On Writing Letters to Congress about ESEA
I received a very genuine email appeal from a fellow humane human engaged in the same struggle to create public schools controlled by the public. Here is part of it: As you know, ESEA will soon come before the house floor for amendment. Would you be willing to encourage colleagues to call their representatives and […]
How the Gates Foundation Is Undergirding the College Caste System
The Chronicle of Higher Ed has an explosive series of articles on the influence on higher education by vulture philanthropy and corporate foundations. Taking advantage of recent research by Hall and Thomas, CHE goes in depth to uncover a sewer of self-serving corruption, arrogant and ignorant policymaking, anti-democratic social steering, and a U. S. Department […]
The Allure of Order Previews the Failure of Common Core
The chapter that taught me the most in The Allure of Order was the 1970s and the story of how state governments grew in importance. I was most struck, however, by Mehta’s account of Maryland’s accountability-based reform, Maryland Student Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP), in the 1990s. It was an effort to combine accountability with a […]
Check out our latest episode on #TFA in Minnesota
Here’s our latest episode of At the Chalk Face with two graduate students from the University of Minnesota who are resisting their institution’s potential deal with TFA. I’m still a little annoyed by the end of this episode. I decided to use Zingaya to run the show instead of Skype, and it cut us off. […]
There may be one way our public schools are failing. #racism
I have heard student teachers and veterans wonder why they should teach about diversity or multicultural values if they and their students are white. Or, in other instances, appreciation and understanding of cultural diversity is viewed as an add-on or supplement, rarely the underlying goal of education. Still, in more instances, educators simply avoid discussions […]
7-17-13 Schools Matter @ The Chalk Face
SCHOOLS MATTER @ THE CHALK FACE: “Disillusioned with Teach For America”“It is difficult to identify exactly when I started to get disillusioned with Teach For America,” explains Wendy Heller Chovnick, a former Teach for America corp member and manager. ”I would say that it was a three-year long process that occurred while I was on staff.” What prompted her change of mind? Chovnick details how her