Those Were The Days (and are they B-A-A-A-CK?): A Lightning Tour of The Math Wars (sort of)
Someone commented recently that she maybe she was too young and naive at the time but she didn’t recall so much controversy resulting from the publication of the 1989 NCTM Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics. What follows is in part my reply and resulting reflections. No, there wasn’t so much controversy at first. It […]
Douglas County: The Cavalry is Coming!
Douglas County, Colorado is one to watch. For too long, an aggressively unprofessional school board has been playing politics with the schools, rather than concerning themselves with serving the community’s children. Now, an important election is coming up, and it can change the current destructive course with four board seats being contested. I had the […]
The Recovery School District Optical Illusion
The charter-promoting organization, New Schools for New Orleans (NSNO) wants its charters to prosper. Its website proudly advertises a hefty $25 million grant from the Arnold Foundation– as in John Arnold, former Enron trader who made off with $3 billion while most employees lost their pensions. In order to sell the charter success image, NSNO offers the public “proof” […]
Orwellian Obama or Russell Brand?
In late spring, I posted a video of Tupac Shakur because I was impressed with his clarity, especially against the sad state of public commentary by our elected officials concerning education. Now I ask a follow up question: Do you prefer Orwellian Obama or actor Russell Brand? Please watch and decide:
Bullying by Numbers: Value-Added Measures
If you’ve been paying attention, you know that the evaluation focus for public education has moved quickly away from students and rapidly towards teachers and schools. The propaganda is everywhere, and too many people are convinced by the mantra, “the greatest factor of student success is the teacher in the classroom.” I don’t know who […]
10-28-13 @ The Chalk Face
@ THE CHALK FACE: Is This Why AFT Leadership Sold Its Members Up The Common Core River? It’s pretty widely known by now that American Federation of Teachers (AFT) received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, leading many to question the motives of AFT leadership in their silent acquiescence to the gods of Common Core. But apparently there may be more reasons as well. My friend an