Why One Paraprofessional Wakes At 5 a.m. to Campaign

By Steve Lemken Jean Fay works with kindergartners as a paraprofessional at Crocker Farm Elementary School in Amherst, Mass. It’s a full day teaching students how to read. She’s done it for 13 years. She loves her work. She knows what an education means to her students and what it will take for them to [...]

Superheroes Spotted in Michigan

By Alain Jehlen Kimberly Cairy wrote about art educator Peggy Conlin who works with students with Autistic Spectrum Disorder during her prep period and organizes displays of their projects. John Welch told about Doris Bramer, recently passed away, his former social studies teacher, dance instructor, class advisor, and all-around life transformer who, among other things, [...]

Furious Debate Ensues Over Washington Post ‘Manifesto’

By Alain Jehlen Perhaps the most interesting thing about the “Manifesto” from 16 big-city school chiefs, published by The Washington Post Sunday, was the reaction. The school chiefs claim their hands are tied when they try to improve inner city schools. But if you look for the manifesto on Google, you’ll see stacks of angry [...]

Meet Public Education’s Everyday Superheroes

By Kevin Hart Whether you’re catching a showing of the new education “documentary” Waiting for Superman or watching the latest special news report on education, don’t expect to hear about Yolanda Porter, Marsha Grim and their fellow educators at Ella Grant Elementary School in Prichard, Ala. Maybe there’s nothing “Hollywood” about a group of public school teachers, administrators [...]

NEA’s Waiting for Superman Resources

A barrel-chested comic book character must save public education? Compelling soundbite to sell a movie maybe but when it comes to real education reform, NEA President Dennis Van Roekel gives the American public more credit than the backers of Waiting for Superman. “Nowhere in the film or its discussion have teachers’ voices been heard,” says [...]

Tony Danza Talks About Respect for Public School Teachers

By Cynthia McCabe Tony Danza is crying. He’s not far into a year in which he will teach sophomore English to students at Northeast High School in Philadelphia — as an actual job, not for a role — and he’s come to the realization that he may have bitten off more than he can chew. [...]

The Waiting For Superman Paradox

By Kevin Hart In the opening minutes of the new education “reform” documentary Waiting For Superman, director Davis Guggenheim has a moment of candor about the charter schools he hails as a panacea for urban education — he admits that most of them are not exactly getting extraordinary results. It’s that admission, educators say, that proves that [...]

Teachers Take the Stage at NBC’s Education Nation Forum

By Amy Buffenbarger More than 6,000 educators spent their Sunday afternoon logged on to educationnation.com to participate in NBC’s nationally broadcast Teacher Town Hall. The on-air and online town hall, moderated by NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams, was the beginning of a week-long focus on education issues discussed and highlighted across NBC News programs, [...]