This is a very good story. I love the phrase “ed chick.”
I’m not sure I could ever keep up with all the sleazy stuff going on in education state-by-state. Please tell us more about the NY story.
I know that Core Knowledge was created by E D Hirsch. It’s exactly the kind of thing I would always hope would prevail. So what is the The Teachers College method, something new or just a reference to John Dewey?
http://edexcellence.net/articles/carmen-fari%C3%B1as-war-on-evidence
Start here. You might do a search on the edexcellence website for TC Reading. It’s supposedly “balanced literacy,” but displays a bias against phonics that borders on lunacy.
The progressive philosophy of education can be summarized as “values trumps data.” The two can’t even be in the room together, much less positions in a debate.
The best data driven ed researcher I know of is Grover J. “Russ” Whitehurst. He ran the Ed Department’s What Works Clearinghouse during the W. Bush administration.