To the annual critics of public education who whine about the status of academic test scores, I propose that we give them what they want. Let’s strip everything out of our public schools but academic test preparation, academic testing, and make this the singular public education program of every school. If test scores matter that much, schools should be all about test preparation and test results. Continue reading
If test scores are that important, eliminate all else in public education but testing and test scores
If Learning Gaps Were Important, We Would Teach Differently
It is like seeing a picture of a smiling person missing two front teeth and wondering how that person chews food. Gaps in learning, like missing teeth, make it hard if not impossible for children to “bite into” more complex instruction. Continue reading
When There Is a Shortage of Teachers, Will Any “Teacher” In the Classroom Do?
New Personnel 101 leaves school boards and principals with critical decisions to make when they cannot find a fully licensed teacher that meets their employment needs. They can settle for a “good enough” adult to be a classroom teacher. They can allow “good enough” to become a permanent employee forgotten in the grind of a school year’s work. Or they can work with an EPP and hire an apprentice and collaborate to create a fully prepared and licensed teacher. Continue reading
Reflection On Instruction Begets Improved Student Learning – Give Teachers Time to Reflect
Instruction that causes all children to learn, including children needing adjusted instruction, requires time for a teacher to reflect and determine how to clarify, correct, and teach anew. Reflection plus adjusted teaching improves learning for all students. Continue reading
Woe Be Unto Those Who Do Not Understand the Alphas – Their Destiny Matters, Ours Is History
We need to consider the possibility, probability, and consequences of no American Dream. Hence, we cannot apply past generational assumptions about children to the Alphas and the world they will occupy. Woe be to those who ignore the Alphas. Continue reading
Atlas is Shrugging
When a slim majority of our electorate believes an egoist will elevate their status and cure their woes, what happens if everyone else shrugs? Continue reading
Rousseau, Come Back
The major dilemma we face in this decade will not be the loss of academic achievement and the onset of socio-emotional problems in youth. The problem will be that as children matriculate into middle and secondary education, they lose faith in the efficacy of the education adults deliver to them. Our issues today are not lack of achievement but lack of engagement. Continue reading
Hortons Hear Teachers
Ask teachers about their long-term teacher friends and most will name and describe a teacher or small group of teachers they met in their first days and months as a classroom teacher. Many say their friends found them, they did not find their friends. An early teacher friend is a Horton, just like the Seuss elephant who singularly heard the microscopic community of Whoville. A teacher Horton hears and sees starting teachers and connects with them. But not every teacher is so lucky as to have a Horton. Continue reading
AI Is Icarus Deja Vu
The right rule “of thumb” is — AI is approved when the goal is investigative, consensus building, problem solving, and efficiency AND AI is not approved when the goal is original thought, critical thinking, and skill development. Using AI should not be generalized to all student work but attached to the goals we are teaching children to achieve. Continue reading
Teaching Is Caring and More
When a caring teacher and child connect, we see how a significant adult can add greatly to the quality of how and what a child learns. Teaching fundamentally is caring about the adults children today will become in the future. Continue reading