A critic who charges that children aren’t reading well and teachers need to learn about the Science of Reading, also says children must read sooner than they did in the past. This new ideological construct promotes standards that many children will not be capable of achieving. It also sets children and their teachers up to […]
Common Core, Camouflaged in Testing and Technology
Common Core State Standards (CCSS) might seem to have diminished, but the standards are still embedded in testing and technology and still hurting students. When the standards were first imposed on students, parents and teachers complained. Sandra Stotsky, now Professor Emeritus, was an outspoken critic of CCSSs. She had previously helped develop the Massachusetts standards, […]
Problematic “Scientific Based” Phonics: The Flawed National Reading Panel
It’s odd and detrimental that the National Reading Panel is highlighted in reports as science, used to promote phonics and criticize how teachers teach reading. It has become so intense that teachers are being advised to drop certain reading methods to focus solely on “systematic, explicit phonics!” The NRP was discredited long ago. Why it’s […]
Investigating the Corporate Fingerprints in the Media Attacks on Teachers and Colleges of Education
A media rollout of criticism towards teachers and their COEs mostly over reading, has fueled debate about what teachers know about teaching. Are these reports what they seem, or is something else going on? None of these commentaries look at the effects of Common Core State Standards. Look closely and one finds corporate school reform fingerprints. If reformers […]
What We’re Waiting to Hear: The Education Fight No Candidate Mentions (Thus Far)
All the democratic presidential candidates have plans how to run the country and positively affect the world. Some have good ideas about how to improve public schools and support teachers. But none has yet to speak about America’s education crisis. Educators and parents who rally around public schools and the teachers who work in them […]
Teaching and Learning in the Age of the Technocrats
By Sheila Resseger, M.A. I wrote the following words almost exactly four years ago. Since then, many parents did choose to inform themselves, and refused to allow their children to participate in the PARCC/SBAC assessments; the problem with the underlying standards, however, was not addressed. And the situation we have today is even more concerning. […]
35 Ways They Dumb Down America: Still, There’s Hope!
They took all the trees And put them in a tree museum And they charged all the people A dollar and a half to see ’em Don’t it always seem to go That you don’t know what you’ve got ‘Till it’s gone They paved paradise And they put up a parking lot ~Joni Mitchell, Big […]
Reasons Children Have Reading Problems that Corporate Reformers Don’t Talk About
We know of many variables that help children learn to read. But well-designed peer-reviewed research continues to be ignored when it comes to these variables. At the same time, states and school districts continue to promote destructive school policies. We know such policies fail. So, why are they still being used? Here’s why some children […]
Bill & Melinda Gates Don’t Discuss Their Takeover of America’s Public Schools
Bill and Melinda Gates’s 2019 letter “We Didn’t See This Coming,” is filled with their concerns and optimism about everything from commodes to climate change. Always eager to discuss their global initiatives to help the poor, and a variety of other endeavors, they say little about the aggressive ways they are remaking public education to their […]
How School Reform, Including Common Core, Has Devastated Children and Their Joy of Learning to Read
School reform has taken a toll on children starting in kindergarten (even preschool). There’s little doubt that children are being forced to learn to read earlier than ever before. The reading gap likely reflects the developmental differences found in children when they are forced to read too soon. Why are schools doing this? Forcing kindergarteners […]