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Nancy Bailey's Education Website

Revive, Rally and Recover Public Schools

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The Trump Administration is Ending Special Education!

June 29, 2025 By Nancy Bailey Leave a Comment

…[B]efore IDEA, before the Department of Education existed. State and local schools did not educate these kids; they barred them from the classrooms. These kids [with disabilities] were institutionalized and abused. There is a reason that the Department of Education and IDEA exist, and it is because educating kids with disabilities can be really hard. […]

Filed Under: Featured, Uncategorized Tagged With: ending special education, Individuals with Disabilities Education ActIDEA, The Trump administration and special education

What a Difference Teachers Could Make With $45 Million!

June 13, 2025 By Nancy Bailey Leave a Comment

President Donald Trump will hold a military parade on his birthday, costing approximately $45 million, claiming it’s for the 250th birthday of the Army and Flag Day. This money might not seem like much to some, and no offense to the army. But I’m thinking about what teachers, known for scrimping and saving, would do […]

Filed Under: Featured, Uncategorized Tagged With: Art education, Child Hunger, children of immigrants, Educational Resources, Homeless Children, McKinney-vento homeless assistance act, migrant education, School libraries and librarians, social studies and civics, special education, Teacher Preparation, Teacher Shortage, What would teachers do with $45 million?

Teacher Appreciation: An Oxymoron

May 9, 2025 By Nancy Bailey Leave a Comment

Teacher appreciation among Americans has become an oxymoron, and teachers have known this for years. It’s not that teachers don’t appreciate luncheons, little trinkets, and notes that say, “We love our teachers,” or that they don’t pile up those heartfelt gifts (poems, pictures, and letters of appreciation from students and parents) to review forever. The […]

Filed Under: Featured, Uncategorized Tagged With: charter schools, educational leadership, Linda McMahon, School Privatization, Teacher Appreciation, teacher-led schools, U.S. Department of Education

Dismantling Public Education: No Laughing Matter!

March 25, 2025 By Nancy Bailey 6 Comments

Don’t it always seem to go That you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone… ~Joni Mitchell Many educators and parents found it painful watching Donald Trump sign off on dismantling the US Department of Education (USDOE). For those who taught and continue to teach and parent activists fighting for public education, observing billionaires and state […]

Filed Under: Featured, Uncategorized Tagged With: charter schools, public education, public schools, School Choice, United States Department of Education, USDOE

NCLB’s Curse: 12 Reasons Reading Scores are STILL Poor

March 5, 2025 By Nancy Bailey 16 Comments

Recent NAEP reading scores show students have made negligible improvement in reading. While there could be various reasons for this, it’s critical to recognize that the curse of NCLB policies has driven public education for almost 25 years, and changing course and reevaluating what isn’t working is essential. NCLB led to Common Core State Standards, […]

Filed Under: Featured, Uncategorized Tagged With: kindergarten, Online Instruction, poverty, School Recess, standardized testing, teacher quality, the arts, the national reading panel, the regular education movement, The Science of Reading, third grade retention, variety of subjects

Give the Gift of Removing Reading Pressure on Kindergartners!

December 24, 2024 By Nancy Bailey 8 Comments

This holiday season, give children the gift of reading. One of the best ways to do that is to relieve the pressure of insisting they read early. Some children might pick up reading when they’re very young, but others will learn a little later, and there’s nothing wrong with this. However, children who are made […]

Filed Under: Featured, Uncategorized Tagged With: commercial reading programs, Kindergarten is the New First Grade, kindergarten pressure, kindergarten pressure to learn to read, Reading Instruction

Children and the Presidency: X-Rated or Fine for Prime Time?

October 23, 2024 By Nancy Bailey 6 Comments

As the election approaches, the stakes of how and what children learn, what they see and hear from both Presidential candidates, couldn’t be more different and critical for the future of America’s children. Breaking it down for kids, one candidate is X-rated, and the other is fine for prime time! For years, former President Trump’s […]

Filed Under: Featured, Uncategorized Tagged With: campaign rhetoric, Children, former President Donald Trump, public schools, The Arnold and Winnie Palmer Foundation, VP Kamala Harris, Youth

Project 2025: Ending Public Education for Students with Disabilities

July 7, 2024 By Nancy Bailey 81 Comments

The whole people must take upon themselves the education of the whole people and be willing to bear the expense of it. ~John Adams, President and Statesman, 1758 The Fourth of July always makes me think of freedom and free public schools for all America’s children, including students with disabilities. The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 […]

Filed Under: Featured, Uncategorized Tagged With: disabilities, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Project 2025, public schools

Ask When Children Should Begin to Read

June 5, 2024 By Nancy Bailey 20 Comments

In 1936, Mabel Vogel Morphett and Carleton Washburne wrote When Should Children Begin to Read? a research paper published in The Elementary School Journal. This is a critical question because if children are pushed to read before they’re ready, they might not get it, then hate it, fail to read later and decide that reading […]

Filed Under: Featured, Uncategorized Tagged With: Age to formally teach reading, child development and reading, chronological age, Learning to Read, Mental age, time to teach reading

Reports Show How Phonics Crowds Out Quality Reading Like Picture Books

May 29, 2024 By Nancy Bailey 16 Comments

In 2023, Science of Reading (SoR) supporters were offended by The Science of Reading and the Rejection of Picture Books. At that time, I included reports and observations showing an overfocus on phonics instead of reading for enjoyment in SoR classrooms. If you’re a teacher who combines phonics with reading picture books for enjoyment and […]

Filed Under: Featured, Uncategorized Tagged With: free reading, phonics, Picture Books, Read alouds, science of reading

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An education glossary with an attitude.

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Do we really want an America where we no longer own our public schools?

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This book says “no” to the reforms that fail, and challenges Americans to address the real student needs that will fix public schools and make America strong.

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