Nancy Flanagan 🎼

“What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all of its children. Any other idea for our schools is narrow and unlovely; acted upon, it destroys our democracy.” John Dewey

Tradition began in Detroit in 1980, when activists started the Black Reading Month Committee. They promoted the celebration w/ book fairs, forums & other events. In 1985, the "Turn Off the TV" campaign became a key part of the movement. michiganadvance.com/briefs/septe...

This vision--go hard at teacher unions, double down on school accountability & vouchers--is inherently contradictory, a loser w/ voters. There may be no single less appealing sales pitch than ‘we’re going to close your school.’ Just ask former Chicago mayor Emmanuel dianeravitch.net/2025/09/02/j...

If public ed is to survive, Democrats will have to come up w/ explanation for why we have public schools that goes beyond bloodless workforce prep. They would do well to revisit the left-wing scholars of an earlier era for whom education was a terrain of possibility. thebaffler.com/outbursts/un...

"I imagined being able to use my tech expertise in future classrooms. I had become genuinely excited about edtech. I wish I could say expectations were met but I cannot. I discovered instead of edtech driving exploration, it was aimed at controlling & replacing teachers" tultican.com/2026/04/10/b...

The Mississippi Reading Reform Multiverse (And Lessons Ignored). "Principle: Rising test scores do not necessarily mean rising achievement." Gerald Bracey, Reading Educational Research (2006) paulthomas701128.substack.com/p/the-missis...

"...our guide completed her thumbnail history and then, very quietly, said that Hungarians—so brave and bold—were losing their democratic independence to their authoritarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban." teacherinastrangeland.blog/2025/02/14/w...

Fact is: plagiarism is ill-defined, in an era when students have access to the Library of Congress in their raggedy jeans pockets. teacherinastrangeland.blog/2026/04/07/i...

"That's the bill. It directs states to push a particular ill-defined un-supported possibly-nonexistent instructional methodology, and then promises this bill does not authorize the feds to push a particular instructional methodology." #FauxScienceOfReading curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2026/04/fede...

'There is no consistent, research-based connection between standardized test scores and long-term success in life. Nor do these scores fully capture the depth, breadth, and impact of the educational experiences provided in traditional K–12 public schools.' wymang.substack.com/p/celebratin...

"It is hard to miss that hours after his wife gave an unexpected press conference about Jeffrey Epstein, Trump posted a video of a woman’s murder." Heather Cox Richardson

The plot thickens...

'This is what it’s like under a personalist regime, where power is concentrated in single person, a leader not accountable to the military or political party. Personalists gut institutions, instead making themselves the sole arbiter of govt policies and actions. www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-pers...