Why does this educator want to WIDEN the achievement gap?

The Weekly Newsletter of Educational Alternatives - www.EducationRevolution.org

Please Widen Achievement Gap

Lynn Stoddard, author, teacher, and speaker, has been an AERO member since its inception. We have posted many of his articles, but this one in particular has caught the eye of many people. The title, itself, is shocking until you understand his point: By pushing to "close the achievement gap" are we inadvertently trying to dumb some or all students down? Instead, shouldn't we be individualizing education, and encouraging every student to develop his or her talents to the fullest, maybe widening the gap between them and everyone else as they develop their unique skill? By accepting the concept of a gap aren't we playing into the errant concept that that learning is a competitive activity?

Read what Lynn has to say about this here and let us know what you think! The AERO member listserve is an ideal platform to discuss this. Email jerryaero@aol.com to be added.

JUST RELEASED: Planning to Change the World 2013/2014

Planning to Change the World is a plan book for educators who believe their students can and will change the world. It is designed to help teachers translate their vision of a just education into concrete classroom activities.

The 2013/2014 edition has all the things you would expect in a lesson plan book plus:

Weekly planning pages packed with important social justice birthdays and historical events.
References to online lesson plans and resources related to those dates.
Tips from social justice teachers across the country.
Inspirational quotes to share with students.
Thought-provoking essential questions to spark classroom discussions on critical issues.
Reproducible social justice awards for students.
and much more.

Published by New York Collective of Radical Educators (NYCoRE) and Education for Liberation Network.

Order the NEW plan book on sale here.

Jerry Mintz invites you to IDEC 2013!

AERO Members & Readers Receive a Discount to Attend IDEC. Read Below for More Information

Jerry Mintz

As many of you know, I will be participating in this year's International Democratic Education Conference in Boulder, Colorado as a featured speaker and workshop leader.This is the first time IDEC has been in the United States since AERO hosted it in 2003! Next year, the conference will be in South Korea. Also, AERO will be bringing its entire bookstore and AERO staff members Kamala Bhusal and Daniel Sage will be helping to run it! Those who went to this year's AERO conference will remember Kamala, who directed the child care program, and Daniel, who ran registration, among other things.

Daniel & Kamala

I was involved with the IDEC since its inception, having been one of the founding members at the Hadera conference in Israel in 1993, organized by Yaacov Hecht. AERO has been instrumental in keeping the IDEC going since then, especially since we started the IDEC listserve in 1996. In some ways the IDEC could be called AERO's "other conference" since the IDEC isn't an organization and is still coordinated partly through the the IDEC listserve.

This year AERO members will get a 10% discount if they attend the IDEC with us, and we will give AERO members a free extension of their membership. If you aren't an AERO member but are a subscriber to this newsletter, you will get a free six-month AERO membership. For both options, write "AERO" on your registration when it asks how you found out about the conference.

We hope to see you at the IDEC!

-Jerry Mintz

Find out more about IDEC 2013, speakers, and their program at: www.IDEC2013.org

AERO hosts the IDEC listserve, which has served as the primary form of communication and networking for the IDEC community for over a decade.To join this discussion listserve, write to jerryaero@aol.com with your request to join. There is no cost.

IDEC wants to make sure everyone who wants to attend IDEC can. They offer group rates and financial aid to those in need. Just write them at idec2013@gmail.com to find out more.