By Michelle Gunderson. Twelve people sit in a circle under the trees outside Dyett High School in Chicago on a hunger strike. They share stories of their experience with Chicago schools – teachers they have loved, principals they have battled, the times they have been arrested fighting for equity in our schools. …
By Michelle Gunderson. Twelve people sit in a circle under the trees outside Dyett High School in Chicago on a hunger strike. They share stories of their experience with Chicago schools – teachers they have loved, principals they have battled, the times they have been arrested fighting for equity in our schools. …
By Monty Neill. Testing resistance and reform activists can help determine the result of the House-Senate conference committee that will write a compromise bill to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA, now named No Child Left Behind). Both houses of Congress took important steps to end …
By Susan DuFresne. I was there. I was there to hear Bernie speak at Westlake in Seattle yesterday. To get it out in the open, I am a white ally and still learning, still reflecting, still processing what happened yesterday in Seattle, when Black Lives Matter (BLM) protestors took over the stage at the Sanders …
By Anthony Cody. For years teachers have heard about the crucial role parents have in supporting their children’s academic progress. Extensive research shows that increased parental involvement translates into success for students. However, the new Common Core approach to math is having a rather perverse effect. …
By John Thompson. The 50th anniversary of Jonathan Kozol’s Death at an Early Age comes as we confront the horror of the Charleston, S.C. massacre and the epidemic of police killings of unarmed blacks. At a time like this, it is best to read Kozol’s masterpiece on its own, without using it as evidence for any …
By Anthony Cody. In California, legislators will soon have a chance to approve AB 101, a new law that would task the state superintendent with developing a plan to promote the creation of elective courses in ethnic studies across the state. Ethnic studies is clearly important for students of color, who find …
By Anthony Cody. It is a bit hard to recall where we were five years ago, but this re-post might help jog your memory, as it did mine. At the time, my blog had been running for a little less than two years at Education Week, and I had started a project called “Teachers Letters to Obama.” Here is what I …
By Anthony Cody. Public schools are in the midst of a war of attrition over their control – and even the very institution of public education is in danger. There is a sort of pincer assault under way, with billionaires on the far right pushing for complete de-regulation, and others, like the Gates Foundation, …
By John Kuhn. With the debate over testing roiling Congress and state capitals nationwide, it is important to recognize the damage done to American pedagogy by high-stakes testing and the deleterious effects of punitive accountability on the students who depend on public schools. In The Big Idea of School …
