ICYMI: Catching Up with Reading (10/30)

I've been home for about a week and I am just about back up to speed. There's a lot to read this time around. As always, I encourage you to share wildly whatever you like here. 

What Are the Main Reasons Teachers Call It Quits

NPR takes a look at why some folks are getting out of the teaching biz. No surprises here, but nice to see NPR catching on

LA Unified Takes a Hard Look at Charter Schools

Charters have taken it on the chin in LA, and there's a definite shift in attitude there.

A Public Education

Friend of this blog Phyllis Bush ran an op-ed this week that gets to the heart of what does and does not make a public education.

State-Run Kids: Suleika's Story

Here's a moving story of what the charter mess in New Jersey looks like to the families and children of the city.

Black Children Deserve the Stability That Neighborhood Schools Offer

Andre Perry absolutely nails it in discussing one of the worst effects of charter schools-- the loss of a stabilizing institutions for a community

What I Miss

Friend of this blog Mary Holden (it's nice to have all these friends) has been writing an honest and personal account of her departure from the classroom. Here's her look back at what she misses.

King of the Castle

Jennifer Berkshire (Edushyster) takes a look at the infamous Massachusetts charter that makes its teachers pay to leave.

Wall Street Firms Make Money from Pension Funds, Spend It On Charters

Actual reporter (you know-- the old fashioned type who actually goes out and finds thing out) David Sirota reports the maddening but predictable news that public teacher pension funds are helping fund the attack on public education.

The Vivisection of Literature

Another examination of how the study of literature has been beaten up in the rush to High Standards

The Absurd Defense of Standards Post-Common Core

Jane Robbins takes a quick look at how some folks are in a Kentucky spitting match over the Core

NAACP President: Why We Should Pause the Expansion of Charter Schools

Since they made the charteristas all sad, the NAACP has had lots of folks trying to tell them what happened, why it happened, and what they should really do. Here's the president of NAACP to explain what they did and why they did it.