“Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” (New International Version) A while back I was talking with a friend about school problems, and she surprised me by saying “America doesn’t love its children!” I was taken aback. I’d never […]
It’s What President Obama Didn’t Say about Education in the State of the Union Address….
The president, of course, could not speak about all the following disputes in one State of the Union Address. But the problem is he rarely speaks about these issues with the American people. There is little, if any, discussion or debate. The president might be surprised to find not everyone approves of his education policies. […]
Pete Seeger…if you sing for children, you can’t really say there’s no hope.
Yesterday we lost Pete Seeger, one of the all-time great folk singers and activists. The LA Times calls Seeger “the conscience of America.” A larger than life figure, there is no way one can write enough about Seeger. He dedicated himself to peace, civil rights, labor, and the environment. He sang folk music and songs […]
More Weird New Words for the School Reform Education Vocabulary List
Six months ago I started my website/blog and one of my posts included strange education vocabulary. Some of the words used to mean something relevant and different from their meaning today. But most of these words have been used by education reformers to change the nature of public schooling. Many of the words or phrases […]
The Vanderbilt Study about Gifted Students
My post, Shunning gifted Students in America—Isn’t it Time to Pay Attention? generated a lot of conversation. Many are worried about how to serve these students in public school. So when I ran across this research today out of Vanderbilt University, I jumped for joy! Dr. David Lubinski and his co-authors, Harrison J. Kell and […]
Hey! Who’s that With the Baby Grand on their Back?
Memphis and the surrounding suburbs have been through quite a lot of “churning” with the school merger of the city schools with the county schools. Most everyone spots the corporate fingerprints. They’re all over the place. Chain charters, Teach for America, The New Teacher Project, Common Core, etc. are, with the help of Stand for […]
Does the Tea Party Love Teach for America?
I read an interesting blog post by Plunderbund all about Teach for America in Ohio. Cleveland pays $9,000 (for two years) in addition to regular salaries and benefits to hire TFA. In other places, like Memphis and Pittsburg, Bill Gates foots the initial bill to TFA, usually about $5,000 per teacher, and then the school […]
The Hurtful Reality of High Stakes Testing—Let Them Eat Cake!
Last Thursday night I had the honor to sit on a panel of distinguished educators, parents, a school board member, and two students, in Jackson, TN. The event covered standardized testing and was sponsored by the Tennessee Education Association (TEA). While this meeting was held in Tennessee, my guess is meetings like this can be […]
Why Did Parents Ever Allow the Loss of Recess?
The Alliance for Childhood just printed Olga Jarrett’s research showing the importance of research http://www.allianceforchildhood.org/sites/allianceforchildhood.org/files/file/Recess_online.pdf. I admire the good work of Olga Jarrett. I even posted a tribute to her awhile back. There is a lot of other great research out there to show the importance of recess, along with books on the subject. There’s […]
Another Teach For America Ra Ra Study to Slam Real Teacher Ed. Programs
Tennessee is all abuzz with another study to go after real degreed and credentialed teachers. I say “real” because the powerhouses have even tampered with certification. In many places a certified teacher doesn’t mean what it used to mean. Teach for America and other alternative training programs rule in this state. They are running away […]