Hearts go out to those suffering from Hurricane Ian. It’s hard to fathom what Florida residents and those from hurricane-affected areas are experiencing. How are the children? How are they handling the disruption? Will public schools change? As of Tuesday morning, October 4, 2022, according to the Florida Department of Education, the following K-12 school […]
Dear Dr. Cardona: Punitive Student Assessment is Meant to Privatize Public Schools!
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona recently wrote to tell state education departments not to use test data punitively after the pandemic. He doesn’t seem to understand the history of high-stakes testing and its use to privatize public schools. From Cardona: The purpose of this letter is to remind all who report and interpret student outcomes this […]
14 MORE Ways Teachers are Disrespected!
Add these to the previous list. 1. Data Teachers are tired of relentless data collection and don’t like being conduits for companies to collect and track information on students, families, and themselves. Improving privacy laws for children has been slow going. Here’s a video covering concerns about data collection in schools. Here’s a description of […]
Disrespect: 5 Ways Teachers Are Driven Out!
R-E-S-P-E-C-TFind out what it means to me ~Aretha Franklin (And Otis Redding) Teachers, we’re told, leave due to disrespect. Let’s break that down. Teachers have been driven out of the classroom due to a 30-year plan by corporate school reformers and politicians to privatize public education. Americans should be worried. Without qualified teachers, students won’t learn what […]
Reading Aloud to Help Children Read Well Their Whole Lives!
Every new parent should get a copy of Jim Trelease’s The Read-Aloud Handbook. Teachers should have a copy too. In honor of the late Trelease, parent and award-winning artist, writer, and author, it’s important to point out that his well-documented research lives on encouraging reading aloud to children, even babies, to foster a lifelong love […]
Who’s Teaching America’s Students?
Teachers, I believe, are the most responsible and important members of society because their professional efforts affect the fate of the earth. ~Helen Caldicott, Australian physician, author, and anti-nuclear advocate. Students need professional teachers with subject degrees if they’re to graduate and gain acceptance to universities or enter the workforce capable of a trade. With […]
Special Education and School Choice: Not Great Choices, If Any
Years of school reforms have stripped public schools of disability services, creating problems for parents (See Carl Peterson’s recent Exterminating Special Education). Parents may turn to charter, parochial or private schools, online learning, or homeschooling, only to find choices lacking, or the school may not want their child, leaving parents in the lurch. Charter Schools […]
Students Need Teachers NOT Tutors! Who’s Pushing Tutors and Why?
Reports of teacher shortages, or call it the Great Teacher Pushout, run rampant in states, a crisis this country has never seen before. But instead of working to improve conditions and lift the teaching profession, many groups are conspiring to replace teachers with tutors! Tutors will complete the longtime goal of ending professional teachers and […]
Religion’s Destructive Effect on Public Education this July 4th
Those who would renegotiate the boundaries between church and state must therefore answer a difficult question: why would we trade a system that has served us so well for one that has served others so poorly? ~Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor On this 4th of July, the country faces divisive problems, including losing […]
The State of School Recess in America is Still Terrible!
One might assume state policymakers had improved school recess for children, considering their databases, but except for a few places, most school districts still deny children recess. They don’t appear to understand that children need and deserve unstructured school breaks several times a day. Unstructured is key. When they discuss recess they usually still mean […]