This is a cross-post from EdGator.com. [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”] In or around 2007, leaders in my state attempted to respond to an unfavorable Supreme Court decision by revamping how they financed schools. Being a […]
John Kuhn
John Kuhn is a public school administrator in Texas and a vocal advocate for public education. His ''Alamo Letter'' and YouTube videos of his 2011 speech at a Save Texas Schools rally went viral, as did his 2012 essay ''The Exhaustion of the American Teacher.'' He has written two education-related books, 2013's Test-and-Punish (Park Place Publications) and 2014's Fear and Learning in America (Teachers College Press).
Charters: They're not all KIPP
This is a cross-post from EdGator.com. Several recent articles deal with charter school applications that contain copied passages. Since one of the main tasks of a democratic education is to produce ethical leaders, I have a visceral reaction to questionable shortcuts, especially academic dishonesty like potential plagiarism, being employed in setting up a school. I […]
Education Reform- Nefarious Motives?
It’s easy to ascribe nefarious motives to those with whom we disagree. As I read headlines about school reform, I often find myself wondering if the reformers I am reading about are “white hat” reformers who truly care about the plight of poor children whose only hope for a better future will come through education, […]
Circling the Wagons in Educational Reform
This is a cross-post from EdGator.com Several recent headlines have to do with the just-released MetLife Survey of the American Teacher. Reformers like Eduwonk are desperately trying to dissemble that the survey doesn’t hint strongly at the hostility of reform policies that are making tons of teachers love their jobs less and less. (Value-added ratings […]
Sunburned in February
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”] If you watch the awesome YouTube video of Dan Pink’s presentation of the motivational theory espoused his book Drive, you’ll understand something thrilling: that when people are intrinsically motivated, they will […]
"White Hat" and "Black Hat" Reformers
This is a cross-post from EdGator.com. In one of the articles linked today, Alexander Russo tells of a “former reformer” who is now, as a parent, on the receiving end of a harsh reform measure: the forced consolidation of his child’s school. I’m sympathetic. I’m also reminded that, despite the eager cruelty of some, all […]
Accountability without Equity
This article is cross-posted from EdGator.com [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”] I thought Texas officials had created a monster when they unveiled Franken-STAAR, and I was right. But they unleashed another monster besides a convoluted piece […]
The "No Excuses" Parent
By writing an article entitled “The Exhaustion of the American Teacher” recently, I unwittingly unleashed a torrent of competing emotions. With 81,000 Facebook “likes” and scores of supportive comments from teachers and their loved ones, the text and tenor of the piece found a receptive audience. At the same time, several of the comments—from both […]