Presidential politics and education—it’s like crawling through the desert. You see the same old landscape, and then, out in the distance you see real teacher support and quality schooling! And you hear “I will make public schools great again!” We are bombarded with statements that sound supportive of public schools and teachers, parents, and students, […]
Special Education and Vendors–Quality Concerns
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 […]
Public v. Private Charter Schools and Bernie Sanders
Sen. Bernie Sanders is praising public education and teachers. Democrats for Education Reform (DFER), a neoliberal group that supports the privatization of public schools, is unfairly making Sanders out to be a flip-flopper on charter schools. When asked about whether he supports charter schools, Sanders says he “supports public charter schools.” He says the same […]
Hey CEOs! Get the Lead Out (of Flint)!
What will the business philanthropists concerned about the education progress of our young people do about Flint? For over 30 years, politicians and big business decided public schools were failing and nothing would do other than CEOs of huge corporations and the states take over. They told us they wanted to close the achievement gap […]
Vouchers and the Destruction of America’s Public Schools
It’s hard to believe that vouchers are being promoted across the country and are once again being considered in the State of Tennessee. Voters there have made it known time-and-again that they don’t like vouchers. Here the Tennessee Momma Bears give information to speak out against vouchers. They tell us that $130 million will be […]
Joyful or Punishing Teachers: Which is it American Media?
What do Americans want their teachers to be like? What do they really want out of their schools? Within a space of a week I saw the media send out very mixed messages. We know Americans are meant to see these reports as examples of what teachers should be like. But which is it—A or […]
Some Good Education News from 2015
Writing about education is interesting, but it can also be depressing. Sometimes it feels like being a hamster on one of those wheels. So as we close out 2015, here is a list of some good news that happened in 2015. If you have something to add, let me know! Happy New Year! These are […]
Elves, Marshmallow Farms, and the K-12 Education Political Disconnect
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 […]
Do Students Have to Do Common Core Now to Get into Heaven?
It should be important to everyone, that the other day College Board president and the Common Core creator, David Coleman, met with Catholics—The Cardinal Newman Society which promotes and defends the faith—to allay their worries about Common Core. One Newman member snapped at Coleman and said: We don’t open Catholic schools to get kids into […]
Who’s Accountable for Students with Disabilities When Things Go Wrong?
Now that the Every Student Succeeds Act has passed, and the power to run public schools has shifted to the local school districts and the state, will that mean more accountability on their part when things go wrong in the classroom? Consider the Peck Community School in Holyoke, Massachusetts, a public school for students with […]