This is Anthony Cody’s last blog post in Education Week, where his column “Living in Dialogue” appeared regularly beginning in 2008.
Cody reviews the high points of his long run. He urged the selection of Linda Darling-Hammond or Pedro Noguera as Secretary of Educatiob by the new President Obama. Lost that one. He began to follow the writing of the Common Core by “the Secret Sixty.” he began to share his doubts about Race to the Top and overtesting, but got nowhere. In 2011, he helped to organize the Save Our Schools march in D.C., which drew some 5,000 activists to D.C.
After challenging the Obama policies on education, he engaged in dialogue with its spokesman. Then came his epic five-part exchange with the Gates dialogue.
Cody points out that he always had the full support of Education Week, no matter how controversial his writing. He has decided now to launch his own independent blog. Cody leaves Education Week, but Peter Greene–well known to readers of this blog–will write regularly for EdWeek.
“I have decided to say farewell to Education Week in order to launch the new Living in Dialogue, an independent blog that will build on the tradition established in this space. I will be joined there by videographer Vincent Precht, who will host a video feature, and many of the guests who have shared here in recent years. Please come over, contribute your voice, discuss and engage in Living in Dialogue, the next generation. (and you can find Living in Dialogue on Facebook and Twitter as well!)
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I’m looking forward to Cody’s new project, and I am glad to see Peter Greene stepping in.
Thank you, Diane, for your support here and over the years.
I hope to build the new Living in Dialogue into a place where issues and perspectives are vigorously discussed. Thanks to some exciting contributions, that process has begun. Please come over and take a look! http://www.livingindialogue.com/
And on twitter, https://twitter.com/LivingnDialogue
And on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Living-in-Dialogue/340385762776879
I look forward to seeing you all there!
Congratulations, Anthony, on setting up your independent blog. I wish you great success.
Peter Greene is a great choice to write for EdWeek. Best wishes to him on this launch and to Anthony as he “turns the page” with his own blog.
Congratulations! Looking forward to getting this information out to parents.
“In 2011, he helped to organize the Save Our Schools march in D.C., which drew some 5,000 activists to D.C.”
Perhaps, this needs to be organized again. A lot has changed in 3 years.
Anthony, you have been a great educator and source of hope for this “lowly” teacher. Thank you!
Best of luck in your new endeavor. I will still follow your writing. Looking forward to even MORE Peter Greene too!
Anthony Cody’s voice will be missed in the pages of EdWeek. (Too many not-so-tech-savvy supts don’t follow blogs or follow @dianeravitch or @AnthonyCody and those supts are the gatekeepers and translators of policy). They need to continue to hear his voice.* His columns offer new learning, validation of some beliefs and a barometer for others.
Being objective, seeing both sides of an issue, rejecting either/or policy, and citing horrendous reform but with possibilities of salvaging the good from the bad are characteristic of Mr. Cody’s writings (even Professor Hill saw the light with the help of a librarian as noted in a recent Cody column (http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2014/07/trouble_in_common_core_city_to.html )).
*Fortunately, Living in Dialogue will continue and his insights will be found on these pages of dianeravitch.net and twitter.
I hope that Mr. Cody looks at Head Start as well as the K-12 universe. It seems like deja vu all over again with the new HHS secretary appointing staff with little to no experience in early care along with the defunding of many community organizations that have had grants for years. Some of the grants are being sought by charter schools and for profit companies.
First, before I gripe, a couple of comments on these two writers.
Thank you, Anthony Cody, for your hard work supporting truth and teachers.
Peter Greene is such a great education writer that I look forward to his column, despite my gripe…
…which is this: In a field heavily dominated by women, can Ed Week not find a woman writer to at least share the column?
One of the reasons this field is degraded is that the raising of children (including their education) is considered, by the men who run the world (and, increasingly, prominent women who have never done it), to be much easier than it actually is.
I believe that this issue – education as child rearing as “women’s work” – is one of the reasons that the occupation is degraded and deprofessionalized. I don’t think it’s the only reason; in our corporate-run society, anything that doesn’t bring in short-term profit is degraded, and that’s probably a more powerful reason; however, the gender composition is an issue, and it is largely unacknowledged. Occasionally, when I bring it up in a comment forum such as NPR, or even a local teachers’ site, I am inevitably attacked – by men – for suggesting that teaching would be a better-paying occupation, with better working conditions, if dominated by men.
And maybe this isn’t the time to point out the sexism in the occupation. It might make things worse instead of better.
But I needed my female voice to be heard on this, and so I leave you with this issue to think about: How would this occupation be different if dominated by men?
Thank you Anthony Cody, looking forward to your new blog! And edweek could not do better than providing greater exposure to the superb Peter Greene!
Hi justateacher:
Being as educators, I hope that you will agree with me that our open-minded character is very essential. For this sole reason, I do not see the difference between male or female leader, except their best personality, character, attitude and decision-making in facing chaos or in bringing harmony to community.
In conclusion, I please welcome you to follow Mr. Cody’s path without the need for any permission or invitation to participate or to voice your idea. It is very difficult to please people. However, the first important step is to be honest to oneself in order to ascertain our own boundary. Once, we know who we are, our goal, and our audience or environment, then we can easily plan out and achieve whatever we set to do. Back2basic.
I think it is indeed important to elevate the voices of women leaders, as well as those of students, as well as people of color. I hope to be able to do so in the new space at Living in Dialogue. Several of the posts at the new blog were contributed by excellent leaders of the female persuasion — Mary Porter, Michelle Gunderson and Kipp Dawson. I look forward to many more. And if you are interested in joining them in contributing, please see guidelines here. http://www.livingindialogue.com/contribute/