Category Archives: Education

Does School Choice Mean that You Choose the School?

Newark parents and students wait in long lines to find out their school assignment. Next, they stand in line at another location to actually enroll. Credit: myfoxtampabay.com
Newark parents and students wait in long lines to find out their school assignment. Next, they stand in line at another location to actually enroll. Credit: myfoxtampabay.com

This is “school choice” week for those who propose that all parents just take a certain amount of tax money and choose whatever school they want their child to be in. But it doesn’t always work that way. Continue reading Does School Choice Mean that You Choose the School?

Bait and Switch with “Parent Choice”?

charter schools public schools education
A new legislature will be seated soon and will be pressed to push through new charter-friendly legislation including “choice” bills.

A sweeping charter school bill was defeated last year in the Oklahoma Legislature. If passed, they would have allowed investor-owned charters to spring up in direct competition to public schools everywhere, even in the smallest of towns.

The “reform” argument was the same as it has always been when selling “education reform”: Continue reading Bait and Switch with “Parent Choice”?

Education Reformers Engineer a Teacher Brain Drain

fired teachers protest
Two teachers who were fired along with every other teacher in their Rhode Island High School because the school was rule “failing”. Photo by Sharon Schmidt

Even though experienced teachers as a group have a high degree of love for their students and their work, they are leaving education in large numbers. The teacher brain drain has been happening for about ten years now, and very little grief expressed. Why? Continue reading Education Reformers Engineer a Teacher Brain Drain

Sorry, the Kingdom Will Not Come for Education on Monday

Joy Hofmeister, Superintendent, education, tests,
Joy Hofmeister is the newly elected State Supt. She won in a state-wide election Nov 4th.

We are always looking for lesser messiahs than The Messiah. A new President will fix it. Yeah, a new governor will make it right. If we can just elect a new attorney general, then…. But it seldom works that way.
Continue reading Sorry, the Kingdom Will Not Come for Education on Monday

Education Reform is Not Disruptive Innovation

reformers, Jobs, Gekko,
Are education reformers like Steve Jobs (L) or more like movie character Gordon Gekko?

Education reformers love to strike a heroic pose as they refer to themselves as engaging in “disruptive innovation”. Thing is, that’s not what they are doing. It’s more like what corporate raiders did in the 1980s.  Continue reading Education Reform is Not Disruptive Innovation

Investors Resist Idea of Society as Stakeholder in Public Education

school, charter, district, new orleans, investors,
An Algebra II class at New Orleans’ Sci Academy in October 2010. The school has been a part of the Recovery School District, the first all-charter district in the nation. Credit: John McCusker, The Times-Picayune

Parents are key stakeholders in any child’s education. Does that mean that they are the only stakeholders? One upon a time in America most people would say “no”. They would say that it’s all of society. But not anymore. Investors are what has changed that equation. Continue reading Investors Resist Idea of Society as Stakeholder in Public Education

Why Teachers Union Leaders Have to be Tougher

union, education, schools, teachers, administrators
Oklahoma teachers, administrators, parents and students gather at The Capitol in March, 2014 to demand better funding for public education.

Now, more than in the last 50 years, teachers have to be tougher in fighting for our profession. It’s time to overcome our desire to elect model teachers as our union leaders. Instead, for that particular role, we need model advocates.   Continue reading Why Teachers Union Leaders Have to be Tougher

Charter’s Don’t Do It Better or Cheaper

students, laptops, security, chaters
A student takes a test on a laptop in a New Orleans charter school. Photo by Dinah Rogers, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

The hard spin that investors put on their own charter corporations is that they do education better, and for cheaper than those bad public schools. But, with some years of experience behind us now, it is clear that charters do neither.  
Continue reading Charter’s Don’t Do It Better or Cheaper