Today Jeb Bush is visiting the Missouri capital to share his “education wisdom” with our lawmakers. And why not? Florida is doing great. Secretary Devos said everyone should emulate Florida. They have lots of charter schools and require that every child be able to read by third grade. Bush’s ...

  According to the Brookhaven Post, two teachers were forced to resign from DeKalb County Schools after they were accused of “making pro-Trump comments, telling students they’ll be deported.” DeKalb Superintendent Dr. R. Stephen Green  issued a statement Monday in response to President Donald Trump’s Executive Order regarding temporary refugee ...

The desire for government at ALL levels to be able to influence the development of our children as early as possible remains strong as shown by these two examples. Desire for Universal Preschool in the U.S. During the Senate confirmation hearing of Secretary DeVos Senator Isakson (R-GA) made the ...

The following are my own personal thoughts and do not represent the views of Missouri Education Watchdog. They are written to open a dialogue about the purpose of public education. I believe having a clear vision of that purpose will make solutions to the many other issues associated with ...

The following update comes from Education Liberty Watch. With the January 20th inauguration of Donald Trump as our 45th president, there is a new era of education leadership in Washington DC. Here is a report on status of Secretary-designate Betsy DeVos and what parents and citizens will need to ...

  This month begins the 99th session of Missouri’s General Assembly. It will also begin a new administration in America’s capitol. Both capitols are now dominated by Republicans who believe they can finally “fix” education. Both are poised to push public education into the private sector through expansion of ...

The annual Education Policy Conference, hosted by the Constitutional Coalition, will be held in St. Louis again next month. This is a great opportunity to hear many nationally and internationally known speakers speak on a variety of topics and network with others in Missouri and around the country.  The ...

  Our schools are being asked to foster social and emotional learning. Not all parents agree with this mandate because exactly what they will teach as proper social and emotional behavior has yet to be spelled out in any clear way which leaves the door open for morality lessons ...

No matter how you justify this letter (need more students/money for the school district, think that some HS parents might be regretting their decision so you offer an olive branch, annual requirement to reach out to all non-attending school aged children etc.) this letter is a fail. The ineptitude ...

Earlier in the election cycle, candidate Trump leaked some possibilities for his choice for Education Secretary. On the list were people like Ben Carson (talented surgeon, but not a student of education policy or process) and William Evers (who already served once in the U.S. Department of Education in ...

  Today is the deadline for comments to the Commission for Evidence-based Policymaking, which is considering ways to make data collection and sharing by the federal government easier and “safer.” It is clear from the Supplemental Information supplied with the Docket that they are looking for ways to lift ...

A year ago the Daily Caller reported on the number of Turkish business and political organizations which had contributed to the Hillary Clinton campaign. Many of these groups are tied to Fethullah Gülen, a former Islamic imam and employee of Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs. Gülen’s followers are part ...

On October 21st the fifteen member Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking held a hearing to “examine strategies to increase the availability and use of government data, in order to build evidence related to government programs and policies, while protecting the privacy and confidentiality of the data.” Emmet McGroarty of the ...

The State Auditor’s office released a report on district cyber security this month. The report is part of that office’s Cyber Aware School Audits Initiative. It details the incomplete or missing measures schools have implemented to protect the student PII they collect at the district level. Five districts were ...