Teaching children to be happy and resilient, to have grit, in a “changing and chaotic world,” and telling parents their children will now need skills “well beyond good test scores,” raises serious questions when you consider the no-excuses schools so many students now attend. I am referring to the upcoming Learning & the Brain conference […]
How to Find Out if A Teacher is Qualified
School districts used to be vigilant about ensuring teachers had state credentials. That no longer appears to be the case. Many online programs are unaccredited, and fast-track teacher preparation programs put almost anyone in the classroom with little educational background. However, a parent has the right to know who’s teaching their child. If you’re a […]
Patty Duke and Helen Keller: Similarities of Greatness
The most important day I remember in all my life is the one on which my teacher, Anne Mansfield Sullivan, came to me. I am filled with wonder when I consider the immeasurable contrast between the two lives which it connects. – Helen Keller I thought I would revisit a past post remembering Patty Duke […]
Common Core’s Next Generation Science Standards! Where’s the Debate?
My dear young fellow,’ the Old-Green-Grasshopper said gently, ‘there are a whole lot of things in this world of ours you haven’t started wondering about yet. Roald Dahl, from James and the Giant Peach We have heard little about Next Generation Science Standards which are being pushed into schools across the country, yet NGSS is […]
Endrew F., Special Education, and Charter Schools: What’s the Connection?
It requires an educational program reasonably calculated to enable a child to make progress appropriate in light of the child’s circumstances. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. In light of the current administration’s push for school choice in the form of vouchers and charter schools, and the selection of Betsy DeVos to be education secretary, […]
The Stealth Campaign Against Public Schools and the Public Space
Sheila posted this exactly two years ago and her words are still stunning. The post has been recirculating and I wanted to highlight it. Many thanks to Sheila Resseger for her passionate and pointed writing. By Sheila Resseger, M.A. Instead of seeing these children for the blessings that they are, we are measuring them only […]
Privatizing Recess: Micromanaging Children’s Play for Profit
You might hear that school recess is returning, but it might not be the recess we have come to know and love, and miss. It is not run by the school, but by a nonprofit called “Playworks: Play and Recess to Support Emotional Learning.” I have written about social and emotional learning before. Many are […]
Trump’s Budget Cuts: Make America Hungry Again
If you have ever spoken to a relative or friend who lived through the Great Depression, you will learn how the little things in life, that most of us take for granted, meant so much during that time. If we are lucky, we will never know the want those who lived through that period experienced. […]
Digitally Damning a Student’s Future with Old Data
You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on it. You don’t let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space. —Johnny Cash Some colleges and universities […]
Is Betsy DeVos Getting Rid of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services?
Who will Betsy DeVos choose to run the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS)? Anyone? Will she leave the position vacant? Will the U.S. Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services be dismantled? Education Week is reporting she hasn’t chosen anyone yet. One would think, since she didn’t understand the meaning of the […]