Etta Kralovec, the co-author of The End of Homework: How Homework Disrupts Families, Overburdens Children, and Limits Learning, needs your help. A long-time educator, teacher, author, and university professor, she is now the principal of a charter high school in LA. She wrote to me: The community where my school sits has the lowest parentalContinue reading “Send Etta Kralovec Your Stories about Lowered Grades Because of Homework Incompletion”
Category Archives: General
Moms (and Dads) on a Mission – More from Senior Dad
For three years now, I’ve corresponded every so often with Stan Goldberg, also known as Senior Dad. Stan, who lives in the Bay Area, has his own podcast and has many interviews with educators and other experts that are well worth listening to, including his four-part series on homework, where he interviewed Alfie Kohn, JohnContinue reading “Moms (and Dads) on a Mission – More from Senior Dad”
Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, and his Race to the Top
I was interviewed recently for a New York Magazine article, Homework Tea Party. I really liked the piece and my quotes: “Duncan’s [Race to the Top] plan is cut from the same cloth as the education policies of the Bush administration,” said Sara Bennett after watching the show from her Park Slope home. “It isContinue reading “Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, and his Race to the Top”
Billboard Campaign to Opt Out of Testing
I’ve noticed people talking in the Comments about opting out of testing. Take a look at this campaign by the Coalition for Better Education, which urges parents to opt their children out of state testing. (You can contribute a few dollars to the campaign at: Coalition for Better Education, 2424 22nd Avenue, Greeley, CO 80631.)Continue reading “Billboard Campaign to Opt Out of Testing”
Moms (and Dads) on a Mission – Race to Nowhere
Race to Nowhere, a documentary which looks at the fast-paced, high-stress lives of many of today’s students, is premiering on Saturday, October 10, at the Mill Valley Film Festival. I’ve written about the film before because I’m an Advisor to the film, I appear in the film, I fully support the film, and I thinkContinue reading “Moms (and Dads) on a Mission – Race to Nowhere”
How to Help Your Four-Year-Old With Homework
I didn’t know what to expect when I came across this blog piece, How To Help Your Four-Year-Old With Homework,” but it put a smile on my face when I read it. Have a nice weekend. How To Help Your Four-Year Old With Homework by Who’s the Mummy How to help your four year oldContinue reading “How to Help Your Four-Year-Old With Homework”
Spring Branch, Texas, School Board Implements a New, Improved Homework Policy
On this blog last spring, I posted an interview with Mike Falick, a School Board member from Spring Branch, Texas (Houston), who had made homework his priority. Now, at the start of the school year, Spring Branch has implemented a new homework policy which, among other things, has teachers working together to coordinate their workflows,Continue reading “Spring Branch, Texas, School Board Implements a New, Improved Homework Policy”
Is School Teaching Our Students Not To Think?
In the upcoming documentary, Race to Nowhere, one of the things I talk about is how some of my more recent law school interns have had more trouble taking initiative and thinking for themselves than my students of 10 years ago. A few weeks ago, I was talking to a former colleague who told meContinue reading “Is School Teaching Our Students Not To Think?”
Moms and Dads on a Mission–Denver, North Carolina
Today’s guest blogger, Deidra Hewitt, lives in Denver, North Carolina, where she has two children in a public elementary school. A stay-at-home mom with a Bachelor’s degree in Communications and who took eight Masters classes in Early Childhood Education, she “would prefer that my children’s school stick to educating them. I do not feel thatContinue reading “Moms and Dads on a Mission–Denver, North Carolina”
Moms (and Dads) on a Mission–Rural Alabama
Today’s guest blogger, Jerri Ann Head Reason, lives in rural Alabama with her husband and their two sons, a 6 year old who just started first grade and a 4 year old. Jerri Ann, who has a B.S. in Education and a M.A. in Counseling, has been writing to me for over a year, everContinue reading “Moms (and Dads) on a Mission–Rural Alabama”
Stop Homework 