The following is a “readers response” I sent to the Baltimore Sun in response to a commentary posted in the newspaper. Sadly I have had no reply. I am not holding my breath. Silence and ignorance are tools of the oppressive reform movement. Informed community members are a danger to their efforts. Lost in Translation: A response […]
Opting out of #HST
August 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment
My Op-ed on Opting Out in the Baltimore Sun
August 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Does “straight” = “better?”
November 3, 2010 By 2 Comments
The Baltimore Sun is reporting on some crackpot education innovators’ organization called StraigtherLine, which offers general education courses very cheaply with the explicit mission of those courses getting transferred to more traditional institutions. Just check out a quick screen grab from the homepage. It kind of gives me that creepy payday loan vibe: Look, I’m all […]
Baltimore Teachers Union releases new contract
October 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment
So, check it: Baltimore Teachers Union releases new contract – baltimoresun.com. I consider all the budget woes we’re going through right now in higher education, this does not sound like a bad gig: an automatic two percent raise and a $1500 stipend? I might not get another raise for three or so years, no COLA increases, […]
Veg-friendly
October 22, 2010 By Leave a Comment
I’m very surprised and happy to see that Towson is one of the most veg- and vegan-friendly campuses in the US. My dining on campus is limited, but this is a pretty progressive step. I’m trying to organize kitchen space on campus for my students and I to end our semester cooking together. Given all […]
Extricated
September 29, 2010 By 3 Comments
The Baltimore City Schools, in tandem with the teacher’s union, made a landmark deal to end teacher pay based on seniority, or number of years on the job. Payment based on degree status will also end. Good for them, I guess, but what does that mean for teacher preparation? I know many would reply, “Well, […]
Desk=life
September 8, 2010 By 1 Comment
There’s an interesting My Desk, My Life series at the Baltimore Sun, which is a gallery of pictures of the desk spaces of prominent Baltimore leaders. I’m not claiming to be a big leader or anything like that, but I thought I would take a snapshot of the situation I’m dealing with this morning at […]
Cheers or jeers
July 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment
My state of residence and employ is one of the 19 current finalists for Race to the Top, competing for a few billion dollars of federal funding. Here are some of the proposed changes: To make the state more competitive for Race to the Top, Maryland has changed laws governing teacher tenure and evaluations, adopted […]
Teaching FOR the test
July 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment
So, yes, in the coming years, I get to supervise in Maryland schools and a system that are pushing hard for evaluating teachers 50 percent based on test scores. We had a discussion in my graduate course the other night about this. What would this look like for specialist teachers, like art, music, and PE, […]
Using the #newtown tragedy to frame #teacher #bashing
There has been a fair amount of, as edu-blogger Jersey Jazzman puts it, “pearl clutching” over intimations that extolling the heroism of Newtown teachers makes a case for a pro-union profession, and a case against all the teacher bashing going on. Here’s an eloquent perspective from the Baltimore Sun on the matter. At the Chalk […]