With A Brooklyn Accent:
A Committee to Restore Childhood- Some Principles
With A Brooklyn Accent Go BATs All Week
A Committee to Restore Childhood- Some Principles
Everywhere we look, self-titled "School Reformers" are driving every ounce of joy and spontaneity out of the childhood years.*They are evaluating teachers as early as Pre K and Kindergarten on whether their pedagogy contribute to their charges "college and career readiness."*They are putting so much emphasis on testing in rating schools and teachers thatrecess is disappearing i
Don't Underestimate New York City PUBLIC Schools!
Today, 30 students from a public middle school called West Side Collaborative came to sit in on an upper level undergraduate course I teach, called "The Worker in American Life,." brought by their teacher, Victoria Thomas-Rahiman, who was once my student. I was concerned that they would not be able to participate in the class discussions- which was on Wal-Mart's labor practices and role
APR 10
Common Core Disregards the Lessons of American History.
As a historian, I am acutely aware that debate over the powers of the federal government have been a continuing theme in American History. The US Constitution tried to create a balance between local and federal power and because of this, major interventions of the federal government into sphere of public policy- whether you agree with them or not- usually came as a result of grass roots movements
APR 06
Under Pressure: Does Test Stress at School Added to Economic Stress at Home Constitute a Toxic Combination?
During the last decade, America's public school students have seen a steady increase in the amount of testing they have to endure. As a result of state policies and federal mandates, schools have transformed curricula from Pre-K up to raise scores on standardized tests, and have put immense pressure on teachers to do that, putting their jobs in jeopardy if they fail to do so. All over the nation,
APR 05
A Tale of Two School Systems:
The disparity between the amount of testing taking place in the nation's public schools and between the top private schools where most policy makers and business leaders send their children is simply shocking! Not only do none of these elite schools use Common Core, they never rate their teachers on the basis of student test scores, or use the demeaning Danielson and Marzano rubrics to evaluate te