If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
I'm leaving and I'm taking the kids. It's the ultimate threat -- the one that does its damage even as the words leave your mouth -- and a hallmark of a deep dysfunction. The Chicago Public Schools and I are locked in this weird relationship drama.
If 2011 was the "year of school choice," then 2012 was the "year of the resurgent teachers union." And leading the comeback was Chicago's Karen Lewis -- fiery, forceful, and unabashedly oppositional.
The budget is all about priorities and it is time we make the mayor and the appointed Board of Education understand ours, because as a teachers and parents our priorities are about the kids.
If we're serious about fixing the long-term problems in the schools, we should take a careful look at each of these, determining how they should shape the roles of all players in the system -- be they administrators, teachers, parents, or politicians.
We are at a crossroads in this country. There is a significant mismatch between where the jobs are and what our educational system is producing.
Teachers aren't suggesting they not be held accountable. What they're saying is that we acknowledge the realities of the classroom, that we not gloss over the real problems, formidable as they may be, and pretend that the flaws in our education system are the fault of the teachers.
We cannot afford to allow our unions to be dismantled. Unions, after all, are the manifestation of the idea that we are more powerful and able to fight for our rights together.
The earthquake that was the strike shook the topsoil off a lot of disturbing issues and now out in the light, parents can't ignore them. Advocating for our kids, some may call it fighting, feels a whole lot better than feeling a loss of control.
As Latino and ELL students all too often fall into this at-risk category, the way forward is clear: Preschool drives students' success in school, in work, and in life
A little less talk, a little more action, and a bit of edutainment, and I think I see how the world's children will come to realize their true potential and build the skill-sets they will someday need.
By reducing the strike to a clash between Lewis and Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Michelle Rhee was also able to ignore the powerful voices of tens of thousands of teachers, parents and students who filled Chicago's streets.
There is a shared delusion driving education reform. The delusion is that everyone assumes better teaching means students learn more.
Many cities have cross-sector collaboratives with similar missions; Cincinnati is the only place where these collaboratives come together to support their public schools.
While the Chicago teacher's strike has brought public education to the forefront of the presidential campaign, it barely received more than lip servic...
As Secretary Arne Duncan travels the country on his Back-to-School bus tour, he has refocused his attention on the community schools strategy as a vehicle for implementing a Broader Bolder Approach to Education.
As the Chicago Teacher's strike appeared over and over on the news, I began to think about what an evaluation of another group of public employees may unearth -- the performance and efficacy of our Congressmen and women.
