I am an Associate Professor of Education and director of the Curriculum and Instruction program in the School of Education at Loyola University Maryland. I piloted a mandatory graduate course on media literacy education for teachers in our reading specialist program in 2004, and I have conducted and published research in this area related to teachers' understandings and reactions to media literacy. I also serve on the Newseum's Education Advisory Team. And I am a founding board member and curriculum expert for Sojourner Truth Preparatory Charter School, a middle school for girls whose theme intends to be media literacy education. We are hoping to apply for a charter in Baltimore City in 2011. Additionally, my research interests relate to adoption and adoptees, identity, education policy, and critical multiculturalism. This semester, students in my media literacy class will participate in the pilot NewsTrust Baltimore project as part of their course assignments, and I look forward to our involvement.
This is a good news story to illustrate the complicated nature of school reform in high need urban areas. Providing more details about the Baltimore Curriculum Project could have helped to enhance the context. Additionally, talking with teachers, current and former, from the school might have enhanced the story's depth. That could have helped to tease out the complicated nature of DI.
I was pleasantly surprised to read this quality piece of investigative journalism in the Towson Patch. Sears shows the complications of public relations firms getting involved in local political processes, but perhaps most importantly, he links to the corporation that stands to gain substantially by the passing of this legislation. The final 2 paragraphs, while interesting in their lean toward the social good, neglect to remind readers of the huge financial windfall that the corporation stands to gain. A question I was left with was why the county would be bound to an exclusive contract with ACS? Why couldn't this become a bidding process? Also, while it's clear that KO is a local organization, is ACS? Could a MD company ... More »
The story has the veneer of much the public sentiment on charters currently a la the film Waiting for Superman, that charter schools, strong; teachers unions, impotent. More of the teaching staff quotes could have strengthened the article, but as well, a discussion about how much work most public school teachers do both within and outside the typical school day (through interviews with teachers). Additionally, Green & Bowie could have found former KIPP school teachers to interview to gauge their sentiments about the longer school days. Overall, there was more bias in this report than news.
That they rely on seemingly anonymous comments on the local newspaper's website is very suspect in terms of a source. The article also has an abrupt conclusion that turns away from the "story" of the young woman who was killed toward the President's official upcoming agenda. Seems as though the article sought to incite further anti-immigration sentiments.
