Teaching While Undocumented
Two professors document the struggles of undocumented teachers and offer ways educators, schools, and policymakers can better support them.
Teacher Training/Education
Teachers Living and Resisting Indebted Life
Wozniak shares stories of educators grappling with student loans and a growing movement toward resistance and debt cancellation.
We Don’t Need No Education
As an example of how the right is waging war on teacher education programs, teacher unions, and the teaching profession itself, Arizona has rolled back teacher licensing rules. We could see similar measures proposed in other parts of the country.
Challenging Corporate Ed Reform
The failures of the corporate education “reform” movement leave it vulnerable to genuine grassroots school transformation.
Who’s Bashing Teachers and Public Schools and What Can We Do About It?
To build an effective movement against the top-down strategies that are ripping public education apart, we need to take a closer look at who wants reform and why.
Shaking Foundations
Virginia professors take on the state’s attempt to eliminate Social Foundations of Education” from required course work.”
The Green New Deal and Our Schools
So often, the climate crisis is presented in frightening, threatening terms: rising seas, superstorms, raging wildfires, unlivable temperatures, species extinction, disappearing glaciers, dying coral, climate refugees. These are real. But the paradox is that this dystopian possibility is forcing us to imagine an entirely different kind of society. Schools have a central role to play in devising new alternatives and equipping young people to bring those alternatives to life. This is the work we’ve been assigned.
Doing Race Talk with Teachers
A teacher-educator describes how she keeps her students talking about race, even when it’s uncomfortable — and shows how those conversations make better teachers.
The 2020 Presidential Election: Educators Speak Out
We asked a group of radical educators to weigh in on what they hoped would be part of any 2020 presidential candidate’s education platform.
Who Is Allowed to Teach Spanish in Our Public Schools?
The director of a world language teacher preparation program argues for an end to the edTPA because it bars native Spanish speakers from public school classrooms.
The Constant Testing of Black Brilliance
An educator reflects on how the education system has continually tested her Blackness from grade school through professional development, and argues that we need more Black spaces to nurture brilliance.
A Colonizing Agenda
Janice Jackson interviews Rethinking Schools editor Wayne Au about the failure of Bill Gates’ educational initiatives.
Ignoring Diversity, Undermining Equity
NCTQ, which claims to “provide an alternative national voice to existing teacher organizations and to build the case for a comprehensive reform agenda that would challenge the current structure and regulation of the profession,” was created by the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation in 2000 and incorporated in 2001 as a policy response to a perception that colleges of education were not adequately preparing teachers. According to education historian and NCTQ critic Diane Ravitch, the conservative members of the Thomas B. Fordham foundation perceived teacher training as problematic due to an overemphasis on social justice and a lack of focus on basic academic skills and abilities. Thus, NCTQ was originally founded as an entity through which to encourage alternative certification and circumvent colleges of education. Indeed, early on, NCTQ was closely connected to ABCTE (American Board for the Certification of Teacher Excellence), which created a series of tests that potential teachers could pass in order to bypass teacher education programs altogether by paying $1,995.00.
The Struggle for Bilingual Education
Organizer and advocate Tony Báez has been fighting for improved bilingual education programs for decades. In this interview, he talks about the current state of bilingual education and describes how parents and educators won a maintenance K-12 bilingual program in the Milwaukee Public Schools.
How the edTPA Disrupts Relationships
The edTPA has become a credentialing requirement in many states. Its implementation has distorted relationships throughout teacher education.
‘Rethinking Sexism, Gender, and Sexuality’ and the Power of Grassroots Activism
The youth on our cover is Lana “kQween” Grant. She was photographed by Lois Bielefeld as part of her Androgeny series. kQween’s pride—and the empathy and respect of Bielefeld’s image—are […]
Elbow Is Not a Sexy Word
A 9th-grade teacher lays groundwork for sex education that is sex-positive and inclusive.
Activism Is Good Teaching
Two elementary school teachers in Albuquerque resist the proliferation of harmful standardized tests. They see it as a professional responsibility.
What’s a Nice Test Like You Doing in a Place Like This?
The dangers to the teaching profession are real, but is edTPA the solution?
Wrong Answer to the Wrong Question
The edTPA distorts the teacher education process and opens the door to Pearson Inc. reaping more profits and power.
The Role of Performance Assessment in Developing Teaching as a Profession
The edTPA will lead to better teachers and more professional respect.
Wash Your Hands: Navigating Grief and Uncertainty in the Time of the Pandemic
By Linda Christensen I hadn’t ever planned to teach online, but the Saturday before our college campus closed because of the coronavirus pandemic, I decided to cancel our face-to-face class […]
New York Post Attacks Rethinking Schools
Dear Rethinking Schools friends, Have you seen the recent attacks on Rethinking Schools? Over the past couple of weeks, the New York Post published two pieces attacking social justice teaching […]
The Green New Deal and Our Schools
By the editors of Rethinking Schools As Mark Hertsgaard and Kyle Pope wrote recently in The Nation, “There is a runaway train racing toward us, and its name is climate change. […]
The New Teacher Book-3rd Edition
Newly revised and expanded third edition! This expanded third edition of The New Teacher Book grew out of Rethinking Schools workshops with early career teachers. It offers practical guidance on […]