Hillary Clinton gets positive points for speaking out about autism and mental health. She mentions student transition from high school to young adulthood where there exists a worrisome gap. There is more she proposes here. Mrs. Clinton also brought up the sensitive topic of seclusion and restraints involving students with serious disabilities. We need that […]
What Arne Duncan Didn’t Do for Special Education
So the tree is down and the egg nog is drunk and Arne is leaving. Everyone is sharing their parting thoughts, so I thought I would address Arne’s big moments with special education. Arne’s Letter to Parents Perhaps the place to start is the letter Duncan sent in 2010, making it sound like he understood […]
Some Good Education News from 2015
Writing about education is interesting, but it can also be depressing. Sometimes it feels like being a hamster on one of those wheels. So as we close out 2015, here is a list of some good news that happened in 2015. If you have something to add, let me know! Happy New Year! These are […]
Preschool Common Core Dialogic Reading: Can’t Mother Goose Fly Alone?
Yes. Mother Goose can fly alone! She doesn’t need any help from dialogic reading, which is like close reading for preschool. This formulaic reading exercise was created by Grover J. “Russ” Whitehurst an experimental psychologist who is director of the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution. Here is more about Dr. Whitehurst. […]
Elves, Marshmallow Farms, and the K-12 Education Political Disconnect
Merry Christmas! Today I am writing about illusion and how K-12 education, despite some cursory remarks, is still ignored by Presidential candidates. If you haven’t already noticed, while there are many topics discussed at Presidential debates, there is never, and I mean NEVER, any mention of the vast concerns about the privatization of America’s public […]
Have Yourself a Common Core Christmas…A Close Reading Parody
In case you missed it last year… As you snuggle next to a roaring fire and reach for the family’s favorite Christmas poem, don’t forget we live in a Common Core world now where close reading rules even for the youngest among us. Follow the script! And don’t forget you are to read the poem […]
Weird Education and Common Core Words and Phrases
It was the great American Writer E.B. White who said Omit needless words. Think about this as you read all the useless jargon now babbled about in reference to school lessons and Common Core State Standards. It is time to revisit my list of weird education terminology. I have added some new words and phrases […]
Do Students Have to Do Common Core Now to Get into Heaven?
It should be important to everyone, that the other day College Board president and the Common Core creator, David Coleman, met with Catholics—The Cardinal Newman Society which promotes and defends the faith—to allay their worries about Common Core. One Newman member snapped at Coleman and said: We don’t open Catholic schools to get kids into […]
Who’s Accountable for Students with Disabilities When Things Go Wrong?
Now that the Every Student Succeeds Act has passed, and the power to run public schools has shifted to the local school districts and the state, will that mean more accountability on their part when things go wrong in the classroom? Consider the Peck Community School in Holyoke, Massachusetts, a public school for students with […]
Hoverboards and the Every Student Succeeds Act
Last night on NBC News, I waited to hear about the Senate’s overwhelming passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act. Perhaps I missed it, or they are waiting to say something about it now that President Obama has signed the bill into law. Instead, one of the news items Lester Holt told us about involved […]