Author Archives: educationalchemy

Let’s Start with a Few Recent Headlines: Teacher Prep Colleges Are Failing the Teachers Study Delivers Failing Grades For Many Programs Training Teachers  States Slow to Close Faltering Teacher Ed. Programs (also see more recently: http://edexcellence.net/articles/reforming-ed-schools-from-within and https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/teacher-prep-programs-need-to-be-accountable-too/2015/02/20/ed140f44-b8fc-11e4-aa05-1ce812b3fdd2_story.html ) Traditional colleges of education (aka 4 year undergraduate teacher preparation with state certification usually conferred in tandem) are underContinue reading “PEDAGOGY OF “DOUBT” AND THE ATTACK ON COLLEGES OF EDUCATION (Part I)”

Dear Arne, I know many members of the education revolution, fighting for the rights of ALL children for an equitable, meaningful and sustainable public education, are doing a jig of joy over your resignation. I share in their collective joy…and yet…well, I’m gonna kind of miss you. I’m going to miss your vapid blank facialContinue reading “My Letter to Arne”

2001: Students in Scarsdale boycott the state’s eighth-grade tests. Twenty-eight schools in New York are part of a growing movement of schools across the country that have protested the use of standardized testing, saying it forces them to abandon creative and stimulating lessons to focus on material in the tests. 2010: Arne Duncan was given anContinue reading “A “Brief and Wonderous” History of the Opt Out Movement”

Joanne Weiss is the author of an article entitled Competing Principles:Race to the Top, a $4 billion US education reform effort, produced valuable lessons on designing a competition-based program. Here’s the main page at Stanford: Competing Principles (SSIR) Weiss’ main conclusion is: “Competitions are an imperfect way to drive change. Yet as our experience with RaceContinue reading “Shiny objects and false narratives: Time to refuse it all”

The resignation of Lillian Lowery as the State Superintendent of Maryland schools  has raised speculation as to what may change in current education policies. Given her close ties to PARCC (serving on the governing board), allowing Maryland to be the fiscal agent for PARCC, Pearson and David Coleman (to name a few) it’s no wonderContinue reading “Maryland: MEET YOUR STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION”

Recently I have received numerous emails from friends across the country with links to corruption and co optation in education reform (and resistance), asking me if I’d be willing to dig a little deeper into some of these issues, or share my thoughts. Honestly, I have been mentally fried lately and found it difficult toContinue reading “ESEA Reauthorization: A Game of Thrones”

Why the long winded and cryptic title? It summarizes my feelings about the state of education reform including the recent revisions of ESEA/ECAA and the current state of the resistance movement. In a nut shell I find myself halfway between hope and skepticism. But….as Chris Hedges states in Wages of Rebellion, “half measures” will notContinue reading “Reflections on hegemony and revolution: A conflicting narrative of hope and skepticism”

A guest blog from Walking Man Jesse Turner: Some walking man news for my friends. It messy, not well edited, but it is great news. Let me start with we should not expect mainstream media to cover anything we do in my opinion. We should understand they work for the reformers not us. Any noticeContinue reading “A Message from Walking Man Jesse Turner”

  Let me start by suggesting something key that has not been articulated widely enough: All standardized testing is high stakes testing. If there were no stakes involved, why would corporate reformers and testing companies lobby tooth and nail to ensure standardized tests remain a central cornerstone of all education policies? At stake are billions ofContinue reading “The Education Revolution will Not Be Standardized: The “Moral Imperative” of Testing Refusal”