I am reviving an old post that raises questions about the relevancy of the Individualized Educational Plan when it is written according to the general grade level content standards. If everyone is expected to be alike, how important is the IEP? Under the Every Student Succeeds Act almost all students with disabilities must follow the […]
Students and Bears, Oh My! How Common Core Discards the Importance of Reasoning and Intuition
This post is about reasoning and intuition with students and bears, and what we have lost by focusing on Common Core State Standards and not the students themselves. There are interesting similarities. Let me start with bears. I just returned from visiting Glacier National Park. Glacier is full of bears—both grizzlies and black bears. So, […]
Susan Ohanian Champion of Children
One of the nice things about having a blog is you can write about people who you respect and admire. I have not written for a while about anyone, because there are so many people who grab my attention every day for all the positive things they do for children. And also because there are […]
How to Be a Nice Teacher When You’re Mad and Treated Badly
I wanted to write something that had to do with teachers in relationship to Martin Luther King Day and this is what I came up with. Teachers are genuinely nice people. If you work with children you teach them to be nice and respectful to others. Most people go into teaching because they are happy […]
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 […]
Before Common Core—IDEA and Aligning IEPs to Regular Standards
While Common Core’s focus on math and English language arts does nothing to address the needs of students with disabilities, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) re-authorizations weren’t great either. Much of IDEA (the changing of PL-94-142) was to make students with disabilities over into normalized regular ed. students. Individual Educational Plans were to […]
If You Feel Like Grandma Who Got Run Over By a Reindeer—Don’t Despair!
If your child is doing well and you are happy about public school you probably don’t need to read any further. If your house is decorated well enough to win a Martha Stewart contest, and your Christmas dinner was cooked and frozen in neat Zip Lock bags and Rubbermaid containers weeks ago, then you can […]
It’s Not A Wonderful Life for Millions of School Children
“…I know right now, and the answer’s no. No Doggone it! You sit around here and you spin your little webs and you think the whole world revolves around you and your money! Well, it doesn’t, Mr. Potter! In the, in the whole vast configuration of things, I’d say you were nothing but a scurvy […]
Students with Disabilities and/or Gifted Students—Is Private School Better?
If you have a child with disabilities and/or a gifted and talented student, where should you send them to school? Should you homeschool? This is the dilemma facing many families. Parents wonder, is it worth it to pay to send my child to a private school? Would it really be better for them there? With […]