Common Core aligned books and the drill to teach reading to young children, appears to ignore the real questions children might have about the stories they read. This could be serious, especially if the book is beyond a child’s development. If the teacher is forced to address things like syntax, story order, and facts surrounding […]
Prestigious Dyslexic Lawyer David Boies Now Supports Campbell Brown’s Attacks on Teacher Tenure
Campbell Brown was just on Morning Joe again with David Boies as her new Chairman of the Partnership for Education Justice to fight teacher tenure. Remember David Boies, the respected, folksy, tennis shoed, liberal lawyer of Gore v. Bush fame? He has had many other high-profile cases too. I’ve always seen him as a good […]
How Backward Reforms Waste Time and Hurt Students with Special Needs
We should be beyond this in America. Every school district should be providing parents public access to top notch regulated education services, including utilizing cutting-edge research for all students, and especially for students with disabilities and/or our gifted and talented young people. Right now many teachers and parents are fighting to get decent services from […]
Teacher In-Service: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Many teachers are starting back to work already. And along with the new school year comes in-service training. In-service is either good, it is bad, or it is downright ugly. The good in-service is really professional development. School districts should always aim for professional development and not waste teachers’ time with anything less important. The […]
“I’m Mad as Hell, and I’m Not Going to Take This Anymore!” The Real Reasons Why Teachers Stay or Quit the Profession
Why do teachers stay teaching? What makes them leave? The Alliance for Excellent Education and the New Teacher Center, heavily backed by corporations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, just came out with a report focusing on teacher preparation and sounding the age-old alarm that new teachers quit within a few years. It is […]
We Must Agree That We Need SPED Services—Even For High Functioning Students!
This past week has seen a flurry of special education talk surrounding the new goals of the Obama administration’s quest to toughen standards and make students—and they don’t specify which students, so we can assume they mean all students, even those with the severest of disabilities—score high on the regular tests. I’m pretty sure, behind […]
The Choices Parents Really Want for Their Students with Special Needs
Today I want to talk about the choices, I believe, parents want for their students with exceptionalities or students in general. “Choice,” today, in the eyes of the ed. reformers means having a lot of charter schools, and I am particularly speaking about those designed to make a profit. The owners want to stand on […]
The ASVAB: Are You Handing Your Student’s Information Over to the Military With Out Knowing?
The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery Career Exploration Program, otherwise known as the ASVAB-CEP, or ASVAB, is an admissions and placement test to determine student career interests, strengths, and qualification for the military. The ASVAB is not new. It has been around since 1968. But there are new privacy concerns about the way the test […]
Quality Teachers for Poor Students: Another Missed Opportunity to Address Real Change
This past week President Obama sat down to a lovely salmon dinner with a few teachers with inspirational stories, to discuss his new program to get excellent teachers for children in poor school districts. The problem of poor children in school is critical. Educational Week reported last fall that almost half the students in America […]
Michelle Obama’s Fight Against Childhood Obesity: Where’s The Recess—Etc.?
I’m going to fight until the bitter end to make sure that every kid in this country continues to have the best nutrition that they can have in our schools. First Lady, Michelle Obama We have a childhood obesity problem in America. Obesity can lead to diabetes, heart problems and sometimes even cancer. It can […]