We are losing a lot in terms of kids’ innovativeness and creativity. Frankly, I am worried about the next generation. Olga Jarrett, professor and recess advocate, Georgia State University While there has been some good news on the recess front, every single public school needs to offer several recess breaks each day to children. How […]
Concerns about the New ESEA Reauthorization
Arne Duncan and others are bragging that both political parties get along when it comes to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization. It is one big happy family when it comes to education. There was bipartisan agreement over No Child Left Behind too, and look what a colossal disaster that was. Now, with […]
If Thankful for Teachers, Return Trust to Them
How much trust do parents place in their child’s teacher? Maybe more than you think. The BATS were celebrating Thanksgiving this week with Thank You tweets about teachers and other school personnel. As a nation, I hope we can return to the time when we trusted teachers to be the good and decent professionals they […]
Students with Serious Behavioral Disabilities and Inclusion: Effect on Students WITHOUT Disabilities
Contrary to Arne Duncan, and the latest DOE report claiming IEPs should be written the same for everyone, students with behavioral/emotional disabilities–should have the right to services to address their problems. If their difficulties go unaddressed, left to the general education teacher with a class of 30 students, it could affect not only the student […]
Transforming Teacher Preparation—Gates Style
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have a quote on their website that says “Nobody knows teaching like teachers.” If they believe that, why don’t they let teachers teach the way they know best? Or, why don’t they ask them what they need to teach better? Instead, Mr. and Mrs. Gates are going to now […]
The POWER of Picture Books v. High-Stakes Testing & Common Core
In 2010, I read an article in The New York Times that both saddened and infuriated me. In “Picture Books No Longer a Staple for Children” by Julie Bosman we learned about a bookstore in Brookline, MA, a beautiful community surrounded by Harvard, MIT, Tufts, etc., where parents were rejecting picture books. They skipped buying […]
Response to Intervention: Derailed!
Response to Intervention (RtI) is assessment all children get, starting early, in order to determine if they need special assistance to address learning disabilities. It has been plugged as “research” or “scientifically-based” programming to identify problems in young children so they can avoid special education. Those descriptors were often used, sometimes unjustifiably so, with programs […]
Professional Teachers—Click, Click! Poof! You’re Gone!
The attack on teacher education is fast and furious. Privatizing America’s public schools means getting rid of career teachers who support instruction geared to a child’s needs. A way to purge the country of real teachers is to extinguish their teacher education programs and make teaching look like a regimented practice that any drill sergeant […]
What’s Innovative about Charter Schools?
What is innovative about charter schools? What do they do that is so unique it has provided traditional public schools with new methods of working with students? I often hear politicians and charter advocates praising charter schools for what they can give public schools in the way of new ideas. I am wondering what innovations […]
What’s Scary to Kids: Having Dyslexia and Being Held Back in Third Grade!
With certain states jumping on the retention bandwagon, even though we know retention doesn’t work, where do students with dyslexia fit? Students with reading difficulties should not have to flunk third grade to get the help they deserve. Many children with reading difficulties, who do not have IEPs, are being held back. In fact, probably […]