Category Archives: Uncategorized

A caveat first: I am not opposed to innovation and uses of technology in higher education. As a professor of education for 15 years (and a K-12 teachers for 10 years before that) I see technology as a great tool or resource that enables me to be a better educator (when used correctly). However, IContinue reading “The EduTech nightmare in Higher Ed”

I have created (see link at here chart3 and at end of blog) a chart that may help folks in thinking through how to organize effective resistance to ed reform and crafting meaningful and effective alternatives to current education policies. My motivation to create this came from my own frustrations with a few things: 1) Where toContinue reading “Organizing and Action”

Just completed an amazing journey through the streets of Seattle with the Washington BATS and other amazing teachers, students, and activists. We marched, a few hundred strong, to the steps of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The organizers were kind enough to invite me to speak.  Here is a link to what I saidContinue reading “Education Reform: A Fractured Fairy Tale”

PRESS RELEASE: “A Rally to Educate Gates” – Seattle.

Hi Bill, This is my first letter to you, but ironically enough, we both know you’ll never read it. However, I hope my words here inspire my other readers to consider advocating for ideas similar to those I will propose here. Perhaps one of them will gain traction in the ranks of the billionaire’s boysContinue reading “Let Them Eat Cake, Bill? My First Letter to Bill Gates”

This is how the charter movement sweeping across states and cities starts. Like this: Last week I attended a dog and pony show being hosted at Towson University and sponsored by The Arthur Rupe Foundation and led by Maryland Public Policy Institute, Heritage Foundation, National Alliance for Charter Schools and the CEO of KIPP Schools.Continue reading “ALEC and Charter Schools are the New Dog and Pony Show”

Head’s up. Or better, duck and cover. Reform is coming to Baltimore County. While I’ve been blogging for a while how reform policy is influencing Maryland in general and Baltimore City,  the tentacles are expanding, as many of us knew they would. The modus operandi du jour is charter school legislation and related reform policies.Continue reading “False Advertising Used to Sell Out Maryland Public Schools”

Prologue: What if, following the end of slavery with the Emancipation Proclamation, formerly enslaved black and brown people created an amazing resurgence of economic, educational and political successes? (They did). Would the elite in power squelch that budding success with New Jim Crow laws? And, what if to counter the gross systemic and violent inequitiesContinue reading “What if the high stakes tests were wrong? (A thought experiment)”

Who is min(d)ing Baltimore City Schools? Lately it appears to be Baltimore Citizens on Baltimore Schools (BCBS). The group is inviting parents and community members to get involved. They state, “Our work focuses on developing, implementing and sustaining district effectiveness that leads to increased student achievement in Baltimore City Public Schools.” But wait, there’s more!!Continue reading “Who’s Minding (or Mining) Baltimore City Schools?”

http://www.todayandtomorrow.net/2009/02/09/get-lost/ I’ve been groping my way along … I’ve been concentrating so long on my vision that I lost sight … You see, it’s not the vision. It’s the groping, it’s the yearning, it’s the groping and the yearning, it’s the moving forward. I was so fixated on flinging that cow that when Ed toldContinue reading “Tell Common Core to Get Lost”