Nancy E. Bailey's Blog, page 61

Hillary Clinton, Zip Codes, and School Equality

The point often made during debates by Sec. Hillary Clinton is that children should not get a poor education based on their zip code. Most of us would agree about poverty and its harmful effects on children in school. But the zip code message was co-opted a long time ago by those who want to […]

More on Memphis School Cuts and the Broad and Gates Foundations

The Blues City is earning its name when it comes to public schools. Both the Broad and Gates Foundations have seen to it. The other day I posted about cuts to Memphis (Shelby County Schools). I was quickly reminded, rightly so, that these were proposed cuts—like maybe there would be some kind of rollback in […]

Drastic Public School Cuts in Memphis—The New America

Shelby County Schools in Memphis are cutting programs like special education and teachers and staff and other important positions and resources that help a good school function. They need to make $50 million or maybe even $86 million in cuts to public schools. The biggest hit to a single department under academics is in special […]

Warped Message: Avoid the Classroom

US News and World Report just printed an article that will do absolutely nothing to motivate anyone to go into teaching. Why? The title is “Pursue an Education Career but Stay Out of the Classroom.” Listen, US News and World Report: The most important job in schooling is classroom teaching. Everything else is periphery. Ask […]

Patty Duke, Helen Keller and Similarities of Greatness

As a young girl glued to the TV, like many, the movie The Miracle Worker had a profound effect on me. I wanted nothing more afterwards than to be a teacher just like Anne Sullivan. I lived in Michigan, and the Michigan School for the Blind, which closed in 1995, was where I wanted to […]

New Leaders—The Pretend Principals

Most people know about Teach for America (TFA), but who are New Leaders (NL)? New Leaders is to principals what Teach for America is to teachers. Jonathan (Jon) Schnur is the main creator of NL. Like TFA’s Wendy Kopp, Schnur has no education degree. He never was a teacher or a principal. A 2004 braggadocio […]

Every Student Succeeds Act in the Future

I started thinking about the future in regard to the new Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Where will we be with this Act five years from now? The NEA sent out information about the ESSA yesterday. They seem giddy, and I fear they are out-of-touch. I see no such hope for ESSA. Of course, I […]

The Lopsided Curriculum: Where are Science, Social Studies and the Arts?

Little children are like sponges, soaking up knowledge of the world around them every minute. So when they start formal education, how much science, social studies and the arts do students in elementary school get? Teaching these subjects used to be important. Learning in these areas sent some of us into our future professions. We […]

Should We Ban “Special Education”?

What’s in a student’s name? What about the name special education? NPR has an article today about how special education language has evolved. So why not drop the term special ed? I think a lot of parents and teachers would rejoice at that. The trouble with getting rid of words or changing them to be […]

Public v. Private Charter Schools and Bernie Sanders

Sen. Bernie Sanders is praising public education and teachers. Democrats for Education Reform (DFER), a neoliberal group that supports the privatization of public schools, is unfairly making Sanders out to be a flip-flopper on charter schools. When asked about whether he supports charter schools, Sanders says he “supports public charter schools.” He says the same […]