“Hundreds of Chicago students are taking up the mantle in the fight against the role of standardized tests in public school closures as they walked out of a state exam Wednesday. Their message: “We are over-tested, under-resourced and fed up!” Common Dreams. “The only place that students should be during the school day is in […]
Pretty shameless, but I must first plug our special radio episode today with veteran Chicago arts educator Ellen Gradman, live from the events downtown. Then, a Yahoo News article in which Mark Naison and I are quoted. We also have a piece from Common Dreams and Huffington Post. Look for a special episode with student […]
The following is an excerpt from Kris Nielsen’s new book release, Children of the Core. The hashtag in the title is a very popular one used on Twitter. Go check it out sometime. High schools that have fully implemented the Common Core Network are probably the worst possible institutions for adolescent minds in this era […]
Progressives frequently lament the increasing costs of higher education, as Think Progress does here. Young persons are saddled with debt and this is a very troubling situation. As a faculty member, I have a somewhat different perspective. I suppose it’s easy, from a student’s perspective, to criticize all aspects of a university for rising tuition […]
Ok, I know. I’m aware of the critique. They sound so suspiciously close to DFER, don’t they? I’ll probably get a similar reaction as to when I’ve admitted to teaching in a charter school for the three previous summers. Thou consortest with the enemy? Consort? What, dost thou make us minstrels? An thou make minstrels […]
Fifty-five years ago today the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously issued Earl Warren’s opinion in Brown v Board of Education of Topeka, in which it stated unequivocally that Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. And yet even after 55 years the promise of the Brown decision we still have not overcome what is […]
Chicago students are fighting back!
There’s some really creative resistance happening in Chicago. The massive school closures there have ignited a great conflagration. For all of the Mayor’s apparent political wisdom, how could city officials assume this would happen without a fight? Well, I have a few links for you. First, watch the video. Then, check out At the Chalk […]