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Nancy Bailey's Education Website

Revive, Rally and Recover Public Schools

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5 Reasons Why the Teacher Shortage Concern is A Hoax!

September 13, 2017 By Nancy Bailey 10 Comments

No doubt, many children aren’t getting the general or special education teachers they deserve, especially in poor schools. There probably is a real teacher shortage. However, school reformers have been squawking about a teacher shortage for years. If policymakers cared, they would have put programs into place to address this shortage. They would have sought […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: AFT, Betsy DeVos, Betsy DeVos and the Teacher Shortage, Career Teachers, Donald Trump, NEA, Reasons for a teacher shortage, Teach for American, Teacher Burnout, TEacher Morale, Teacher Recruitment, Teacher Shortage, Technology, The Media and Teacher Morale, The War on Teachers

Proficiency-Based Learning: Focused on Skills While Missing the Big Picture

June 13, 2017 By Nancy Bailey 2 Comments

…tests are now broken down into specific sets of skills so teachers can identify how well students understand each task. When students get less than a proficient score, they must go back and study the skill they missed. They are then given a chance to retake the relevant portions of the test until they earn […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Competency-Based Learning, Computer Learning, Computers vs. Teachers, Goals, Maine, NEA, Personalized Learning, Proficiency-Based Learning, Rote skills

Why Unionizing Charter School Teachers is STILL a Bad Idea

May 31, 2017 By Nancy Bailey 8 Comments

I wrote this blog post in 2016. But this issue continues to be relevant to privatizing public schools. Thank you for taking the time to read it. I can understand the union’s desire to add members and support teachers in charter schools. But most charter schools have not evolved into that old concept of teacher-run […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: AFT, Computers, NEA, Private Schools Competency-Based Education, public schools, Technology, Unionizing Charter School Teachers, Unions

Universal Design for Learning by David H. Rose, Ed.D.

December 9, 2016 By Nancy Bailey 8 Comments

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) By David H. Rose, Ed.D. Thank you Nancy for inviting me to put some thoughts about UDL on your blog.  I hope I can reduce some of the misconceptions about UDL that appeared here, and then perhaps engage in discussion where I can learn more from you and your readers. […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: AFT, CAST, David H. Rose, Ed.D., NEA, special education, teachers, Technology, United States Department of Education, Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

Hillary Clinton and Charter School Myths

July 19, 2016 By Nancy Bailey 3 Comments

Last night the report from the AFT convention was that Hillary Clinton once again spoke about how charter schools provided traditional public schools with innovation. This is a recurring theme with her—one that has already drawn boos from teachers in the NEA. As one teacher put it last night, is she tone deaf? Charter schools […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: AFT, charter schools, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, innovation, Myths, NEA, Reality, vouchers

Elves, Marshmallow Farms, and the K-12 Education Political Disconnect

December 24, 2015 By Nancy Bailey 7 Comments

Merry Christmas! Today I am writing about illusion and how K-12 education, despite some cursory remarks, is still ignored by Presidential candidates. If you haven’t already noticed, while there are many topics discussed at Presidential debates, there is never, and I mean NEVER, any mention of the vast concerns about the privatization of America’s public […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: AFT, Common Core, Democrats, Education Debate, Education Issues, Every Student Succeeds Act, NEA, Presidential Candidates, public schools, Republicans

Teacher Age Discrimination During a So-Called Teacher Shortage

August 16, 2015 By Nancy Bailey 201 Comments

While I wrote this post nine years ago, I’m still getting heartbreaking comments and emails from veteran teachers with good records and credentials who cannot find teaching positions though we’re still told there’s a teacher shortage. When I first wrote this post in 2015, Jeb Bush was 62, Hillary Clinton was 67, Donald Trump was […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Age Discrimination, Ageism, AP, Bernie Sanders, Bill Gates, College Board, Common Core, Donald Trump, Eli Broad, Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush, NEA, public schools, teachers

Teacher Hate

October 24, 2014 By Nancy Bailey 20 Comments

TIME Magazine is the latest media outlet to vilify teachers. The Nov. 3rd edition conveniently snipes at teacher tenure, while giving corporations the nod. How much money did they get, you have to wonder, to show the gavel hitting the apple? And gavels should be what they fear. A lot of places are starting to […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: AFT, NEA, teachers, TIME for Kids, TIME Magazine

Why Unionizing Teachers In Charter Schools is a Bad Idea

September 5, 2014 By Nancy Bailey 6 Comments

In California, the new NEA leader Lily Eskelsen García is working to gather charter school teachers to unionize. HERE. She appears savvy and smart and gave an uplifting, firery introductory speech to teachers upon her election. As a retired member of the NEA, I wish her well. But she has thus far claimed, like AFT’s […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: AFT, charter schools, NEA, Traditional Public Schools, Unionizing

It’s Not A Wonderful Life for Millions of School Children

December 18, 2013 By Nancy Bailey Leave a Comment

“…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 […]

Filed Under: Common Core Tagged With: AFT, American Library Association, budget cuts, Common Core, Coporatists, Council for Exceptional Children, George Bailey, high-stakes testing, National Council of Teachers of English, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, NEA, poverty, PTA, school reform, Scrooge

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An education glossary with an attitude.

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front cover

Do we really want an America where we no longer own our public schools?

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This book says “no” to the reforms that fail, and challenges Americans to address the real student needs that will fix public schools and make America strong.

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