Author: svb802

  • Friday News Roundup

    It’s Friday. Time for the News Roundup. Trump Plan Would Phase Out Rural Ed Fund: District Leaders Say It’s “Vital” (The 74) Donald Trump overwhelmingly carried the rural vote in both the 2016 and 2024 presidential elections, so why isn’t the American farmer benefiting more from Trump’s leadership? First, there were the tariffs, then higher…

  • Positive Deviance and Learning

    Learning is hard work. Most of the time it involves struggle. Too often it leads to failure. Back in 2000, when I was a young principal opening a brand new high school, I came across an article titled “Positive Deviant.” Fast Company printed it inside their monthly magazine (there wasn’t such a thing as online…

  • Higher Ed Learnings

    “’We all technically, legally own the place,’ Will Xu told me last year. We were sitting at a picnic table on the campus of Deep Springs College, a tiny, experimental school in the California desert where he is a student. The White and Inyo Mountains were ringed around us.” Deep Springs College offers a different…

  • My Wife Struck Again

    My wife left a New York Times article on my bedside table recently. The title, “You Can’t Game Your Way to a Real Education” caught my attention. Molly Worthen, a University of North Carolina history professor, is the author. If you’ve read ABPTL for a while, you’ll know that my wife and I have a…

  • Friday News Roundup

    It’s Friday. Time for the News Roundup. Inside the Relationship Between Ian Roberts and a Des Moines Public School Contractor (Des Moines Register) Poor Des Moines Public Schools. Not only did their now fired school superintendent lie about his immigration status and work authorization to get the Des Moines job back in 2023, now Ian…

  • AI, Part 2

    Part 2 this week on AI: America is embroiled in a love-hate relationship with artificial intelligence. As The Atlantic plainly stated in a May 13th article: “America is both the world’s foremost developer of AI and its chief hater.” The article continues: “….The AI industry has spent recent years warning of a jobless future. So…

  • AI, Part 1

    It’s mid-week before the Memorial Day holiday. Let’s use this time to discuss two very different tales involving artificial intelligence. Today we discuss AI and how it will continue to change how we view testing and cheating. Tomorrow we’ll talk about how AI is impacting our current and future job market. We’ve talked about how…

  • Learning in the Dirt and Other Spanish Impressions

    I’m back after three weeks in Spain. While on the islands of Tenerife and Gran Canarias, I captured two stories that demonstrate the essence of what it means to embrace an “anytime/anywhere” learning focus. I like to take urban hikes while on vacation, with rest stops at places where I can “people watch.” One of…

  • A Little About A Lot

    Here’s a little about a lot – According to a news post in last week’s EdWeek, celebrities like Hugh Grant, Oprah Winfrey, and Texas Senator Ted Cruz have all come out against educational technology in schools. In addition, “More than half of educators who work for public school district – 61% – say that most…

  • A Dismal Picture

    ABPTL is back for a few days after being off last week. Earlier this year EducationWeek released data from the 50 states, asking teachers, beyond salary, what would improve their working conditions inside the classroom. According to EdWeek, “Salary is one major factor long linked to teacher morale. In an effort to look more holistically…