Welcome to my blog and website! My opinions are my own. My webpage is self-supported and written on behalf of public schools. I accept no advertising.
My blog focuses on a variety of topics in support of public schools. Public schools can bring children together for their academic and social needs. Good public schools are the foundation of this nation and will make a better world. I have posted since 2013 and have met many interesting people through social media. I always appreciate comments, even if we disagree, and I always try to reply.
You can find posts about special and early childhood education, reading, school diversity, career education, teachers, administration, school facilities, Common Core, parents, and other issues surrounding today’s troubling education reforms.
I search the news, current research, and critique problematic school reform issues that I believe are harmful or helpful to the welfare of students, teachers, and parents. Sometimes I critique books.
My website is an ongoing collection of links to sites that might interest parents, students, and teachers. I’m always looking for feedback. Please let me know if you want to add your site under one of these categories.
I showcase writings and other websites. Please let me know if you want to post something about learning and public schools on my blog. I am eager to share others’ ideas and welcome rigorous debate.
You can find the contact information below.
My Top Posts
You might be interested in some of my most popular posts if you are new to my site.
Early Childhood Education
How School Reform, Including Common Core, Has Devastated Children and Their Joy of Learning to Read
Are Today’s Children Developmentally Different from Children in the Past?
Special Education
Do Public School Students Need Special Ed. Anymore?
The Loss of Special Education Teachers
Reading
Poverty & Reading: The Sad and Troubling Loss of School Libraries and Real Librarians
Setting Children Up to Hate Reading
FORCE & FLUNK: Destroying a Child’s Love of Reading—and Their Life
The POWER of Picture Books v. High-Stakes Testing & Common Core
Parents
Serving Moms of Students with Special Needs in Public Schools
What’s Scary to Kids: Having Dyslexia and Being Held Back in Third Grade!
Teachers
25 Reasons Why You Should Appreciate Public School Teachers
Teacher Age Discrimination During a So-Called Teacher Shortage
The Arts
The Theft of the Tradition of Music in OUR Public Schools
What Happens to Artists Who Aren’t Good Readers?
Bio
I wanted to be a teacher or a nurse at a very early age. I belonged to the Future Teachers and Paramedics Club in high school (I was a Candy Striper). Later, I spent several summers during college working as a teacher’s aide in a summer migrant education program, which sealed the deal for me to become a teacher.
I taught special education for many years and have a PhD in educational leadership from Florida State University. For my undergraduate degree, I majored in teaching students with emotional disabilities and minored in elementary education at Central Michigan University. I have worked in a variety of special education areas, including children and adolescents with emotional and behavioral disabilities and autism.
My student teaching was unique. I was selected to work at a prestigious psychiatric residential center for children and later a third-grade class in an elementary school near Detroit. Both experiences had a profoundly positive impact on me.
I was a principal and a Title I grant manager in a state program in Florida for students with disabilities before returning to school to work on a PhD. I worked with students with severe physical and cognitive disabilities at one of the first public school programs in an institution in Tallahassee, frequently visited by supportive local and state policymakers.
Most of my work has been in the area of learning disabilities. I received my M.Ed. in teaching Learning Disabilities from the University of North Florida. I also earned credentials in developmental disabilities from UNF. Later, I received certification in gifted education from the University of South Florida.
I taught in a public middle school resource class for students with learning disabilities and later a resource class for students at the high school level. I received a Council for Exceptional Children, Division of Learning Disabilities Innovation Grant to combine career education with high school remedial reading for students with learning disabilities.
I left teaching, in part, because I was frustrated with the school reforms that plague public schools and are designed to privatize education.
I have been published in Phi Delta Kappan and Education Week. I am an activist on the issue of safe school facilities. In 2012, I was invited to speak about school building safety at the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute’s annual meeting in Memphis, Tennessee. I also spent two years at my child’s middle school as the Vice President and then President of the school’s parent organization.
I taught as an instructor in special education at the University of Memphis until deciding to do research and write full-time.
I have authored two books and co-authored another with Diane Ravitch, which I consider an honor.
EdSpeak and Doubletalk: A Glossary to Decipher Hypocrisy and Save Public Schooling (Teachers College Press, 2019)
Losing America’s Schools: The Fight to Reclaim Public Education (Rowman & Littlefield, July 2016)
Misguided Education Reform: Debating the Impact on Students (Rowman & Littlefield, 2013)
My special interests involve how public schools work, all areas of special education, early childhood education, school diversity, reading, students with learning disabilities, twice-exceptional students, and student mental health issues.
I am married to an emeritus professor of accounting who kindly listens to me talk about education more often than I should. He is also a serious researcher and has helped me understand statistics and especially difficult research studies. I have an adult daughter of whom I have always been immensely proud. I enjoy hiking, art, and children’s literature.
My Contact Information
You can contact me via email at nancyebailey@bellsouth.net or connect @nancyebailey.bsky.social or Facebook.
I have support in the development and maintenance of this site from Standing Pine Media. I highly recommend them if you need site support.