By Susan Polos As miners are alerted to dangers from noxious gases when a canary dies in the mine, community members should immediately wake up and take notice when budgets propose cutting school librarians. This is an early sign that the school culture is endangered, that access to information is at risk, and …
By Anthony Cody and Alan Aja. From the very beginnings of No Child Left Behind, the strongest argument for attaching stakes to tests has been Civil Rights. This phrase is shorthand for equity in education, an end to the systemic neglect of children of color. And proponents of corporate reform have become adept at …
Jonathan Kozol says: “A powerful and important book by one of the most courageous advocates for sanity and simple justice in our public schools.” From the Common Core to test-based teacher evaluation systems cropping up around the country, to the rapid expansion of semi-private charter schools, the …
Guest post by John Thompson My three decades of experiences dealing with the crack and gangs era of the 1980s, and then teaching in inner city schools, taught me to keep an even keel. I’ll never forget, however, the Friday night in 1993 driving home from our football game. Stunned, I wondered if we were …
Guest post by Adam Bessie. “I support our teachers, but my daughter was traumatized by an unfirable 1st grade teacher,” so read a tweet I received after expressing concern that Vergara v. California decision – which declared K-12 teacher tenure unconstitutional for violating the civil rights …
Guest post by Paul Thomas. Before the Common Core debate reached the fevered public debates of the past year, I took a stand against standards-based reform represented by Common Core, Why Common Standards Won’t Work: A call for national standards ensures that we continue doing what is most wrong with our …
With New Jersey in the news this year, the mayoral race in Newark has emerged as a crucial showdown between local citizens and Governor Chris Christie. A few months ago I shared news of four Newark principals, who spoke out about school closures at a rally organized by city councilman Ras Baraka. The four were …
We just wanted to teach. When I was drawn to teach in Oakland, I saw a chance to give students the chance to do hands-on experiments, to answer their own questions, and explore the natural world. On field trips to the tide pools I found out some had never even been to the Pacific Ocean, an hour’s drive from …
New Jersey is making headlines this month as the bullying tactics of Governor Christie have gone beyond shouting down individual school teachers, which many in the media seemed to find amusing, and into the realm of political scandal as the “Bridgegate” emails came to light. Now Newark, New Jersey, is …
Guest post by Darcy Bedortha. In late August, 2012, I took a job in a school that is part of the largest virtual charter school chain in the nation. While I had misgivings about the nature of the school, I thought perhaps if I were diligent, I could serve my students well. In November 2013 I decided I could no …
