Safety commissions, school districts, PTAs, and other groups and individuals have discussed school safety. One smart move would be to ensure that every school has a legitimate arts program including visual arts, music, drama, and dance. Students who struggle with mental health problems might benefit from the arts. Every child should have access. Students should […]
Does this Summer Reading Program Bypass Librarians, Teachers, and Fun, While Tracking Students?
READS is a summer program for disadvantaged children promoted by the i3 (Investing in Innovation) Fund and The Wallace Foundation. It uses computer algorithms to figure out a student’s interests. Next, it matches them to books. It gives students in kindergarten through fifth grade 10 free books, but there are strings attached. Both the i3 […]
The Danger of Online (Or Any) Pre-Kindergarten Assessment
When did we become a nation that harshly judges how young children learn? How does such inappropriate evaluation of children make our country great? The focus should be on the children and their needs. Also, does online preschool assessment violate a young child’s right to privacy? I think parents and teachers should be concerned. I […]
Teacherless Koch School Supported by Wichita State University College of Education: Pixie Dust!
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 […]