By Anthony Cody. New York principal Carol Burris’ latest post is infuriating. In it, she describes the inaccurate data that the New York state Department of Education has published which fails to show the true number of students attending college. The Department of Ed published the faulty data by district …
By John Thompson It was with trepidation that I approached A Path Appears, by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. I would never try to match my narrow expertise in my field, inner city education, with Kristof’s and WuDunn’s comprehensive expertise on global problems. My students and I shared many wonderful …
By Anthony Cody. It is a strange commentary on the news media that the best portrait of what is happening in America comes to us from a former chef by the name of Anthony Bourdain. Bourdain’s show last week took him back to Massachusetts, where he first started working as a dishwasher and cook. He found much has …
By Anthony Cody. A basic question is emerging as our schools are urged to embrace the Common Core State Standards and the computer-based learning systems aligned to the standards. Are these digital devices becoming central to the classroom—and coming to dominate the way we teach and learn? And how will this …
By Anthony Cody. It has been a bit of a challenge this past decade to maintain a spirit of hope in the face of the immense concentration of wealth and power we have seen. I do not need to remind you of the details – we all know the big picture. But I have, for the past four years or so, been focused on the role …
By Anthony Cody. The post I wrote a month ago, critiquing Marc Tucker’s “new accountability system” has opened up a long overdue discussion of the economic foundations and goals of 21st century education reform. In his two responses, to myself and Diane Ravitch, and to Yong Zhao, Tucker has chosen to only …
By Denny Taylor. I have read with interest the dialogue between Marc Tucker, Diane Ravitch, Anthony Cody, and Yong Zhao on the establishment of an American test-based public education accountability system. Forty years of research on the impact of political structures on social systems,[1], [2] in particular …
By Anthony Cody. In 2014, most of the communications media is carrying messages sponsored or controlled by the wealthy. When speech is redefined by the Supreme Court to include the spending of money, then those with unlimited money have a nearly unlimited ability to speak via the airwaves. This week I described …
In 2010, a stark image was broadcast around the nation. It showed a child seated at a school desk surrounded by absolute devastation and ruin. That image was used promote the movie, “Waiting For Superman.” The movie was boosted with a $2 million advertising grant from the Gates Foundation, and was further …
By Anthony Cody. In August, Louisiana teacher and investigative reporter Mercedes Schneider wrote about the dangers of having education journalism directly funded by the Gates Foundation. This morning, she followed up that post with another, pointing out that while it sounds benign to “focus on success,” this …
