I like James Durbin’s commentary on a life’s many turns. “It is what it is. It is what you make it.” Durbin is a singer-song writer living and succeeding with Tourette syndrome. A bad public image is what it is. … Continue reading
Teacher Talent: Egads! Only 7% of Teacher Prep Programs Earn High Quality Status
The School Year: A Purchase of Time Not Achievement
Right now, discard everything you have been told about why a school calendar is nine months long. Forget being told that the school calendar is matched to an agrarian lifestyle when children were needed as farm labor in the summer … Continue reading
Teacher Talent: Recognize and Honor Franchise Teachers
Franchise teachers? They exist, but I cannot ever recall a public conversation about a franchise teacher. We accept that professional sports, high powered businesses, and medical and tech enterprises have franchise employees. The Green Bay Packers win or lose on … Continue reading
Education Needs the Best and Brightest To Be Teachers
Creating a new generation of talented, professional teachers begins when today’s teachers and counselors say to the most academically advanced children in each classroom and school, “You should be a teacher.” Implanting a positive conception of teaching as a profession … Continue reading
The Professional Teacher Has An Image Problem
This is the first in a series of blogs about enhancing “Teacher Talent: A Profession In Need.” Teachers and the teaching profession “has a major image problem. Unfortunately, this perception of mediocrity has negatively affected the national reputation of teaching, … Continue reading
Teacher Talent: A Professional Need
“The teaching profession has a major image problem,” Third Way analysts Tamara Hiler and Lanae Erickson Hatalsky write in their analysis of the National Online Survey of College Students – Education Attitudes. “Unfortunately, this perception of mediocrity has negatively affected … Continue reading
Broadsided Data Release – No Thank You, NAEP
The 2013 NAEP results were released today. Once again, these data affect a local school district with the same impact as the National Transportation Safety Board’s report on highway fatalities. The big picture is nice to know, but what is … Continue reading
What Is Important When Everything Is Important?
An April article in US News and World Report made an impressive case for why public schools must maintain strong programming in what otherwise are known as the “extracurriculars.” Taken broadly, “extra” curriculars include all subjects taught in school beyond the … Continue reading
A Dope Slapping Now and Then Helps Everyone
The political leadership of Washington State got “dope slapped” by the US Department of Education. This was a good thing. Secretary Duncan revoked Washington’s waiver of No Child Left Behind sanctions as a result of the Washington legislature’s failure to … Continue reading
Professional Growth: Leadership’s Role
Professional. Professional licensing. Professional growth. These three concepts attach to every teacher in public education. The first term is a definition. The second is a status. The third term is the heart of professionalism. Most teachers, however, enjoy the accouterments … Continue reading