Walt Gardner's Reality Check
Walt Gardner taught for 28 years in the Los Angeles Unified School District and was a lecturer in the UCLA Graduate School of Education. This blog is no longer being updated.
Education
Opinion
'Gold Plated' Teacher Pensions
If teacher pensions and salaries are as lavish as reformers claim, then why are not more college graduates flocking to the field?
Education
Opinion
Get Real About Vocational Education
Data about the premium attached to a bachelor's degree are based on on past decades when conditions were entirely different.
Education
Opinion
'Ministerial Exception' in Schools
Invoking ministerial exception is more about preventing unionization than about theology.
Education
Opinion
Can 'Mindfulness' Improve Learning?
Anything that makes students more open to learning is worthwhile exploring in depth.
Education
Opinion
Role of Teacher Expectations Is Overblown
High expectations by themselves cannot guarantee the same high student outcomes.
Education
Opinion
What About Bonuses for Teachers?
So much of the effectiveness of a teacher is the direct result of the students inherited.
Education
Opinion
Teacher-Preparation Programs Need Overhaul
Expose seniors in college to the realities of the classroom in order to test their convictions.
Education
Opinion
School Choice is Inevitable
Parents who are desperate to flee terrible schools deserve the right to do so.
Education
Opinion
Substitute Teachers Still Get No Respect
There is no possible ways critics can understand the price paid by substitute teachers.
Education
Opinion
Put Teacher Salaries in Proper Perspective
Something is terribly wrong when teachers have to moonlight to pay their rent or their mortgages.
Education
Opinion
Physical Education's Stepchild Status
Eliminating PE when budgets are tight shortchanges students in ways that do not show up until years later.
Education
Opinion
Will Pre-K Narrowing Gap Continue?
Better parental practices can help compensate for the uneven playing field, but they can't eliminate it.