder copying.
High schools should dare to measure success differently
September 9, 2010On my blog, washingtonpost.com/class-struggle , I gush over my many genius ideas, worthy of the Nobel Prize for education writing if there was one. Here is a sample from last month:
Cheaters never prosper when teachers get in the way
September 9, 2010What should we do about the computer hackers at Winston Churchill High School in Montgomery County who changed dozens of grades? What is the solution to student cheating in general?
Perspective is needed on school budget-cut fears
September 9, 2010 You saw the big headline on the front of our Metro section recently: "Deep budget cuts approved for Prince George's schools." The news from Northern Virginia was much the same: "Fairfax County schools chief proposes dramatic budget cuts" and "Proposed Arlington schools budget cuts back in many ar...
