Eight education predictions (and some wishful thinking) for 2016 — a teacher’s list
Here is veteran teacher Larry Ferlazzo’s annual list of education predictions for the coming year. Ferlazzo teaches English and Social Studies at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, California. He has written eight bookson education, writes a teacher advice blog for Education Week Teacher and has his own popular resource-sharing blog. Read the 2016 predictions and see what might be wishful thinking. Tell him in the comments what you think he got right or wrong.
By Larry Ferlazzo
A new year is approaching, and most of us always optimistic educators will approach it with gobs of hope, along with some realistic trepidation. Here are some predictions for the coming year – not listed in any particular order.
- Public employee unions, including teachers associations (and the students, families and communities we support), will dodge a bullet that would eviscerate them when the U.S. Supreme Court refuses to support plaintiffs in the Freidrichs case. Unions will win on a deciding vote by – of all people – Justice Scalia.
- Hillary Clinton will win the U.S. presidential election and begin pushing a very different education agenda from the one pushed by President Obama. She will act on her stated opposition to the use of test scores in teacher evaluations and on her reservations about charter schools. And her first step in that direction will be appointing a secretary of education with similar beliefs. That person will be….I have no idea, and it doesn’t sound like many others have a clue, either. Many of the names I’ve heard so far sound great, but seem to fall into the category of “wishful thinking” – Deborah Meier, Linda Darling-Hammond, Pedro Noguera. However, perhaps some of those educators have a better shot than I might think. Martin O’Malley has also been mentioned, though I would think his attacks on Clinton rule him out as a potential appointee.. Who do you think would be on Clinton’s short list?
- The new Chan Zuckerberg Initiative will surprise many of us educators by making initial grant-making that actually supports efforts that agrees with many of our positions. This will be helped by the fact their new chief of Eight education predictions (and some wishful thinking) for 2016 — a teacher’s list - The Washington Post:
