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Nancy Bailey's Education Website

Revive, Rally and Recover Public Schools

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Is Mississippi Shifting to Online Teacher Education with Reading Universe?

June 27, 2023 By Nancy Bailey 4 Comments

Switching from face-to-face, in-person public education to computer screens is concerning. It’s happening in K12 and appears to be driving privatization with teacher education at the university level. The Science of Reading lends itself to this, but there’s little proof online instruction makes better students or teachers. So far, research supporting this is hard to […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Barksdale Reading Institute, ExcelinEd, First Book, Mississippi, Online Instruction, online teacher education, reading, Reading Rockets, Reading Universe, science of reading, teachers, WETA (PBS)

Problem-Solving through Play: What Children Miss with Age-Inappropriate Expectations

June 11, 2023 By Nancy Bailey 2 Comments

Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood. ~Fred Rogers Lately, when do children get chances to solve problems through unstructured play? How much time do they spend in school thinking, discovering, and figuring things […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: child development, early childhood education, high-stakes testing, play, play-based learning, problem solve, problem solving through unstructured play, recess, Unstructured Play

Can a State Reading Program Be a Success if Students are Segregated and Hungry?

June 7, 2023 By Nancy Bailey 12 Comments

Nicholas Kristof’s recent New York Times opinion piece, Mississippi Is Offering Lessons for America on Education,ย showcases a troubling disregard for segregated schooling and the poverty in which children find themselves. Mississippi’s Segregated Public Schools His article also begs questioning due to its focus on the agenda of ExcelinEd, former governor Jeb Bush’s education lobbying group, […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: ExcelinEd, NCLB, Nicholas Kristof, no excuses, poverty and children, science of reading, The New York Times, third grade retention, vouchers

Third-Grade Retention: Parents Show Common Ground Fighting It

May 28, 2023 By Nancy Bailey 14 Comments

My last post criticized Science of Reading (SoR) advocates for not fighting against third-grade retention or believing it’s good remediation for reading problems. Third-grade retention based on a test is a ploy to drive parents to take their children out of public schools. Some parents with children who have dyslexia, who believe in the SoR, […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: dyslexia, parents, retention, third grade retention

Why Do Science of Reading Advocates Accept Unscientific Third-Grade Retention?

May 24, 2023 By Nancy Bailey 16 Comments

How can anyone who claims the Science of Reading is real think it’s OK to retain a third-grade child based on one test or for any reason? If ever evidence or science existed involving education, understanding the rottenness of retention would be it. Yet some of the same people who believe using phonics (and more) […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: failing third grade, Mississippi third-grade retention, retention, Science of Reading and Third-grade retention, Tennessee Third-Grade Retention, third grade retention

When the Last Real Teacher Says Goodbye: The Dangerous Myths Driving Their Exit

May 13, 2023 By Nancy Bailey 8 Comments

As this year’s Teacher Appreciation Week ends, Americans might want to think about a country without real teachers. In the future, technology may control and monitor children. Their data will continue to be sought after by companies. Teaching will increasingly be about profitmaking, and tutors or fast-track trained Teach for America types will supervise classrooms […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: school nonprofits, School Privatization, Teach for America, Teach Plus, Teacher Appreciation Week, The College Board, the loss of real teachers

The Troubling Focus on Testing Rewards, Testing Pep Rallies, and Test Prep Bootcamps

May 9, 2023 By Nancy Bailey 13 Comments

With spring comes heightened concerns about public school students facing high-stakes standardized tests and the troubling focus on testing rewards, testing pep rallies, and test prep boot camps. It makes schooling and a student’s worth all about the test. Testing is a serious business. Test results have been used to rate teacher performance unfairly, and […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: high-stakes standardized tests, test prep boot camps, Testing pep rallies, testing rewards

Fighting for a Public School for Students with Autism and Neurodiversity: Choices Parents Want

April 26, 2023 By Nancy Bailey 15 Comments

For years, parents of children with special needs have demanded classroom inclusion. They want a Free, Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) in general classes, the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE). But in Philadelphia, parents want a public school for students with autism and neurodiversity. They recognize that their students are not getting the resources or teachers they […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Autism, IDEA, inclusion, Neurodiverse, neurodiversity, public school choice, public schools, special education

Who’s Behind PBS News Hour’s Gloomy Reporting About Student Learning?

April 16, 2023 By Nancy Bailey 37 Comments

Arne Duncan (Obama) and Margaret Spellings (G. W. Bush), noneducators and former education secretaries, recently appeared on PBS News Hour, Study shows parents overestimate their student’s academic progressย to dash any hope parents might have that their children are doing well in school. Who’s behind such gloomy reporting? Here’s how PBS begins, and here’s the survey: […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Amplify, charter schools, EdReports, Grades, Learning Gaps, learning heroes, opportunity gaps, parents, Parents and teachers, PBS News Hour, public schools, School Privatization, students, Study shows parents overestimate their student's academic progress, teachers

The Science of Reading and The Rejection of Picture Books

March 26, 2023 By Nancy Bailey 36 Comments

The Science of Reading rejects the importance of picture books to children learning to read. In 2021, I wrote this, and many parents assumed that schools still use picture books and that children get exposure to them at home. The general idea was that picture books were taken for granted. But while there are quibbles […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: free reading, independent reading for young children, Picture Books, Read alouds, science of reading, science of reading and picture books

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Author, Ph.D. Ed. Leadership and longtime teacher, Blogging for Kids, Teachers, Parents & Democratic Public Schools.

NancyEBailey1
Retweet on Twitter Nancy E. Bailey Retweeted
nancyebailey1 Nancy E. Bailey @nancyebailey1 ·
5 Dec

What kind of school recess, supervised unstructured play, do your students get at school? Recess breaks should be several times a day. How's your State doing?

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rbreich Robert Reich @rbreich ·
8 Dec

The corporate takeover of American politics was rapid and ruthless.

In the 1970s, I watched as thousands of corporate lobbyists descended on Washington. Fast forward to today, and lobbying has become a $3.7 billion dollar industry.

It all began with the Powell Memo.

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chispecialed ๐“œ๐“ผ. ๐“š๐“ช๐“ฝ๐“ฒ๐“ฎ ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ธ @chispecialed ·
7 Dec

Still trying to understand the push in SoR to provide interventions & services that special education *should* provide onto the gen ed. Dyslexia is a disability. Why r ppl saying this real need shouldn't be addressed through legally-protected & (theoretically) funded special ed?

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barbmcdowdall Barbara McD Dowdall @barbmcdowdall ·
7 Dec

@NancyEBailey1 Marguerite de Angeli, Bright April author/illustrator, relied on lifetime experience with racism shared by one of three cited with appreciation (by first name only): Nellie Rathbone Bright (UPenn 1923) Joseph E. Hill School principal. Now in exhibit at Historic Germantown PA.

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nancyebailey1 Nancy E. Bailey @nancyebailey1 ·
5 Dec

What kind of school recess, supervised unstructured play, do your students get at school? Recess breaks should be several times a day. How's your State doing?

Reply on Twitter 1732056912991019362 Retweet on Twitter 1732056912991019362 10 Like on Twitter 1732056912991019362 19 Twitter 1732056912991019362
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