Ecology of Education

NBC’s Education Nation confirmed their list of panelists for the upcoming education summit – none of whom are teachers and all of whom seem to take snaps from the same ed reform playbook. All except for the lone Randi Weingarten. She will play the role of Dissenting Voice in an ed reform narrative that is being ballyhooed across [...]

The “standards and accountability” education reform effort begun in the 1980s at the urging of leaders of business and industry, is failing. The reform message, powerfully reinforced by mainstream media, is simple:

1. America’s schools are, at best, mediocre.
2. Teachers and students deserve most of the blame.
3. As a corrective, rigorous subject-matter standards and tests must be put in place.
4. Market forces must be brought to bear to pressure teachers and students to work to those standards.

Corporate America has given us Big Banks (banks too big to fail) & Big Pharma (a pharmaceutical industry too big to fight). Coming soon to a school near you, courtesy of corporate America: Big Ed

Curiously, curiosity is no-where to be found in reform measures being debated today.  Rather, curiosity is left to scrub the proverbial floors of our education institutions.  It’s the forgotten and malnourished stepdaughter of NCLB and mistreated stepsister of Race to the Top.  Click on some of the speeches by President Obama and Secretary Duncan and [...]

Monotonous tedium and homogeneous uniformity — the great plagues of education. With rampant disregard for age, class, or ability, a curriculum lacking topography flatlines interest, dulls creativity, and limits potential. Yet, we find ourselves haphazardly careening toward fact based national standards, accountability systems, and teacher pay incentives that further cement our commitment to high stakes [...]

We teachers don’t really like homework.  It’s not really that fun to plan.  Its not really that interesting to grade.  And, despite what many students may believe, it’s not really that pleasurable getting them to turn it in. So why do we give it, day after day after day, year after year? Why do we [...]