Speaking to the Speaker
Winners in political races have it easy. They thank everyone and move forward. The Silver Medalists analyze what went wrong and fade into the shadows. Is it possible to write a post-election column as the loser and not sound self-serving, shrill or sour? I’m going to do my best. From the beginning, this race was about [...]
Be Wary of Those Praising ‘Won’t Back Down’
“Won’t Back Down” tells the story of a single mother and a teacher who take on a bad principal and villainous teacher union in an attempt to improve a failing public school. The problem with the plot is that the story does not portray the truth. For example, a movie viewer is led to believe [...]
The Raimondo-Michael Nutter Connection
I know this past week end Rhode Islanders were busy saying good bye to summer. Some shut down their beach houses for the last time while others prepare their children for pre-K, elementary and high school and still others made the trip to return their teens to college. So it is quite understandable that many [...]
Butke’s Campaign Puts Focus on Education ‘Reform’
Maryellen Butke’s campaign for state Senate will raise an interesting debate about the relationship, or lack thereof, between the so-called education reform movement and the progressive movement. While in name they may sound like close cousins, in practice they are often not. Education reformers (or deformers, if you don’t like what they do) often push [...]
Defending American Schools from ‘Reformers’
It was interesting to me to learn about the article by Paul Farhi in the American Journalism Review called “Flunking the Test“, which blows apart typical reporting on education as essentially taking so-called “reformers” views at face value. Mr. Farhi points out that not only is the idea of an “crisis in education” false, (recalling arguments advanced [...]
High Stakes Testing: Not So Hot
Last week friend of the blog, Dan McGowan at GoLocal, asked: Everyone agree that “teaching to the test” is a bad idea, but it makes no sense to get rid of standardized tests that could determine whether a student is eligible to graduate… Why not continue to test, but also offer the right interventions that [...]
Finland Finland Finland, the country where I quite want to teach
As it turns out, Monty Python was right: Finland isn’t just a great place for snack lunch in the hall… It really does have it all: social democracy, smoked fish, and a public school system that American reformers are beginning to notice. Too bad they are noticing the wrong thing. As many of you know, Finland is [...]
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