Elementary Rat

Like most teachers, I am a walking Jeopardy game.  Children ask lots of interesting questions.  I think it is good educational practice to t...

Dear Match Graduate Program in Education , I think this Answer Sheet  column sums up the big problems - the general deficit approach to po...

Various school reform advocates claim all they want is equity with real public schools.  Charters just want to share space with regular publ...

Charter school proponents often turn to a delightful interpretation of market forces when extolling the benefits of their schools.  Parents ...

There is widespread agreement across the political spectrum that the official poverty rate is the highest it has been in nearly fifty years....

Have you updated your  whooping cough vaccination  recently?  Remember, adults need a booster.  Nor should you forget that immunity is not a...

The No Child Left Untested Act wants every child to have a "highly qualified" teacher.  Whether or not you believe five weeks of t...

I went to a screening of "American Teacher" this weekend which included a discussion.  I was on my best behavior, so I generally a...

This op-ed  is making the rounds, and I think it makes some pretty good points.  Teach for America is far too concerned with its application...

Since there's only about a month of summer vacation left and I like to get started on room setup at the very beginning of August (saves ...

There is something of an internet brouhaha going on around  this essay , which observes that private power restricts freedom even in the fre...

I think this  Charles Pierce column  covers most of the issues with David Brooks' latest screed in the New York Times, but a few questio...

SFUSD has released its latest  update  of its strategic plan, which includes some handy pie charts, tables, and graphs. On page two, it li...

Dear Fellow California Voters, I am delighted that you join me in panning the Governor's Legislature-approved plan to  destroy the sta...

It ends up that there is weather so vile that even I do not wish to try on clothing. I only purchased one dress and one pair of pants in N...

I'm always a bit bemused by ranting around Look At All This Stuff Kids Don't Know Find Me a Teacher to Blame. Because the thing is...

As a veteran teacher in a high-needs school, I am aware that the average ed deformer is pretty sure I am lazy, child-hating, and bitter this...

There is so much talk about getting veterans to come to high-needs schools or recruiting short-termers for those schools that there's ne...

I remain unenthusiastic about the whole "looks like a Kindergarten teacher" thing, but  this series  about halfway houses in New J...

From the New York Times  (bold mine): Dr. Wolff was not one to easily back down. She resembles a kindergarten teacher , with plain eyeglas...

Yesterday, I got irritated with this liberal thing I see a lot in education circles: the idea that reflection is enough. It's not.  Th...

Despite teaching at an early-start school and generally arriving there well before 7 AM, getting to professional development by 8 AM is a ch...

ETA:  This is what's driving "pension failure" by the way. Oh, superintendents. Generally I wouldn't link to stories t...

When it comes to one's classroom, furniture is grab-bag.  Schools may or may not have made standard purchases - say, a bookshelf for eve...

My school is in the final third of schools to get Prop. A updating and refurbishment.  My dream list: Asbestos removal. (not going to h...

Donors Choose Projects Fully Funded This Year: 15 Donors Choose Projects Fully Funded, Lifetime: 49 Art Room Aid Projects Fully Funded Th...

Teachers have to break down their classrooms at the end of the year: put everything away and take everything down (fadeless paper fades, peo...

I am a voter without political affiliation and a financially literate and well-informed one at that, so it was with some interest that I rea...

Presently, I am attempting the fine art of impulse control against great odds: clerks that know one and offer special extra hold periods, a ...

California released  its updated list  of districts that cannot meet financial obligations in 11-12 or 12-13 and districts may not meet fina...