Education Flashpoints

Alan J. Singer is Professor of Secondary Education and coordinator of Social Studies Education in the Department of Teaching, Literacy and Leadership, Hofstra University, USA.

• ContentsPreface: Resistance without JargonAbout the AuthorAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Reclaiming the Conversation on Education Chapter 1. What Shall We Do With The Children?A. What’s Good for the Mayor’s Kids Is Good Enough for OursB. These Kids Don’t Have a ShotC. Being Gifted Means You Get All the Gifts D. Why Have “Specialized” High Schools?E. Hempstead Freedom Walkers Challenge Long Island SegregationF. Pablo’s Kids March on Washington G. People With Guns Kill People and ChildrenH. The School-to-Prison PipelineChapter 2. Defending Teachers A. Why Tenure for Teachers Is Important B. Tomahawks and TeachersC. Teach for America -- It’s All About “Me”! D. Measure for Mis-Measure with Teacher AssessmentsE. Testing Teachers by Testing Kids Is an Awful IdeaF. Fire Half of the Teachers! G. Who is Charlotte Danielson and Why Does She Decide How Teachers are Evaluated?Chapter 3. Teacher Education A. Are Schools of Education Why Children Don’t Learn?B. We Need to Make Eye Contact C. Arizonafication of Teacher EducationD. Anger in the Heartland over Unfair Teacher TestsE. Problems with Pearson’s Student Teacher Evaluation System Chapter 4. Teacher UnionsA. Redefining and Rebuilding the Teachers’ UnionsB. Why I Am Pro-Union and Pro-Teacher C. Chicago Teachers Strike for Us AllD. The “People’s Budget” MovementChapter 5. Business, Politics and School DeformA. Matt Damon Can’t Save the SchoolsB. Opposition Grows to School DeformC. Higher Education for the 21st CenturyD. Hacking Away at the Pearson OctopusE. Pearson ‘Education’ -- Who Are These People?F. Los Angeles Students Out-Fox Apple, Pearson and School BoardChapter 6. Who Makes Education Policy?A. Pretending to Confront the Global Achievement Gap B. Obama, Duncan and the Public Schools C. Thank You, Arne Duncan D. Race to the Top Mandates Impossible to ImplementE. Empty Promises in the Obama Mis-Education AgendaF. What Is a 21st Century Job?G. Guest Essay: Governor Christie’s War Against New Jersey Public Employees by Norman MarkowitzChapter 7. Where is the Chart for Charter Schools?A. Charter Schools are the Wrong Answer B. What Happens if the Charter School Companies Win? C. Charter Schools Don't Do Miracles D. Schools Enter Chartered Waters Chapter 8. Common Core – What Is It Good For?A. Common Core, What Is It Good For?B. Can Common Core Turn on the Math and Science?C. The 3rd Grade Science Fair: A Common Core ConundrumD. Common Core: The Good, the Bad, and the UglyE. What’s Missing from Common Core is Education for DemocracyChapter 9. High-Stakes Testing A. What do the tests test?B. Do These Tests Have Educational Value?C. Cheating Students Who “Pass” the TestD. The “Wisdom” of Pearson’s Pineapple PassageE. Pearson and the Atlanta School MessF. Did the ‘Melk Man’ Learn to Cheat at Stuyvesant High School?G. Cheating on the Test -- I May Be Guilty Also!Chapter 10. Curriculum and Instruction A. Don’t Know Much About – History, Geography, or CivicsB. “Texas Conservatives Seek Deeper Stamp on Texts” C. If Massachusetts was a CountryD. Math in the People’s Republic of Massachusetts (and in the Country of California)E. Gideon’s Math HomeworkChapter 11. Reform or Deform?A. What If Our Schools Are Working? B. Do You Want to Buy the Brooklyn Bridge?C. Does the Ghost of George Steinbrenner Run the Schools?D. Bloomberg and Klein Fail E. Guest Essay: Following Finland’s Example . . . Backwards by Joel ShatzkyChapter 12. Resistance!A. To Students Who Are Fighting Back B. The Cupcake Resistance Movement C. In Seattle Opposition Grows to School DeformD. The Mayor’s Powerful New Enemies E. In New Jersey the Children Shall LeadF. Teachers as Crap-Detectors

"Education Flashpoints provides important insight into contemporary issues in education. The critical edge to the articles will stimulate classroom discussions."Joel Spring, Queens College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, USA "This is a book of the moment that is both timely and (sadly) timeless—pointed, focused, engaging. Dr. Singer knows where he stands and makes no bones about it. He always contributes to the field of education and political discussion."Dennis Banks, SUNY College at Oneonta, USA