Play Over Test Prep–My op-ed in the Seattle Times

“Do not keep children to their studies by compulsion but by play.” – Plato “Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.” -  Mr. Rogers The Seattle Times published my op-ed today on how the …

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“More Than a Score” named in The Nation’s “5 Books to Build a Movement for Education Justice!”

I am thrilled to announce that Kenzo Shibata, writing for the current issue of The Nation magazine, named the forthcoming book I edited, More Than a Score: The New Uprising Against High-Stakes Testing, to the list of “5 Books to Build a Movement for Education Justice.” The book’s forward was written by Diane Ravitch, the …

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Announcing “More Than a Score: The New Uprising Against High-Stakes Testing”

Pre-order available for More Than a Score Edited by Jesse Hagopian, Foreword by Diane Ravitch, Introduction by Alfie Kohn, Afterword by Wayne Au A teacher threatened with having her teaching license revoked for organizing a testing boycott explains how her school defeated the standardized test.  A valedictorian shares the speech she delivered to her graduating …

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On My Son’s First Day of Kindergarten: OurSchoolsAreNotFailing.org organizes communities to defend their schools from NCLB

Today is the first day of school in Seattle. I have never been more excited and nervous for the first day because, not only do I start teaching, but my 5-year-old starts kindergarten! My son is so thrilled for his first day of school and our family feels so fortunate to have such a wonderful …

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“This is a test”: Educating to End the School-to-Grave-Pipeline in Ferguson and Beyond

“We were at graduation, me and him, and we were talking. He said he wasn’t going to end up like some people on the streets. He was going to get an education.” --Hershel Johnson, a friend Michael Brown’s since middle school. In the wake of the police murder of the unarmed 18-year-old African American high …

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