The Washington Post – Jay Mathews
“My favorite teacher, Al Ladendorff, died March 20 at the age of 93. At Hillsdale High School in San Mateo, Calif., he was known as “Big Al.” Educators like him enhance our lives, for reasons not always in sync with what policymakers are doing to try to improve teaching. The guarantees of highly qualified teachers for all students in the federal No Child Left Behind law are a sham. The law gives states that responsibility, but they have done little to inspire the intelligence, imagination and perseverance that so impressed me about Ladendorff. The replacement for that law, now being fashioned in Congress, does no better.”(more)