In light of Betsy DeVos’ comments on the benefits of large class sizes and hiring fewer teachers – “In fact, students may be better served by being in larger classes, if by hiring fewer teachers, a district or state can better compensate those who have demonstrated high ability and outstanding results…” – I wanted to share the following statistics from […]

I keep reading about how Amy O’Rourke, Beto’s wife, is a “long time educator“. I may be overly sensitive about this, but to be considered a professional “educator” I believe that a person must have earned a degree (or multiple degrees) in education, have held valid state teacher certification at one time, and have experience as a certified, qualified classroom […]

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 […]

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 […]

“Parents, by their very nature, should decide what, when, where and how their children learn,” DeVos said. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is at it again. Currently on her second “Rethink Schools” tour, “DeVos will swing by four states: Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.” Two tours of public schools in two years on the job–the poor woman must be exhausted. And […]

As classes began this week in the Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD), teachers learned they are beginning the year with the sort of austerity and inadequate supplies that has become the tragic hallmark of this neglected school system. A teacher at one of the high schools in the DPSCD sent me an email received by all of the teachers […]

Now Texas Governor Greg Abbott wants to pay “good” teachers $100+K. With workers’ wages stagnating, and teachers being historically underpaid, how is this not great news? Don’t teachers deserve bigger paychecks? Who would turn down a 6-figure salary?!? Well, as always, the devil is in the details… For instance, who will determine who the “good” teachers are? Their principals? School […]

You can listen to Mitchell Robinson read and discuss this now-viral essay here: https://www.eclectablog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Mitchell-Robinson-Stop-with-the-heartwarming-teacher-stories.mp3 It seems like every day now we see another one of these stories that are supposed to be “heartwarming,” or show how “dedicated” teachers and other school personnel are… this superintendent spent 90 hours per week this summer repainting his school to save $150,000! this teacher […]

Mike Petrilli is one of the self-appointed leaders of the corporate reform of education movement, and also has a day job as president of the Fordham Institute, a conservative think tank with a focus on education. His bio says that “he is one of the nation’s most trusted education analysts,” so I guess he knows what he’s talking about. In his […]

Let me begin with an apology: I have intentionally lured you here under false pretenses. What do I mean? I’ve used that favorite strategy of internet hoaxes and supermarket tabloids, the “click bait headline”, to catch your eye, whet your appetite, and influence you to “click” the link, which brought you here. According to Wikipedia, “click bait headlines” rely on […]