Fake Play and Its Dangerous Alignment to Standards and Data

JULY 30, 2019 BY NANCY BAILEY

Where does pretending come in? It relates to what philosophers call “counterfactual” thinking, like Einstein wondering what would happen if a train went at the speed of light.

~Alison Gopnik, “Let the Children Play, It’s Good for Them” Smithsonian Magazine. July 2012.

There’s a troubling phenomenon happening in early childhood education. It involves aligning standards to fake play.

Children own real play.

In Educating Young Children, Mary Hohmann and David P. Weikart discuss the HighScope preschool program and the welcome backseat adults often take to allow children to freely play. They say: When children are playing or starting to play, and are receptive to other players, adults can sometimes join them in a nondisruptive manner. This is real play.

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Force and Flunk, Tougher Kindergarten Lead to Parental Dissatisfaction with Public Schools

by Nancy Bailey

When children aren’t reading according to the corporate time frame set by Jeb Bush and his ilk (non-educators who want to privatize public education), parents become dissatisfied, even angry with public school officials and teachers when their children fail. The goal of many corporations is to end public education. They want privatization. To do this, […]

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Social-Emotional Learning’s Transformation of Schools is Worrisome

Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) is being pushed into public schools. It could mean many things, restorative justice, meditation, anti-bullying programs, and much more. But SEL is not just an add-on program. It’s whole-school systematic change from teaching academics to focusing on students and personality formation. Books and online programs galore are being written about SEL and […]

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Nancy Bailey

| July 7, 2019 at 12:03 pm | Tags: social-emotional learning programs

| URL: https://wp.me/p3PJaa-5Gq

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After the Confession: How Will They Fix the Damage Done to Public Schools?

by Nancy Bailey

Nick Hanauer is described as “founder of the public-policy incubator Civic Ventures.” His piece in The Atlantic called “Better Public Schools Won’t Fix America,” is an admission that the corporate message we’ve heard for years that schools will fix the problems of the economy and society is false. Most of us knew this. Here is […]

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Why is Common Core’s Phonics Missing in Reading and Dyslexia Discussions?

by Nancy Bailey

Those who claim teachers and their education schools have focused on the wrong way to teach reading never mention Common Core State Standards. But, since 2010, Common Core has figured prominently in the reading curriculum teachers have been forced to teach. If students are showing increased reading problems, shouldn’t the English Language Arts standards be […]

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Dads and Children With Disabilities

by Nancy Bailey

Happy Father’s Day! There’s little research on the role of fathers when it comes to raising children with disabilities. This underrepresentation has meant that most questionnaires about this topic have reflected the mother’s point of view. But that’s changing. In honor of dads today, I decided to study some of the research that’s out there […]

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Investigating the Corporate Fingerprints in the Media Attacks on Teachers and Colleges of Education

by Nancy Bailey

A media rollout of criticism towards teachers and their COEs mostly over reading, has fueled debate about what teachers know about teaching. Are these reports what they seem, or is something else going on? None of these commentaries look at the effects of Common Core State Standards. Look closely and one finds corporate school reform fingerprints. If reformers […]

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Benton Harbor’s Schools are America’s Schools! Tell Gov. Whitmer, Ed. Sec. Betsy DeVos, and the MEA!

by Nancy Bailey

Everything in the dark comes to the light. ~Former BHHS student. Across the country, citizens, parents, and educators have watched their public schools close due to underfunding and high-stakes student testing. These schools are predominately black, Hispanic, and poor. Public education with elected school boards are democratic institutions. Closing a school or school district, or […]

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The Learning Disability Teaching Credentials that Time Forgot

by Nancy Bailey

Whether it’s dyslexia (a specific learning disability) or writing, attention, organization, or other learning and behavioral difficulties, children who struggle in school need teachers who can help them learn. Sometimes that help can occur in a general class setting. Other times a child might benefit from small group or individualized assistance. That’s what special education […]

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End Charter Schools! Consider Creative Ways to Address Schooling

by Nancy Bailey

It’s time to end the charter school experiment. Put successful charters under the supervision of the nearby school district. Charters not working well should close. No charter school should get tax dollars without oversight. This should be for both for-profit and nonprofit charter schools. Charter School Scandals On twitter, educators and parents can follow the Network […]

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Nancy Bailey | May 31, 2019 at 11:41 am | Tags: california charter school scandal, charter school scandals, good charter schools, In the Public Interest, magnet schools, NPE, the A3 charter school scandal, virtual charter schools | URL: https://wp.me/p3PJaa-5vh

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