I use to write research articles. For over a decade I was an associate editor for the New England Reading Association Journal.
I was a good academic, but I discovered that the research did not matter to market-based education reformers, policymakers, and legislators looking to blame teachers, children, and poor community schools. The very people who would use the illusion of school choice and high-stakes testing to cover the vast inequity and injustice that Black, Brown, and Special Education children face every day in our public school system. These people betrayed them, and these people don't care about the research.
Even our courts have protected that inequity, time and time again. Despite, Brown v The Board of Education becoming the law of the land in 1954. In this School To Prison Pipeline, market-based reformers don't care about the research, the data, or the truth. And to be honest no one really reads academic articles these days. Profits and lies rule education reform.
I never wanted to be a blogger. All I wanted was to teach and be a good academic. But NCLB, RTTT and ESSA Act(s) got in the way. Silence and apathy, trusting the status quo are unacceptable in the face of systemic racism and lies.
So in 2010, I started walking. I stopped writing articles and became a blogger. Here is the story of my blog Children Are More Than Test Scores.
To date there have been over 200,000 views, my articles altogether would be lucky to have 500 reads. Although my university was quite impressed with those 500 reads, it gave me tenure, promoted twice. To be honest they also were impressed with my activism and blogs as well. I never hid any of it. Trust me new academic like Julian Vasquez Heilig promotes the new academia needs to be rooted in social media as well. Young ones don't believe the hype you can do both, keep your self-respect, and rise.
My blog writing is mixed in with my activism and love of public schools. If someone would have said when I became an academic that I would become an activist and blogger...well I would have thought them crazy.
Sometimes Crazy is what you need,
Dr. Jesse P. Turner
Professor of Literacy, Elementary, and Early Childhood Education.
Here is the link to my 7 minutes BrainWave Anthology interview with Producer Robert Greenberg
Dr. Jesse P. Turner
Professor of Literacy, Elementary, and Early Childhood Education.
Here is the link to my 7 minutes BrainWave Anthology interview with Producer Robert Greenberg
