For most of us parents, the first impression that we have of school is that it is a warm, welcoming place. It’s because that first impression comes from viewing the Kindergarten class on an occasional basis when our children first start school. Continue reading The Hostile Workplace of Teachers→
What was once Harding High School in Okla. City Public Schools is now Harding Charter Preparatory High School, authorized by the district.
Over the last ten years, bloggers have kept the issues of who controls schools at the forefront when so many big money interests want desperately to have us look the other way.
One advantage that school raiders have in taking public schools away from the public and turning them over to investor-owned charters is that the traditional news sources are hobbled from reporting accurately and fully. Continue reading Blogs Are Critical to Re-establishing Public Schools→
Booker T. Washington School in Tulsa was one of the first magnet schools in the state. The main purpose was to entice Tulsa Schools parents and students to desegregate the schools there. It has been an outpost of racial inclusion and quality since. Photo by one of the early graduates of the Booker T magnet school.
Once upon a time in Oklahoma, magnet public schools were the “choice” that allowed for much more creativity and freedom. They helped to break years of racial/economic segregation. But that’s not the point of a huge “school choice” push today. Continue reading Cynical School Choice Stunts Ramp Up In Oklahoma→
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
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.
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→
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→
How many failures will it take before we allow ourselves to know that societal problems impede education just as a lack of education impedes progress in society? It’s not either/or. It’s both/and.