In the Classroom: What She Said

Ms. Rief worries that a new generation of teachers has been raised on standardized testing and thinks that is the norm. Ms. Rief fears that public schools where teachers are trusted to make learning fun are on the way out. Ms. Rief understands that packaged curriculums and standardized assessments offer schools an economy of scale that she and her kind cannot compete with.

I've been a huge admirer of 8th grade New Hampshire English teacher Linda Reif forever. In her books and articles and...