News and Commentary

The Rich and Powerful
Diane Ravitch talks about some issues in public education...and the fact that those opposed to public education include the richest people in the country (billionaires Eli Broad and Bill Gates, for example) and the most powerful people in the country (President Obama and Secretary of Ed Arne Duncan). Together the rich and powerful have decided that "school reform" = privatization.

Diane Ravitch: Schools for $Sale: Inquire at U.S. DOE

Central Falls Teachers Rehired
The Central Falls Teachers have overwhelmingly approved the tentative agreement between the teachers and the school board. President Obama says this is a good thing. He also said that firing them all was a good thing. Read the NYT report.
 
Going Back to School: Fired Staff is Rehired

Lead Poisoning in DPS
Does it surprise anyone that many low achieving children in the Detroit Public Schools have been affected by lead poisoning from living in poverty along with lead based paint.

Lead and Learning: Detroit Public Schools

Gifted Children are Stepchildren in School Reform
Walt Gardner makes the case for improving the education of our gifted children. With all the talk about diminishing the achievement gap between low income and middle class students, gifted children have been ignored. Their academic and social needs must be addressed as well.
 
Walt Gardner: Gifted Children are Stepchildren in School Reform

Charter School Scandals
The Rich-and-Powerful, in their quest for more money made on the backs of our children, have used charter schools as the main tool to combat "failing public schools" (read: public schools serving children in poverty). But do the charter schools work any better? The research to date indicates that they don't. Most investigations show that charters are no better or worse than public schools, though there is some research showing that, in general, charter schools are "failing" more than public schools. Here's a blog (which I have also added to my blog list at right) which deals with scandals in charter schools. We're wasting incredible amounts of money and jeopardizing the future of our children on the unproven "improvement" of charter schools...money which should be spent improving the public schools.

Charter School Scandals