In one of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s most troubling responses of both days of testimony, she responded to an inquiry by Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) about this nation’s crumbling school infrastructure. It comes about 1:09:45 into the tape (below) from the PBS News Hour. It’s important to remember that she has always said that public […]
Failing Public School Infrastructure Makes Way for Microenvironments
…the nation continues to underinvest in school facilities, leaving an estimated $38 billion annual gap. ~2017 Infrastructure Report on Schools by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Classrooms or microenvironments? For years, the condition of public school facilities has received D ratings from the American Society of Civil Engineers. They claim the gap in funding […]
What Have DeVos, Trump, Congress, and the Wealthy Oligarchs Done to Improve School Safety?
Children are entrusted to us. Students rely on parents and adults in the community to keep them safe. That’s still the case as children grow into teens and beyond. There have been 288 school shootings since 2009. That’s 57 times any other industrialized country. Some question how many shootings actually take place as in this recent […]
All the State Chiefs of Education in a Nutshell
I’ve compiled the list of state school superintendents, commissioners, officers, leaders, CEOs, whatever you want to call them, who are running schools in each state. They’re powerful and responsible for initiating school reform. This includes Common Core State Standards, high-stakes testing, teacher evaluations, and the digital transformation of public schools. Currently, they’re determining how the […]
88 Reasons Why Children Don’t Read Well, and What to Do About It
The NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) reading scores are flat, and everyone is wondering why. I thought I’d create a list. Why aren’t America’s students reading better? What can schools and parents do about it? I love brainstorming when it comes to teaching reading, as you can tell. Here are some ideas. If you […]
IEPs for All Students? Hold On!
A discussion about IEPs for all students seems to be trending. In an interview with The Nation during the presidential campaign, Jane Sanders talked about IEPs and public schools. It was likely the most we heard about public education at that time. Here are her words. It’s interesting, because we’ve made progress with IEPs [Individualized […]
Merry Christmas, Betsy DeVos!
Betsy DeVos seems to believe she is doing God’s work when it comes to education in America. So, I thought this Christmas I would gather some of my favorite Bible verses for her to mull over. He is the reason for the season after all. Merry Christmas, Betsy DeVos! The New Republican Tax Bill and […]
How School Data Fails to Tell Us What’s Important
Teachers look for solutions. That’s what we do. But data collection often fails when it comes to solutions. You can collect all the information in the world, but if you don’t know how to use it, or it can’t be translated into something meaningful, the information is worthless. That’s how I feel about yesterday’s article […]
Unwrapping Charter School Titles: Where’s the Innovation?
Those who have virtue always in their mouths, and neglect it in practice, are like a harp, which emits a sound pleasing to others, while itself is insensible of the music. ~Diogenes Where’s the innovation with choice and charters? Betsy DeVos has said, it’s how you go from a closed system to an open system […]
How Students Are Hurt By Replacing School Librarians and Libraries with Computers
There are many ways to enlarge your child’s world. Love of books is the best of all. ~Jacqueline Kennedy Happy School Library Month to school librarians across the country! We have always known librarians and libraries provide vital support to students and teachers in our public schools. But for years school districts have let go […]