Are These The Last Days Of Public School
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I know there's not a great deal of overlap between Robert Pondiscio's
audience and mine, but this one is worth reading for a non-raving example
of how th...
Yes, Superintendent Jones is Leaving SPS
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Via SPS Communications:
*Dear SPS Families and Staff, *
*After much reflection and heartfelt conversations, I have decided to
conclude my tenure as su...
Trump Wipes Out NCES in Department of Education
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Trump or Musk or a bunch of kids who work for DOGE decided that the U.S.
doesn’t need to collect statistics or conduct research about the condition
of educ...
WHILE DEMOCRATS SLEPT
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*WHILE DEMOCRATS SLEPT*
*A Chamberlain-esque Stumble into the Political Abyss*
History, as they say, has a way of repeating itself—though sometimes it
...
Eat Your Veggies!
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A parent pointed out that her son was eating raw kale that he had picked
from the playground garden. "He won't touch it at home, but here, he
devours it...
ALA Responds to Cut in Library Funding
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The library is the fountain of knowledge. From a fountain of knowledge
flows critical thinking. From critical thinking flows democracy. From
democracy...
Silent and Powerless Against Trump’s Tyranny
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There are reasons why influential or knowledgeable Americans are staying
silent as the worsening fascist dictatorship of the Trumpsters and
Musketeers ge...
Building the Resistance
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Our fight for democracy is not about left or right, or who you voted for -
it's about who gets to live with dignity. Right now, greedy oligarchs think
our ...
A School Reformer’s Worst Nightmare
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Each of us has had nightmares in our lifetimes. Here is my fantasy about a
school reformer’s worst nightmare. I am in a classroom. The doors are
locked. Th...
On Tyranny: Lessons for Educators 3
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Reflections on the short yet deep book of Timothy Snyder. Beware one-party
states. The parties that remade states and suppressed rivals were not
omnipotent...
On Tyranny: Lessons for Educators 3
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Reflections on the short yet deep book of Timothy Snyder. Beware one-party
states. The parties that remade states and suppressed rivals were not
omnipotent...
Eve of Destruction: How Close Are We?
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From a brilliant essay with scholarly references by Laurie Winer, on
Timothy Snyder’s Substack: As we brace for further actions from a cabinet
catering to ...
SHAME -Not only but especially Schumer
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Enough Democratic Senators just blew it. Totally.
Let me explain why I think that.
I am very much aware that this “cave” will cost support, possibly eve...
Poem: sometimes she would forget (solitary garden)
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[Header Photo by Arno Smit on Unsplash] sometimes she would forgetand begin
to draw intentlyin the head of her beerwith her little finger nailpainted
dark ...
Poem: sometimes she would forget (solitary garden)
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[Header Photo by Arno Smit on Unsplash] sometimes she would forgetand begin
to draw intentlyin the head of her beerwith her little finger nailpainted
dark ...
March to Stop the Cuts
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Saturday 3/15/25, Foley Square, 11AM About this event Right-wing
politicians in Washington are moving forward with devastating proposals to
cut two trillio...
Movement to Destroy American Democracy
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By Thomas Ultican 3/12/2025 Author Katherine Stewart is a friend of mine.
OK, we are not bosom buddies and have only met face to face once briefly.
However...
What’s YOUR ‘Side Hustle’?
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While the term “Side Hustle” has kind of a sneaky quality, it’s actually an
honorable term, basically a second source of income. Here in the USA,
about 39...
Will we learn from history?
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I am reading Unredacted by Christopher Steele. Steele’s famous dossier was
a warning to all of us. Unfortunately, not enough of us listened. In his
book on...
February’s Parent Engagement Resources
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OPINION: Parents have way more influence than they realize in shaping their
children’s success is from The Hechinger Report. From Haircuts to Home
Language...
Are we all on the same team?
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Copied from Quora; I didn’t write any of this… As an American I ask my
fellow Americans, why can’t you realize at the end of the day we are all on
the same...
Possible Conflict of Interest for Paul Egan?
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The ABC Caucus is running on transparency, which is refreshing. However, it
appears ABC is only being transparent when it suits itself. "Meet the new
bos...
Who is the new CEO of Teach For America?
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From 1990 until 2013, the CEO of TFA was the founder, Wendy Kopp. Under her
leadership the program grew from a small organization that struggled to
make pa...
Site Index - Updated December 31, 2024
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When I was teaching,
I got tired of hearing how bad American educators were.
*My Promise *
WHEN I STARTED BLOGGING IN 2011, I said I planned to speak ...
Defining Productivity, Cost, and Efficiency
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Recycled material here… The central problem with US public schools is often
characterized as an efficiency problem. We spend a lot and don’t get much
for i...
Number 18 — A barely-hanging-on Blogoversary
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Blogoversary #18 SEPTEMBER 14, 2006 I started this blog while I was still
teaching, in 2006. I had just begun my 31st year as an educator. Just like
in pre...
Student "Growth" Measures Are STILL Biased
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This caught my attention:
New Jersey school districts may soon be evaluated differently, *with a
greater emphasis on student growth* as compared to stud...
AIN’T IT AWFUL
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As the terrible feelings of dread and angst spread across the world the
great majority of the American people feel powerless before the onslaught
of those ...
Vote NO on the UFT Contract. Here is Why:
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The best reason to vote no on this contract is this: UFT Unity* lied* to us
in 2018. They misrepresented that contract. It was predicated on deals we
wer...
Metaphors in ‘I Have a Dream’ Speech
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In this article, we will explore the powerful use of metaphors in Martin
Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” ...
Read more
Testimony to the CPS Truancy Task Force
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I prepared testimony for one of two public hearings held by the Chicago
Public Schools Truancy Task Force, a body mandated by state legislation.
The meetin...
There Is A Teacher Shortage.Not.
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THERE IS A TEACHER SHORTAGE. And just to be sure you understand, it’s not
that teachers don’t want to teach. It’s not that there aren’t enough
teachers cer...
Book Banning Turns to Dick and Jane
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Breaking News: Dateline February 4, 2022 - Parents in Dimwitty, Alabama
have asked the Dimwitty Board of Education to ban the children's primer *Fun
with...
Have You Heard Has a New Website
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TweetHave You Heard has a new website. Visit us at
www.haveyouheardpodcast.com to find our latest episodes and our entire
archive. And be sure to check out...
Follow me at Substack
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I've moved. Follow me at Substack
I'm now posting regularly at Substack. You can subscribe for free to my new
Edu/Pol blog at michaelklonsky.substack.com
...
Aspiring Teachers Get New Help Paying For College
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[image: colorful classroom pattern]
*; Credit: shuoshu/Getty Images*
Cory Turner | NPR
New rules kick in today that will help aspiring teachers pay for c...
Tips Akses Situs Judi Qq Tanpa Perlu Takut Nawala
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Kegiatan berjudi slot melalui situs judi qq online, sekarang sudah
dilakukan oleh banyak penjudi Indonesia. Tentu, Kamu yang sedang membaca
artikel ini a...
The Threat of Integration
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I have lived in the same house in the Miracle Mile section of Los Angeles
for over 30 years, where up until now I have had little or no interaction
with th...
We fight for a democracy worthy of us all!
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The nation stands at a crossroads, said NEA President Lily Eskelsen García
in her final keynote address to the 2020 NEA Representative Assembly and
it’s up...
The Passing Of Chaz 1951-2020 Age 69
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I am the son of Chaz and like to inform you that he passed away this
afternoon from the COVID virus. My father passed in peace beside his loved
ones. We ar...
The Fight For Our Children
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*The number of suicides among people ages 10 to 24 nationally increased by
56 percent between 2007 and 2017, according to a new federal report showing
the ...
Read to Self: Just a Kid and a Book.
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Date: Monday, January 5, 2020 Place: My classroom Student: Mrs.Mims, could
we start doing Read to Self again because I got this great book for
Christmas an...
Keeping Progressive Schools Alive
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Dear Friends and Colleagues, Happy New Year and a special thanks to those
who respond to past blogs about choice, et al. I always mean to respond to
each c...
Reminiscences
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I just finished dumping the rest of my lesson plans. I guess I held on to
the calculus ones for so long because I spent so much time working on them
an...
Just Asking for some Teachers I know.
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Recently Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers stated, We must … recognize that
part of supporting our kids in the classroom means supporting the educators
who t...
Cara Menang Bermain Judi Bola Online
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Bermain judi bola online tentu saja memiliki kesenangannya tersendiri baik
itu mendapatkan keuntungan maupun ketika menantikan hasil skor pada sebuah
perta...
A Critique of Standards-Based Grading
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It first happened to me about ten years ago. I was beginning my third year
of teaching in a new school in Washington, DC. Social studies teachers were
si...
My First and Last Visit to Hudson Yards
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Figuring I did not need to invite any more darkness and vulgarity into my
head than that provided on a daily basis from Trump’s White House, and
after read...
Reduced time for testing? Not so fast.
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NYSED and Commish Elia continue to say that the NYS Assessments are of
reasonable length, I completely disagree.
Here is what NYSED states are average expe...
The World According to Michelle Rhee
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The men behind the curtain fashioning the brave new world of corporate run
education in America! Michelle Rhee is the founder of StudentsFirst, The
New T...
Whose Opinions Matter in Education World?
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It's hard to identify education heroes and sheroes. And perhaps even harder
to pinpoint just whose work is slanted, paid-for and dishonest.
Blockchain: Life on the Ledger
-
Originally posted on Wrench in the Gears:
I created this video as a follow up to the one I prepared last year on
Social Impact Bonds. It is time to examine...
New Local Businesses in Sacramento
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Starting a new local business in Sacramento is a monumental task, but can
be accomplished with footwork, perseverance and knowledge. One must learn
the loc...
Lesson Plan: Rhyme and Rhythm in Poetry
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I’ve started a recent unit on poetry with my class. I’m not a poet, and I’m
not a poetry fan (I don’t hate it, but I’m a prose gal), so this makes it
harde...
The Apotheosis of Betsy DeVos
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Betsy Devos has drawn few headlines in recent months, and that is a good
thing for the Secretary of Education. Her tenure began with Vice President
Mike P...
Education Is a Civic Question
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In their final post to end Bridging Differences' decade-long run, Deborah
Meier and Harry Boyte urge readers to put the energy, talents, wisdom, and
hard w...
Site News: New Home for Education News & Commentary
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Quick! Get over there! The daily education news roundup and education
commentaries that you're probably looking for are now being published over
at The Gra...
Should We Be Grateful?
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In an odd turn of events, and with little explanation, Michigan Governor
Rick Snyder has decided to return the state’s School Reform Office back to
the Dep...
An Open Letter to NC Lawmakers
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An Open Letter to NC State Lawmakers and NC State Superintendent Mark
Johnson: I am a NC native, voter, and public school teacher. I am
addressing you all ...
The Secret to Fixing Schools (My Next Bestseller)
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The Secret to Fixing Schools (My next bestseller) Prologue I just finished
watching a fascinating documentary on Netflix entitled, “The Secret”. The
film p...
Farewell, Sleep
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Today is the official last day of my spring break. I've done a scientific
survey: My natural bedtime is 2 AM, and my natural wake up time is 9:41
AM. Tom...
REPORT: States With the Best and Worst Schools
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States With the Best (and Worst)Schools
By *Evan Comen, Michael B. Sauter, Samuel Stebbins and Thomas C. Frohlich*
January 20, 2017- http://247wallst.com
...
Test Refusal = People Power
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In recent months, social media has been ablaze with talk of regular folk
taking action to resist the Trump agenda. Protests are a daily occurrence,
and ev...
Random Musings and Observations. . . .
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I’ve been gone a while from the blogging scene. Some of my more regular
readers no doubt noticed but did not hassle me about it. Thank you for
that. Sinc...
AB 934: A LEGISLATIVE FIX FOR VERGARA?
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By Michael Stratford | in the Politco Morning Education Report | via email
05/24/2016 10:00 AM EDT :: Two national education groups are backing a
Califor...
MY NEW BLOG
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My new blog will consist of fictitious headlines, meant to be a blend of
humor and satire. I apologize ahead of time if any other satirical site has
simila...
Thank you
-
Dear Readers,
Thank you for visiting *The Perimeter Primate*. This blog is being retired
for the time being. Although I no longer post here, I do still s...
I am Retiring
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I have some news: I am retiring from the PBS NewsHour and Learning Matters.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other
conte...
New Beginnings: Kickstarter and EdWeek Teacher
-
Greetings to InterACT readers one and all! If you’ve been following posts
here recently you might recall that I’m moving my blogging activity to
other loca...
Adelaide L. Sanford Charter School
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*“With Adelaide L. Sanford Charter School closing, Newark families must
move on.”* The Star-Ledger (NJ), 6/25/2013
NEWARK — Bobby and Troy Shanks saw the...
Back in mid-December, Bill Gates blogged about the top six good news stories of 2015. It's a fair enough list except for one notable and head-scratching inclusion.
Items on the list include:
* Africa went a year without a single polio case. * Neil deGrasse Tyson won an award and made a bad-ass short speech in support of science * The Nobel Prize went to developers of a cure for a widespread disease for the poor * Mobile banking did really well in Kenya * Rubella appears to have been wiped out in the Americas
And those are all pretty good news stories, even if they aren't particularly sexy or mainstream media-ready. But the list also includes this item (at spot #4)
* Khan Academy offers free SAT prep
First of all, unless you have access to a free computer with free internet connections, the Khan Academy materials are not "free."
Second, I have even better news-- nobody needs to take the damn SAT in the first place! The SAT test is a product produced by a for-profit corporation; why Gates wants to include a advertisement for that company in the midst of his "good news" is a puzzler. Not only that, but it is the number two product of its type, in the midst of a redesign to claw back some market share from the ACT.
There are so many odd assumptions buried here, not the least of which is the idea that everyone should go to college and everyone needs to take the SAT to get there.
In the 1940's the Office of Strategic Services was the US precursor to the CIA, collecting information and taking covert action in support of US interests overseas.
Well, now you, too, can enjoy the secrets of subterfuge by perusing the 1944 OSS classic, Simple Sabotage Field Manual. I am not making this up. Last year the CIA de-classified the manual, and you can now give it a read. It's actually a brief thirty-four pamphlet-sized pages, and while I've read it, you may well want to take a look. Does it have applications in the education world? Oh, my. Yes.
First, what audience was such a manual designed for?
Sabotage varies from highly technical coup de main acts that require detailed planning and the use of specially-trained operatives, to innumerable simple acts which the ordinary individual citizen-saboteur can perform. This paper is primarily concerned with the latter type.
No special equipment is involved; no high risk is faced. Just simple things you can do to screw up an enterprise with ordinary tools you'll find lying around the house.
The manual contains some words about motivating the civilian saboteur-- making him feel he's part of a larger cause, fighting destructive foes. But then we get to the fun-- the specific techniques.
The most simple principle is reversing thinking-- you can screw up an enterprise just by being lazy and careless. Let your tools get dull. Make dumb mistakes at work. "Frequently you can 'get away' with such acts under the cover of pretending stupidity, ignorance, over-caution, fear of being Simple Sabotage (h/t CIA)
This came out back in August, but this Guardian piece by Barbara Ehrenreich (Nickled and Dimed) reflecting on how most writing about poverty is done by people who are anything but poor-- this is well worth the read.
Another non-education piece, but in the process of talking about the meltdown of the Occupy movement by an insider, this has much to say about how movements can lose their way,
Paul Thomas's brain lives at he intersection of deep thinking and pop culture, and consequently he produces pieces that nobody else can. Here he takes a look at The Martian and what it tells us about just who is worth time, effort and expense to save. Staring Down Goliath
Super profile of Justin Oakley, the Just Let Me Teach wristbands, and his new message to teachers-- Vote. Or. Die.
At educarenow, Bill Boyle takes a look at the language of deficit and how a few simple word choices signal a serious problem in approaching the "problems" of schools.