Category Archives: Education

False proxies are annoying

Posted on November 11, 2012 by Zachary_Goldman

sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2012/11/avoiding-the-false-proxy-trap.html False proxies are results that are easy to measure and appear on the surface to be related to actual success of a person, program, or organization. The idea is that the higher these measurements seem, the greater the success … Continue reading →

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Post City Year options (your input is wanted!)

Posted on November 10, 2012 by Zachary_Goldman

My current position with City Year ends in June. I’m currently exploring post-City Year options, which City Year comically refers to as LACY (life after City Year). I have started collecting a (so far very incomplete) list of options for … Continue reading →

Posted in CIty Year, Higher education, Personal Experiences, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Student data for pattern-seeking, not just assessing

Posted on September 3, 2012 by Zachary_Goldman

It is not news that, in the last decade, the use of data (often based on standardized test scores) has exploded. In addition to being used to assess how well students have learned the material for a particular class, student … Continue reading →

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My (apparent lack of) peppiness as a helpful comparison for lack of student achievement

Posted on August 28, 2012 by Zachary_Goldman

Every morning, all the City Year people at my school stand outside for half an hour as students arrive in the morning and greet them with various chants and cheers designed to get them excited about their day and to … Continue reading →

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Lesson idea for geometric series: Loan Amortization!

Posted on August 19, 2012 by Zachary_Goldman

Here’s a non-trivial application of the concept of geometric series with some actual context: calculating monthly payments on a mortgage. The question: You take out a loan for $50000 at an annual interest rate of 12%. If you want to … Continue reading →

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Teacher fired from Art Institute (of California–OC) for not requiring an e-textbook…

Posted on August 18, 2012 by Zachary_Goldman

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/14/mike-tracy-art-institute-textbook_n_1776544.html http://www.takepart.com/article/2012/08/18/teacher-fired-refusing-make-students-buy-pricey-textbooks According to the articles above, at this school, owned by a for-profit company, the policy is that each teacher is supposed to assign students to “rent” an e-textbook for each course. Students are required to pay a specific … Continue reading →

Posted in Higher education | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Effects of repeating content in future courses

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Zachary_Goldman

I continue to be impressed with Coursera, a provider of free online courses from an ever expanding number of big-name universities. I am lightly participating in several courses (and I am signed up for dozens more over the next several … Continue reading →

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Is Algebra Necessary?

Posted on August 7, 2012 by Zachary_Goldman

Andrew Hacker recently had an op-ed in the New York Times entitled Is Algebra Necessary?    His answer is “no” based on an argument that algebra is hard and that people who do poorly in algebra tend to drop out and … Continue reading →

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On “The trouble with online education”

Posted on July 28, 2012 by Zachary_Goldman

The trouble with online education is that this particular critic of online education hasn’t really experienced the best of online education, yet: The trouble with online education Type A effects and Type B effects: when is learning online better? In … Continue reading →

Posted in Online education | Tagged , , | 1 Comment