Recent News
May 6th, 2012
Teacher Appreciation Week…
This is it. Teacher appreciation week. Here’s Charles Blow’s wonderful op-ed appreciation of his best teacher, his mother. I would add my mother to that list. She taught me so much–to be positive; to work hard; to expect to succeed; to be happy; to take life on, even when it’s hard–as we dealt with my father’s early death and had to move to three different countries–finally moving to New Jersey when I was in fourth grade. There, I will always remember my teacher, Mrs. Jones–who taught me math and history and science and English (long before pull outs or ESL or bilinigual education) by including me in everything and expecting me to learn English quickly. I did. I am forever grateful to her and to all the teachers I had. Most — by far–were wonderful.
As Mr. Blow write, it’s long past time for us to honor our teachers and stop blaming or demonizing them. Let us get that message before it’s too late for all of our students.
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May 2nd, 2012
Joanne Jacobs and KPCC pick up my Atlantic piece
Here are the links. Happy reading and happy listening.
I’m glad The Atlantic piece has legs…. I’ll post the Education Week piece later. I am most grateful and hope that it moves the special education reform conversation forward.
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May 1st, 2012
That Atlantic piece on fixing special education…
4 common sense proposals for special education reform
Hello again. My piece has garnered many, many comments, including some excellent discussion starters. That was my hope–to get special education reform on the front burner of education reform. Let’s hope that’s happening. Here’s a beginning…I’ll be on a Los Angeles public radio station this morning, as a result. So, let’s see how the conversation evolves. Here’s the link again in case you wish to revisit. Onward and upward!
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April 28th, 2012
Are lawmakers asking too much of our schools?
Here’s another thought provoking piece… in that Atlantic series, America the Fixable. Enjoy!
Post by Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, M.A., J.D. | No Comments
April 27th, 2012
Check out my piece in The Atlantic! It’s part of their “America the Fixable” series
Let’s hope this helps to move the conversation forward.
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April 24th, 2012
Has constructivism increased special education numbers?
Interestingly, a statistic that caught my eye recently is this: In Finland by the age of 16, 60% of students have had “special education.” By which Finland means, focused attention on the elements of learning basic reading, writing and math. Perhaps the Finns and this author are on to something important. A worthy read.
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April 20th, 2012
Debunking brainstorming….
Brainstorming–a popular method for teaching writing–doesn’t really work. See this fascinating piece in the New Yorker
“Groupthink–the Brainstorming Myth”
It got me thinking about other popular teaching myths. One of them, labeling learners as V or A or K (VAK)–visual, aural, or kinesthetic learners–has also been debunked. Yet it remains popular, especially in special education.
Why is it that unproven or disproven methods continue to be popular? Why? And why do we stay with them even when they are not effective? Is it that these ‘methods’ are so intuitive that they must be true and must work! Is it like the old saying–”My mind’s made up. don’t confuse me with the facts.”
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April 18th, 2012
Back from Morocco!
Greetings to my readers and fellow reformers,
Sorry I have been out of touch–and did not have a guest blogger. My reason? I finally made it to Morocco, the land very high on my bucket list. I was born in the middle east and wanted to feel that part of the world again. Morocco is an amazing combination of France/Spain, the middle east, and Africa. The trip was wonderful trip–about 12 days! I loved the colors, spices, fabrics, rugs, camels, donkeys, dry satiny air, makeup colored sand, tagines, friendly people, souks, medinas, cacti, oleander, bougainvelia, new friendships and lots of time for reflection. We visited one school and we saw children leaving several schools during the day for lunch and at the end of the day, many in Moslem garb.
We were a small group of 8–all with our journaling books that we wrote in pretty much every day and drew little pictures of our trip. Looking back through that journal book brings back memories. I have not even unpacked the photos.
Soon–we’ll get back to our discussion of education issues–especially special ed.
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March 12th, 2012
Why the ‘land of the free’ is a legal swampland– Philip K. Howard
I read Philip Howard’s thoughtful piece in The Atlantic. Right on! And what a perfect title.
I was not surprised (and glad) to see his opening salvo was about special education–quoting facts and figures also found in my book, Fixing Special Education and my other writings. Special education is indeed an amazing example of a well-intended system that has spun out of control.
Mr. Howard (Philip, if I may) writes that, rather than ‘deregulation,’ we need a spring cleaning. Throw out what’s not working. We can’t just keep piling on new laws and new great ideas. Deregulation won’t get at it–as we need to start with purpose and reboot for the 21st century.
As you’ll see in my upcoming law review piece about fixing special education, I suggest that we should even consider the idea of ending the entitlement program. It succeeded in its mission–providing access for schooling to all students with disabilities. But thereafter, as it’s an open ended law, it morphed into all sorts of unintended consequences.
As Philip writes–we need to keep the purpose (education for all), but substitute a targeted sensible program for the 21st century (not retrofit this old 20th century law). Appointing a commission to do so is a good idea–also discussed in my upcoming piece.
It looks like many stars are getting aligned… Many of us know that the law is broken and needs to be fixed.
And please stay tuned for that article. I’ll provide the link when it’s out.
Thank you, Philip, for pushing all of us and keeping the ball going on these important issues. So glad you’ll have a running series at The Atlantic.com!
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