Birthed in the bowels of the 1950’s segregationist south, school choice has never been about improving education. It is about white supremacy, profiting off taxpayers, cutting taxes, selling market based solutions and financing religion. School choice ideology has a long dark history of dealing significant harm to public education.
Read MoreThe attitude bubbles up in lots of outlets, sometimes snide and subvocalized, and sometimes right up in your face. A perfect example of the in-your-faciness would be this piece from the very right-tilted Foundation for Economic Education. FEE never met a union that it liked, and the subheading of this article perfectly summarizes the unfortunately-not-unpopular idea they're selling.
Read MoreDance, by its very nature, is inclusive. It belongs to everybody and may appeal to young people who cannot engage in, or do not enjoy, traditional team games. Creative dance does not require formal training, making it ideal for all children – no matter their body type, cognitive ability, or skill level. It is not stylistic like other forms of dance, such as modern, tap, ballet or salsa.
Read MoreSince COVID-19 forced many of America’s schools to teach kids remotely, parents and elected officials have been rightly concerned about when things will get back to normal. But there are certain aspects of education where a return to a pre-pandemic “normal” may not be in the best interests of America’s students.
Read MoreAs an environmental psychologist who works to improve young people’s access to nature, I recently completed a review that brings two bodies of research together: one on connecting children and adolescents with nature, and the second on supporting healthy coping when they realize they are part of a planet in peril.
Read MoreTo use online proctoring apps, students are required to provide full access to their devices including all personal files. They are also asked to turn on their computer’s video camera and microphone. Some national advocacy groups of parents, teachers and community members argue that requiring students to turn on their cameras with rooms in the background during virtual classes or exams for a stranger to watch would violate their civil rights.
Read MoreAs we envision a post-pandemic world, rather than surrender to a virtual educational model, Freire would have called on communities to reenter our schools and neighborhoods with greater commitment to nurture a participatory democracy.
Read MoreBias can make it harder for people from different backgrounds to become friends with each other. That includes implicit biases that lead to things like microaggressions – everyday verbal and nonverbal insults that are often unintentional but nevertheless convey negative messages about others based on personal characteristics.
Read MoreAll of us try to provide best practice instruction to our students. Sometimes, though, in our enthusiasm to provide the children the instruction they need, we end up using some instructional methods that work against our goals. Here are a few things we know work in literacy instruction, some ways we can turn those good practices into unproductive ones, and then some things we can do instead.
Read MoreFor many districts trying to juggle both in-person and virtual classes, the online component has been left to ed tech companies like Edmentum often specializing in credit recovery. These have been an absolute disaster. Corporate America has no business educating our youth – and moreover they’re terribly bad at it.
Read MoreAs tempting as it is to think that different disciplines develop their own special language as a means of keeping others out of their domain - lawyers, we are looking at you - the reasons are not usually malevolent. Disciplines use language in ways that are a reflection of the way they see the world.
Read MoreTeachers need teacher and learning conditions that make their work as professionals possible, but the current movement to legislate the “science of reading” will further erode teacher autonomy and distract from the real work needed.
Read MoreParents can help restore their children’s sense of self and belonging through storytelling activities. Storytelling is a human pursuit that crosses all cultures and generations and can help restore some of the missing elements in our children’s lives today.
Read MoreNo matter your viewpoint on the coronavirus, for those who care about democratic public schools, our fears merge when it comes to worrying that technology will replace teachers and end those schools. Covid-19 is the perfect storm, and Prenda micro-schools are the prototype. These are schools that focus on commercial tech programs without real teachers.
Read MoreTwo great videos to kick off our video series featuring Steven Nelson on education, “On Learning Through Experience” and “Good Experiential Education”. Steven Nelson is the author of “First, Do No Harm: Progressive Education in a Time of Existential Risk”.
Read MoreWhether teaching at a safe distance in school, or online, or some combination of the two, teachers and students face a unique challenge this year. While reading instruction for our most vulnerable readers will necessarily look much different from normal practice, many best practices can still be used effectively. An instructional design I would recommend is Read Aloud, Read Along, Read Alone, Read Again.
Read MoreAlthough there’s a growing number of U.S. communities that will begin the 2020-2021 school year virtually, many others, like mine, are resuming in-person learning or using a hybrid format that combines both a distance approach and classroom instruction.
Read MoreFeeling unsafe at school is not only a product of name-calling, slurs or getting pushed in the hallway. It’s also related to implicit bias and microaggressions against LGBTQ students. Implicit bias refers to negative beliefs about a group derived from attitudes or stereotypes that occur largely outside of conscious awareness and control.
Read MoreElection campaigns inspire hope, but they can also quickly lead to political despair. During the last two elections, America’s polarized citizens experienced significant swings between hope and despair.
Read MoreThe question is: how do cooperative kids get to be that way? What is the secret sauce that feeds a sense of community responsibility over personal gratification? How can we have pride and true excellence, while staying within the guardrails of kindness and collaboration?
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