Serious education issues in public schools are recycled because the ulterior motive of some is to end public education. Research is repeatedly ignored. Why are school administrators clueless? How is it that legislators repeatedly recreate policy we know is harmful for students? Each heading contains a link to proof. End Retention. Research is clear that […]
Quit Using “Alignment” Referring to Children and Tests!
Alignment refers to a car’s wheels pointing in the right direction, or an orthodontist correcting a child or adult’s dental occlusion. Alignment is rigid. It’s right or wrong. Yet alignment has been used for years to describe how students learn in school. Children are not machine parts that need adjustment. What if consideration was given […]
Classroom in a Bathroom? Overcrowded Building Problems Betsy DeVos Doesn’t Think About
Please tell Betsy DeVos that when Americans fail to invest in public school buildings, it affects how students learn. Betsy DeVos has never worked in poor building conditions. She doesn’t understand how difficult it is for students and teachers. On September 20, DeVos stated in her Education Freedom speech to a parochial school audience, that […]
Caught in the Middle: Whatever Happened to the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act?
By Aaron Wright No child wants to feel like a failure. No educator wants to feel like they have failed a child. Most children in special education are identified as having a specific learning disability or language impairment. Yet nationally only 67% of children with disabilities will graduate from high school and almost one and […]
Betsy DeVos’s Education Freedom: It’s Anything But
Betsy DeVos rarely makes a statement without referring to her idea of Education Freedom. She is, of course, referring to school vouchers. But as education secretary she has been more about denying students true education freedom. DeVos stands for the opposite of educational freedom! As she travels around the country promoting her agenda, here’s a […]
Play v. Reading: How Flawed Thinking About Preschool Has Become Accepted Practice
Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood. ~Fred Rogers One education topic that every politician running for office mentions is preschool for all. What do they mean? What do they think preschool should be […]
The Need for School Psychologists at this Critical Time
Public schools provide support staff that help teachers consider the whole child. This includes the role of the school psychologist. These professionals are the experts that make a school and school system complete. They provide children and teens the mental health support they need. Since the corporate school reform march to privatize public education, those […]
Gifted and IDEA: Charter Schools Won’t Solve the Gifted Debate
Even though gifted is listed as a special education category, Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) never adequately addressed it. Intellectually advanced students are complex, not always easy to understand. They need and deserve school support. Much debate surrounds gifted education. But charter schools will not be a sufficient answer to concerns. Some gifted students are […]
Is NCLB’s Reading First Making a Comeback?
Reading First was President George W. Bush’s signature reading program, the cornerstone of No Child Left Behind. With a $6 billion price tag (a billion per year for six years), it promised “scientific proof” it would have every child reading by third grade. States had to apply for federal grants. Reading First centered around phonics. […]
11 Problems Facing Students as They Return to School
If you support our students, the next generation, and a democratic public education system that we all own, it’s tough to watch the changes corporate reformers have caused in schools. They’re not the ideas that most parents and teachers support, so we wonder why they’re implemented. Most of the problems that exist in public schools […]