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Radical Teacher is an independent magazine for educational workers at all levels and in every kind of institution. The magazine focuses on critical teaching practice, the political economy of education, and institutional struggles.

"What Makes a Great Teacher? Image credit: Veronika Lukasova Also in our Special Report: National: "How America Can Rise Again" Is the nation in terminal decline? Not necessarily. But securing the future will require fixing a system that has become a joke. Video: "One Nation, On Edge" James Fallows talks to Atlantic editor James Bennet about a uniquely American tradition-cycles of despair followed by triumphant rebirths. Interactive Graphic: "The State of the Union Is ..." ... thrifty, overextended, admired, twitchy, filthy, and clean: the nation in numbers. By Rachael Brown Chart: "The Happiness Index" Times were tough in 2009. But according to a cool Facebook app, people were happier. By Justin Miller On August 25, 2008, two little boys walked into public elementary schools in Southeast Washington, D.C. Both boys were African American fifth-graders. The previous spring, both had tested below grade level in math. One walked into Kimball Elementary School and climbed the stairs to Mr. William Taylor's math classroom, a tidy, powder-blue space in which neither the clocks nor most of the electrical outlets worked. The other walked into a very similar classroom a mile away at Plummer Elementary School. In both schools, more than 80 percent of the children received free or reduced-price lunches. At night, all the children went home to the same urban ecosystem, a zip code in which almost a quarter of the families lived below the poverty line and a police district in which somebody was murdered every week or so. Video: Four teachers in Four different classrooms demonstrate methods that work (Courtesy of Teach for America's video archive, available in February at teachingasleadership.org) At the end of the school year, both little boys took the same standardized test given at all D.C. public schools-not a perfect test of their learning, to be sure, but a relatively objective one (and, it's worth noting, not a very hard one). After a year in Mr. Taylo

Here's a side by side comparison of Bing Vs Google results on the term: Information Fluency 21cif.com ( formerly 21cif.imsa.edu ) has been online for 10+ years and dominates the Google Search results. Nothing in the top ten for Bing? Google ranks our old url #1 and our new url #4. Give this a try for your self with the same terms? I'll bet you get radically different results from Google than I do. Since I've worked on the 21cif project for nearly 8 years, I know the materials well. Also Google has adapted to my search habits and provides me with more links relevant to my interest. On the Google page I'm given a link to my search-wiki results: http://tinyurl.com/21cif-search-wiki

Here's a side by side comparison of Bing Vs Google results on the term: Information Fluency 21cif.com ( formerly 21cif.imsa.edu ) has been online for 10+ years and dominates the Google Search results. Nothing in the top ten for Bing? Google ranks our old url #1 and our new url #4. Give this a try for your self with the same terms? I'll bet you get radically different results from Google than I do. Since I've worked on the 21cif project for nearly 8 years, I know the materials well. Also Google has adapted to my search habits and provides me with more links relevant to my interest. On the Google page I'm given a link to my search-wiki results: http://tinyurl.com/21cif-search-wiki This proves the point 21cif has been making for a decade: USE MULTIPLE SEARCH ENGINES! The more sources of information you tap, the better your chances of getting a less filtered view of what's available on the world wide web

University of the people, a site offering free degrees in business administration and computer science continues to gain momentum as leading the effort to "democratize education." Things are underfoot that will radically change the expensive landscape known as higher Ed. The bottom line is that universities without solid online platforms won't be ready for the changes they will need to made. Their greatest commodity will be excellent teachers who can now be beamed from one end of the planet to the other. This crazy upheaval in education is only beginning and the competition is no longer limited by geography.

Most exhilarating is Johnson's conclusion that with today's tools and environment, radical innovation is extraordinarily accessible to those who know how to cultivate it. Where Good Ideas Come From is essential reading for anyone who wants to know how to come up with tomorrow's great ideas. "Chance favours the connected mind."

Are our ubiquitous interactions with computers radically changing our brains? The way we think? The way we see the world? Do digital natives think significantly differently to digital immigrants?

Teaching mathematics through inquiry represents a radical departure from traditional mathematics instruction.

Current update to National Education Technology plan in the USA. Highlighted with diigo with comments.

Current update to National Education Technology plan in the USA. Highlighted with diigo with comments.

What happens if you really begin to rethink what your school looks like? No, I'm not talking about rethink from a wildly radical viewpoint - like mine or say, Neil Postman's - but just if a dedicated set of educators stops "tinkering" with little changes and wonders what school might be like...

"Flipping" is referring to teacher lecture's/instruction being offered in different methods and classroom time being used for project/assignment completion.

Links, research and readings on constructivism

David, back up your argument. If you think this is junk science, then be a real scientist and substantiate your claim. I'm a very objective thinker and will listen and gladly debate this with you, but having studied this and used it, I'm skeptical of your dissent. It is the only thing that has gotten me through our failed education system, not the reason the system has failed (unless your argument is that our system is failing due to lack of use of constructivist approaches).

Constructivism is a prime example of the dangers of deductive reasoning. Instead of starting with evidence from observed reality which the scientific method dictates (inductive reasoning) constructivism starts with theories and then makes the evidence fit the theory or else dismisses it and rationalises it away. It's the same type of thinking that has gotten all ideologues into trouble throughout history, whether it's the Spanish Inquisition, the Nazis, the hippies or the recent Wall Street bankers who drove our economy off a cliff. Any true system of thought must start with the real world as its beginning, or else it's just a bunch of people making stuff up and then defending it despite all evidence to the contrary until the weight of truth destroys them and usually the institutions they've taken over.

Reformers have largely worked within, rather than on, the system of education. Working within the system has resulted in status-quo preservation, even when reformists felt they were being radical. Illich failed to account for how educational institutions are integrated into society. Freire spoke with a humanity and hope that was largely overlooked by a comfortable developed world incapable of seeing the structure and impact of its system. To create and nurture change, a message must not only be true for an era, but it must also resonate with the needs, passions, interests, realities, and hopes of the audience to whom the message is directed.

"Every day people around the globe are absorbed in exciting new forms of learning, and yet traditional schools and university systems are still struggling to leverage the many opportunities for innovation in this area. Recently frog has been researching how learning models are evolving--and how they can be improved--via the influence of mobile technologies. We've found that the education industry needs new models and fresh frameworks to avoid losing touch with the radically evolving needs of its many current and potential new constituencies. "

Virtual instruction has the potential not only to give a large number of students access to top instructors at lower cost but also to provide the incentives to attract and retain top teaching talent in the first place. 

The following video clip is a 1940s-era news-reel style report on the latest thing, "progressive education." Beware the ideas are quite radical! Schoolwork is relevant, learning-by-doing is advocated

Another PA parent opts his child out of PSSA standardized testing as a measure of civil disobedience.  Word of caution:  This can very much hurt a school's Adequate Yearly Progress and ultimately the school may suffer.  But, what if this movement spread amongst parents?  What then?  Would the government take over the school?