Bloglovin Claim
Follow my blog with Bloglovin
Secrecy killed the Common Core
An excerpt from The Politics of Education K-12, available on Amazon. by Lonnie Palmer One of the many things that contributed to the turmoil during the initial rollout of the Common Core-based testing was the secrecy. Teachers were unable to review even sample tests, which contributed to teacher, student and parent fears. What exactly are […]
Public School Unions: How They Impact School Budgets and Students
An excerpt from The Politics of Education K-12 by Lonnie Palmer Why FDR Opposed Public Union Negotiations When I started teaching in 1970, I learned that Franklin D. Roosevelt did not support public union negotiations for salaries and benefits. This was surprising to me because FDR supported private unions and helped create the National Labor […]
The well-funded but debilitating barnacle on public schools
An excerpt from The Politics of Education K-12 by Lonnie Palmer Soon after becoming a teacher in 1970, I remember reading that Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the famous Democrat and depression era and WWII president, did not believe in public union negotiations for salary and benefits.[i] This confused me. Weren’t the Democrats supporters of unions? Didn’t […]
School Board Leadership: Why Politicians Shouldn’t Run Schools
An excerpt from The Politics of Education K-12, available on Amazon by Lonnie Palmer School board leadership often determines the success or failure of a public school district. Yet too often, politics and personal agendas overtake sound leadership, creating dysfunction that hurts students, teachers, and communities. In New York State and many other states, turnout […]
Another of China’s Five-Year Great Leaps Forward
An excerpt from “The Politics of Education K-12,” available on Amazon. by Lonnie Palmer On June 1, 2013, I started a one-year stint as interim school superintendent for Berne-Knox-Westerlo (BKW) Central School District located 25 miles southeast of Albany, New York. The first item on my list of things to do during that school year […]