Category: Discipline and Disorder
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Social Theory vs. Science in K-12 Discipline in Virginia – Fraud or Just Wrong?
by James C. Sherlock American school children have in my lifetime been the subject of widespread experiments in theory disguised as breakthroughs in education. Consider the “new math” and the “reading wars” as prominent examples. Now we have social theory on school discipline created by federal civil rights lawyers piggybacking on what may or may…
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The Great Escape
by James A. Bacon Fletcher Norwood has made his great escape. It feels, he says, as if he’s broken out of a German stalag and been elevated to Winston Churchill’s aide de camp. When he resumes teaching in August, he’ll no longer be consigned to the high-poverty Title I high school where he has been…
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Why Teachers Are Resigning: Student Behavior
by James A. Bacon Why are so many teachers resigning from Virginia’s public schools? Based on widespread anecdotal evidence, I have suggested that the breakdown in classroom discipline is a major contributing factor, especially in high-poverty schools. But anecdotes are just that — anecdotal — and others blame low pay, COVID, or meddling right-wing parents.…
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K-12 Debacle Update: Richmond Teacher Shortage
by James A. Bacon The Richmond Public School System is facing a teacher shortage after 25% of the system’s teaching staff resigned at the end of the 2021-22 school year. RPS is trying to fill 176 positions before the school year starts in August, reports WRIC television. RPS has formed a teacher retention task force…
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Teacher Resignations Surge as K-12 Meltdown Continues
by James A. Bacon Teachers in the Washington, D.C., area, including Northern Virginia, are resigning in unusually high numbers this year, according to The Washington Post. Resignations spiked 45% in Fairfax County Public Schools and 96% in Arlington, according to the WaPo data compiled by reporter Hannah Natanson. The surge in teachers calling it quits…
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Hopewell Schools to Become Phone-Free
by James A. Bacon Hopewell has banned cellphones during the school day at the city’s middle school and high school, reports The Progress-Index. “We want our families to know we are taking an important step to enhance student learning, culture, and safety at school,” said the Hopewell Public School System in a Facebook post. When…
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Virginia Strategic Imperatives: Train and Retain More Teachers and Nurses
by James C. Sherlock Governor Glenn Youngkin wants to make a lasting difference in Virginia. He wants to leave it better than he found it. In the years I have been writing about healthcare and education in Virginia, there is a recurring theme in both fields: not enough practitioners; specifically, registered nurses and teachers. I…
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What China Tells Us About U.S. Educational Achievement Gaps
by James A. Bacon Shaomin Li, a business school professor at Old Dominion University, specializes in studying China’s economy. His book, just published by the Cambridge University Press, “The Rise of China, Inc.,” is well worth reading for its description of how the Chinese political/economic system works. Li, whose job early in life was painting portraits…
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Once Upon a Time, Schools Didn’t Need Fancy Buildings, Big Bureaucracies and Trauma Counselors to Teach
by James A. Bacon When Gail Smith talks about growing up in 1950s-era Goochland County, she calls her time attending the Second Union Rosenwald School as “the best years of my life.” The two-room schoolhouse was lacking in what we refer to today as “amenities.” But it was supported by the local African-American community, and…
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What on Earth Is Going On in Richmond Public School Bathrooms?
by James A. Bacon How dysfunctional are Richmond City public schools? Consider the case of River City Middle School, which serves a population that is 59% economically disadvantaged. While many of the city’s schools have enrollments beneath capacity, due to a declining student population in the city, River City is bulging at the seams. Built…
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At This School, the Cellphones Rule
by James A. Bacon Literally every student at the high-poverty high school where Fletcher Norwood teaches has a cellphone — and not just a flip phone, but an expensive smart phone. And every student seems to have an unlimited data plan, and earbuds, and a recharger. Kids may get free lunches, they may wear t-shirts…
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A Fairfax High School Principal Cracks Down on Cellphones in Classrooms
by James A. Bacon Virginia educators are waking up to the classroom disruption caused by cell phones, and one is actually doing something about it. On April 11, Herndon High School in Fairfax County started enforcing major restrictions on cell phone use, reports Fox News-Channel 5. More recently, the New Kent County School Board has…
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The Alexandria Experiment
by James A. Bacon The election of Governor Glenn Youngkin may bring about changes in K-12 educational policy in Virginia, but those changes will take time to take hold, and they will not play out uniformly across the state. “Progressive” school systems are organizing a form of Massive Resistance (a term I use with deliberate…