‘LATEST NEWS AND INFO FROM PARENT AT THE HELM’ Archives
Trust the Feelings You’re Having about Your Child’s Education
By Linda Dobson My e-mailbox overfloweth. There's no question anymore that a significant number of parents are questioning what's going on in public schools today. More importantly, they are searching the Internet for information and resources, and reaching out to anyone they think may be able to help them in their dilemma. Oftentimes, these [...]
Five No-Cost Ways to Improve Children’s Education
By Linda Dobson 1. Get rid of tests. But how do we know if they're learning anything? Talk to them, you know, like they're real human beings. 2. Let children learn the basics (reading, writing, basic arithmetic) by reading real books, writing for real purposes, and calculating for a reason. But why would a 5 year-old need to write [...]
Veteran Homeschooler’s Response to “The Problem with Public Schools”
Veteran homeschooler Mary McCarthy took the time to send a thoughtful response to Linda Dobson's post called "The Problem with Public Schools: Some Blame Teachers; Others, Poverty." She wanted to agree that while the education crisis is often blamed on teachers and poverty (and, of course, parents), the system is suffering from a variety of [...]
The Problem with Public Schools: Some Blame Teachers, Others Poverty
I awoke to an interesting Education Week blog post titled "Expecting Too Much from the Best Teachers." As in the general debate about the awful state of American schooling, this post centers on "the blame game." Unless you've been living under a rock, you've heard that teachers are getting a fair share of the blame. Heck, we even have [...]
Legislation Could End No Child Left Behind’s Testing Requirements
Date: July 29, 2009 Contact: John Lowrey (202) 225-6161 Linda Macias (202) 225-6161 NEWS RELEASE... Baca Sponsors Bill to End No Child Left Behind Testing Requirements Bill Would End Costly Testing Requirements, Reign in "Teaching to the Test" Culture Washington, DC – Today, Congressman Joe Baca (D-Rialto) introduced legislation [...]
