By Anthony Cody. In 2011, the Save Our Schools March was the first-ever national protest focused on K12 education. In 2016, we are going back to DC again. The 2011 rally and march was a seminal event for the movement to resist corporate education reform. This protest resulted in the launch of many of the groups …
By Michelle Gunderson. A picket line is sacred ground. As a labor organizer and teacher unionist, I do not say this lightly. Workers have fought and died on picket lines fighting for work conditions that respect the inherent dignity of human life. A picket line is hallowed ground sanctified by sacrifice. I am …
By Michelle Strater Gunderson. A teachers’ contract is not just about money. It’s an agreement between government and a community about how children will be treated. Now, don’t get me wrong – I will always advocate for reasonable compensation for educators, especially in light of the amount of …
By Deb Escobar. Refuse the Test Robocall 2016 Committee: Katherine Brezler, Deb Escobar, Lisa Kollmer, Lorri Gumanow, and Loy Gross. Last year, a handful of grassroots education activists had an idea to crowdsource the financing of a robocall to NY parents, advising them of their right to refuse the state ELA …
By Anthony Cody. There is less than a month to go before the third annual Network for Public Education conference in Raleigh, North Carolina. These are always special events, but this year will be especially significant because of the focus on civil rights. The full conference schedule is online now here. Here are …
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 Carolyn Leith. Back in September, parents were blindsided when Seattle Public Schools (SPS) proposed staff cuts at “25 or something” schools across the district. Emergency meetings were held, letters were sent to the school board, but none of these efforts seemed to make a difference. The district had made …
By Anthony Cody. Education professor Paul Thomas has raised a powerful challenge to the state of education journalism in two recent posts. The first post tackles an article by New York Times reporter Motoko Rich, focused on the latest supposed crisis in education, that not enough high schoolers graduate “college …
This is the fourth in a series of blog posts focused on the value of art in our lives, and the role art can play in resisting the test and punish model of education. See the intro and links to other posts in the series here. By Amanda Koonlaba. I believe arts education is the antithesis of the corporate …
This is the second in a series of blog posts focused on the value of art in our lives, and the role art can play in resisting the test and punish model of education. See the intro and links to other posts in the series here. By Michelle Gunderson. My first grade class was sitting in front of me gathered at our …
