By John Thompson. Although I wouldn’t spend too much time eavesdropping on the civil war between liberal and conservative reformers, it is fun to periodically check it out. The first of the loudest shots in their internecine conflict was issued by Fordham’s Robert Pondiscio in the aptly titled post “The …
By Lauren Anderson. Just last week in Cincinnati, the NAACP voted in favor of a moratorium on the creation of new charter schools and a ramping up of regulation on existing charter schools. A few days later in Philadelphia, the Relay Graduate School of Education proudly co-hosted its “Grit + Imagination” …
By John Thompson. Part One: (read Part Two here). I can’t wait to read and reread Paul Tough’s new book, Helping Children Succeed: What works and Why. Tough’s Atlantic Magazine preview mostly prompted unadulterated joy from reading such an excellent synthesis of scientific research. But it also serves as a …
By John Thompson. The most serious criticism of my book, A Teacher’s Tale, is that it focuses on the harm done by No Child Left Behind and underemphasizes the threat of corporate school reform. During my fulltime teaching career, however, I saw just one overt example of national reformers trying to impose …
By Anthony Cody. Teacher retirement funds represent the largest amounts of money under the control of working educators. The California State Teacher Retirement System (CalSTRS) is the second wealthiest retirement fund in the nation, with $179.4 billion in assets. CalSTRS counts among its many investments a major …
By Anthony Cody. As the corporate reform project begins to fray around the edges, one of the main sponsors is resorting to more overtly political tactics. The Gates Foundation is ostensibly a charitable enterprise, and enjoys significant tax benefits as a result of this status. Bill Gates himself described the …
By Anthony Cody. I was recently invited to speak at a conference in another state. Since I could not make it there in person, I recorded my thoughts on this video. Here is the text of my remarks: Privateers and Profiteers: How and Why are they Undermining Public Education? As we near the end of the Obama …
By John Thompson. While I disagree with PBS’s ombudsman, Michael Getler, I believe we should take his statement on John Merrow’s News Hour finale as a learning experience opportunity for education activists. Then we can make it a teachable moment for the non-education press. Merrow closed his illustrious …
By John Thompson. When Dale Russakoff conceived of The Prize, she “viewed education reform from a distance but as a movement full of promise.” She was eager to follow the story of Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million matching gift to the Newark schools. The subtitle, “Who’s in Charge of …
By Michelle Gunderson. The hunger strike for Dyett High School ended this morning on day 34. Once again I headed to the south side to be with my friends and fellow education fighters known as the Dyett Twelve. Education activists had been told that the hunger strikers would have an announcement this morning, and …
