Nancy E. Bailey's Blog, page 57

The Privatized Beaded Necklace “School of the Future”

The PBS NOVA “School of the Future” was interesting in that many corporate messages were strung together like an expensive necklace made of plastic beads. Grit, mindset, brain studies, social-emotional learning…you name it…it was there. Showcased individuals gave shout-outs to others in the program. Sal Kahn yelling out to students that they all have a […]

The Upcoming, Troubling, PBS “School of the Future”

On Wednesday, Sept. 14, 9 pm ET, PBS and NOVA will air a two hour special called “School of the Future.” The advertisement tells us much. They are warning that the future for children demands that students need better preparation to succeed due to globalization. What they probably won’t tell us is that this future […]

The Devil is in the Details, Utah

Some Utah parents are worried about afterschool Satan Clubs. I don’t blame them. However, and I’m no religious expert by any means, if there is a devil, I think it is always sneaking into town when and where you least expect. Utah, in my opinion, has some devil-like programs designed to eliminate public-schools. First, there’s […]

Prepping for Prepping–Prepping for Kindergarten

For $1,000, Santa Monica is prepping its children for kindergarten, because some of the parents there think that nothing says prepared better than preparing for the class that is supposed to prepare you for school. Unfortunately, for children of wealthy families, parents think they have to prep their kids to get into the $25,000 prep […]

Where Art Thou Recess? CASEL’s Social-Emotional Omission

The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) is creating behavioral standards for preschool through high school across the country. Social and emotional learning (SEL) is both trendy, and controversial, and is being reported a lot in education news. As I have written before, I am suspect of behavioral standards for children, but some […]

Superintendents Going For Teacher Gold

The 2016 Summer Olympics may be over, but school superintendents in America are still going for the gold. If you are a creative teacher, you need to be careful and know your ideas will become the property of the school district. And they can make money on them. It is called “intellectual property” or IP […]

A Pompous, Demoralizing Letter for Teachers, Students, and Parents

One of the old education reformers is Chester E. Finn, Jr. of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. He referred to himself as aging–not me. But he is old, and my point with this is that the push to destroy public schools, as we know them, started a long time ago. Finn just wrote a letter […]

More Social-Emotional Learning Hype

Helping children with their emotions is something teachers have done for years. Certainly, assisting children and teens with appropriate, caring behavior is an important task. And, yes, there are ways to help children feel good about who they are and what they can contribute to the world. Of course educators should address a child’s feelings […]

Why Unionizing Charter School Teachers is STILL a Bad Idea

There is a growing call for teachers in charter schools to get union representation. I disagree. There are too many charter schools that fail, and many are now designed for online competency-based instruction. I know that there are some good charters. There are also young people who come from fast-track programs, like Teach for America, […]

New Social-Emotional Standards to Complement Common Core

If you thought Common Core State Standards were bad, look out! Here come the new social-emotional standards to complement Common Core—because nothing says children have feelings more than benchmarks! Today’s Common Core State Standards are aligned to high-stakes testing that closes schools and pushes good teachers out. Of course, many parents have not been happy […]