If you ask any teacher in Louisiana who has taught more than ten years what’s the worst thing to happen to the teaching profession, most of them will say Act I; the legislation that defines how teacher are evaluated using invalid student test scores and a Utopian scoring rubric that was designed to be a […]
A few weeks back, a fellow education advocate sent me the link to an article written by Emily Hanford (@ehanford), a senior education correspondent for American Public Media. The article, titled Hard Words: Why aren’t kids being taught to read?, opens up and delves into a spot on analysis of what is missing in elementary […]
The “Opt-Out” movement may have subsided in Louisiana, but only because of the severity of the threats and consequences being made by superintendents and principals across the state. But judging by the flood of emails, text messages, and FaceBook messages I continue to get, everyday, the concern and contempt for state assessments has not died. […]
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that if you don’t know who Deyshia Hargrave is, you might be living under a rock. On Monday, January 8th, Hargrave was in attendance at a Vermilion Parish School Board meeting in Abbeville, LA when she was removed from the meeting and arrested for questioning […]
In life, we often pray for opportunity to come our way. Just as I have, I am certain that some of you have faced an opportunity that you didn’t take only to regret it later. This is an opportunity that the people of Louisiana cannot afford to miss. It has been confirmed that whether BESE […]
On Tuesday, March 7, 2017, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) approved the new Louisiana Student Standards for Science with a 9-0 vote. A committee was established to review and establish the new standards. My guess is that the members of the review committee were carefully selected to guarantee a predetermined recommendation, and […]
On Tuesday, February 7, 2017, the Senate confirmed Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education in an historic tie breaking vote cast by Vice-President Pence. I refer to this day as “The Day The Music Died,” for reasons that aren’t that obvious, but you will see the connection when I discuss a number of bills that […]
As you know, the current accountability system has created a number of inequities in our state from the classroom to the state level. In reviewing the presentation provided on the proposed accountability system, I fear that these inequities will not only continue, but also be exacerbated. While there is still a considerable amount of disagreement […]
Public school parent and advocate, Jeremy Langston, has been a member of the coalition to end Common Core, and the education reforms that accompany it, for several years. As always, he keeps an open line of communication with his superintendent, school board members, legislators and other members of the coalition. Just as he did last […]
I find that there are two types of salesmen. Those who are committed to determining the customer’s needs and filling them; and those who determine what you need, then up-sell to something more expensive. These salesmen are committed to filling their own needs, and they do that by steering you to the more profitable item. They […]
