• The IMPOSSIBLE Special Ed Fix!

    The IMPOSSIBLE Special Ed Fix!We’ve heard about the “IMPOSSIBLE burger” — making burgers from vegetables, not beef. Some people think it’s actually yummy!So how about the IMPOSSIBLE Fix for special education!It’s time and it’s not complicated: focus on teaching and learning for all students, general and special education, not procedures, rights, due process, litigation, and the ever-present anxiety-laden fear of litigation that so wrenches today’s schools, teachers, students, and [...]
  • This Commentary In Education Week (November 13, 2019) by James R.

    This Commentary In Education Week (November 13, 2019) by James R. Delisle is important. So, I’m taking the liberty of providing it to my readers here.I think Delisle said it well — we need to educate all of our children and not scapegoat those who are advanced or gifted. While I don’t like the term “gifted and talented” and prefer to use the term “advanced,” I support this writer’s view . Our inability to assist those at the top through a misplaced “bias” against them will, in the end, hurt [...]
  • “Support Builds for Making the SAT Untimed for Everyone.”

    The provocative title of Greg Toppo’s piece in Education Next. How about untimed SATs for everyone, he posits. https://www.educationnext.org/support-builds-making-sat-untimed-for-everyone-possible-solution-gaming-the-system/So interesting and so sad to me, as I ‘ve watched this unfortunate saga unfold since even before 2002. The SAT’s extra time story is the story that just won’t go away ever since the College Board made a total mess of if back in 2002/2003. That was when the CB (and [...]
  • I’m a reformer, not a charter school person, but….

    Here’s an important piece in today’s Wall Street Journal (September 7–8, 2019), The Secret of a Charter School’s Success? Parents.”Robert Pondiscio’s article is brave because it talks real about what many of us know but dare not say out loud. By focusing on the vital role that parents play, it tracks my own thinking that reform efforts for student success really really need parental (or other mentor — caregiver, grandparent, etc.) support and engagement.In short, for me, it highlights the [...]
  • HURRY! While the College Board is in “scrapping” mode, it’s time to finally scrap its…

    I’m glad to s​​ee the College Board acknowledge its mistake and scrap the “adversity score” it proposed two years ago that has been used as a pilot by some colleges. The CB created this score as a single number to describe a students’ adversity. As I see it, the adversity score was an attempt to try to find those “diamonds in the rough” that colleges seek — children whose lives have had much adversity and yet the overcame them and prevailed.But, the adversity score created backlash and [...]
  • Go, Teen Vogue!

    Here’s an important story in Teen Vogue about how the SAT and ACT are manipulated — and mostly, about how neither company (the College Board’s Educational Testing Service and the ACT)has taken decisive action to guarantee the validity of these tests. Little tweaks will not do it!This is a good read! You’ll see me quoted toward the end of the piece (in bold), about the flawed accommodations policy of these two companies have implemented since 2003 ( basically, continuing to time these tests [...]
  • As published in EDSOURCE: My memorable year teaching as Berkeley integrated its schools

    After hearing the last debate and Kamala Harris' busing story from years ago, here's my teaching story from those years.... My memorable year teaching as Berkeley integrated its schools COMMENTARY JULY 24, 2019 MIRIAM KURTZIG FREEDMAN Who would have thought that my one year teaching in Berkeley more than a half century ago would make me feel like a participant in events that are now the subject of political debates and front page stories? It brings back powerful memories of [...]
  • The new SAT “adversity index”–Another concerned citizen in the LA Times!

    https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/opinion/tn-dpt-me-patrice-apodaca-column-newport-beach-20190610-story.html My question: Who appointed or voted for the College Board to have an "unhealthy power over college admissions," to quote Ms. Apodaca, and to continue to mess with our public schools? Why do they have all that power? And, why do we continue to allow them such unfettered leeway? I'm struck by Ms. Apodaca's statement that [the adversity index] is a desperate, cynical [...]
  • Who appointed or voted for the College Board to damage our schools & colleges?

    Here's George F. Will's column, June 7, 2019. I've put in BOLD my questions for starters. 1. Who voted for the College Board to be our "earnest improvers?" 2. Who picked them to "shape th world of social inertia?" 3. Who is promoting their latest attempt to keep the SAT relevant--in an increasingly diverse world (where many colleges are now test optional) that has made that test "descreasingly important?" The College Board's intrusion into our schools is very concerning. [...]
  • Teachers unprepared to teach all students? Let’s hear it from all teachers!

    I read, with great interest, the Education Week Blog by Christina Samuels, http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/speced/2019/05/teachers_feel_unprepared_to_teach_students_with_disabilities.html The blog summarizes a report by the National Center for Learning Disabilities and Understood-- an advocacy group for students with learning disabilities. The report concludes that most general education teachers feel unprepared to teach students with disabilities and that most of them want more [...]