Doing Race Talk with Teachers
How to stay in the conversation
Dyan Watson
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.
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Alternatives to Grade Retention
“No social promotion!” is the latest sound-bite of reform. But if the goal is to improve classroom learning, other strategies make more sense.
Linda Darling-Hammond
“No social promotion” makes a nice soundbite but there are better ways to fix schools.”
“I’m Going to Keep Doing What I Do”
Iowa Educators Resist New State Law
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.
Why We Need Ethnic Studies in Teacher Preparation Programs
An Urban Teacher Talks to Teacher Educators:
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 […]
Resources 18.3
Check out these valuable resources, reviewed by Rethinking Schools editors and Teaching for Change colleagues.
Teaching for Change
the Editors
Rethinking Schools challenges readers to support an endangered, yet valuable teacher resource project.
Teaching Hope in Hard Times
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 […]
Editorial: Learning from Early Childhood
The Editors of Rethinking Schools
Social justice education needs to start early.
Letters to the Editor 28.1
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 […]
Ignoring Diversity, Undermining Equity
NCTQ and Elementary Literacy Instruction
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.
Outcome Based Education
Grand Design or Blueprint for Failure?
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 […]
A New Path to Learning
Curriculum Reform Advances in Milwaukee Schools
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 […]
Tips for Working with StudentTeachers
Alana Murray
Practical advice for helping new educators find their feet in the real world of teaching.
I Won’t Learn From You!
Thoughts on the Role of Assent in Learning
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, […]
Building Community from Chaos
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 […]
Transforming Teaching
Milwaukee’s teacher-run councils helped enrich districtwide reform. Their demise leaves a vacuum for progressive teachers searching to promote classroom-based innovation.
Bob Peterson
Milwaukee’s teacher councils provide important lessons on district wide school reform.
Black Teachers on Teaching
"Rethinking Schools is pleased to present excerpts from the new book, Black Teachers on Teaching, by Michele Foster."
Michele Foster
Excerpts from Michele Foster’s new book, including comments from five African-American educators.
Editorial: It Was 20 Years Ago Today
We launched Rethinking Schools during the Reagan era. A lot has changed since then, and much has stayed the same.
Making Connections: Challenges We Face
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 […]
Reform vs. Scapegoating
Examining Proposals for Improving MPS
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 […]
What Should Kids Learn?
A teacher looks at E. D. Hirsch’s work on “Cultural Literacy”
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, […]
The Attack on Anti-Racist Teaching Is an Attack on Environmental Justice Teaching
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 […]
Recipe for Teaching Reading: ‘Hold the Basal’
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.” […]
Teaching for Social Justice 8.3
Making Connections, Examining the World
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 […]
The Discipline of Hope
Lessons from a Lifetime of Teaching and Learning
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.”