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Nancy Bailey's Education Website

Revive, Rally and Recover Public Schools

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A Role That Needs More Attention and Support: The Principalship

November 22, 2020 By Nancy Bailey 10 Comments

By Paul Bonner Not too long ago, I walked up to a register in a grocery store. The clerk noticed that I had a school district ID and asked, “Are you a teacher?” I replied, “I’m a principal.” She looked at me, smiled, and said sincerely, “I never knew what my principal did.” The school […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: principals, public schools, the principalship

15 Strange and Scary Goings-On Surrounding Covid-19, Schools, and Teaching

October 12, 2020 By Nancy Bailey 1 Comment

How to handle a pandemic is a new territory for school officials and educators. Here are some observations of odd and downright scary practices surrounding the disease and school attendance. Adults online. Students are in-person. School board members meet online to discuss business. They’re worried about catching the virus, but they determine it’s best to […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Catholic Schools, coronavirus, covid-19, hybrid teaching, in-person school, masks, plexiglass, principals, private schools, religious schools, Remote learning, simultaneously teaching, social distancing, standardized testing, teacher planning time, teachers

Nineteen For 2019: Choose This, NOT That, to Save Public Education in the New Year!

December 31, 2018 By Nancy Bailey 4 Comments

1.  Kindergarten NOT The New First Grade Kindergartners should be treated like the four and five-year-old students that they are and not pushed to be first graders. The activities and instruction for this age group are well established. Real educators should take charge and ensure that there’s much free play and age appropriate activities. 2.  […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Armed Teachers, Betsy DeVos, Digital Learning, Diversity, Gun Control, kindergarten, Librarians, Lower Class sizes, Maker spaces, mental health, New Leaders, Online assessment, Partners, Personalized Learning, portfolio schools, principals, sameness, School Boards, School CEOs, school facilities, School leadership, school libraries, school mental health services, school safety, School Systems, Separation of Church and State, special education, Superintendents, Teach for America, teacher assessment, teachers, Whole Curriculum

Public Schools Belong to the People—Not Just Mayors, CEOs, or the President

April 22, 2016 By Nancy Bailey 2 Comments

In Chicago, Troy LaRaviere has been fired from his principal position at Blaine Elementary School, partly because he sided with parents against high-stakes testing. Those who fondly regarded the outspoken administrator were stunned to learn of his ousting by mail. LaRaviere has been critical of Mayor Rahm Emanuel and others in the school system. I’d […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Barbara Byrd-Bennett, Bernie Sanders, Chicago, Chicago Principals and Administrators Assocition, Common Core, Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), principals, privatization, PTA, Rahm Emanuel, teachers, Troy LaRaviere

Special Education and Vendors–Quality Concerns

April 20, 2016 By Nancy Bailey 1 Comment

Why must school districts rely on outside companies to hire school workers in special education? Isn’t there more room for error when they hire through unregulated companies? This is a practice that appears to have started with No Child Left Behind and should fall by the wayside now that NCLB is defunct–since the Every Student […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Accountability, Marketing, Mayor Bill DeBlasio, New York City, Personnel Departments, Physical Therapy, principals, Privatization of Special Education Services, public schools, special education, Speech Pathology, Vendors

New Leaders—The Pretend Principals

March 26, 2016 By Nancy Bailey 19 Comments

Most people know about Teach for America (TFA), but who are New Leaders (NL)? New Leaders is to principals what Teach for America is to teachers. Jonathan (Jon) Schnur is the main creator of NL. Like TFA’s Wendy Kopp, Schnur has no education degree. He never was a teacher or a principal. A 2004 braggadocio […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Allison Gaines Pell, America Achieves, Ben Fenton, Blue Man Group Charter School, Clinton Administration, Jonathan Schnur, Mike Johnston, Monique Burns-Thompson, New Leaders, Pearson, President Obama, principals, School leadership

Should We Love Our Principals Like CEOs? Heavens No!

June 25, 2014 By Nancy Bailey Leave a Comment

The Atlantic has an interesting article entitled “Should Principals Be Treated Like CEOs?” I think a more appropriate title for the article would have been, “Should Principals Be CEOs?” To me that is what they are really getting at in their report. Since this “school-to-business” ideology was foisted on public schools years ago, we have […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Business, CEOs, Common Core, principals, schools, students, teachers

Why Teachers Quit and What Administrators Would Do if They Wanted to Keep Them

May 12, 2014 By Nancy Bailey 4 Comments

A parent I know who is a strong crusader for goodness and public schooling told me about a Forbes article, “The Top 8 Reasons Your Best People Are About to Quit – And How You Can Keep Them.” How does this list apply to teachers? How do the negative business reasons described by Forbes affect […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Administrators, Common Core, high-stakes testing, principals, Teacher Retention, teachers, Teaching Conditions

New Jersey, the Principalship and New Leaders for New Schools

January 19, 2014 By Nancy Bailey 4 Comments

Who are New Leaders for New Schools? Education bloggers wrote fervently this weekend about the suspension of four principals in Newark, New Jersey who spoke out against the “One Newark” plan to reform schools http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/13/12/18/one-newark-reform-plan-proves-divisive-even-before-official-release/. The plan is similar to what is happening in cities across the country other than the fact that they have […]

Filed Under: Common Core, Teaching Tagged With: Cami Anderson, Common Core, New Jersey, New Leaders for New Schools, principals, rigor, school reform

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An education glossary with an attitude.

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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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