Monday, September 24, 2012

Schools Matter: Charter Advocacy Misses Point, Misleads

Schools Matter: Charter Advocacy Misses Point, Misleads:


Charter Advocacy Misses Point, Misleads

In an Op-Ed focusing on how the Chicago teachers' strike is relevant to SC education concerns, I offered one point that included a caution about committing to charter schools in our state:
If we want to hold our schools and teachers accountable for the best education we can offer to all children regardless of their backgrounds, we must reject top-down education policy created by political leaders with no experience or expertise in education — notably rejecting Common Core State Standards, teacher evaluations linked to test scores, the expansion of charter schools and the hiring of Teach for America core members.
This prompted an anonymous (as always) comment from The Walrus, including several mean-spirited personal swipes:
Well, as always, Paul is painting with a really broad brush. States with public charter schools have 


SM Welcomes Douglas Storm

Douglas Storm has an MAT from Washington University in St. Louis, and he is certified as an Advanced Practitioner of English/Language Arts  grades 5-12 in the state of Indiana.   He has two boys (10 and nearly-13), and about 5 years ago he came to understand that he is much more of an aural learner than he was previously aware:  

"We live in Bloomington, IN, moving here because we thought it would be fun to live in a college town that is both "small" and "cosmopolitan."  And I have never been so instructed in reading by a book than I have been by Moby Dick."

Welcome, Doug.