I’ve noticed an uptick lately in the number of folks talking about school choice, charter schools, and competition. I’m guessing this is a by-product of the recent swing in public opinion against charter schools, and the attendant backlash against 2020 presidential candidate and big charter school cheerleader, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker. The conversation around charters and choice, however, like […]

Trump and his Republican enablers, like Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, are beginning to realize that they have approximately zero chance of ever winning another election–if held and run fairly–on the issues, so they are scrambling frantically to redefine these issues in a clumsy and desperate effort to confuse and distract voters. Here are just 2 examples; one from national […]

A recent story in the Washington Post’s “Answer Sheet” focused on the fates of the 4 finalists for 2016 National Teacher of the Year… Nate Bowling was the 2016 Washington state Teacher of the Year and one of four finalists for the National Teacher of the Year. There were three other finalists who were the winners in their states that […]

Aaaaand, the gaslighting around the Covington Catholic High School controversy has begun. “He wasn’t smirking…he was nervous.” “He was frightened…that man was right in his face!” “There were black Muslims saying awful things to those boys!” “The press is distorting the narrative because of their hatred for Trump!” “Just because those boys were wearing MAGA hats doesn’t mean they were […]

Here are just a few of the most troubling excerpts from a very disturbing recent article on arming teachers, presented without comment: “When she started her career, Pam’s salary was $23,000. (“If I ever see $55,000, I’ll be 105 years old,” she says, laughing.) The district is covering her hotel and ammunition for training, but she paid for her new […]

I have to say that it’s pretty amusing to see an–allegedly–education-focused website like the Fordham Institute print this “sky is falling” forecast of new Wisconsin governor Tony Evers’ predicted influence on schooling in the state, but it’s illustrative of Fordham’s deep hatred for public education, and their support for the corporate ed reform agenda. Between the twisting of facts and […]

The Daily Kos has a new piece out today suggesting that–surprise!–the Trump Tower meeting that EVERYONE attending it claimed, insisted, and swore was “no big deal,” was actually–hold on, here’s the twist–a really big deal. Shocker, eh? Now, how absolutely delicious would it be if this whole dumpster fire could be traced back to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, and […]

The war over public education has been waged over the last decade or so by two opposing factions; a battle between David and Goliath, if you will. There are numerous distinctions between the two sides, characterized by issues of wealth and power. “Goliath” in our analogy is the “corporate reform of education” movement and their advance army of standard-bearers, a […]

It wasn’t easy narrowing this list down to just 5 things, but here we go! She Set the Predatory Lenders Free. By gutting regulations intended to protect students, many of whom are veterans, minorities, and first-generation college attendees, from being defrauded by predatory schools and colleges, Betsy has put the interests of these for-profit colleges—some of which she has personal financial […]

I think we need to start being very intentional with the language we use when referring to organizations like Teach for America (TfA) and the persons who decide to join them–and having made some of the mistakes I’m about to point out myself, I’m taking the liberty of making the following suggestions: • There are no TfA “teachers”–teachers decide to […]

I read a lot of stuff on education policy, written by a wide range of authors. Some are bright, well-informed, and experienced teachers. Most are not. But this piece here maybe the silliest article on education reform I’ve seen in a long, long time. It’s by an author I have to admit I’d never heard of until today…Robin Lake, from […]