Although conventional wisdom tells us that small schools and small districts are the best way to go, that may no always be the case. Last week, the Open Education blog posted an article on the school district consolidation taking place in Maine. I ahve experience with large and small school districts beign measured by student population [...]
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In an Op/Ed in the New York Times published a week ago, contributors Douglas J. Besharov and Douglas M. Call go on the offensive against the Head Start program and what they see as a lack of progress. Without providing a clear argument as to what is causing the failings of the program they criticize [...]
As mentioned in a previous post, there are those out there that are opposed to Obama’s agenda on preschool education. Although many of the arguments are solidly formed and to be expected, there are a few out there who seem to get public education confused with propaganda.
The State of Arizona has been ordered by a federal judge to increase funding of programs for English-Language Learners (ELLs) or else face fines up to $2 million per day. Reported by Education Week, the case will soon be heard by the US Supreme Court. The situation has gotten so complicated that even Ken W. Starr is now involved! The controversy is not about money, however, but about local control and who is to benefit from taxpayer dollars. Border states like Arizona have a high number of immigrants that may not be in the country legally and these make up the bulk of those ELL students. The real debate here is whether or not taxpayer dollars should be used to educate students who many people feel should not be allowed to use public schools or even be in the country in the first place. This is especially relevant in a state that has an disproportionately high number of immigrants. Jennifer Hochschild and Nathan B. Scovronick teamed up to show the ways in which the public education system advances, but also hinders, the ability to pursue the “American Dream”, in their 2003 book The American Dream and the Public Schools As an editor of the New York Times Magazine, Paul Tough is also a leading author on the issues of poverty, education, and the achievement gap. This new book takes a look at the idea Geoffrey Canada, the President and CEO of Harlem Children’s Zone, has for improving the success rates of African-American students, who, through the “accident of birth” were born into a place where their futures are more likely to end up in an early grave or in a prison cell than in a college lecture hall. His system of creating an “assembly line” of different services to address needs at different levels, starting with a prenatal care program for expecting parents, to after-school tutoring for high school students, and everything in between including a preschool, a charter school and a team of social workers is somewhat revolutionary in the battle against poverty. Although this book is now a bit dated, its effect on the reader is not diminished. Kozol takes a look at the stark differences that are experienced by students in the public schools in the United States. Visiting schools in some of the poorest and wealthiest districts in the nation, Kozol speaks with students, parents, teachers and administrators. The inequalities that are observed clearly are savage and designed to perpetuate a sub-standard system for certain students whilst creating another strata of public education for other districts – this sometimes occurs even within the same district. School funding seems to be at the source of many of the problems Continue reading Savage Inequalities |
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There are no more “gifted” students… at least not in Montgomery County, Maryland. Officials at the school district of one of the most affluent suburbs in the nation have voted to drop the label that many parents have fought hard to get for their children. This post takes a quick look at what gifted education is and at 
. After first coming up with a definition of what the American dream is, they explore what Americans want and expect from public schools, in the areas of desegregation; finance reform; school choice; curriculum reform; inclusion; and multiculturalism, among others. Their explanations center around three purposes of education: (1) advancement of the individual; (2) improvement of societal goals; (3) furthering the agenda of a particular group or special interest.
The BioBus
The BioBus, a rolling science laboratory, could help to bring hands-on science education to underfunded programs. You can help the bus to keep rolling with just a few clicks. [...]