Recent posts

I received two reply posts that I have to reply to:

I will be the first to say that I have never been completely convinced that pre-school was an end all to problems with kids. I do know that in talking to many folks who work in this industry, they were convinced that expanded programs would catch many of the children who are now considered at-risk as they get older. I teach those students. Many of them would have been better off had they been able to spend more time in a safe environment early in life. I realize this is anecdotal and not evidenced based like the article that was sent to me(which makes great points!).

My concern is.... to flippantly write off a program that the Governor and many others have a pretty serious stake in is not very good quality policy making. Especially, when it is done nearly out of sight of the public. Our legislature does way too much of this.


The other post suggests that I am the problem in education and that folks like me are too. I ran for office. I got involved in education policy. I teach at-risk populations. I write this blog(for a long time I might add). I do all of this because if teachers were in charge, school would look a lot different than it does today. We know we need to change...We are NOT in charge. We are NOT the problem. Classroom teachers would likely agree with the poster that the system is not working the way it should today. Our opinion is seldom sought. Our input is often shrugged off. We have to work very very hard to make even the tiniest change. The deck is stacked against the classroom teacher who wants to try something different. Sure you can pick up the paper and read about someone who really made a difference but to see that changes happen at a scale that impacts all children hasn't happened in 50 years. It is not the teachers fault.

One example: There are very few places in America where a teacher is encouraged to attend and speak at a school board meeting. Why is that?