Voting for Trump/Vance and Project 2025 would devastate public education. Most Republican Governors are working hard to end our public schools. For example, Cheryl Binkley describes how Virginia, a state whose public schools have been some of the best in the nation, is being privatized under Rep. Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Similar scenarios are happening in […]
The Public Ed Threat Behind the Knowledge Building Curriculum
Knowledge Building is used to market curriculum programs, many of which are online, but what does it mean? It seems that Knowledge Building highlights technology and moves children to a place where they won’t need teachers or public schools, at least not the kind we are familiar with. Knowledge Building makes some sense, making it deceptive. […]
10 Years Later: The Continuing Intentional Unraveling of America’s Public Schools
School reform continues to privatize and destroy public schools. August marks ten years since I began blogging. Within that time I have written two books and co-authored a third with Diane Ravitch. I’m proud of all this writing but Losing America’s Schools: The Fight to Reclaim Public Education is the book title that especially stands […]
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 lends itself to this, but there’s little proof online instruction makes better students or teachers. So far, research supporting this is hard to […]
Who’s Behind PBS News Hour’s Gloomy Reporting About Student Learning?
Arne Duncan (Obama) and Margaret Spellings (G. W. Bush), noneducators and former education secretaries, recently appeared on PBS News Hour, Study shows parents overestimate their student’s academic progress to dash any hope parents might have that their children are doing well in school. Who’s behind such gloomy reporting? Here’s how PBS begins, and here’s the survey: […]
Saving Public Schools for ALL Our Children in the New Year
As we approach 2023, let’s make this the year to unite for the common good to reestablish and promote public education for all our children. A public school system relies on a country that values education for all its children no matter family religious beliefs, the color of one’s skin, gender identity, sexual orientation, or […]
One Educator’s Grateful Remembrance: A Teacher
Most of us remember teachers we liked and those we did not, but sometimes even the teachers who seemed difficult later become the teachers we learned much from. Other times that’s not the case and a difficult teacher is remembered negatively. But fortunately, most teachers make democratic public schools work, and many children move on […]
What I Believe Emily Hanford Misses About Reading
Emily Hanford has brought attention to reading, including several new podcasts, Sold a Story, claiming children have been harmed for years by reading instruction. She singles out programs she says failed. The stories about children are compelling. But she leaves out some history, and I don’t think she’s ever critical of any of the many […]
The Covid-19 “Leave No Crisis Wasted” School Plan that Failed…for Now
Learning loss complaints and teacher blame for school closures could be because the Covid-19 disaster plan to reimagine schools failed. Technology replacing public schools and teachers appeared to be the “leave no crisis wasted” plan, but it backfired. After Hurricane Katrina, the late privatization guru Milton Friedman coordinated replacing public schools in New Orleans with […]
15 Ways to Help Teachers During Covid, Instead of Turning Them Into Scapegoats and Making Them Quit
Teachers are continually being made into scapegoats over a virus not under their control. Here’s a list of classroom problems from the beginning of the pandemic. Here’s a checklist on how to quit scapegoating teachers and help them instead. Suggestions from teachers, parents, and students, especially teachers currently teaching, are welcome. 1. Doctors Since the […]