Curmudgucation: Feds Tells SCOTUS To Let Charter School Remain Public Curmudgucation: Feds Tells SCOTUS To Let Charter School Remain Public I have written more than I care to about the Peltier v. Charter Day School case, a case that is nominally about an antediluvian dress code but has ended up hinging on a bigger question– are charter schools really public schools?  Charter Day School says no. Afte…

Radical Eyes for Equity: The Paradox of Fostering Community Norms in the Classroom in an Era of Indoctrination Histrionics Radical Eyes for Equity: The Paradox of Fostering Community Norms in the Classroom in an Era of Indoctrination Histrionics After 18 years teaching high school English, I transitioned to higher education in 2002. For well over a decade, I have been teaching first-year writing to incoming college students, who in many ways struggle w…

Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: Policymakers Err Time and Again about Classroom Teaching Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: Policymakers Err Time and Again about Classroom Teaching As a result of living in a different world than teachers do, policymakers make a serious error. Too often, they confuse teacher quality with teaching quality, that is, the personal traits of teachers—dedicated, caring, greg…

Janresseger: Can We Unlearn the Test-and-Punish Lexicon No Child Left Behind Taught Us and Demand Reform? Janresseger: Can We Unlearn the Test-and-Punish Lexicon No Child Left Behind Taught Us and Demand Reform? I have been reading Beyond ESSA, a new report from the National Education Policy Center and the Beyond Test Scores Project, a new report on an old, old subject: the deep and abiding problems with test-based school accountabilit…

Teacher in a Strange Land: Learning to Read in Middle School Teacher in a Strange Land: Learning to Read in Middle School I am fascinated by the increasing politicization—no other word for it—of reading instruction. How to best teach reading has always been contentious in the United States, from the 1950s look-say method featuring Dick and Jane, accused of letting Ivan slip ahead of us in th…

Answer Sheet: The Big Problem(s) With Grades Answer Sheet: The Big Problem(s) With Grades In the early 20th Century, K-12 schools began developing and implementing systems to grade students, with many of them adopting what was already in use in some colleges and universities — the A-F system. Students have been complaining about them ever since, and education historians have…

Progressive Magazine: How Community Schools Can Transform Parent Involvement for the Better Progressive Magazine: How Community Schools Can Transform Parent Involvement for the Better Both common sense and research seem to conclude that parent involvement matters a lot for student success and even for improving schools in general. According to the U.S. Department of Education’s analysis of parent involvement and education…

David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing: The Dysfunctional Pursuit of Relevance in Educational Research David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing: The Dysfunctional Pursuit of Relevance in Educational Research In this paper, I explore the issue of relevance in educational research. I argue that the chronic efforts by researchers to pursue relevance is counterproductive. Paradoxically, trying to make research more relevant actu…

Gary Rubinstein’s Blog: A New Low for TFA: Some Trainees Only Get About 11 Hours of Student Teaching. Gary Rubinstein’s Blog: A New Low for TFA: Some Trainees Only Get About 11 Hours of Student Teaching. Teach For America’s teacher training has always been the weakest spot of an organization that has no shortage of weak spots. Ask any teacher what the most useful part of their training was and they will tell you that it was their s…

Diane Ravitch’s Blog: Florida: Vouchers Pay for TVs, Disney Passes, and Water Sports Diane Ravitch’s Blog: Florida: Vouchers Pay for TVs, Disney Passes, and Water Sports The Orlando Sentinel reported that the $8,000 voucher handed out to every student in a non-public school may be used for non-educational purchases. Florida endorsed universal vouchers so family income doesn’t matter. Rich families get vouchers too …

10th Period: Vouchers Keeping Public School Kids Starved of Funding 10th Period: Vouchers Keeping Public School Kids Starved of Funding Amazingly, in districts where 87% of EdChoice voucher kids reside, 100% of the state’s continued public school funding shortfall has occurred.   You don’t see these correlations much. But when you do, it requires attention. In the state budget, the legislature cont…

Curmudgucation: Advocacy, Journalism, and the Science of Reading Curmudgucation: Advocacy, Journalism, and the Science of Reading My position in the reading wars is pretty simple: The person who claims that one particular approach to reading instruction, codified in law and disseminated through teacher-proof scripted program-in-a-box instruction, will successfully turn every single child into a …

Ed in the Apple: A Magic Bullet: The Key to Teaching Children How to Read Ed in the Apple: A Magic Bullet: The Key to Teaching Children How to Read On the Tuesday after Labor Day teachers in New York City return to school. For some, a few weeks vacation after teaching summer school, others, taking college courses required for certification or working in a camp, or getting reacquainted with their own fami…

Nancy Bailey’s Education Website: Is Mississippi Shifting to Online Teacher Education with Reading Universe? Nancy Bailey’s Education Website: Is Mississippi Shifting to Online Teacher Education with Reading Universe? Switching from face-to-face, in-person public education to computer screens is concerning. It’s happening in K12 and appears to be driving privatization with teacher education at the university level. The Science of Reading …

Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: Parents Saying No to Smartphones (Olivia Reingold) (Guest Post by Olivia Reingold) Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: Parents Saying No to Smartphones (Olivia Reingold) (Guest Post by Olivia Reingold) “Olivia Reingold co-created and executive produced Matthew Yglesias’s podcast, “Bad Takes.” She got her start in public radio, regularly appearing on NPR for her reporting on indigenous communities…

Teacher in a Strange Land: Things That Make Teachers Go Hmmm Teacher in a Strange Land: Things That Make Teachers Go Hmmm For flat-out exhausted teachers, finishing a school year filled with unjust accusations and pointless restrictions, the headline must seem ludicrous: Want to Make $100,000 a Year? Here’s Where You Should Apply. Turns out it’s a charter school in Detroit, and the spiel ini…

Gadfly on the Wall: Teaching Blind Obedience is Child Abuse Gadfly on the Wall: Teaching Blind Obedience is Child Abuse My daughter is not a little soldier. She does not jump at my orders. She can be rude, crude and badly behaved. But I wouldn’t want her any other way – because the alternative is worse. The same goes for my middle school students. If you enter my classroom, you may find som…

Janresseger: New Oklahoma Religious Charter School Will Once Again Test the Constitution’s Protection of the Separation of Church and State Janresseger: New Oklahoma Religious Charter School Will Once Again Test the Constitution’s Protection of the Separation of Church and State Charter schools are privately operated, publicly funded schools that serve children in grades K-12 in 45 states.  While charter schools may use private philanthropic grants to fund some of thei…

Curmudgucation: Teach for America Is Rebranding Again (Again) Curmudgucation: Teach for America Is Rebranding Again (Again) Teach For America is announcing its new “brand identity,” and it’s…well, not great.  The announcement, nominally by TFA honchos Elisa Villaneueva Beard, is a word salad with a dressing of corporate argle bargle: This view is moving and remarkable, and it has called us …

Nancy Bailey’s Education Website: Problem-Solving Through Play: What Children Miss With Age-Inappropriate Expectations Nancy Bailey’s Education Website: Problem-Solving Through Play: What Children Miss With Age-Inappropriate Expectations Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood. ~Fred Rogers Lately, when do children get chances to solve p…