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The Answer Sheet
By Valerie Strauss

Best education blogs for 2010

Here we go.

My esteemed blogging Post colleague Jay Mathews - the author of Class Struggle, books and other online features too numerous to count - present our choices for the best education blogs for this year. Jay is quite certain that these choices will undoubtedly alter the course of the Internet, and it is generally a bad practice to bet against Jay.

We sought a mix of the serious and the sublime. We disqualified the legendary ed blogs we already display in the margins of our own blogs. (For me, that includes blogs by Joanne Jacobs, Susan Ohanian, Core Knowledge, and Bridging Differences, which is one of Jay’s choices below).

We divvied up the descriptions, but we both endorse every selection. Once you have reviewed our choices, you are obliged to tell Jay where we went wrong. (He is used to being yelled at.) There is always next year.

A Passion for Teaching and Opinions
ukiahcoachbrown.blogspot.com
By a northern California teacher and coach, one of the best written and most interesting of teacher blogs. Good with an expletive, like my favorite coaches, he often makes me laugh.--Jay.

Assorted Stuff
www.assortedstuff.com
The blogger is a Fairfax County schools tech guy who kicks me around frequently, thus getting extra points--Jay.

Charter Insights
charterinsights.blogspot.com
Fun to read, very droll, focuses mostly on Colorado but has some national insights.--Jay

Free Tech 4 Teachers
www.freetech4teachers.com
I am not qualified to judge ed tech blogs, but we need to have some. Many readers mentioned these guys, and they seem smart and vivid.--Jay

Educated Reporter
www.educatedreporter.com/
Author and former Washington Post reporter Linda Perlstein is public editor for the Education Writers Association. Her writing is aimed at helping journalists improve coverage of schools and children but is accessible to non-journalists as well.--Valerie

Education Policy Blog
educationpolicyblog.blogspot.com
Smart educators, including local classroom star Ken Bernstein, a.k.a. teacherken. They debate everything from school lunches to standards.--Jay

Education Week - Bridging Differences
blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/
[Bias alert] I’m on the Edweek board. I correspondent frequently with these two bloggers, Diane Ravitch and Deborah Meier. But they may be the most knowledgeable and articulate education experts in the country, so I am ignoring the conflict of interest.--Jay

Eduoptimists
http://eduoptimists.blogspot.com/
A professor of education and a director of education policy take in-depth looks at "the power of sociey, schools, colleges and educators to empower individuals, further learning, and reduce inequities ... and have a little fun along the way."--Valerie

GFBrandenburg’s Blog
gfbrandenburg.wordpress.com
This blogger loathes the D.C. schools chancellor, so his work is instructive for Rhee fans like me. He is terrific with statistics and a dogged reporter.--Jay

Inside School Research with Debra Viadero
blogs.edweek.org/edweek/inside-school-research/
Veteran education reporter Debra Viadero of Education Week knows how to dig into research on schools and learning and tell us whether it makes sense or not. Her posts are informative and lively.--Valerie [note: Debra is a guest blogger on The Answer Sheet]

My Bellringers
www.mybellringers.blogspot.com
Here are the tart observations of a Texas teacher and author. She has been flogging her book lately, but what’s wrong with that?--Jay

National Journal
www.education.nationaljournal.com
A well-rounded blog that presents a wide of voice on all aspects of education policy.--Valerie

New America Foundation blogs
http://education.newamerica.net/home
http://earlyed.newamerica.net/blogmain
http://edmoney.newamerica.net/blogmain
http://higheredwatch.newamerica.net/blogmain
Early Ed Watch, Higher Ed Watch, Ed Money Watch all offer informative and original reporting and analysis on their respective subjects.--Valerie

Public School Insights
www.publicschoolinsights.org
Sponsored by a consortium of districts, the Learning First Alliance, this site has a very smart and interesting blogger who ranges wide over the country.--Jay

Schoolgate
timesonline.typepad.com/schoolgate/
Journalist Sarah Ebner helps readers understand what she calls "the maze" of Britain’s education system.--Valerie

Stories From School
www.storiesfromschool.org/
National Certified teachers tell stories about how policy decisions impact learning and teaching.--Valerie

The Quick and the Ed
www.quickanded.com/
The blog of the independent think tank Education Sector offers unorthodox analysis on the latest in education policy and research on a range of education subjects.--Valerie

The Line
theline.edublogs.org
Smart, funny comments by a 7th grade teacher, Dina Strasser, who writes very well.--Jay

The Teacher's Desk
http://www.theteachersdesk.com/
By teacher Jacqueline McTaggert, this is a place where teachers share ideas and opinions--and parents can stop by too. McTaggert has some fun features, including "Dunce Cap," where she dishonors somebody every month for doing something dumb, and "Gold Star," where she gives praise where praise is due.-- Valerie