Tom Chapman

Can Pedagogy Outrun AI’s Shortcuts? Reclaiming Critical Thought from the Grip of Automation

AI isn’t just changing education—it’s gutting critical thinking.
When students outsource higher-order thinking to machines, they miss the very heart of learning. The fix? Revisit known practice, less AI dependence.
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tcharleschapman.substack.com/p/can-pedago...

Merit pay for teachers sounds good—until you realize it punishes creativity, narrows learning, and ignores what actually makes great educators. We don’t need incentives. We need trust, support, and livable wages.
🍎Read More Here🍎: open.substack.com/pub/tcharles...

Who’s Really Asking for More Competition? A Closer Look at Demand, Funding, and the Reinvigorating the Community School

When enrollment drops and we still flood the market with schools, kids lose. Here's why market logic fails—and what we can do instead.
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open.substack.com/pub/tcharles...

💸 Are charter schools and vouchers quietly bankrupting public education?
As enrollment drops and funding dwindles, “choice” is costing more than we think—especially in places like Colorado. Here's why the math doesn’t add up.

👉 substack.com/@tcharlescha...

📚 Can free markets really fix public education?
Spoiler: No.
Here’s why economic assumptions break down when applied to schools—choice isn’t always efficient, and students aren’t products.
Read the full breakdown 👇
👉 substack.com/@tcharlescha...

📉 When models fail the real world, it's time to rethink the model.

In education policy, economics often prioritizes efficiency over empathy, theory over people. What if we built schools for humans—not hypothetical agents?

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Market-based reform hasn’t fixed education—so what will?
A call for ditching testing, rethinking charters, and building real community-driven public schools.
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If I were in charge of Colorado’s education system, I’d start with one bold move: empower teachers. Better pay, smaller classes, real autonomy. Want schools to thrive? Start with the people who make them work.
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Educational markets rely on perfect info and clear definitions — but neither exists. Test scores are shallow, reviews are biased, and complexity overwhelms families. Market-based reform fails on its own terms. 👇👇👇
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Education policy should lift students up — not punish them for being poor. Market-based reforms and testing culture have failed. It’s time for funding, opportunity, and justice in every school. 📚💡
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Standardized tests were never neutral — they punish poverty, not fix it. From A Nation at Risk to NCLB, decades of policy have hurt the very students they claim to help. We can’t test our way out of inequality. 📉📚
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🔍Education reform suffers from an action bias — urgent moves without reflection often cause more harm than good. Real change needs real thought. Let’s slow down and do it right.🧠
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📚 What would a common sense education platform look like?
✅ Fund schools equitably
✅ Train adaptable educators
✅ End punishment-based reform
✅ Empower communities
America needs a vision. Here’s one worth fighting for.

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📚 Education isn’t a prize to win — it’s a public good we all deserve. Pretending learning is limited just feeds fear, fuels inequality, and turns school into a battleground.
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School choice doesn’t center students—it centers enrollment. It’s a market fix for a human problem, and it’s failing. We don’t need educational marketization. We need to support the schools we have.
🎓 substack.com/@tcharlescha...

Why Are We Still Betting on a Broken Idea? School Choice Isn’t Reform—It’s a Distraction From Building Strong Schools

Educational marketization isn’t a reform—it’s a shell game.

🧵 Why real reform means investing in all schools:
substack.com/@tcharlescha...

Stop reducing reading to testable skills and excerpts. Give students the whole book. Let them wrestle with it, be challenged by it, and grow through it. Reading isn’t just a skill — it’s a human connection.📝

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💡 Education isn't a transaction — it's transformation. How do we get back to education for the students and the community?🤔

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In a system as complex as education, how do we work together to develop a system that works for all students?🤔

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Accountability needs to be paired with other policies in order to be successful. It can not succeed on its own.⚖️⚖️⚖️

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Okay, so...I came upon this article a few months ago. If you want a well-thought takedown of merit pay systems in education, this is your article - and it was written during the Reagan administration! The fact it has survived in any conversation is absurd.

files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED2...

Who decides what students learn, and what entitles some people to speak up on these topics? Thoughts here!👇
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Getting into the weeds on this one, but the issue is timely and incredibly important. 🎓 substack.com/@tcharlescha...

Thoughts on education reform and the economy.
🧠💭 substack.com/@tcharlescha...

What a fascinating read! If you have the time and are willing to take on a lot of legal writing, this is an amazing look at the current debate over school vouchers and religious charter schools! scholarcommons.sc.edu/law_facpub/7...

I think a lot about the purpose and ends of accountability, not simply what accountability says it is trying to achieve, but also its actual outcomes - intended or unintended.📖 substack.com/@tcharlescha...

👇Another day, another thought! Read it here.👇
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This is a fascinating read investigating the complex alliances created in education policy, especially around school choice initiatives. I would love to see an update on this research (since this article is 18 years old) and explore how these alliances have changed.

New thoughts! Check 'em out!
tcharleschapman.substack.com/p/egalitaria...

How Do We Have Conversations About Improving Education? Truth, Context, and the Politics of Education

How Do We Have Conversations About Improving Education?
Truth, Context, and the Politics of Education. Read it on my Substack: tcharleschapman.substack.com/p/how-do-we-...