Nancy E. Bailey's Blog, page 31
May 31, 2019
End Charter Schools! Consider Creative Ways to Address Schooling
It’s time to end the charter school experiment. Put successful charters under the supervision of the nearby school district. Charters not working well should close. No charter school should get tax dollars without oversight. This should be for both for-profit and nonprofit charter schools. Charter School Scandals On twitter, educators and parents can follow the Network […]
May 26, 2019
What We’re Waiting to Hear: The Education Fight No Candidate Mentions (Thus Far)
All the democratic presidential candidates have plans how to run the country and positively affect the world. Some have good ideas about how to improve public schools and support teachers. But none has yet to speak about America’s education crisis. Educators and parents who rally around public schools and the teachers who work in them […]
May 20, 2019
Teaching and Learning in the Age of the Technocrats
By Sheila Resseger, M.A. I wrote the following words almost exactly four years ago. Since then, many parents did choose to inform themselves, and refused to allow their children to participate in the PARCC/SBAC assessments; the problem with the underlying standards, however, was not addressed. And the situation we have today is even more concerning. […]
May 17, 2019
Are School Playgrounds Still Empty? Animals Get More Recess!
Parents in Florida and Tennessee and many other states have fought for recess. Sometimes children in elementary school get 20-minute breaks once a day if they’re lucky. Children should get several recess breaks each day! We should be looking at the benefit of school recess breaks for every grade level. Middle and high school students […]
May 14, 2019
The PBS NewsHour/Education Week Report About Dyslexia: Biased & Short on Facts
Schools must provide adequate reading programs and reading remediation for students who need more assistance. But the recent report on dyslexia recommending intensive phonics for all children by the PBS News Hour, through Education Week, is irresponsible, short on facts, and presents biased reporting. Education Week receives grants from philanthropic groups that favor school privatization. Here are […]
May 12, 2019
Mother’s Day 2019: Moms Want Their Children To Be Safe at School!
If mothers could have anything they wanted for Mother’s Day, they would say I want my child to be safe. I want them to be safe at school! Here’s why they worry they aren’t. The NRA After Sandy Hook, most of us thought the NRA would scale back its rigid position about gun control, especially […]
May 8, 2019
America’s Teachers vs. Betsy DeVos and the Top 1% During Teacher Appreciation Week
During this year’s Teacher Appreciation Week, teachers will undoubtedly cherish notes and gifts from grateful children and parents, but they recognize real teacher appreciation is about more than a week of tributes. They also see through Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and the top one percent who want to destroy public education and the teaching profession. […]
May 5, 2019
Diane Ravitch’s Education “Wisdom and Wit” is Critical at this Time
We will someday view this era as one in which the nation turned its back on its public schools, its children, and its educators. We will wonder why so many journalists and policymakers rejected the nation’s obligation to support public education as a social responsibility, and accepted the unrealistic, unsustainable promises of entrepreneurs and billionaires. […]
May 3, 2019
35 Ways They Dumb Down America: Still, There’s Hope!
They took all the trees And put them in a tree museum And they charged all the people A dollar and a half to see ’em Don’t it always seem to go That you don’t know what you’ve got ‘Till it’s gone They paved paradise And they put up a parking lot ~Joni Mitchell, Big […]
April 27, 2019
How is School Choice “Freedom” When Students Lose School Libraries and Librarians?
Libraries allow children to ask questions about the world and find the answers. And the wonderful thing is that once a child learns to use a library, the doors to learning are always open. ~Laura Bush What choice and charter advocates don’t advertise is that most charter schools don’t invest in school libraries with qualified […]
