February 1999
Teacher Magazine, Vol. 10, Issue 05
Student Well-Being
Unusual Suspects
The upcoming Saturday was Valentine's Day, and Julie Anne Feil was
determined to make it a memorable one. On a note pad from her classroom
desk, she scribbled a wish list for the evening ahead.
School Choice & Charters
Would You Buy An Education From This Man?
Jack Clegg has run companies that make everything
from trash compactors to auto parts. Now, he's tapping dissatisfaction
with public education to build a nationwide chain of for-profit
schools.
Student Well-Being
THE ACCUSED
For nine months that felt like forever, Michael Gallagher and his
family had prayed for this moment. And yet when it came, all they could
do was cry.
Education
A Bug's Life . . . And Death
Cockroaches may make most people's skin crawl, but it's the pesticides used to kill them that Kimberly Boyd wants to avoid. The 16-year-old Cocoa Beach, Florida, student says she developed such debilitating health problems from pesticide exposure at her elementary school that she had to give up outdoor sports and attend classes in a special wing of the school.
School & District Management
Good Intentions
Tal Troy was only a few months out of the teacher-certification
program at Antioch University Seattle when he reported to one of the
city's beleaguered middle schools for a substitute assignment.
Education
Opinion
Live And Learn
This is not to say that schools didn't matter at all to me or to other self- educators. For me, there have always been the few brilliant, funny, and excitingly hard-edged teachers who have meant so much: a buttery, sweet 3rd grade teacher who was exquisitely committed to the spirits of 8-year-olds, or an incautious, funny 6th grade teacher who awakened passion in my pubescent, 10-year-old soul. Under teachers who believed in me or who captivated my interest, I could learn anything, write anything, and think extraordinary thoughts. With teachers who seemed conventional, ordinary, bound by the rules of school, or frightened by authority or the unusual, I mostly checked out and escaped into my own world of dreams, books, doodles, plans, and meditations on the linoleum tiles. Externally, I was average and unremarkable. Internally, I was disdainful, underperforming, and lost much of the time.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Letters
There are at least three major problems with the analysis of class-size reduction efforts offered by Chester Finn and Michael Petrilli ("One Size Does Not Fit All," January). First, Finn and Petrilli are naïve to accept as fact the commonly quoted statistic that the average class size nationally is 22 kids. Elementary teachers working with 30 or 40 kids and secondary teachers facing daily loads of 180 to 200 students have heard this kind of tripe from myopic foundation thinkers for years. In reality, a class of 22 would seem miraculous in my daughter's 3rd grade or in most classrooms across my state. Politicians, district-level administrators, and so-called school reform experts need to learn how to count before they make the claim that class-size reduction doesn't make a difference in achievement.
Sizing Them Up
There are at least three major problems with the analysis of class-size reduction efforts offered by Chester Finn and Michael Petrilli ("One Size Does Not Fit All," January). First, Finn and Petrilli are naïve to accept as fact the commonly quoted statistic that the average class size nationally is 22 kids. Elementary teachers working with 30 or 40 kids and secondary teachers facing daily loads of 180 to 200 students have heard this kind of tripe from myopic foundation thinkers for years. In reality, a class of 22 would seem miraculous in my daughter's 3rd grade or in most classrooms across my state. Politicians, district-level administrators, and so-called school reform experts need to learn how to count before they make the claim that class-size reduction doesn't make a difference in achievement.