shadow

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 …

shadow

By Susan Dufresne and Anthony Cody. In the past 13 years of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top test-driven education policies, art has been pushed to the margins in our schools. Students have lost countless hours for creating art, music and dance that expresses themselves. But artistic expression is like the …

shadow

greBy Christine Brigid Malsbary. Several days before writing this blog post, I visited a 12th grade class that I have been following since the beginning of their 11th grade year. I am a researcher and I study how education policy affects teachers and students in their daily lives. The youth I work with are all …

shadow

By Anthony Cody. Yesterday President Obama surprised us all by once again speaking out against standardized tests. In his speech, he spoke of the true role of education, to uplift and inspire. He said, When I look back on the great teachers who shaped my life, what I remember isn’t the way they prepared me to …

shadow

By Anthony Cody. The administrators of United Opt Out have published An Activist Handbook for the Education Revolution: United Opt Out’s Test of Courage. It should of high interest to advocates for real change in our schools. One of the benefits of the 2011 Save Our Schools march in Washington, DC, was the way …

shadow

“It always seems impossible until it is done.” ~Nelson Mandela By Deb Escobar, Lorri Gumanow, Lisa Kollmer, and Lily Alayne Owen. Refuse the Test Robocall Committee: Katherine Brezler, Deb Escobar, Lorri Gumanow, Lisa Kollmer, and Lily Alayne Owen, along with several other education activists, parents, and …

shadow

By Anthony Cody. Pearson employees may be off for the weekend but when they get to work tomorrow they will find they have a big mess to deal with. The news broke on Friday that Pearson has been monitoring student social media, and has worked with District officials in several instances to ferret out and reprimand …

shadow

By Anthony Cody.  We all remember the game of musical chairs. At a children’s party, the adults count the number of children, and put chairs in a circle, with one fewer chair than children. The children circle the chairs as the music plays, and when the music stops, everyone tries to get a seat. In each round, …

shadow

By Michelle Strater Gunderson. “What the best and wisest parent wants for his child, that must we want for all the children of the community. Anything less is unlovely, and left unchecked, destroys our democracy.”      John Dewey Last week the Local School Council at Nettelhorst Elementary School in Chicago …