Have you noticed we are bombarded by articles and reports about what is right and wrong in education by think tanks and non-educators? In fact, I have heard a variety of education reformers claiming there is little education research. They are wrong. There are many serious studies that these same people continue to ignore. Not […]
Teens, Violent Flash Mobs and the Role of Public Schools
Near where I live, you have to be careful where you go at night. A lot of people think it is best to stay away from shopping centers and gas stations. The Mayor is considering whether they should end nighttime high school football games. The problem? You might get caught up in a violent flash […]
Bill Gates’s and the Ed. Reformers’ China/Special Education Disconnect
Bill Gates and other ed. reformers praise China, Singapore and Korea as having the highest test scores in the world, of course, better than the United States they will tell you. What they fail to say is that in America, public schools teach everyone—students with disabilities too. Students who come to school with learning disabilities […]
Computer Essay Grading v. Student Journals
The beauty of being an English or language arts teacher is helping students develop the skill of writing. Next to learning how to read, learning how to express your ideas through writing is a valuable form of communication. And in today’s world, being able to communicate and relate to others is more critical than ever. […]
Misusing Data in Regard to Public Schools
Data collection could be used positively and privately to lift students and teachers and create great public schools. But the fear is that data is currently misused in many ways. Data has also been used to misrepresent America’s schools. Parents have often been deceived, or data collection has been a waste of time because the […]
If Public Schools Fail, Why Do Prestigious Universities Admit Their Students?
Whenever you hear about public schools today people use the word failure, others go so far as to call them dropout factories. So if they are so bad, if we really have such a crisis, why are some of our most prestigious universities still admitting the majority of their students from public schools? Corporate reform […]
Common Core Marketing Mistakes Will Lead to Its Demise
Marketing is everything. A wise English professor once told me, you might write the worst book in the world, but if you have a good marketer, connections, not to mention financial backing, it will be published and it will probably sell. Common Core has been sold to the American people, backed by a lot of […]
Using Students with Special Needs to Privatize Public Schools
Education Week came out with an article pondering a serious question. How can you have special education charter schools and still call it inclusion? HERE. I wondered, were the school reformers going to do the following: Return or ramp-up the old model of resource and self-contained classes within the traditional public school system? Pull together […]
The Role of Public Schools in the NFL Scandal
The NFL is in a tight spot right now. They don’t want to lose their talent and the dollars that might come with a championship. But they are in danger of losing their image. Domestic and child abuse are ugly topics, when they surface. They provoke intense emotions. It’s been difficult to watch the different […]
Charter v. Private School “Prepsters”: Manufacturing College-Ready Kindergartners
“College Prep Begins in Kindergarten” is the motto for Cornerstone Preparatory School (a charter) in Memphis. HERE. A lot of charter schools advertise themselves as college preparatory schools, and they begin marketing college at the earliest of all levels—kindergarten. How does this compare to honest-to-goodness private schools? Secretary Arne Duncan visited Cornerstone the other day. […]