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Sit Down and Shut Up
I went to a high-performing charter school to become a better teacher. Instead I learned how to silence and punish kids. — Note: the following piece was written by a young teacher who asked to...
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Education Vitals Check: Life Skills Needed
Our economy has changed, rapidly and irreversibly. Schools need to reflect that reality in how we approach education. — As the summer nears, and the Aspen Ideas Festival approaches (some of us get...
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The System Works*
If schools produce dramatic gains but leave students feeling scared, and scarred, are they still successful? An eighth grader poses some tough questions… — Traumatized. That’s the word my friends and...
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Holding Back to Get Ahead
Embed from Getty Images Researcher Joanne Golann tells the EduShyster (Jennifer Berkshire) that no-excuses charters are teaching low-income students to defer to authority and hold back their...
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Safe But Silent
Parent and early childhood educator Jamila Carter warns that the emphasis on strict discipline and control in urban schools can stifle kids’ creativity and natural desire to learn. — There is a...
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All-Boys Denver Charter School Gives Young Men Freedom to Move
Discussion of peak school achievement usually involves certain educational buzzwords:. Rigor. Grit. Discipline. Order. Imagining these traits in action often conjures up a vision of tidy children, clad...
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Is John Oliver’s Closer Look at Charter Schools the Whole Story?
It’s a conversation as hot and fiery as any other political touchstone out there: should there be a cap on charter schools, and are charter schools—overall—better for children, democracy, and society...
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As the School Spins
Today’s topic: what happens when state officials hand a school whose students are among the highest needs in Boston to a team of outside turner-arounders who have never before run a school? The answer,...
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Charter Schools: The Best Imperfect Answer to a Sprawling Public School System
Embed from Getty Images I’ve had a recent email discussion with a fellow GMP editor on the topic of charter schools. We have a bit of a disagreement about their merits. So let me say up front that I...
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Charter Schools Rock, Argument #2: Success Academies
Embed from Getty Images A few weeks ago, I wrote a general defense of charter schools, following John Oliver’s unwarranted rip on the public school alternative for American kids. A basic summation is...
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A Humorous Defense of Charter Schools (Response to John Oliver)
Writer’s note: Jeremy McKeen, Where are you?! This is a bit past its hit date, but this video from We The Internet is worth watching for anyone who thinks charter schools even might play a successful...
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Will We Destroy Our Entire Education System?
Embed from Getty Images — Education is a huge part of our family. For starters, I entered teaching as a teaching assistant at the University of Arkansas ten years ago, and I entered public education...
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Charter Schools Are About Much More Than Partisan Politics
Embed from Getty Images As I’ve written recently, everything is now political. Or let me be more clear – many seem to believe that everything is political. Of course, when something is made political,...
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How to Start an ISIS Charter School…
Embed from Getty Images I teach in a public high school in Los Angeles and every time I hear someone extol the virtues of charter schools and vouchers, I cringe. For 13 years, I taught at a charter...
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What Betsy DeVos Gets Right About Education
Embed from Getty Images Every child is unique. We know this. That necessarily means that every kid will not thrive in the same setting and circumstances. Take an example from my own childhood: Here’s...
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5 Things Every Parent Needs to Know About the Education System
Embed from Getty Images — One of the most stressful things for many parents is navigating the education system. For divorced parents, the debate over where kids should go to school and who should be...
View ArticleFor Most Parents, School Choice Is Not About Segregation
Embed from Getty Images I recently spoke with a friend who works for the State Department. She’s not in Washington, D.C., now, but she and her family only recently relocated from the capital. The last...
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What We Can Learn From Closure of Charter School That DeVos Praised as...
Embed from Getty Images — Claire Smrekar, Vanderbilt University When Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and first lady Melania Trump visited Excel Academy Public Charter School last spring, DeVos praised...
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We Are Doing Education Wrong
Embed from Getty Images — RSVP to join weekly calls on Education — Since we started the Education Social Interest Group here at the Good Men Project, I have had some very interesting conversations...
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The Statues Are More Than Just Statues
Embed from Getty Images — In the wake of White Nationalists marching in Charlottesville, I saw a few variants of this question: “If these Confederate statues are so terrible, why didn’t Martin Luther...
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