For years, Americans have repeated a mantra when discussing public schools, “Look to Finland!” Now, we see the same dangerous reforms happening in Finland’s schools that are happening in America’s schools! Prominent leaders believe that teaching is still a strong profession in Finland. And certainly using technology can be useful. I guess, like most reforms, […]
My Blogging Anniversary: How Has School Reform Changed in Five Years?
I recently passed the five-year anniversary of when I started writing my blog. What has changed? In this post, I analyze some of the issues I’ve written about over the years. Then, I thank you for your support. Change or lack of change in education can seem dark and foreboding, but there’s a great deal […]
Teachers, Hold On to Your Desks! YOU Make Instruction Work!
Teachers, hold on to your desks! Your classroom footprint matters! It’s always a thrill this time of year to see teachers on social media showing off their classrooms. Not only are teachers proud of their workspace, they understand that the ambience in those rooms is critical to how students feel about learning and school. Teachers often dip […]
Who Arne Duncan is Today Speaks To His Past Role as Education Secretary
Former Education Secretary Arne Duncan recently stepped away from his ventures to discuss his new book How Schools Work: An Inside Account of Failure and Success from One of the Nation’s Longest Serving Secretaries of Education. Few teachers were impressed with Duncan in this role. He never worked in a school. He’d never been a […]
People Who Don’t Pay Attention to Public Schools
The other day, I was riding with my husband, who is a pretty good driver. On this day, he maneuvered a busy intersection with his usual aplomb, and out from behind some trees appeared a pedestrian, a young woman, totally self-absorbed, looking down, her ear phones snugly attached. My husband, swerved in the right direction […]
K-12 Mega-Merger: What Strange World Is This? Teachers Want Lowered Class Sizes!
Teaching children can be a beautiful thing. But there are so many needs right now due to years of inadequate funding and mismanagement. One solution to many problems is lowering class sizes. But read this article about a K-12 Mega-Merger and it’s easy to see that lowering class size is only on the minds of […]
Gates’s Blunders Destroy Teachers and Public Schools!
In a democracy, all powerful institutions that affect our lives need vigilant oversight. ~David Callahan, The Givers: Wealth, Power, and Philanthropy in a New Gilded Age (p. 304) As grills get fired-up for the 4th of July, dark clouds hang over the country. Here’s one. We learned through a RAND report, that the Bill & […]
Can Students Have Teachers, Tech, and Librarians Too?
Is it possible in this fast-paced world, to see a future with technology and professionally credentialed librarians and teachers working alongside one another? Can we be one big happy family? My last post about the loss of librarians and libraries brought a comment from a Follett representative. Follett is a for-profit company that has been […]
Worries about Tech and the Chan/Zuckerberg $30 Million Support of “Reach Every Reader”
Reading is essential for learning, yet students across the U.S. are completing elementary school with inadequate reading abilities. So begins the announcement in The Harvard Gazette telling us about the new $30 million grant Chan/Zuckerberg will hand over to Harvard’s School of Education and MIT’s Integrative Learning Initiative (MITili). Learning to read, all of us […]
6 Concerns: Are “Community Schools” Paving the Way for School Choice and Digital Instruction?
Here is how the Coalition of Community Schools defines their concept of community schools. A community school is both a place and a set of partnerships between the school and other community resources. Its integrated focus on academics, health and social services, youth and community development and community engagement leads to improved student learning, stronger […]