Here’s the pun of the day…well sort of…and it’s mixed with much magical pixie dust. Who does a College of Education, meant to prepare teachers to teach, teach when they partner with a private school that celebrates no teachers? It’s a mystery. These are transformational schools. But transformation doesn’t always work. Psst. Pixie dust is, […]
Destroying Special Ed: Sliding Backwards in Time
Serious changes are occurring when it comes to special education. This post is an attempt to tie recent events together. Under the Trump administration, the Education Department said Friday, it’s rescinding 72 guidance documents to “alleviate unnecessary burdens” and get rid of “unnecessary regulation” having to do with special education and rehabilitation. They seem to […]
IEPs are a Public School Thing: Let’s Not Forget That!
The Governor of Florida and other education reformers seem to have forgotten where Individual Educational Plans (IEPs) started. In this post, I’d like to remind them. The other night I watched the movie Danny Collins. It’s a loosely based true story about a burned out rock star who learns that years earlier he received a […]
Betsy DeVos Should Resign!
Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men, the balance-wheel of the social machinery. ~Horace Mann It’s Teacher Appreciation Week and a woman who never taught a day in her life was just booed during commencement at a well-known, highly regarded historically black university. She […]
How to Protest Against Betsy DeVos
Our schools are being starved into failure in order to justify mass privatization. —Timothy Meegan, Chicago Sun Times A while back, I attended a meeting at the University of Memphis where many of us were against the Relay Graduate School of Education—a reform group that recruits students out of their chosen careers and supplies unqualified […]
Destroying Special Ed. For Free Market Reform? Question About Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District
Was the defunding of special education used to pave the way for school reforms that would eventually take place in the Douglas County, Colorado school district? Was special education sacrificed to make 21st Century Schools? There’s lots to talk about with this case, but I want to discuss the school district and what was happening […]
Rotting School Buildings and Magical Digital Learning Transformation
The key issue to watch in 2017 is the spiraling drive to privatize public schools through digital learning. One way this is done is through charter schools. Another strategy could be by not funding the upkeep of public school facilities then recreating them as blended learning schools. Allowing schools to crumble in order to justify […]
Private Schools: 3 Reasons Public Schools Are Better!
Private schools don’t always want your children, might not want vouchers, and don’t necessarily do better than public schools! There’s some fascinating information flying around about private schools vs. public schools, and I thought I would write about it today since vouchers are likely going to be a big part of 2017. Kellyanne Conway and […]
Privatization and School Buses? Thoughts, Please, Betsy DeVos?
The private company that owned the bus involved in Monday’s wreck in Chattanooga that killed five [six] elementary school students has had 142 crashes with injuries and three fatalities in the past 24 months, according to federal records. Here I’m thinking of the pictures this past week of Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos beaming about school choice–vouchers […]
Lacking Civics Education and School Privatization
We have just come to the end of a long and contentious political season. Many of us are worried about America’s future. It’s never too late to ask how civics education is being addressed in our public schools. Public schools don’t usually teach civics well. Have you ever wondered why it isn’t a priority? The […]