Happy Father’s Day! I am proud to know many nurturing fathers who are also teachers and who fight for public education. I have also known men who are not fathers, but who are marvelous teachers, who view their students like their own children. Men are needed to teach in this country. There’s supposedly a teacher […]
IEPs are a Public School Thing: Let’s Not Forget That!
The Governor of Florida and other education reformers seem to have forgotten where Individual Educational Plans (IEPs) started. In this post, I’d like to remind them. The other night I watched the movie Danny Collins. It’s a loosely based true story about a burned out rock star who learns that years earlier he received a […]
Proficiency-Based Learning: Focused on Skills While Missing the Big Picture
…tests are now broken down into specific sets of skills so teachers can identify how well students understand each task. When students get less than a proficient score, they must go back and study the skill they missed. They are then given a chance to retake the relevant portions of the test until they earn […]
Preschool Social Emotional Learning (SEL): Discipline in Disguise?
Social Emotional Learning is popular! But why do school reformers discuss SEL like it has been hiding under a rock someone just kicked over? Haven’t preschool teachers always worked with children on how to get along? While reading and thinking about preschool, I thought it would be interesting to explore SEL as it relates to […]
Studies that Honor Preschool “Rigor” Are NOT to Be Trusted
Prerequisite to Kindergarten: Instead of demanding four-year-olds talk of geometric “attributes,” how about getting them to show up the first day of kindergarten with great big smiles on their faces? The New York Times is praising a new study in a report titled “Free Play or Flashcards? New Study Nods to More Rigorous Preschools.” The […]
Why Unionizing Charter School Teachers is STILL a Bad Idea
I wrote this blog post in 2016. But this issue continues to be relevant to privatizing public schools. Thank you for taking the time to read it. I can understand the union’s desire to add members and support teachers in charter schools. But most charter schools have not evolved into that old concept of teacher-run […]
10 Serious Issues Facing Public School Students: Where’s Betsy?
Betsy DeVos wastes precious time on her choice initiative, ignoring the most serious problems facing our young people in public schools. At a hearing the other day, she pushed many of these problems onto the states. But I would argue that these difficulties still require thoughtful attention and research from an education secretary who should […]
Happy Graduation! Cheers to Those Who Win Awards and Those Who Don’t
Graduation! It’s that bittersweet time when our children transition closer to adulthood. As students walk across the stage at the end of high school, college, and middle school it’s time to sum up awards. Who won them? Who didn’t? Awards talk has been running rampant on social media this year. Since school reformers have pushed […]
Trip Down Memory Lane with Florida’s McKay Vouchers
One more awful bill in Florida is being used to push public schools towards privatization and poor schooling for students. Said to be 55 bills in one, HB 7069 use words like “starvation” to reference funding for public schools. Charters are called “Schools of Hope” even though Florida’s charter school record is dismal. Many Floridians […]
The Power of Invented Spelling: Giving Children Control
What we’ve found over the years is there seemed to be something with kids who are doing invented spelling on their own that’s really helping them learn how to read. ~ Gene Ouellette, Associate Professor of Psychology at Mount Allison University It looks like it’s best to hand young children paper and pencil instead of […]