Rahm and Other People’s Children
One of the themes of the corporate reform movement is this:
“We know what’s best for other people’s children but it is not what’s best for mine.”
Many of the leading corporate reformers went to elite prep schools and/or send their children to them.
Schools like Exeter, Andover, Deerfield Academy, Sidwell Friends, the University of Chicago Lab School, Lakeside Academy (Seattle), Maumee Country Day School (Toledo). At these schools there are beautiful facilities, small classes, experienced teachers, well-stocked libraries, science laboratories, and a curriculum rich
How Charter Schools Divide Communities
“We know what’s best for other people’s children but it is not what’s best for mine.”
Many of the leading corporate reformers went to elite prep schools and/or send their children to them.
Schools like Exeter, Andover, Deerfield Academy, Sidwell Friends, the University of Chicago Lab School, Lakeside Academy (Seattle), Maumee Country Day School (Toledo). At these schools there are beautiful facilities, small classes, experienced teachers, well-stocked libraries, science laboratories, and a curriculum rich
How Charter Schools Divide Communities
Critics of charter schools have noted that they undermine neighborhood public schools and decimate communities. By offering a slot to a small proportion of students in the neighborhood, they break up any sense of community spirit centered on the community school and they simultaneously promote the free-market fetishizing of consumer choice. Add to the charter movement the effects of NCLB: labeling a school with low scores as a “failing school,” which causes families to abandon it and demoralizes teachers; and the effects of Race to the Top, which encourages school closings as a remedy for low scores. All of this is a great avoidance strategy, a way of not facing up to the most consistent predictor of low test scores: poverty. Yes, poor kids can
What Is a Teacher’s Ethical Responsibiity?
What Is a Teacher’s Ethical Responsibiity?
Teachers and others have debated the post “Why Are Teachers Silent?” The post has generated more response than anything else I have posted, with (so far) 101 comments.
Clearly, many teachers feel keenly that they should speak up against the policies they know are wrong, the practices they know are harmful to children, but many are fearful. There is a climate of fear and intimidation that now pervades many schools and districts. There is a belief in the corporate reform world that top-down control and direction are necessary, and that those who disagree are troublemakers who must be silenced. And as I
The Secret Trick Behind Merit Pay
Clearly, many teachers feel keenly that they should speak up against the policies they know are wrong, the practices they know are harmful to children, but many are fearful. There is a climate of fear and intimidation that now pervades many schools and districts. There is a belief in the corporate reform world that top-down control and direction are necessary, and that those who disagree are troublemakers who must be silenced. And as I
The Secret Trick Behind Merit Pay
Hardly a day goes by without another politician or businessman calling for merit pay, performance pay, incentivize those lazy teachers to produce higher scores!
The Obama administration put $1 billion into merit pay, without a shred of evidence that it would make a difference.
Merit pay schemes have recently failed in New York City, Chicago, and Nashville, but who cares?
The Florida legislature passed legislation mandating merit pay but didn’t appropriate any money to pay for it.
The Obama administration put $1 billion into merit pay, without a shred of evidence that it would make a difference.
Merit pay schemes have recently failed in New York City, Chicago, and Nashville, but who cares?
The Florida legislature passed legislation mandating merit pay but didn’t appropriate any money to pay for it.