By Anthony Cody. This particular teacher appreciation week we seem to be getting an especially hard sell on the virtues of John King, who left behind a state full of angry parents and teachers in New York in order to seize the reins of President Obama’s Department of Education, just as the administration …
By Michelle Gunderson. The children in my first grade classroom play. There are no academic centers where a teacher rings a bell and children move from activity to activity. That might look like play, but it is not. We have body breaks where we sing and dance, but we do not call it play because it is not. We play …
By Morna McDermott McNulty This is post eight in the No Art Left Behind series. See an overview and links to the rest of the series here. “Struggle is par for the course when our dreams go into action. But unless we have the space to imagine and a vision for what it means to fully realize our humanity, all the …
By John Thompson. The front page New York Times article, by veteran reporter Motoko Rich has unleashed quite a backlash. Its title, “Oakland District at Heart of Drive to Transform Urban Education,” points to the reason why the high-poverty district’s ill-conceived corporate reform campaign …
By Michelle Strater Gunderson. I worked the work of three people this week. I do not say this to be congratulated or slapped on the back. I have never been one of those people who brag about being tired because I do too much. I say this because it is true. This past week the students at my school were taking the …
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 Denise Hertzog Pursche. In my prior post about “Why High School Exit Exams, Not Student, Are Worthless”, I talked about my own experience as a foster child and how the high school exit exam made an impact on my life. Then in Part Two, I discuss the findings and research about high school exit exams and why …
