Do educational leaders know what's happening?In recent months many of ''them'' (influential figures affecting education) have become very vocal about the problems with NCLB as the looming 100% pass rate timeline approaches.  Compelled to do so out of fear that their school or division will be labeled as failing.  They've snapped up Race to the ...

Once upon a time before NCLB, I actually taught government. Then I was told I didn't.  Just that simple(in a related twist Turner was told he did).  The details of why are sealed among the corners of my mind but I was  reassigned and not because of anything I did.  It was a result of NCLB language.   As a younger teacher it takes time to build a ...

Despite internet reports we here at TU have yet to endorse Donald Trump or any other candidate for that matter. We might support those who question current trends in reform.  But we try our best to avoid overt political involvement.  Accordingly we frown on those who criticize or attack for personal or political gain. Keeping this effort in ...

Greatness is a relative term and there is a growing effort focused on making the teachers we have across this country better. But there's a simple solution. Hire more crappy teachers and voila. That will effectively increase the relative quality of those currently employed. Obviously that was a joke but so are some of the suggestions currently ...

In the previous post on the Underground, my colleague referred to Superintendent John Kuhn of Texas testifying before the Texas legislature regarding teacher evaluation and ''value-added'' systems of measuring teacher effectiveness.  Across the nation, we are moving toward systems that measure the effectiveness of students, teachers, schools, and ...

It is hard to believe that what this post's title suggests is even possible, but just a short time ago the Underground had only a limited knowledge of what was happening everywhere across this great country. Then we started a blog. Look at us now. Frightening huh? In an effort to foster similar growth among our ''audience''(both of you) we'd ...

Twice in the same week, John Stewart and the Daily Show address education issues.  This time by interviewing Diane Ravitch.  Nothing new from her in this interview, but it's great to see her arguments reaching a wider audience outside of the education world.  It is also great to see a national television show cover this side of education.  It's ...

So tonight we get both a Republican and a Tea-Party response to the President's State of the Union Address, so we here at the Teaching Underground have decided to throw our hats into the ring and offer the official ''Teaching Underground Grassroots Teacher Response'' to the State of the Union Address.  We've included relevant text from the ...