Turning The Page

What happens when you close one door and open another? 

CNN Not Giving Opt Out A Fair Shake

The actual article on CNN’s website yesterday was actually very good.  It gave both sides, which I would expect from CNN.  But at the top of the article, there was a video by the woman who wrote it.  While she didn’t mention opt-out, she did talk about “helicopter parents” trying to rescue their kids from being failures.  We should all be those types of parents when it comes to this.  If the only reason I opted my son out was for that reason, I wouldn’t have done it.  It’s the psychological effects this test will have.  Not to mention the effects it will have on teachers, schools, communities, as well as the entire country.  This is a dark path education is on if it remains unchecked.  Those are all the reasons parents are doing this.  We tell our children not to play with guns or talk to strangers because we are afraid of severe damage happening to our children.  That’s how we feel about this test.  You can read the article and watch the very biased video at the below link.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/17/living/parents-movement-opt-out-of-testing-feat/index.html?sr=fb041815standardizedtests4aVODtoplink

WHYY’s Avi Wolfman-Arent Has Become THE Education Reporter In Delaware

WHYY/Newsworks has the best education reporter in Delaware, bar none!  Avi Wolfman-Arent has written many articles in the past few months that do not have the media bias we see in another Delaware newspaper (I’m talking to you News Journal).  While Avi was writing many articles about Family Foundations Academy, Matthew Albright from the News Journal didn’t even pick it up until a month after everyone else knew what was going on.  Avi has written many excellent stories about the priority schools without the usual Markell-DOE bias seeping through.  It is very refreshing to see someone write articles about education in a major media outlet in Delaware that remembers the basic tenets of journalism.

Take Avi’s article that came out today as an example.  He wrote about Stubbs Elementary School in Wilmington. Stubbs is one of the six labeled priority schools.  But Avi went to see a steel drum concert.  When I read this, it just made me realize even more that none of these schools should become priority schools and all that goes with that.  Please read Avi’s article entitled “Day In The Sun, For Delaware School Caught In The Crosshairs”: http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/item/77946-day-in-the-sun-for-school-in-the-crosshairs?l=df

Elizabeth Paige, a member of the Christina School District Board of Education wrote the following about Avi: “As a member of the CSD school board and a member of the community, I appreciate Avi’s work to report on education in Delaware.  This new kid on the block is proactive, approachable, and has shown his willingness to tell a story from many angles.”

Last week, Avi sat down with Delaware Secretary of Education Mark Murphy to get his take on the current hot spots in Delaware education: Common Core, Race To The Top, Priority Schools, and more.  It was an excellent article and video, even though I didn’t agree with a lot of things Murphy said.

Avi has even made an impression all the way down in Sussex County.  Resident Nelia Dolan said “I am grateful there is a reporter in Delaware who is giving voice to all sides of the education debate.”

I see Avi everywhere these days, at House Education Committee meetings, at Board Meetings, and State Board of Education meetings.  I see others there, but Avi’s articles are the ones I will always read first.