Privatization
School Choice & Charters
Opinion
"Reign of Error" Reviewed: Ravitch Rises
Diane Ravitch has emerged as an iconic figure on America's political landscape. What Daniel Ellsberg was to the Vietnam War, Ravitch has become to the battle raging over public education
Policy & Politics
Opinion
Private Enterprise & Public Education
Public debate about for-profit education is confusing largely because it tends to ignore any benefits while focusing solely on the potential negatives.
Families & the Community
Opinion
Education Nation, 2013: Will NBC News Use the Gates Foundation's Facts Again? Or Can We Get a Real Dialogue Going?
If Education Nation is to deliver on its promise of a thoughtful, well-informed dialogue, it should feature both sides of the debate raging over the central issues in education
School & District Management
Opinion
Civil Rights Leaders Condemn Privatization of Prisons and Schools
Despite research showing that closing public schools does not improve test scores or graduation rates, the federal agenda has incentivized the privatization of schools with primary fall out on low-income communities of color.
States
Opinion
Prisons, Post Offices and Public Schools: Some Things Should Not Be For Profit
When our schools are run for profit, there are disastrous consequences for both students and teachers. Teachers are "managed" through the "outcomes" their students produce
School & District Management
Opinion
From School Grades to Common Core: Debunking the Accountability Scam
We have been bamboozled by fast-talkers who manipulate scores, grading systems and terminology to portray public schools as failures, and their preferred alternatives as superior.
School Choice & Charters
Opinion
John Thompson: Are Accountability Hawks Chicken When it Comes to Their Charters?
The panelists in the Fordham Institute's "Opt Out or Cop Out" discussion clearly enjoyed their surrealistic discussion of "accountability." They speculated on fanciful scenarios for micromanaging educators that were so disconnected from reality as to recall panelist Charlie Barone's tweet about "Dadaists Man Ray & Marcel DuChamp (who) used to play tennis w/o a net."
Teaching
Opinion
Paul Horton: Troubles Ahead for Gatopia?
there is a new domestic cold war that pits public and private education against each other and seeks to turn human beings into computers
Budget & Finance
Opinion
Paul Horton's Open Letter to President Obama: Listen to Committed Teachers
Many thousands of us have been fighting this battle for thirty and forty years and we remain relatively poor, isolated from the centers of power where big bucks are easy to acquire.
Standards & Accountability
Opinion
Can Our Unions Praise Common Core Standards and Defeat High Stakes Tests?
If we embrace the Common Core, and position ourselves as expert implementers, we cannot help but legitimize these standards as a solid set of benchmarks for student performance.
School & District Management
Opinion
The Nine Most Terrifying Words in the English Language: "I'm From Big Business, and I'm Here to Help"
We need to understand the reasons business interests are realigning our schools, and work to preserve the core mission of our public education system.
Equity & Diversity
Opinion
Public Education Suffering from Parasitic Profiteers
Those who seek to profit from public education are parasites draining resources at an unprecedented scale. Parasites are inherently destructive to their hosts.
Teaching Profession
Opinion
Rebirth: New Orleans -- Documentary Poses a Moral Dilemma
this highlights for me, the moral dimension that Merrow ignores, when, at the end of the film, he proclaims this experiment a success. How can we accept that a third of the schools in New Orleans have been consigned to the status of dumping grounds for the other two thirds? How can we celebrate the creation of a system that allows schools to wall themselves off from students who are the most damaged by poverty and violence - and relegates those students to schools that cannot possibly succeed in this competitive scheme?
Privacy & Security
Opinion
Jack Whelan: Can Humanism Prevail Over the Technocracy?
I have come to look at schools as a critical focal point in the fight for the soul of the nation. Our schools are foundational for our cultural life, and so much depends on our having a flourishing, humanizing public-education system. The battle over the schools is a microcosm of the battle that is going on everywhere else, but which most people feel too powerless to fight. Maintaining local control of our public schools system is essential for enabling even the possibility of such a fight.
