The least accountable among us are those at the top making grand statements (unverified, unchallenged) used to call for the accountable of everyone else. I invite you to read carefully Canada’s Legend-ary TED Talk Lie by Gary Rubinstein to understand how corrosive the “miracle” school narrative is when it is combined with the cult of personality (Canada as […]
Important endorsements for Monica Ratliff for LAUSD Board of Education
May 17, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Professor Diane Ravitch — Monica Ratliff for Los Angeles School Board There is a big race in Los Angeles on May 21. It is a run-off that will determine who controls the board. There are two candidates. One–Monica Ratliff–is a working classroom teacher, the other worked on the staff of corporate-friendly Mayor Villaraigosa and has […]
Lessons from Finland and Wisconsin
May 15, 2013 By 6 Comments
Many of us who are lifelong educators find clinging to our optimism a difficult challenge. But two recent pieces may signal hope, a light at the long and dark tunnel of corporate education reform built on false claims and flawed solutions. While I urge you to read and share widely the two works below, I […]
Can poor children learn?
May 13, 2013 By 8 Comments
By now the poverty does or doesn’t matter dichotomy is really starting to get old. Anyone that truly cares about helping children from low socio-economic environments succeed in school knows that all children(even poor ones) can learn. It’s absolutely ridiculous when education reformers insist that those of us “resisting” are claiming that “poor kids can’t […]
Malcolm London doing his thing at PBS TED talk event
May 8, 2013 By Leave a Comment
The cult of TED is kind of strange. In any event, Chicago student poet and activist Malcolm London was invited to speak and perform. You heard him here At the Chalk Face recently with Israel Munoz. Here’s Malcolm’s performance. But I’m told that his work was edited. We’re not sure how or why. We’ll find […]
Sweet 16: What Matters v. What Should Matter in Teacher Qualities
May 8, 2013 By 5 Comments
My colleague and social studies educator, George Lipscomb, is offering a May Experience course addressing “What Makes a Great Teacher.” He started the course today with a Sweet 16 of teacher values so I thought this idea may be a great way to ask people to confront priorities regarding what our current high-stakes test-based accountability […]
IRONY: The official champagne of #AERA13 #highered
April 29, 2013 By Leave a Comment
I don’t always drink champagne. But when I do, it’s after a discussion of poverty in education. IRONY.
Why Are We in “the Age of Infinite Examination”?
April 27, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Within the perpetual education and education reform debates, the topics of poverty and testing are central themes (poverty is no excuse, and better tests are always being promised), but we too often are missing the key elements that should be addressed in the dynamic that exists between poverty and testing. Please read the full discussion […]
The Ignored Arm of the Commons and the Invisible Hand of the Market
April 17, 2013 By 3 Comments
Education Week has posted a new report on charter school funding, the blog titled “Charter Schools’ Funding Lags, Study Finds”: Charter school students receive about $4,000 less in per-pupil funding than their regular public school peers according to an analysis of five regions across the U.S., a new report has found. The report, conducted by […]
Two new edublogs to check out
April 15, 2013 By 2 Comments
A new creative agenda for education required
April 14, 2013 By Leave a Comment
By Bruce Hammonds Over the weekend thousands of teachers throughout New Zealand expressed their anger about their dissatisfaction about government’s plans for education. I wonder what the public think about it all? Don’t get me wrong I am pleased that teachers have decided that ‘enuf is enuf’. The government spin doctors have done a good […]
Free @thechalkface propaganda gallery
Images are powerful and when there’s free time, I make them. So, we offer you the following image gallery for free to use and share at your leisure. Many are based on WWI and II propaganda posters, others humdrum internet memes with an education twist. Myself and others will likely keep adding to this gallery […]