By Sheila Resseger, M.A. Instead of seeing these children for the blessings that they are, we are measuring them only by the standard of whether they will be future deficits or assets for our nation’s competitive needs. Jonathan Kozol Our children, our families, our neighborhoods, our public schools, and our democracy itself have become pawns […]
Common Core Kindergarten Reading—A Disservice to Children!
An article in U.S. News and World Report written by Robert Pondiscio, a journalist turned fifth grade teacher for a while (how he became a teacher is unclear), is entitled, “No Time to Lose” and “Early Reading Isn’t a Threat to Kindergarten, Nor is Common Core.” Pondiscio is now a senior advisor to a charter […]
Star-Bellied Sneetches and PARCC Testing
When the Star-Belly children went out to play ball, Could a Plain Belly get in the game… ? Not at all. You only could play if your bellies had stars. And the Plain Belly children had none upon thars. Dr. Seuss from The Sneetches How ironic that today, when children should have been celebrating Dr. […]
The Student Success Act—The End of Public Schools?
Last week on FOX News, Host Lisa “Kennedy” Montgomery said, “there really shouldn’t be public schools anymore.” Before Democrats could shake their heads and say, “Those silly Republicans,” Steve Benen on The Rachel Maddow Show Blog, referencing Lisa’s statement, said, “what was once an unheard of idea is slowly becoming a little more common. For […]
Who Needs Gifted Education When We’ve Got Common Core and Rigor?
Common Core interjects the idea of rigor into standards for all. So where do gifted students fit in this plan? If every student is meant to accomplish these high standards, are there higher standards for students whose IQ is off the charts, or who have been identified as twice exceptional (students with a disability but […]
Laura Ingalls Wilder Meets Common Core
When I was a child, in 3rd grade, I fell in love with Little House in the Big Woods. I distinctly remember locating it in the little classroom library. I am not sure if I read it before or after Caddie Woodlawn, another fine chapter book about strong pioneer girls. There were no benchmarks—I don’t […]
The High-Stakes Testing/Common Core Connection to New Teacher Ed. Regulations
High-stakes testing, Common Core and teacher education are all interconnected. Controlling for all three is a privatization package deal. For years, there has been a push to deprofessionalize teaching and that includes going to the heart of what makes a good teacher—teacher education. By doing so, the school reformers change the way teachers work. Not […]
Pushing Common Core State Standards: Educational Professional Associations We Once Loved
It is sad, for many, to watch professional associations, long trusted to care for and support students, parents and teachers, sign on to propagandizing Common Core as great for schools and children. Many parents and educators see through this. In addition, and this is most important, why do those selling Common Core continue claiming it […]
How to Size-Up an Ed. Reformer in Five Minutes–TN Example
Due to troubling school reforms like Common Core, it is important to study those who are running schools very carefully. Whenever anyone new is placed in a position of power, we must figure out what they will do to improve public schools and be good stewards of children. This isn’t always easy, because the language […]
How Common Core Disparages Teachers and Drives Critical Moral Thinking out of the Adolescent English/Language Arts Classroom
Why are schools and teachers permitting Common Core to take over what they have always done well, teaching middle and high school English/Language Arts (ELA) classes? And how destructive is it to students who don’t learn to foster ideas about what they think about a novel, instead, merely picking out technical points of the text? […]