A recent article in Business Insider describes how Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg got their idea for digital personalized learning from special education. A light bulb lit, and they realized that students placed according to their academic level online is needed for every child—not just students with disabilities. They liked the way special education teachers […]
The Real Meaning Behind the Duncan/Huffman Tough Special Ed. Compliance Talk
What are they really doing? Everyone who cares about students with disabilities is troubled by Arne Duncan’s latest NPR blathering over the Obama administration’s plans to get even tougher on special ed. and to test these students more and include their scores in the National Assessment for Education Progress known as the Nation’s Report Card. […]
The Lawsuits Students Really Deserve in New York City and the Rest of the Country!
Aren’t there some fine lawyers who would, preferably with pro-bono work, support families who have children with disabilities, all kinds of disabilities, or children who have second language hurdles, or the really really poor children, to sue the charter operators and their rich donors for denying these students a slot in their elite charter schools? […]
Florida Teachers Get VAMED Only a Week After the Death of Ethan Rediske
Floridians get to look up their teachers’ test scores now, courtesy of The Florida Times Union (they actually went to court for this), even though it is just a week after the death of Ethan Rediske. Tell me, Times Union Editor Frank Denton, how did his teacher do? If you aren’t one of the many […]
The Soulless Practice of Using Students with Disabilities to Fire Teachers—Remembering a Better World
How’s this for compassion in the new public school accountability world? By now most people have read about the Ethan Rediske situation in Orlando. The 11 year old, blind, with brain damage and cerebral palsy, as he lay dying in a Hospice, was required to take an alternative version of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test […]
What Should Parents Do For Students with Autism in Public Schools?
The January 3rd post about autism hit a nerve and I have a little more venting to do on this subject before moving on…. These suggestions can apply to all students and parents who want something more than Common Core State Standards and high-stakes testing in their public schools. It is easy to tell parents […]
Larger Classes Help Students with Disabilities? Who Does the Illinois Bd. of Ed. Think It’s Fooling?
The Illinois Board of Education believes larger general education classes will help children with disabilities http://action.aft.org/c/468/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=7727. Restricting the size or providing self-contained classes would do them a disservice. Really? Shame on them! Who do they think they are fooling? Consider this profound statement: “The elimination of state requirements specific to class size will best ensure […]
Common Core and Ability Grouping—Ignoring Critical Questions
Common Core does not honestly tackle a problem that should be front and center in our public schools. How do we address ability grouping? Should students with learning disabilities be educated separately or in the regular class? Do autistic children learn faster mainstreamed or with specialized help in a self-contained classroom or separate school? Are […]
Misguided Education Reform
A nice thing that happened to me this past year was the publishing, back in July, of my book, Misguided Education Reform: Debating the Impact on Students, by R & L Books (Rowman & Littlefield). It covers many of the same topics you will find on my blog. I discuss special education which might be […]
Reading Instruction—Same Old Ugly Story
A conversation on Facebook about reading became touchy yesterday, reminding me that you only need to scratch the surface to find serious differences when it comes to education and public policy. While many come together against Common Core State Standards, yesterday’s arguing resulted from the same old differences about how to approach reading…phonics or whole […]