Linda Darling-Hammond
“No social promotion” makes a nice soundbite but there are better ways to fix schools.”
Monique Cottman, Lisa Covington, and Jesse Hagopian
Rethinking Schools editor Jesse Hagopian interviews Iowa educators and Black Lives Matter at School-Iowa activists Monique Cottman and Lisa Covington.
Cynthia Ellwood
In November 1990, Cynthia Ellwood was asked to discuss the ethics of urban teacher preparation at the 4th National Forum of the Association of Independent Liberal Arts Colleges for Teacher […]
Check out these valuable resources, reviewed by Rethinking Schools editors and Teaching for Change colleagues.
the Editors
Rethinking Schools challenges readers to support an endangered, yet valuable teacher resource project.
the editors of Rethinking Schools
What makes public education so dangerous is that it is grounded in hope. As the editors of our forthcoming Teaching Palestine: Lessons, Stories, Voices write, “one of the wonderful things […]
The Editors of Rethinking Schools
Social justice education needs to start early.
Does EdTPA Limit Teacher Education? I believe that academic freedom ends where the health and well-being of my son begins. The state has an ethical and legal responsibility to assess […]
Katherine Crawford-Garrett
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.
David Levine
During inservices in October and November, all MPS teachers were introduced to Outcome Based Education (OBE), a program we were assured was “one of the most significant curriculum developments in […]
David Levine
When Helen Dixon, a Milwaukee Public Schools parent and volunteer, arrived at the first meeting of the K-12 Curriculum Summer Committee, she brought with her strong misgivings. “When we started […]
Alana Murray
Practical advice for helping new educators find their feet in the real world of teaching.
Herbert Kohl
Years ago, one of my fifth-grade students told me that his grandfather Wilfredo wouldn’t learn to speak English. He said that no matter how hard you tried to teach him, […]
Linda Christensen
Over winter break, I read a book on teaching that left me feeling desolate because the writer’s vision of a joyful, productive classroom did not match the chaos I faced […]
Bob Peterson
Milwaukee’s teacher councils provide important lessons on district wide school reform.
Michele Foster
Excerpts from Michele Foster’s new book, including comments from five African-American educators.
We launched Rethinking Schools during the Reagan era. A lot has changed since then, and much has stayed the same.
Cynthia Ellwood
As teachers, we know our job will never be a science, but a craft and an art that will forever demand that we stretch and grapple and grow in order […]
Bob Peterson
For public officials and mass media in Wisconsin, criticizing the Milwaukee Public Schools has become almost as popular as criticizing welfare. Such criticism has struck a responsive chord among many […]
Bob Peterson
As a fifth-grade teacher I use a variety of resources to provide my students information that is hopefully comprehensible, yet challenging. I use anything — yellowed newspaper clippings, old textbooks, […]
Bill Bigelow
In his magnificent new book, How the Word Is Passed, Clint Smith quotes the Rev. Dr. William Barber II: “The same land that held people captive through slavery is now […]
Rita Tenorio
“It is important for the school system to offer opportunities for teachers to learn about other methods, to give those who have ideas a chance to share with their colleagues.” […]
Bob Peterson
It’s November and a student brings in a flyer about a canned food drive during the upcoming holiday season. The traditional teacher affirms the student’s interest — “That’s nice and […]
Herbert Kohl
After almost four decades of involvement in classroom teaching and school reform, the noted educator and writer reflects on the importance of “the refusal to accept limits on what your students can learn or what you, as a teacher, can do to help them.”
Deborah Menkart
The world has a lot to learn about Haiti. According to the Uruguayan author and historian Eduardo Galeano: Haiti was the first country to abolish slavery. However, the most widely […]
