Support Declines for Charters and Vouchers, Especially Among DemocratsCarol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education, reports the heartening news that support for school choice has declined in the latest poll by EdNext. EdNext is a pro-choice journal funded by the Hoover Institution and of there pro-choice organizations and individuals. Support for Charters and Vouchers Has Dropped Despite the myth that the pandemic resulted in an increased ap
Mercedes Schneider: After the StormMercedes Schneider teaches high school English in Louisiana. Here is her report on life after Hurricane Ida: Hurricane Ida hit four days ago. I’m able to post this using my phone, which I can recharge by plugging into 200 feet of extension cord coming from my neighbors’ house. (They installed a generator that runs on natural gas just two weeks ago.) it’s 85 degrees in my house, but as a result of
NPE Re-Schedules Annual Meeting Due to COVIDDue to the resurgence of COVID, the Network for Public Education has rescheduled its annual conference, which was planned for October in Philadelphia. Safety first! NPE Re-schedules Conference for March 2022 and More We are so disappointed to announce that we need to re-schedule our NPE/NPE Action conference until next spring. However, we are happy to announce that we have secured a new date– Mar
Bishop Sycamore High School: Is It Real or Is It Memorex?This is one of the stranger stories of the year. ESPN broadcast a high school football game, having been convinced that one of the teams–Bishop Sycamore–contained some amazing recruits. After Bishop Sycamore lost by a whopping 58-0, ESPN checked out the school and couldn’t find any hard evidence that it exists. To the extent that the school exists, it is located (or not) in Ohio, where the Republ
San Diego: Online Charters Score Near BottomOnline charters have a history of poor performance: high attrition rates, low graduation rates, low test scores. Will Huntsberry of the Voice of San Diego reports here that online charters w ere once again among the lowest performing schools in that city. Huntsberry writes: Virtual charter schools – as well as other charters that don’t use traditional brick-and-mortar classrooms – performed among
Jesse Hagopian: Teach TruthJesse Hagopian is a high school teacher in Seattle and a leader of the Black Lives Matter movement. This column appeared on Valerie Strauss’ blog, The Answer Sheet, at the Washington Post. . I must be honest. I haven’t been this scared about beginning the school year since I was a kindergartner clutching my mom’s hand on the first day of school. As a teacher in the Seattle Public Schools, I know
North Carolina: Republicans Push Law to Prevent “Indoctrination”Republican leaders in North Carolina, who hold a majority in the General Assembly, but not the Governorship, suspect that liberal teachers are “indoctrinating” their students. Since they won control of the legislature, Republicans have passed legislation for charters and vouchers and displayed an animus for public schools and their teachers. Does it occur to them that the citizens of NC would not
Darrell Moss: Pay Attention to Brain Research to Improve the Lives of AdolescentsDarrell Moss became concerned about the number of adolescents who died in automobile accidents and began to research brain development. He is not an educator nor a medical expert, but he asked if he could share his findings. He wrote the following. To teachers, This paper is not intended to tell any of you how to teach. It does, however, make recommendations of what I believe should be added to t
Peter Greene: What If Every Teacher Had Staff?Peter Greene was reading a sports column and saw a reference to the coach’s staff. This reference sent him on a flight of fancy: what if every teacher had a staff? What if every teacher had a secretary, an assistant, her own copying machine? He knows it’s a fantasy, but what if?
Steve Hinnefeld: The Absurd Misuse of HistorySteve Hinnefeld lives in Indiana. He was taken aback recently to hear anti-maskers comparing themselves to leaders of the civil rights movement. He says we know just enough history to get it wrong. He wrote: Last week, the Bloomington Herald-Times reported on one of the many fights that have erupted over whether students should wear face coverings to limit the spread of COVID-19. A father told th
ACLU: Mask Bans Are Unfair to Students with DisabilitiesThe American Civil Liberties Union filed suit against the state of South Carolina for its law banning mask mandates, on grounds that such a ban jeopardizes students with disabilities. The ACLU released the following explanation: Right now, schools are resuming during yet another pandemic surge. And in some states, instead of working to keep students and teachers safe, lawmakers are deliberately r
Ottawa County, Michigan: Anti-Maskers Disrupt County Commissioners’ MeetingThe state of Michigan allows school districts to determine their policies on masking, which is a terrible idea since it politicizes decisions in each district. The decision about masking and vaccinations should be made by public health professionals, not laymen. In Ottawa, Michigan, a crowd of hundreds of anti-maskers showed up to a meeting of the County Commission to protest the decision by the
Tragedy in AfghanistanI am not a foreign policy expert. Some who read this blog are experienced military veterans, and your views are far better informed than mine. I am sharing my personal opinion here. I welcome you to respond. Trump made a deal with the Taliban to withdraw all American forces from Afghanistan by May 2020. Biden inherited that agreement and shifted the exit date to August 31, 2021. Knowing that we w
California: The Gripping Story of One School Bus Trying to Escape the Paradise FireI read this excerpt from a new book , published in the Washington Post , and was mesmerized by the account. The book’s author is Lizzie Johnson, a Post reporter. I hope the Post will forgive me for reprinting it. I promise to delete the post if they object. Read it while you can and buy the book to make amends for reading this preview. Subscribe to the Washington Post so you can see the pictures
Only Girls’ Boarding School in Afghanistan Successfully Escapes the TalibanThe entire student body and staff of Afghanistan’s only girls’ boarding school—about 250 people— managed to escape. CNN reported: “Last week, we completed the departure from Kabul of nearly 250 students, faculty, staff, and family members,” said Shabana Basij-Rasikh, who co-founded the School of Leadership Afghanistan (SOLA) in the Afghan capital “Everyone is en route, by way of Qatar, to the nat
States and Districts Impose Bans on “Critical Race Theory”: Why They Should NotState legislatures and even school districts are banning ”critical race theory,” typically based on misinformation about what it is and what it isn’t. The laws and bans are sweeping, and many teachers assume they are prohibiting discussions of racism, slavery, the KKK, or anything that might make white students feel uncomfortable. Where such views become law, the accurate teaching of American and
George Washington Was First to Mandate VaccinationsTo all those patriots out there who are “resisting” mandates for vaccines and masks, please read this. George Washington was not only “First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen,” he was also first to impose a vaccine mandate. A reader called “Quikwrit” sent the following comment, which I fact-checked. It is true. The United States Supreme Court has twice ruled that s
Florida: Judge Throws Out DeSantis Ban on Mask MandatesA circuit court judge in Leon County, Florida, ruled that Governor Ron DeSantis had exceeded his authority by preventing local school districts from mandating masks. Governor DeSantis must not interfere with the right of school districts to protect the health and safety of students. Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP) — School districts in Florida may impose mask mandates, a judge said Friday, ruling that
Leonie Haimson: Columnists at NY Times Report on Gates Projects While Benefitting from Gates’ $$$Following Tim Schwab’s investigation of financial conflicts of interest at the New York Times, Leonie Haimson describes her efforts to persuade editors at the Newspaper of Record to address a serious ethics issue at the New York Times . Timothy Schwab has written a series of must-read pieces about the overriding influence of the Gates Foundation on public policy, and how the Foundation influences
Tim Schwab: The Puzzling Rules about Financial Ties of Writers at the New York TimesTim Schwab, an independent journalist, has written several articles about the Gates Foundation and its canny strategy of subsidizing the media to assure favorable coverage. In his latest article , he describes how the New York Times has shielded two journalists with financial ties to the Gates Foundation. The Times apparently has a double standard. Earlier this year, BuzzFeed reported that Times’
