Teenage Guest Post: Hey, Inept Test Maker!
This is a guest post. I have been busy traveling lately and haven’t had the energy or the sustained time to really write anything. (Spoiler alert: Except for pieces of the new book!) So here is a post from a debut blogger. She’s my daughter, Kayla! A friend of hers smuggled a writing benchmark question […]
Guest Post: Why My Family is Boycotting the State Field Tests
I previously wrote about the NY State Field Tests, in which unsuspecting students have their learning time hijacked so they can do free research for Pear$on. This piece, from a fellow member of NYC-based Change the Stakes, was originally published on Schoolbook. Why My Family is Boycotting the State Field Tests by Jinnie Spiegler There […]
Just a quick announcement, NBD
I am teaching myself to use Xcode. In three months time, by the end of this summer, At the Chalk Face will have a smartphone/tablet application. Perhaps I’m being naive about the app submission and review process. Or, my ability to learn code from scratch. No matter. The goal has been set. That is all. […]
Think Tank Advocacy v. Measured Researchers
Anthony Cody has offered a powerful argument about the offensive nature of the education reform machine as compared to the always responsive mode of educators, academics, and researchers. A distinct and disturbing example of this dynamic confronted me today when a public school advocate contacted me about the consequences of the Florida model for retaining […]
Broad’s Creation, Green Dot, Headed to Memphis to Cash In During School Fire Sale
The corporate wizards who are calling the shots in the new exploded version of Memphis schools have their eye turned toward an Eli Broad charter creation to take over one of the high schools in Memphis. Will the target be Carver High, where parents seem willing to do anything to keep the name of the school–even […]
School “Reform” in the Anti-Education Era
Someday, historians of education will have to explain why school “reformers,” who should have been excited by the opportunities created by the 21st century, started a twenty year campaign to turn the clock back to the Model T era. Otherwise dynamic (and often libertarian) Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, liberals like President Obama, and neo-liberals like Bill […]
6-3-13 THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER
@ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER: Let’s get real about #optout @John_Merrow by peggyrobertson To understand this post it might be helpful to read Tim Slekar’s post here – to follow the discussion that ensued after John Merrow said “to hell with the tests.” His comment encouraged me to think that perhaps we had a reporter who was ready to tell the citizens of our country that a simple […] What John Merrow didn’t post. by peggyrobertson To understand this post it might be helpful to read Tim Slekar’s post here – to follow the discussion that ensued after John Merrow said “to h... more »