Round up of missing links

Sorry for the slow posting: summertime! A few links you may want to look at:

• Alfie Kohn on summer learning loss: " ...summer loss mostly applies to 'factual and procedural knowledge' such as 'math computation and spelling skills,' according to the 1996 meta-analysis that’s still the most widely cited source on the topic.[5] This echoes what we know about the whole idea of “time on task,” which turns out to have a much less significant relationship to learning outcomes when those outcomes are intellectually ambitious. More time reliably leads to higher achievement mostly when the task involves very little thinking."
• Updates on Superintendent Carol Johnson: plans for a shake-up of top staff and the question of mercy and justice
• The Sunday dialogue on standardized testing and the Common Core came through and it was pretty much unanimous: "Let us re-evaluate the principles our education system currently embraces and focus again on the skills and values that have made our society profoundly successful."
• Mayor Bloomberg's "turnaround" process isn't working.
• And h/t to Diane Ravitch for passing on this flash mob from Italy: