…extensive research in the reading difficulties of children show that large classes are the basic cause of failure in reading as well as in other subjects. ~Professor Arthur I. Gates, nationally known authority in the field of reading instruction. Elementary School Journal; February 1937. When parents and teachers debate phonics and whole language, they might […]
My Blogging Anniversary: How Has School Reform Changed in Five Years?
I recently passed the five-year anniversary of when I started writing my blog. What has changed? In this post, I analyze some of the issues I’ve written about over the years. Then, I thank you for your support. Change or lack of change in education can seem dark and foreboding, but there’s a great deal […]
What School Safety Reports Ignore: Reducing Class Size
Over the summer we have seen a glut of school safety reports. Local, state, and federal agencies have written possible solutions they think will thwart future school violence. Some suggestions might be well-advised, but others have created concerns about questionable student surveillance. It’s difficult to believe any solutions will be successful if no one addresses class […]
Why Some Parents Turn Their Backs on Public Schools, And What Can Be Done About It
Why do parents remove their children from public schools? Why do they switch to homeschooling, private, or charter schools? What makes them believe that technology is the answer to their child’s problems? Sometimes, it’s simply because they prefer other settings, and they have no complaints about public schooling. But parents who remove their children from […]
Worries about Tech and the Chan/Zuckerberg $30 Million Support of “Reach Every Reader”
Reading is essential for learning, yet students across the U.S. are completing elementary school with inadequate reading abilities. So begins the announcement in The Harvard Gazette telling us about the new $30 million grant Chan/Zuckerberg will hand over to Harvard’s School of Education and MIT’s Integrative Learning Initiative (MITili). Learning to read, all of us […]
Require Ed. Secretary Betsy DeVos to Teach in a Public School
Betsy DeVos and any corporate reformer who impacts school policy should be required to spend at least a month each year teaching in a public school classroom. DeVos just attended Gov. Jeb Bush’s ExcelinEd meeting in Nashville. Let Jeb Bush and his corporate friends and politicians who drive corporate reform also teach for a month. […]
The Manufactured Shortage: Driving Teachers Out of the Classroom
Those in charge of public schools and politicians are hypocrites when it comes to the rhetoric surrounding a teacher shortage! School districts around the country are describing hundreds of classrooms they can’t seem to fill with qualified teachers. This has been a manipulated ploy to get rid of veteran teachers and employ alternative, revolving door […]
Bill Gates’s Double Standards and High Tech High K-12 Schools
Here is a good example of what I would call double standards relating to traditional public schools and charter schools–more specifically the High Tech High K-12 Schools. High Tech High Charter Schools, computer/project driven schools, dot the landscape in California. They started out as one charter in 2000, run by San Diego business leaders and […]
Retention’s False Promise: Instead—Better Alternatives
Jeb Bush, in regard to class retention of children in school, one of his signature education reforms, said last week in response to criticism, “God forbid if little Johnny is stressed out. How horrible it is for their self-esteem if they’re held back.” Mr. Bush, who is probably running for president, said this at a […]
Important Education Research Repeatedly Ignored
Have you noticed we are bombarded by articles and reports about what is right and wrong in education by think tanks and non-educators? In fact, I have heard a variety of education reformers claiming there is little education research. They are wrong. There are many serious studies that these same people continue to ignore. Not […]