Thought Dreams
I’ve nearly completely extricated myself from my daily reading and commenting on Facebook and Twitter. I’m a retired public school teacher. I’ve virtually stopped writing about education and the continuing destruction of our public schools. I live it everyday now as a consultant in the classrooms. I’ve been traveling a lot over the last few […]
Hasta la vista, Testing?
The dust has not settled yet from the release of the first year scores from New York State’s Common Core aligned assessments for Grades 3-8. The media talking heads, bureaucrats, and public are trying to frame what the results mean for New York’s schools. Read here for some excellent commentaries about the scores from […]
Ohanian on Achieve, Inc. and the Common Core
A clip from Susan writing at The Daily Censored–see the rest here: Reading the press release, I wonder: HOW to get people to raise up against the oppressive phraseknowledge-based economy, a term rolling off the tongues of the “haves” as an excuse for their refusal to acknowledge the vital skills possessed by people making things work […]
Another Reason Why School Reformers Should Listen to Students
Most of the big education stories this month have been rooted in the situational ethics of school “reformers.” Common Core testing is essentially an experiment being imposed on children without the consent of their parents. This week we’ve see what happens when New York does something that no ethical teacher would do – impose tests […]
NYT Editorial Sinks to New Low
Dear Mr. Rosenthal, This is why I have decided to cancel my subscription to your paper today. Many people I know have already done so, but I’ve been holding out because of my love for the good journalism that goes on at the paper. As a teacher, parent and thinking individual, this editorial today about […]
TFA: “It’s just one unverifiable anecdote after the next”
While it may be overly optimistic (which I am rarely accused of being) to suggest that the shine is wearing off the Teach for America brand, it is clear that credible challenges to TFA are being acknowledged more often, including resistance from within the organization itself. Some evidence-based challenges have come from Gary Rubinstein, Katie […]
The New York Emperor Has No Clothes
The parents of NY’s students will have to put an end to the testing regime once and for all, the teachers can no longer protect themselves or the children in their classrooms from this Common Core testing insanity masquerading as education reform. From NYC Public Schools Parents: Shock Doctrine: five reasons not to trust the […]
Who’s Lying to Whom? Duncan, Bloomberg, and the Rotted Common Core
Yesterday Mike Bloomberg called the new test score basement that all NY schools have rushed into “very good news,” and he blamed the media for noticing that it was happening. With State and City schools–at least the ones with poor kids–once more crushed under the boot (Rochester had 5% of kids passing reading and math) […]
8-7-13 Schools Matter @ The Chalk Face
SCHOOLS MATTER @ THE CHALK FACE: Governor Corbett Handpicked Government Careerist and Education Reform Lobbyist to Head State’s 14 Public Universities? Vote Tomorrow. by Sean Kitchenhttp://www.ragingchickenpress.org/2013/08/06/governor-corbett-handpicked-government-careerist-and-education-reform-lobbyist-to-head-states-14-public-universities-vote-tomorrow/ Governor Corbett has allowed a corporate