by David Safier Teaching is tough. Teaching children who grow up in poverty is tougher. Test scores are not a reliable indicator of whether a teacher or a school is effective. Anyone who claims to know the “answers” to our school’s problems is a damn liar or a damn fool. There. It needed to be … Read more
by David Safier This is a tough one for me. Three Phoenix Democrats in the House have introduced a bill to have the State Board of Education take over Phoenix’s Roosevelt School District for 3 years. Half of the district’s 21 schools are failing, according to the state’s report card. Will the State Board do … Read more
by David Safier Fine the Governor if the Arizona legislature doesn’t meet the April 15 ELL funding deadline? That sounds grossly unfair. And yet . . . The attorney for the parents suing over ELL funding says Napolitano could do more to move this thing forward, even though the actual funding is the responsibility of … Read more
by David Safier (TASL) I hold this truth to be self-evident. Anyone who uses the phrase, “government can’t just throw money at public education” is not in favor of increasing educational spending. Arizona’s own John McCain is the only presidential candidate left standing who uses the phrase. In a recent speech, he said, “Government can’t … Read more
by David Safier Colin Powell and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings have gotten together to say that high school graduation rates are too low, and they are lowest in cities with high rates of poverty. Powell and Spellings are wrong so often, my first reaction is, “If they say graduation rates are low, they’re probably approaching … Read more