StickWithANose

I have on many occasions pointed out that much of the impetus behind the charter school and school choice movements has very little to do with student learning and everything to do with the private sector tapping federal and state education dollars for its own enrichment. However, this trend is by no means exclusive to [...]

As I’ve previously noted here and here, I’m dubious that the rise in online schooling is as effective as its supporters [who often stand to make a good deal of money] would have us believe. Nevertheless, the trend toward online learning is clear, and there are several factors driving this trend. Today, EdWeek posted yet [...]

Only in Arizona baby…

What passes for educational innovation… Training low income students to fill low income jobs: Tennessean
You know its bad when business-friendly tool Arne Duncan supports cracking down on the predatory practices of for-profit colleges: EdWeek
Speaking of predation… Here is another industry in need of regulation: NYTimes
More trouble for Adrian Fenty… Will D.C. voters call the oligarchs [...]

For many of the international students with which I studied in graduate school, the ways in which American schools [& really American society in general] work to atomize individual students  and keep them under almost constant surveillance was shocking. They had come to this nation to study education with the expectation that the ‘home of [...]

My intention for today’s post was to focus on the news that several states are seeking federal waivers to cut special education funding in response to budget crises. I intended to discuss the impact that these kinds of cuts have on poorer urban schools that have higher proportions of students classified as having learning disabilities [...]

As with all new media that preceded it, there is a new wave of dire warnings that computer and internet technology is turning us all into shallow thinkers with the attention span of a shitzu puppy on speed. Cherry-picking psychological studies that, in their haste to be “scientific”, create an abstract context in which the [...]

This subject is somewhat off topic for me, but the ideology behind the proposals of Stanford economist Paul Romer is part and parcel with a dangerous trend in elite circles that is attempting to [literally] turn back the clock to the age of colonialism.* The idea goes as follows:
Romer is peddling a radical vision: that [...]

It appears as though the un-paralleled power afforded to Sec. of Education Arne Duncan may be coming to an end and, might I add, not a minute too soon. I believe that it is time to blow up the inboxes of your congress critters and let’s try to change course with a quickness! EdWeek
Two of [...]