Every year I post a list of The Best & Worst Education News of the Year here, in the Huffington Post, and in The Washington Post.
I’ve got a start on it, and obviously will have to wait until after election day to finalize the list, but thought I’d also invite readers to contribute their ideas, too.
What do you think I should include?
Oklahoma’s Superintendent of Schools required any senior who was petitioning for his or her diploma (these students had NOT passed the required End-of-Instruction exams) to waive FERPA rights so the State School Board could examine the data. Instead of limiting the information to the Board, the OSDE published names, addresses, phone numbers and IEP labels on their website, insisting they were in the right. So our students were traumatized twice — once by not receiving the diploma, and second by having their private information plastered on the website. The Board ultimately insisted the OSDE remove the information, but the damage was done.
If you want stories of ‘worsts’, all you have to do is come to OK and see what’s happening here.