Contents
Preface: Resistance without Jargon
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Reclaiming the Conversation on Education
Chapter 1. What Shall We Do With The Children?
A. Whatâs Good for the Mayorâs Kids Is Good Enough for Ours
B. These Kids Donât Have a Shot
C. Being Gifted Means You Get All the Gifts
D. Why Have âSpecializedâ High Schools?
E. Hempstead Freedom Walkers Challenge Long Island Segregation
F. Pabloâs Kids March on Washington
G. People With Guns Kill People and Children
H. The School-to-Prison Pipeline
Chapter 2. Defending Teachers
A. Why Tenure for Teachers Is Important
B. Tomahawks and Teachers
C. Teach for America -- Itâs All About âMeâ!
D. Measure for Mis-Measure with Teacher Assessments
E. Testing Teachers by Testing Kids Is an Awful Idea
F. Fire Half of the Teachers!
G. Who is Charlotte Danielson and Why Does She Decide How Teachers are Evaluated?
Chapter 3. Teacher Education
A. Are Schools of Education Why Children Donât Learn?
B. We Need to Make Eye Contact
C. Arizonafication of Teacher Education
D. Anger in the Heartland over Unfair Teacher Tests
E. Problems with Pearsonâs Student Teacher Evaluation System
Chapter 4. Teacher Unions
A. Redefining and Rebuilding the Teachersâ Unions
B. Why I Am Pro-Union and Pro-Teacher
C. Chicago Teachers Strike for Us All
D. The âPeopleâs Budgetâ Movement
Chapter 5. Business, Politics and School Deform
A. Matt Damon Canât Save the Schools
B. Opposition Grows to School Deform
C. Higher Education for the 21st Century
D. Hacking Away at the Pearson Octopus
E. Pearson âEducationâ -- Who Are These People?
F. Los Angeles Students Out-Fox Apple, Pearson and School Board
Chapter 6. Who Makes Education Policy?
A. Pretending to Confront the Global Achievement Gap
B. Obama, Duncan and the Public Schools
C. Thank You, Arne Duncan
D. Race to the Top Mandates Impossible to Implement
E. Empty Promises in the Obama Mis-Education Agenda
F. What Is a 21st Century Job?
G. Guest Essay: Governor Christieâs War Against New Jersey Public Employees by Norman Markowitz
Chapter 7. Where is the Chart for Charter Schools?
A. Charter Schools are the Wrong Answer
B. What Happens if the Charter School Companies Win?
C. Charter Schools Don't Do Miracles
D. Schools Enter Chartered Waters
Chapter 8. Common Core â" What Is It Good For?
A. Common Core, What Is It Good For?
B. Can Common Core Turn on the Math and Science?
C. The 3rd Grade Science Fair: A Common Core Conundrum
D. Common Core: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
E. Whatâs Missing from Common Core is Education for Democracy
Chapter 9. High-Stakes Testing
A. What do the tests test?
B. Do These Tests Have Educational Value?
C. Cheating Students Who âPassâ the Test
D. The âWisdomâ of Pearsonâs Pineapple Passage
E. Pearson and the Atlanta School Mess
F. Did the âMelk Manâ Learn to Cheat at Stuyvesant High School?
G. Cheating on the Test -- I May Be Guilty Also!
Chapter 10. Curriculum and Instruction
A. Donât Know Much About â" History, Geography, or Civics
B. âTexas Conservatives Seek Deeper Stamp on Textsâ
C. If Massachusetts was a Country
D. Math in the Peopleâs Republic of Massachusetts (and in the Country of California)
E. Gideonâs Math Homework
Chapter 11. Reform or Deform?
A. What If Our Schools Are Working?
B. Do You Want to Buy the Brooklyn Bridge?
C. Does the Ghost of George Steinbrenner Run the Schools?
D. Bloomberg and Klein Fail
E. Guest Essay: Following Finlandâs Example . . . Backwards by Joel Shatzky
Chapter 12. Resistance!
A. To Students Who Are Fighting Back
B. The Cupcake Resistance Movement
C. In Seattle Opposition Grows to School Deform
D. The Mayorâs Powerful New Enemies
E. In New Jersey the Children Shall Lead
F. Teachers as Crap-Detectors
