I Am A Teachers’ Union Man (With An Asterisk)

Posted on March 24, 2017 by

Summary: Against a decline of unions in general, scant evidence exists for charges from free market types that teachers unions are a chief hindrance to school reform. But there is room for teachers’ unions to be more effective school change agents. Continue reading →

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After All These Years, Separate Still Looks Unequal

Posted on March 7, 2017 by

Summary: Resegration of American neighborhoods leaves kids of color disproportionately exposed to the challenges of growing up in homogeneously poor neighborhoods and going to inferior schools. Comparisons to their poor white counterparts show the latter more likely to live in economically mixed neighborhoods with correspondingly better schools. Will one day we hear renewed calls to desegregation of schools and communities? Continue reading →

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Will School Funding Reform Include Resources for Low Income Youth?

Posted on February 4, 2017 by

Summary: School Funding Reforms in Washington State and California properly should include additional funding for at risk low income youth, in order to support them toward the skill level of more fortunate fellow students. That is, if we are truly serious about improving test scores. Continue reading →

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We the People and the Slouch of the Rude Beast

Posted on January 17, 2017 by

Summary: The dangers of the coming Presidency are real and shocking and have left many still numbed; all citizens, most pointedly teachers of the youth, have a role to play in buttressing rights and freedoms we may take for granted. Continue reading →

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For-Profit Schools Make a Name for Themselves, and It Isn’t a Good One

Posted on January 2, 2017 by

Summary: Experience to this date with for-profit charter schools across the country and in Betsy DeVos’ Michigan indicates this particular free market solution simply doesn’t pencil out where it collides with a public good. Continue reading →

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Betsy DeVos, the Force Behind Detroit School Chaos

Posted on December 13, 2016 by

Summary: With apparently good intentions to help kids trapped in “low wattage” schools, Betsy DeVos, a champion of charters and school choice, by leverage of her family’s financial and political clout, has engineered changes in Michigan schools that have lowered their standing, and undercut the viability of Detroit schools. She has been tapped as Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Education. Continue reading →

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People Power and the Rebound of Low Income Kids

Posted on November 28, 2016 by

Summary: Hands on school experience has joined with neuroscience and social science to prescribe quality relationships in the school lives of struggling low income students. Continue reading →

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