Recently, I spent the day observing two student teachers. Both were teaching instrumental music in middle and high schools, and each was assigned to an experienced, master teacher. But that’s where the similarities end… One of the student teachers was placed in an urban school and the other in a rural school. The differences between these two schools were stark, […]

Last week, the Koch brothers-funded group American for Prosperity held a “Day at the Capitol” event in Lansing, Michigan where they spelled out their corporatist agenda for Michigan (you can see the agenda HERE.) Numerous Republican legislators were on the agenda: House Speaker Tom Leonard Speaker Pro Tempore Lee Chatfield House Majority Floor Leader Dan Lauwers State Representative Lana Theis […]

As anyone watching the corporate education reform movement can attest to, Big Data and metrics have become the coin of the realm to the reform community. Let any conversation between reformers and defenders of public education go on long enough and the reformer will eventually blurt out the magic words: “But…accountability!” This worldview seems informed by the belief that any […]

I’m tired. Specifically, I’m sick and tired of being made to feel that my fellow “East Coast elites” and I are somehow to blame for the continually unfolding and horrifying mess our country finds itself in these days. My phone tweets CNN “Breaking News” updates on the hour, alerting me to the new atrocities being introduced to our nation by […]

Back in 2002, Governor John Engler, one of the co-founders of the Koch brothers-funded, corporatist front group Mackinac Center for Public Policy, recommended doing away with the Michigan Board of Education and make it a group appointed by the governor rather than the elected body it was then and still is today: Viewing the State Board of Education as an […]

In fallout from his flippant remarks before a Senate Education Committee panel where he said he wanted to shake School Reform Officer Natasha Baker “like I like to shake my wife“, Gary Naeyaert has resigned from his position as Director of the Great Lakes Education Project (GLEP). GLEP is a corporatist anti-public education group founded and largely funded by Education […]

Donald Trump, in a moment of rich irony, appears to have been caught just a bit off guard with just how complex the American health care system really was last week. “Now, I have to tell you, it’s an unbelievably complex subject,” he added. “Nobody knew health care could be so complicated.” Notwithstanding the fact that nearly every American who […]

The news broke on January 20, 2017 that as many as 38 schools could be closed in Michigan, 24 of those in Detroit, due to “poor academic performance.” Parents in the city, and throughout the state, were understandably stunned, as this announcement represented an abrupt change in the state’s previous position on school closings: Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration has switched […]

Two Michigan House Democrats are calling for the resignation of Gary Naeyaert, the head of Betsy DeVos’s anti-public education group Great Lakes Education Project (GLEP) following remarks he made at a Senate Education Committee meeting on Tuesday. GLEP was founded and is heavily funded by the billionaire Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. During his testimony, Naeyaert expressed frustration over what […]

“I wanted to shake her, like I like to shake my wife.” Gary Naeraert is the Executive Director of the Great Lakes Education Project (GLEP). GLEP was founded and largely funded by U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to influence policy and law in Michigan with the aim of promoting charter schools and the elimination of traditional public schools. The […]

In the aftermath of the American Civil War, black Americans found themselves unable to attend colleges and universities because they simply were not allowed entrance into them. In response, they were forced to form their own institutions of higher education. These institutions are now referred to as Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs). Today, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos issued […]