I’ve been on both sides of the fence: the educator side and the parent side. I’m sure most of you have been there also. We’ve all had the families come through our classroom doors that we cannot wait to develop relationships with. You know the ones: they fill out every line on the volunteer form then add […]
Opinion
Posted inElementary School, Featured, From the Front Lines, Opinion, Uncategorized
Inexcusable Sympathies
There was a time when standing up for public school teachers in the United States was not merely acceptable behavior, it was actually the cultural norm. We gave our teachers accolades in the public arena, hoping that our efforts at demonstrating our united esteem might somehow make up for the low pay we afforded them. […]
Posted inFrom the Front Lines, Opinion, School Improvement, Uncategorized
The Educational Reformer's Orthodoxy
Joel Klein’s veracity was challenged–shredded might be a better word–in a recent article in The American Prospect. The best line in the piece was “Klein didn’t overcome demographic odds; he fulfilled them.” The powerful, eviscerating truth of this simple line erases every last vestige of credibility The Legend of Klein ever had. Michelle Rhee’s breathless […]
Posted inFeatured, Opinion, The Unemployed Teacher
The Unemployed Teacher: Why Do We Become Teachers?
This is my second school year (and 16th month) without a permanent teaching position. Like thousands of other out-of-work teachers, I spend many hours a week looking and applying for jobs. The world of unemployment is filled with extremely relentless efforts that produce very regular rejections. Sometimes you hit a job opening at just the […]
Posted inFeatured, From the Front Lines, How to Fix Education, Opinion, Uncategorized
The Bliss of Contextual Ignorance
I heard a famous school reform advocate–the kind of guy who says things like “Last time I checked there are no jobs for people who have a mean macaroni art game,” and “Failed schools must be closed and the children provided with vouchers so they can attend good schools”–tell a crowd once how proud he […]
Posted inOpinion, The Unemployed Teacher
The Journey of An Unemployed Teacher: A Shock to the System!
I mentioned last week that there have been over 350,000 teaching job losses since 2009. Usually the story of education job cuts stops there. But what really happens once the decision to cut is made? Every state in the union has districts that have experienced a massive shock to their system through a Reduction […]
Posted inHow to Fix Education, Opinion, Uncategorized
Part 2: Are Teachers Caught in the Crosshairs of the War on Women?
By: Eva Carafa In Part 1 of this four part series, we considered whether teaching is a low-status profession, despite the platitudes heard every day about the importance of teachers. In Part 2, we’ll consider whether there is a relationship between the War on Women and the War on Teachers currently being fought in the […]
Posted inElementary School, From the Front Lines, How to Fix Education, Opinion, Uncategorized
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 […]