New Extremists In The Education Debate
For people who like to think of themselves as being “exceptional,” Americans can sometimes abandon the very principles their exceptionality is founded on. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the current debate of education policy. A feature that has long made America’s public school system exceptional for sure is its governance through democratically elected [...]
Mayor De Blasio Has It Right On Charter Schools
It was Monday morning, and the folks at Morning Joe were already steamed. Joe Scarborough had his Very Serious scowl face on while Mika Brzezinski’s eyes were flashing with poised rage. Their target: newly elected New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio who had arrived for the ritual grilling now so popular on broadcast television. [...]
Options In The Standoff Over Test-Based Education Policy
What happens when people feel they aren’t being listened to? They raise their voices louder. For some time now, teachers, parents, and students have spoken out against the extraordinary emphasis on standardized testing that has become the bedrock of the nation’s education policies. Critics have questioned the whole idea that teaching and learning is a [...]
Education Spring ‘Year Of Action’ Revs Up
When President Barak Obama, in his State of the Union address, called for a “year of action,” he probably didn’t have this in mind. An extensive and diverse coalition of forces opposed to the education policies pushed by his administration, and many state governors, is organizing on an unprecedented scale to spur a variety of [...]
When Being ‘For The Kids’ Doesn’t Do Much Good
Last week, NBC News reported about a school near St. Louis that conducted an “active shooter drill” in which campus law officers and teachers instruct high schoolers on what to do “when you get shot.” “‘Close your fingers and keep ‘em in,’” they were told, because, “’When the bad guy and the police come through, [...]
Why False Compromises Won’t Resolve The Education Debate
Legend has, political disputes are supposed to be resolvable only when parties “meet in the middle” and shake hands on points of agreement that are possible. But in the much-contested issue of “education reform,” only one of the disputing parties in the debate tends to be implored to seek compromise. The latest example of this [...]
Hey Congress, Show Us The Money For Pre-K
If our nation’s leaders made policy decisions on actual evidence, this matter would have been addressed a long time ago. This “matter” is the increasingly desperate state of the nation’s youngest children and the callousness in the way they’re being treated in our austerity-loving, market competitive culture. There’s also evidence there is something we could [...]
What Could Be Wrong With ‘School Choice’?
Everyone loves “choice,” right? In a country where in a single year there are more than 100 new choices for what to use to brush your teeth, it stands to reason that maximizing “choice” might be a goal for all kinds of enterprises. With that in mind, this week brought us “National School Choice Week” [...]
Why Common Core Advocates Should Let Teachers Lead It
Now that ed-heads have had a chance to make their “what to expect in 2014″ prognostications, it’s evident that one of the most tumultuous issues – perhaps the most tumultuous – for the year ahead is the fate of the Common Core State Standards. The Common Core – academic standards in math and English language [...]
The Beginning Of An End To Sanction-Driven Education?
Last week, the Obama administration took an important step for the well being of the nation’s youth – especially those who are of racial minorities – by issuing new guidelines that many hope will shut down what has come to be known as “the school-to-prison pipeline.” This action – welcome, for sure – constitutes a [...]
