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It’s time for another of my mid-year “Best” lists (you can see all 1,300 “The Best…” lists here).

You might also be interested in:

The Best Articles, Videos & Posts On Education Policy In 2013 — Part Two

All My 2013 “The Best…” Lists (So Far) On Education Policy In One Place

All My 2012 “The Best…” Lists On Education Policy In One Place

The Best Articles, Videos & Posts On Education Policy In 2012 — Part Two

The Best Articles, Videos & Posts On Education Policy In 2012 — Part One

The Best Articles & Posts On Education Policy In 2011 — Part Two

The Best Articles & Posts On Education Polcy In 2011 — Part One

The Best Articles & Posts On Education Policy — 2010

The “Best” Articles (And Blog Posts) About Education Policy — 2009

The “Best” Articles About Education — 2008

The “Best” Articles About Education — 2007

Here are my choices for The Best Articles, Videos & Posts On Education Policy In 2014 – So Fa (not in order of preference):

Thanks to Jack Schneider, I learned about a post by Ben Spielberg titled The Problem with Outcome-Oriented Evaluations. It’s a great piece on teacher evaluation, and reflects important points that are seldom raised in discussions on the topic. He described the value of evaluating inputs, as opposed to outputs. In other words, most teacher evaluation discussion is focused on measuring student outcomes. But, as Ben points out, we often have far less control over those outcomes than is believed.

What If Teacher Evaluation Isn’t Actually Broken After All? by Paul Bruno is a really excellent post.

Paul wrote another great piece titled Why Education Reform is Probably Not The Best Way to Fight Poverty.

Schooled: Cory Booker, Chris Christie, and Mark Zuckerberg had a plan to reform Newark’s schools. They got an education. appeared in The New Yorker.

The American Statistical Association issued a report  containing many criticisms of how Value-Added Measurement is used in teacher evaluations today. It’s not that lengthy, but you can read a summary at Education Week.

Why most professional development for teachers is useless is an excellent piece by Valerie Strauss at The Washington Post.

The Washington Post has republished a post I wrote last month on SEL. Here on my blog, I had titled it Let Them Eat Character. Their title is “The manipulation of Social Emotional Learning.”

Marc Tucker wrote a series on assessments over at Education Week:

The Failure of Test-Based Accountability

Accountability and Motivation

The Story Behind the SAT Overhaul is a very interesting piece in this week’s New York Times Magazine.

The False Markets of Market Based Reforms is by Bruce Baker.

The Case Against Tenure Seems Weak is by Paul Bruno.

Valerie Strauss at The Washington Post has published a piece by Sarah Blaine that I’m sure went “viral” among educators. It’s titled You think you know what teachers do. Right? Wrong.

Why False Compromises Won’t Resolve The Education Debate is by Jeff Bryant. He doesn’t use these exact words, but does a good job distinguishing the difference between a “half a loaf” and “half a baby.” Those are the terms we use in community organizing when describing the differences between a genuine compromise and one which is harmful.

TV Shows: Thinking “West Wing” In A “House Of Cards” World is by Alexander Russo. The Melian Dialogue is a classic tool used by community organizers to illustrate the importance of living in the world “as it is” instead of “as we’d like it to be,” and Alexander effectively uses the contrast in the two TV shows to demonstrate the same lesson about making political change.

I’ve previously connected Pope Francis’ views to education issues. Ed Fuller has written a really interesting post about the Pope’s comments on the education going on in seminaries and making connections to what’s going on in our own classrooms.

This Time It’s Personal and Dangerous is by Barbara Bray.

There’s a great interview with Linda Darling-Hammond on NPR . It’s headlined School Testing Systems Should Be Examined In 2014.

How hard is teaching? is by Valerie Strauss at The Washington Post.

I’ve written a lot about the importance of trust in education. In fact, I have a list titled The Best Posts About Trust & Education. Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz puts that issue in a broader context in New York Times, while at the same time making the connection to education. In No One We Trust is a must-read.

Our Kids — Coddled or Confident? is an excellent post by John Kuhn, and appeared in Anthony Cody’s Education Week Teacher blog.

Let me know what posts and articles you think I’m missing.

You might also be interested in the ed policy “Best” lists I’ve published so far this year:

The Best Articles Showing Why Education Reform Is NOT The Best Way To Fight Poverty

I Am Tired Of “School Reformers” Using The Civil Rights Movement Legacy To Support Their Agenda

The Best Posts & Articles On The Florida Teacher Evaluation Fiasco

The Best Resources On Professional Development For Teachers — Help Me Find More

The Best Posts, Articles & Videos On “Teacher Leadership” — Contribute More!

“The Best Posts On The inBloom Data Fiasco”

The Best Resources On California Court Case Attacking Teacher’s Rights

The Best Posts On Study Finding That Standardized Tests Don’t Measure Cognitive Ability

The Best Posts & Articles On 2012 PISA Test Results

An important new report was published raising major questions about the usefulness of Value-Added Measurement as a teacher evaluation tool.

Read about it at The Washington Post’s article, Good teaching, poor test scores: Doubt cast on grading teachers by student performance, and at Education Week’s piece, Studies Highlight Complexities of Using Value-Added Measures.