Unfortunately, that hasn't happened. The privatizers are still doing damage and spending their billions to turn public schools into charters. They're still working to divert funds for public education into vouchers.
So instead, of a victory post, here is a short clip from each September that this blog has been in existence from September 2006 through September 2016.
On beyond thirty...
September 14, 2006
From my first post. Now, after 40 years, I am still fascinated by how humans learn...still volunteering in a local elementary school.
So here I am, now a part time pull-out reading specialist in a suburban/rural school in the midwest, still trying to figure out a better way to teach even after 30 years. I still find learning fascinating. It's still hard for some children...easy for others...and I still want to know why.
"That" time of year...
September 10, 2007
It's ten years since this post. Economic stratification and inequity is worse than ever. Test scores still reflect the income of the family.
Poverty, as the media is fond of saying, is no excuse. Gerald Bracey, educational researcher, replies that, true, poverty is not an excuse...it is a condition, just like gravity. "Gravity affects everything you do on the planet. So does poverty."
All the Way with Pearl Jam
September 27, 2008
Sometimes I post non-education content. This song was for the Cubs. Last year they went "all the way." #bucketlist
Duncan's Background and Duncan's Plans
September 6, 2009
*This quote is by Stephen Krashen...containing a quote by Susan Ohanian...
In her book, "Caught in the Middle: Nonstandard Kids Caught in a Killing Curriculum," published in 2001, Susan Ohanian, an experienced and award-winning educator who has actually taught in public schools, pointed out that:
"The pattern of reform … has spread across the nation: Bring in someone who has never been involved in public education; proclaim that local administrators and teachers are lazy and stupid; use massive testing to force schools into curriculum compliance" (page x).Since this passage was written, this pattern of reform has clearly spread to the highest levels.
Tenure and Unions
September 22, 2010
Indiana teachers no longer have due process as a job protection. Before 2011 tenure in Indiana guaranteed a teacher a hearing in front of an impartial party. No longer.
Tenure, they say, protects bad teachers. Unions support and protect the tenure system which, they say, gives teachers in K-12 a "job for life." The only problem with that statement is that it's wrong.
Tenure, as defined by these reformers and in turn, the general public who listens to them, does not exist. K-12 teachers who achieve tenure -- or permanent status -- do not have a job for life. According to Perry Zirkel, a professor of education and law at Lehigh University's School of Education,
Tenure is no more than a legal commitment (set by the state and negotiated union contracts) to procedural due process, ensuring notice and providing a hearing for generally accepted reasons for termination, such as incompetency, insubordination, and immorality.
Tenure’s primary purpose is economic job security, tied to the otherwise uncompetitive pay in comparison to other professions; however, tenure is not a lifetime guarantee.
Why Are SAT Scores So Low?
September 23, 2011
Here's something which the corporate "reformers" don't like to talk about. The higher the family income, the better the children do on SAT tests. Take a look at this...
Which Future Awaits our Grandchildren?
September 7, 2012
The shame of the nation, as Jonathan Kozol put it, is still the number of American children who live in poverty.
We don't have to write off nearly a quarter of our children to poverty. I wrote a few days ago,
What other nation would accept a poverty rate of almost a quarter of its children?I don't know about you, but I can't imagine any other of the world's wealthy nations allowing that to continue. The United States is among the world leaders in child poverty -- We should be ashamed of ourselves.
Play is More Important Than Tests
September 9, 2013
Sadly, kindergarten is the new first grade.
I remember when the "abuse of testing craze" started a couple of decades ago...that was when we were required to use "research-based instruction." A group of us got together and found a research basis for everything we did. Every teacher in our school system needed to be ready to justify what they did based on research.
Later, (2002) the US Department of Education started the What Works Clearinghouse so teachers could find teaching techniques and methods which were (supposedly) supported by research.
But now the truth has come out...when research goes against what the "reformers" want it's ignored...or denied.
Retention Wars: Blaming Children
September 25, 2014
More than a dozen states, including Indiana punish third grade children -- 8 and 9 year olds -- for low reading achievement by forcing them to repeat third grade. Retention in grade doesn't work...and we have known it for decades.
In the past, parents, teachers, and administrators used to make the decision to retain a student in his current grade. Now it's state legislatures, governors, and departments of education. We have allowed the wrong people -- politicians and policy makers -- to determine the academic placement of our children using the wrong kinds of tests in the wrong kinds of ways.
Teacher Shortage? When All Else Fails Blame the Union
September 18, 2015
..."Reform" is the status quo in Indiana. Indiana is a state where public schools are closed so charters can open, where bankrupt charters are forgiven their taxpayer-funded loans, where an A-F school ranking system is manipulated for the benefit of political donors, where vouchers are available with only minor restrictions, where teachers are evaluated based on student test scores because testing is overused and misused, where teachers no longer have due process rights, where untrained or poorly trained non-educators can walk into a classroom and start teaching with minimal oversight, where the Governor and members of the State Board of Education blatantly prefer privatization over public schools
#%@! Adults Should Quit Punishing Children
September 7, 2016
Retention in grade doesn't help children. It merely shows how adults have failed children.
FLORIDA STILL REQUIRES THE PUNISHMENT OF 8 AND 9 YEAR OLDS
...as does Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, D.C., Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Washington. Other states – Colorado, Maryland, Oklahoma, Virginia, West Virginia – encourage it, though it's not required. Different hoops are needed to avoid it in various states. See K-3 Quality: Is there a third grade retention policy?
These states and Florida, demand retention in grade of third graders for not learning quickly enough, or not being able to pass a standardized reading test. Retention in grade isn't remediation. Retention in grade punishes children for the failures of adults.
*All quotes are my words unless otherwise noted.
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