Author Archives: educationalchemy

Dear Parent Friends, For a while now you’ve been hearing me rant about the negative effects of high stakes testing in education. Most of you have offered polite nods of understanding-being kind because of our friendship. Perhaps you even agree with me, but feel that either you don’t have enough understanding of the issues, orContinue reading ““Education-Corporate Reform 101”: What Parents Need to Know”

The title of this piece is a play on the old phrase “the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.” Why? Because in this era of unfettered free-market wheeling and dealing to profit the Masters of the Universe at the expense of the rest of us, the key players in education reform know allContinue reading “The Hand That Holds the Data Rules the World”

  My blog this week is dedicated to a few of my heroes: Individuals dedicated to schools as a democratic right and education as the foundation for social justice.  Their comments below were originally posted as comments which can be found at  Daily Cloudt . But their ideas are too good to “waste”-or to languishContinue reading “In Honor of the “We””

A while back I made up a really bad joke that goes like this: Question: How many academics does it take to screw in a light bulb? Answer: One-they stand on the chair holding the light bulb and wait for the world to revolve around them. I made this joke up after I had becomeContinue reading “If you can’t find justice …who moved?”

Are You Being Served? This was the title I used when I originally posted about a year ago in my column at The Examiner. However, it seems fitting to repost it here, again, a year later as the heat on higher education is being turned up. I share this post in honor of Barbara Madeloni,Continue reading “Barbara Madeloni got “served”-Are you being “served” next?”

The National Common Core Standards (NCCS) are coming to a school near you.  While the name might sound familiar, what do parents (and often even teachers) really know about the Common Core. Who wrote it? Where did it originate? Who owns it? What’s in it? Most parents concerned with their child’s nutrition read beyond theContinue reading “Even Snow White Would Know Better than to Bite into this Rotten Apple (Common) Core”

On Thursday May 17th I was a participant in two media events. The first was a teleconference sponsored by Margaret Spellings, adviser to the US Chamber of Commerce in tandem with The Institute for a Competitive Workforce   and the National Chamber Foundation, affiliates of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The goal was to rollContinue reading “All Quiet on the Media Front-even the ones we hope are on our side!”

Medieval scientists sought to turn base metals into gold, creating wealth for themselves and their rulers. Likewise, modern science, harnessed by capitalists, seeks to turn fresh water into gold. While the former failed in their explicit goals, they set out a path leading to the field of chemistry. The latter group, led by transnational corporationsContinue reading “Like Water for Education”

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE EXAMINER  March 21st– You know how the television station always post those emergency broadcast system alerts saying “this is only a test?” Well, for our democratic rights and the future our public education and all children—this is not a test. Or, more aptly-it’s ALL a test. This is going down, andContinue reading “THIS IS NOT A TEST”

I felt an urgency to write this post before Friday in order to coincide with Teacher Appreciation Week because this quasi “event of recognition” must remain close on our radar well past this Friday.  Never mind that this gesture is being erased by the first annual…gag…National Charter School week … gag again. On Monday MarkContinue reading “Public School Teachers: The next endangered species?”