EduShyster

Will the Gopher State Go Tenure Free?

 Will Minnesota be the snow-covered setting for Vergara 2.0?

Confessions of a D-List Reformer

Everything you ever wanted to know about education reform land but were afraid to ask…

The Green Berets of Excellence

Teaching Alongside TFA Special Forces By Johnny Bravo My story starts some years back, on my first day on the job as a public school teacher. (After twenty years of private industry work and collegiate teaching experience, I shifted gears relatively recently and became a teacher). Having expected to encounter a balanced mix of experienced-to-new teachers, I was surprised at what seemed to be an extremely large number of very young recruits at our orientation. Although they weren’t introduced to us as being part of Teach for America, it didn’t take long to find out. While we all wore the same uniform, so to speak, there was something different about them.

An Open Letter to TFA: Don’t Back Down in Newark

Dear Teach for America: As an alum of your program, I like to keep apprised of your goings-on. Though we may have our differences, I always try to appreciate your bolder efforts. So I’m thrilled to see you taking a valiant stand in Newark, where the district is preparing to can over a thousand teachers without regard to seniority and in contravention of state tenure law. Remaining in a district so openly hostile to career educators must require not just millions from the Walton Family Foundation, but the bold resolve of knowing you’re part of the civil rights struggle of our generation.

Only a Test Question

(Guest Post by Sarah Lahm) A teacher wreaks havoc upon her students’ college-and-career readiness by denying them the test prep they’ve come to expect… In a shocking display of misplaced priorities and poor judgment, a teacher in [INSERT NAME OF CITY OR TOWN HERE] made an irreparable error this week. Instead of *teaching to the test,* as she had been subtly, yet repeatedly, instructed to do, this teacher committed the unforgivable sin of teaching her students about the test. This shocking breach occurred in the middle of what used to be known as April but will hence forth and forever be known as National High Stakes Testing Month

The Credibility Gap

The Credibility Gap (Guest post by Sarah Lahm) What if the *solution* turns out to be a big part of the problem? Friends, we have a problem on our hands. It turns out that experienced teachers—otherwise known as LIFO lifers—may not be causing the chasm of the achievement gap all by their lazy little selves. Now you’re probably thinking to yourself at this point: *color me confused.* After all, everyone who is anyone has been telling us for about as long as we can remember now that there is a money-back guaranteed way to boost all children up, no matter their zip code or lack thereof: de-tenurize teachers and take their golden *seniority* tickets while we’re at it.

Big Easy, Little Choice

Guest post by Ashana Bigard When I talk about *choice* in New Orleans I use quotations with both fingers and I wink too. Supposedly we have what’s called a *choice model for excellent education* but the reality is that the overwhelming majority of schools in New Orleans now operate the exact same way. They have rigid disciplinary codes that punish poor kids for being poor and are neither nurturing nor developmentally appropriate.

Top 10 Reasons to Join Teach For America

Guest Post on the EduShyster blog by Jay Saper Did you miss the last application deadline for Teach for America? Fret not, young reader—you still have three more weeks before the next and final deadline to join the 2014 corps. By Jay Saper, TFA reject

John King's gift to parents

John King cancelled a town hall style meeting in Garden City, NY this week where he was scheduled to discuss policy around testing and education reform.

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John King
boycott
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