It's nominally the first day of spring, so there's that. Here's some great reading from around the interwebs over the last week.
Cultural Competence: A Journey to Excellence
A short essay from Renee Moore about the importance of cultural competence in teaching
In Activist Era, High Schoolers Take to the Street
The Christian Science Monitor spots a trend-- the growing number of high school activist movements, where they are coming from, and what they are accomplishing.
Gentrification and Public Schools-- it's Complicated
The title certainly covers the topic. A pretty thoughtful and detailed look at a complicated topic-- how does gentrification both affect and feed off public school changes?
Turmoil Behind the Scenes at a Nationally Lauded High School
Remember P-Tech academy, the high tech school that got so much attention that it was replicated widely and even mentioned in a State of the Union Address-- all before it was even close to graduating its first class? Turns out that they are running into some problems. Whoops.
Disparate Measures
I kind of assume that if you read here, you definitely read Edushyster. But on the off chance you missed this one, well, don't-- Jennifer Berkshire interviews Dan Losen, the author of a new charter school story that finds that some aspects of the current charter industry are even more troubling than we thought-- and ESSA may make things even worse. How the an industry sold on civil rights is actually hugely damaging to them.
Fact Checking the Candidates
Well, the Democratic ones, anyway. Not the last word on the subject, but a fine compilation of some critical moments for Sanders, Clinton and public education.
Got Dough? How Billionaires Rule Our Schools
I love articles from back in the days when reformsters didn't think they had to be sneaky or clever about their intentions and methods. Set the wayback machine for 2011. This article from Dissent chronicles how the Big Three are using their money to take control of public schools. Still powerful and informative five years later.
Hi Peter. Long time reader, first time commenter. I was re- reading this old piece on this American Life about education "reform" in 1994. A regular school had a couple of great ideas, implemented them over a long period of times, and voila- it started to work. Then the things that more resemble the reform today came about and...well, if you don't know this piece, give it a listen. It's an oldie/ moldy but may be worth highlighting for a future ICYMI link.
ReplyDeletehttp://m.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/275/two-steps-back
This is what I remember too, class becoming more student-centered, management becoming more teacher-centered, everything working better and making more sense. And then "reform" started, and all progress was lost. It's so sad.
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