The focus for children learning to read, sometimes undervalued by those concerned about phonics, is instilling a joy of reading. The ultimate goal should be that children are able to read and like it. Phonics is important, especially when children have reading disabilities, but it shouldn’t stand alone. Science of Reading (SoR) supporters will argue that […]
Kindergarten Online Data? Teacher Observation is Safer and Better!
Making kindergartners participate in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is a strange idea, and collecting data about kindergartners is worrisome. What’s the purpose? President of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and Hoover Institute research fellow and public school critic Michael Petrilli believes testing kindergartners online is easier than having them sit still long enough […]
Are Education Secretary Cardona and Betsy Devos Twins?
Teachers had hope when President Biden chose Miguel Cardona to be education secretary, an educator, that he’d be different from the billionaire corporate shill, protector from grizzly bears, and school choice proponent Betsy DeVos. There’s still hope for that, but there are also reasons to wonder. Cardona’s reactions to the Covid crisis seem eerily like […]
15 Ways to Help Teachers During Covid, Instead of Turning Them Into Scapegoats and Making Them Quit
Teachers are continually being made into scapegoats over a virus not under their control. Here’s a list of classroom problems from the beginning of the pandemic. Here’s a checklist on how to quit scapegoating teachers and help them instead. Suggestions from teachers, parents, and students, especially teachers currently teaching, are welcome. 1. Doctors Since the […]
Fears and Confusion About In-Person School Going Into 2022.
It’s impossible to avoid the news involving Covid confusion and fear surrounding schools and safety for children, teachers, and staff entering the New Year. The looming question is whether K-12 in-person schooling is safe. It’s presumptuous to tell teachers not to be afraid. Teachers want to keep their students safe. They don’t want to get […]
Charters and Vouchers to Destroy Virginia’s Public Schools Will Involve Questionable Data Collected on Children
Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin is wasting no time setting the wheels in motion to destroy public education in Virginia, considered the fourth-best public school system in the country. If he manages to do this, it will add to America’s already ominous future of free public schooling, school ownership shifted to big business instead of constituents. Most […]
School Safety Solution: Bring Back Homerooms, Only BETTER, to Know and Support Students
School districts might devise solutions to understand students better. Here’s one suggestion. Bring back a more personalized homeroom with smaller student groups (10 to 15 students) along with an adult mentor for at least 20 minutes each day. Students need smaller groups to get to know each other and feel supported to understand there’s no […]
Driving Teachers Out! The Longtime Plan to End A Great Profession
The pandemic has been rough on teachers, but there has for years been an organized effort to end a professional teaching workforce by politicians and big businesses. In 1992, The Nation’s cover story by Margaret Spillane and Bruce Shapiro described the meeting of President H. W. Bush and a roomful of Fortune 500 CEOs who […]
A Great Profession: Consider Teachers’ Needs
During this troubling time when we should be helping each other through one of the roughest patches we’ve faced as a nation, teachers have become scapegoats, blamed for everything involving social change and Covid-19. Teachers tried to protect themselves and their families during the pandemic and worried about protecting their students and now they’re blamed […]
Want to Rethink Education? It’s Time to Take Back Kindergarten!
Since the pandemic, there’s much talk about rethinking education and this includes the early years of schooling. Most parents just want their schools reopened safely and schedules back to normal, but corporate reformers want to see even more changes made to schools than seen with No Child Left Behind (NCLB)! The October edition of KAPPAN, […]