Is Louisiana the Worst?
Louisiana is a very strong contender for the worst state in the nation in relation to its treatment of teachers, students, and public schools. Governor Bobby Jindal has been hailed by rightwing privatizers for his bold plan to dismantle public education. And indeed, his legislation established vouchers, charters, and a punitive regime for teachers. If [...]
New Jersey Has a Bad Idea
A reader sends this note, relevant today, but relevant beyond today. It is part of the rightwing assault on the teaching profession. The state gets to define “effective,” then can take the right to due process away from those who don’t meet the benchmarks arbitrarily created by the state, which is eager to fire teachers [...]
Is North Carolina the Worst?
A reader writes from North Carolina, where far-right Republicans control state government and are more than willing to hand public schools over to the private sector to mine for profit: In North Carolina, the Republican dominated legislature lifted the cap on charter schools, provided a fast track approval process, and created a new certification board [...]
Is Michigan the Worst?
In the ongoing effort to learn what is happening in the states under the guise of “reform,” here are reports from readers in Michigan: This is a pretty good list. Let me expand a bit: as with much of the country, we had a huge wave of victories by “tea party” backed candidates in the [...]
Washington State: So Far, OK.
Readers of this blog are reporting on what is happening in their state, and the extent to which corporate reform has intruded into the schools. The toxic combination, when in full flower, consists of legislation to ban collective bargaining, so that there is no group strong enough to fight against budget cuts and anti-teacher legislation; [...]
Big Money Joins Chicago Fight
Education Reform Now, a corporate reform group funded by Wall Street and other financial elites, is now involved in the Chicago teachers’ collective bargaining issues. ERN spent millions in New York state last year to attack teachers’ job protections. In the linked article, the group says it is not coordinating with the Mayor’s office, but [...]
Is It “Hysterical” to Worry about Those GSR Monitors?
A reader, who is a professor of education, writes in response to the ongoing discussion on this blog of the galvanic skin response monitors: I encourage educators to be reflective practitoners, so I know that, to be authentic, it involves regular, honest, deep-seated self-inventories, and I appreciate those efforts. However, it’s an ongoing process and [...]
Is Wisconsin the Worst State?
This response to my request for information suggests that Wisconsin has the worst, most anti-teacher, anti-public education reforms: Wisconsin. No more collective bargaining. A line in WI Act 10 that specifically states “No local agency or school board shall enter into any collective bargaining agreement…” So much for local control. After that was passed, Gov [...]
Which State Has the Worst Reforms?
I asked readers to report on the destructive reforms imposed in their state. No one has tried to collect this information or to pull it all together into a national picture. Everyone seems to think that their own state is off on a binge of legislation that is anti-union, anti-teacher, and anti-public education. From what [...]
California Struggles to Recover
California has cut billions of dollars from its education budget over the past decade. There are classrooms with more than 40 students, with many of them non-English-speaking. It is very hard to teach a large class when there are children who don’t understand the language of instruction and when the students no longer have needed [...]
When Does the Achievement Gap Start?
We know the answer to that question. It doesn’t start in high school. It doesn’t start in middle school. It doesn’t start in elementary school. It starts before the first day of kindergarten. Yet our elites blame teachers for the very existence of the achievement gap. They think that teachers “cause” the gap. They think [...]
Calling Teachers of Special Education
I am no expert in special education. I would like to get the views of experienced teachers about what is the best means of assessing the progress of students with disabilities. My assumption would be that the range of disabilities is so broad that one-size-fits-all will fit no one. My assumption is that students with [...]
Philadelphia Vs. Privatizers
Philadelphia matters because it is a harbinger of privatization across the state of Pennsylvania. As the letter below notes, some 25 districts in the state would qualify as in need of dramatic action–i.e., privatization–under the terms of a bill now under consideration in the Legislature. This scenario reflects a process we have seen in other [...]
Is Hawaii the Worst State?
This reader provides an overview of what is happening in Hawaii. Those of us who live on the East Coast don’t hear much about education developments in Hawaii, so this is fresh information. It sounds like Obama and Duncan have brought all the worst ideas of corporate reform to Hawaii, via Race to the Top. [...]
This Art Teacher Knows What to Do with Bubble Tests
I have a visceral distaste for the very idea of measuring the arts with a standardized multiple-choice test. This strikes me the sort of technocratic thinking that is driving creativity and ingenuity underground and crushing it whenever it dares to appear in a schoolroom. We know that the only reason this idea is being considered [...]
Five Steps to Destroy Public Education
An earlier post described the four-step polka in North Carolina enroute to destroying public education, demoralizing teachers, and enriching the private vendors. Here is a suggestion by another reader, who says it actually is a five-step process. 1. Under-fund/STARVE the schools financially 2. Overcrowd the classrooms, reduce programs, supplies 3. Fail the public school using [...]