Nancy E. Bailey's Blog, page 71
July 1, 2015
U.S. DOE Continues to Force Test Failure on Children with Special Needs and ELL Students
According to information given to me by Deborah Abramson Brooks Wsm, the U.S. Dept. of Education is insisting that the New York Board of Education continue to force all students with disabilities, except for those with the severest disabilities, to take the tests matching their chronological age, not their developmental age, ignoring their cognitive disabilities. […]
June 29, 2015
States Lacking Mental Health Services for Kids–And Some Glimmers of Hope
Marcie Lipsitt is a special education activist for children in Michigan, and she sent out a report about the serious loss of services there for children with mental health problems. It’s entitled, “In crisis, mentally ill children forced to wait days or weeks for hospital beds,” and includes the plight of a parent who has […]
June 26, 2015
Using African Americans to Condemn Special Education: The Mixed-Up Message
For a long time special educators and the general public have heard that special education is racist. The story from the school reformers goes something like this: African American students are thrown into segregated special education classes because teachers don’t know how to teach, or they don’t have “high expectations.” If teachers request a special […]
June 24, 2015
Summertime and the Living is Easy—But Not for Many Children
Waiting in line at the grocery store, I notice magazine covers. The summer issues use lovely summery words. Simply Living has “The Most Relaxing Summer.” Southern Living—“The Soul of Summer” and “The Perfect Lazy Lunch.” Ah but the joy of kicking back in the good old summertime! But thus far, most of what I have […]
June 23, 2015
Summer Learning Camps That Aren’t—Six Ways to Keep From Getting Scammed!
It’s summertime and the living unfortunately isn’t always easy. Parents looking to add fun and educational excitement to their child’s summer experience, or if they need a place to leave their children because they work 8-5, beware! There is a Better Business (BBB) alert for Be Inspired Cultural Camps which used to be Inspirational Keys […]
June 20, 2015
Students and Bears, Oh My! How Common Core Discards the Importance of Reasoning and Intuition
This post is about reasoning and intuition with students and bears, and what we have lost by focusing on Common Core State Standards and not the students themselves. There are interesting similarities. Let me start with bears. I just returned from visiting Glacier National Park. Glacier is full of bears—both grizzlies and black bears. So, […]
June 9, 2015
Stealing the Joy of Reading—How Common Core Destroys Reading Pleasure
Who would have believed that it would come to this? Education Week is having a webinar on new approaches to reading aloud in K-2nd grade (New Strategies for Reading Aloud to K-2 Students, Thurs. June 18, 2-3 p.m ET). The underwriting for the webinar is through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and with Common […]
June 5, 2015
16 Points about Education I Wish Presidential Candidates would Address Specifically
Do you listen keenly for what politicians say about education and public schools and wind up being disappointed? There is currently, and has been for the last several elections, an absence of discussion about education. Many candidates speak in generalities. Here are the usual soundbites and what I wish would be said instead. 1. We […]
May 30, 2015
13 Reasons Why Grade Retention is Terrible, and 12 Better Solutions
There are few education issues that anger me more than massive retention of third graders based on one test score! Mississippi recently became the latest state to embrace retention. It’s a huge mistake. Adults fail children by not assisting them with their learning problems. Why is massive school retention terrible? A retained student doesn’t learn […]
May 27, 2015
The Charter School Miracle that Isn’t—Special Education in NOLA
It’s segregating kids with disabilities, and letting the charter schools off the hook. —Parent advocate Karran Harper Royal The changes happening to schools in New Orleans—the conversion from public to private—has sadly become a prototype for schools across the country. All parents, teachers and taxpayers should be concerned. While charter advocates see charters as miracles, […]
