NANCY BAILEY: The Racism Behind Firing Librarians and Closing School Libraries

The Racism Behind Firing Librarians and Closing School Libraries

The Racism Behind Firing Librarians and Closing School Libraries

Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.  ~Frederick Douglass

If a school has no school library or a flimsy excuse for a library, students are denied access to books and reading material. They miss opportunities to learn information and become proud of who they are. Look for racism behind the decision.

When school districts diminish school libraries and those who run them, they fail to address the critical issues involving history, civics, and race relations. With all the talk of schools and equity, it’s unconscionable that closing school libraries and firing school librarians are accepted practices.

In May 2020, the Washington D.C. school district passed a $70 million budget increase. In January 2021, the American Rescue Plan infused over $368 million of COVID relief and new aid to DC Schools. Today, school librarians there are begging to keep their jobs. Here’s the petition!

The dismal account of dwindling libraries and librarians is happening across the nation, especially in poor schools and schools with children of color. If your child’s school CONTINUE READING: The Racism Behind Firing Librarians and Closing School Libraries

NANCY BAILEY: Play-Based Learning Isn’t Free Play and May Be Connected to Online Learning

Play-Based Learning Isn’t Free Play and May Be Connected to Online Learning

Play-Based Learning Isn’t Free Play and May Be Connected to Online Learning

The term play-based learning is increasingly used to reference play in school, especially during the past year. Sometimes it’s called purposeful play. Play-based learning is not the same as free play, even though sometimes it is described as such. It also might be used to transform classroom learning to screens.

It’s critical to understand the difference between play-based learning and free play.

One parent blogger says, The term ‘play-based learning’ now evokes in me a much different feeling than it once did. Something like nails on a chalkboard perhaps? Not because I don’t believe in children learning through play, no. But because it appears that the term has been hijacked.

Since No Child Left Behind and high-stakes testing, Race to the Top and Common Core State Standards, play for kindergartens and some preschools has declined. Many teachers have felt pressured to remove classroom play kitchens and the toys children enjoyed. Kindergartens and some preschools have expected children to do more CONTINUE READING: Play-Based Learning Isn’t Free Play and May Be Connected to Online Learning

NANCY BAILEY: Where’s the Biden Administration on School Problems Facing Students, Teachers, and Parents?

Where’s the Biden Administration on School Problems Facing Students, Teachers, and Parents?

Where’s the Biden Administration on School Problems Facing Students, Teachers, and Parents?

The pandemic showed us that public schools are critical. Understandably, Covid-19 has been front and center. But the Biden administration glosses over or is silent on critical school issues. Sometimes these topics are front and center not in a good way in State legislatures or ignored altogether.

Frustrated parents will seek alternatives, and there’s a real risk that public education will be no more.

Where’s the discussion? Here’s a list in alphabetical order. Your suggestions, ideas, or criticisms are welcome.

The Arts

How many children get access to art, music, drama, even dance in their public schools? We know that when students get the arts, they thrive.

Students artistically inclined who don’t get the arts in their schools will go elsewhere if their parents can afford private school. All students should have a quality arts program.

Why is this still an issue?

Charter Schools

The Biden administration mentions the importance of regulating charter schools, but CONTINUE READING: Where’s the Biden Administration on School Problems Facing Students, Teachers, and Parents?

NANCY BAILEY: The Loss That Matters This Mother’s Day

The Loss That Matters This Mother’s Day

The Loss That Matters This Mother’s Day

The loss important to understand this year, the most critical loss, is not learning loss. It involves the loss many children are facing after losing a mom or dad to Covid-19. Or it could be a grandma or grandpa, a beloved aunt or uncle, or sister or brother, even a friend.

On this Mother’s Day, how many children are grieving the loss of their mother? On Father’s Day, how many will be missing their dad?

We’re told that between 37,000 and 43,000 children in the United States have lost at least one parent to COVID-19. According to the University of Southern California, this is a 20% increase in parental loss over a typical year.

A loss will affect how students look at school, how they take tests, and how they recapture a sense of normalcy as school buildings reopen and they gather once again in person if they are not already in the school building. School and life for them will never be the same.

Parental loss due to Covid-19 has been found more in the black community. Children are called Covid Orphans.

Children may be troubled simply due to the fear and anguish caused by the strangeness CONTINUE READING: The Loss That Matters This Mother’s Day

NANCY BAILEY: The Covid-19 Tech v. Teacher Tug of War and Teacher Appreciation

The Covid-19 Tech v. Teacher Tug of War and Teacher Appreciation

The Covid-19 Tech v. Teacher Tug of War and Teacher Appreciation

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week, time to thank a teacher before there are no teachers to thank. Not only did teachers have Covid-19 fears to contend with this past year, keeping their students and themselves safe, but they’ve also gone through a tug of war since the start of the pandemic.

A year ago, teachers were forced to quickly embrace remote learning, to rely on the technology many want to see replace them. What must it be like to know that the machine you’ve been forced to depend on for safety could have your job in the future?

Teachers chose to focus on protecting their students, themselves, and their families from the virus.

But those who have been watching and researching public school “disruption,” who’ve understood for years that elites want the future of education to be online only, reducing teachers to facilitators, were alarmed to see this abrupt reliance on screens due to Covid-19.

They feared the pandemic would lead to nothing but online learning in public schools CONTINUE READING: The Covid-19 Tech v. Teacher Tug of War and Teacher Appreciation

NANCY BAILEY: Will America Invest in Public School Buildings, Finally?

Will America Invest in Public School Buildings, Finally?

Will America Invest in Public School Buildings, Finally?

How will the Biden administration manage a public school facelift? Is $100 billion enough? Will communities see a windfall of funding dedicated to this purpose? Will corporate partnerships help? Will Americans see it as an equity issue?

Covid-19 showed Americans the importance of public schools, but they still might not understand the crumbling conditions found in many of those buildings. How many teachers and students face substandard classrooms?

Epidemiologists and pediatricians continue to speak about classroom mitigation strategies like they’re easy, while teachers frantically describe sealed windows or classrooms with no windows. Overcrowded classrooms make safe instruction unthinkable. Lousy HVAC systems in schools became a national disgrace.

America’s schools have been allowed to deteriorate for years. Even newer school buildings have depreciated due to deferred maintenance. Powerful people want students to prove they can do well on tests, but they don’t consider how the conditions CONTINUE READING: Will America Invest in Public School Buildings, Finally?

NANCY BAILEY: Acceleration: The Meaning Behind the Buzzword

Acceleration: The Meaning Behind the Buzzword

Acceleration: The Meaning Behind the Buzzword

Acceleration is the new pandemic buzzword brought to you by pro-privatization school reformers. Students may have missed some in-person schooling, even though most learned remotely or in person. Still, the frenzy surrounding learning loss is mounting.

The pandemic has given rise to a new way to reframe the old learning gap talk, with new terminology, acceleration. If students have missed out on schoolwork, they’re told they need to accelerate and catch up if they’ve fallen behind.

The fear is that the pandemic will be used as an excuse to push students harder. Poor students will bear the brunt of this, a doubling down on strictness.

But all students are affected when advanced learning disregards a child’s development.

This message has festered for years, starting with No Child Left Behind. Failure was not an option, we were told, as they continually raised the ante. If students did well, the test CONTINUE READING: Acceleration: The Meaning Behind the Buzzword

Nancy Bailey: Why I Write About Students and Public Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog

Nancy Bailey: Why I Write About Students and Public Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog

Nancy Bailey: Why I Write About Students and Public Schools

Nancy Bailey is a retired teacher and a terrific blogger. She and I co-authored a book called EdSpeak and DoubleTalk: A Glossary to Decipher Hypocrisy and Save Public Schooling. We have never met in person but I asked her to help me revise a similar book that I published a decade earlier; it had become obsolete. Now it is the go-to book to understand education jargon and decipher hoaxes. It was a joy to work with her. Nancy wrote this post for me while I was out of commission having surgery.

Why I Write About Students and Public Schools

Democratic Public Schools

Ensuring that the public has access to good public schools after Covid-19 is more critical than ever. We cannot go back to continuous high-stakes testing and schools that punish teachers and students, especially our youngest learners. Schools should also not be allowed to continue to collect unregulated data through online CONTINUE READING: Nancy Bailey: Why I Write About Students and Public Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog

NANCY BAILEY: President Biden’s Infrastructure Plan Should Include Teachers! Here’s Why

President Biden’s Infrastructure Plan Should Include Teachers! Here’s Why

President Biden’s Infrastructure Plan Should Include Teachers! Here’s Why

It’s good that President Biden is focusing on updating school buildings in his infrastructure plan. But there’s another crisis his administration should address. America needs a national movement to get well-prepared teachers into our public school classrooms.

The teaching profession has been in crisis mode for years. Much of this crisis has been generated by wealthy groups and individuals, venture philanthropists, who want to see technology replace teachers. They often use the term equity, but real equity isn’t found on a computer. Children need to see diversity face-to-face in the classroom, including real teachers of color.

It’s time to restore dignity to the profession and ensure that every child has access to qualified teachers, teachers who look like they do, care about what and how they learn like children should be cared about. Who are willing to choose teaching as a long-time career. Students need to know that their teachers are committed to them for the long haul.

This should include revisiting the Every Student Succeeds Act.

From Educational Leadership:

The Highly Qualified Teacher requirements (which stipulated that you must hold at least a bachelor’s degree from a four-year institution, be fully certificated or licensed by the state, and demonstrate competence in each core academic subject area in which CONTINUE READING: President Biden’s Infrastructure Plan Should Include Teachers! Here’s Why