Author: svb802

I have a lot of friends suspicious of vouchers, or education savings accounts. One of my friends wrote the following for a publication printed by the public school district he lives in. This is what my friend had to say: “School Vouchers or Education Savings Accounts—Not a Simple Yes or No With our State running…

When Matt Barnes and I launched The Education Game a few years ago, we quickly noticed most parents we worked with were fearful of the unknown when they considered withdrawing their children from the traditional public school system. These parents knew their public school was not the right place for their children, but still they…

I was disappointed last week after reading Bruno Manno’s opinion piece in The 74 online titled “Education is One Area Where ‘Domestic Realists’ Agree. Let’s Build on That”. Manno served in several senior positions in the U.S. Department of Education from 1986 to 1993. He is now senior advisor for the Walton Family Foundation’s K-12…

Have you ever been to the Astrodome? When it opened in 1965, it was applauded as “The Eighth Wonder of the World”. Now it sits idle and decaying. According to a Texas Monthly story this past February, “Five years ago, a nonprofit called the Astrodome Conservancy announced that Houston’s most iconic building, shuttered for more…

One reason our public schools are so damned inequitable to the kids who attend them is because of our inconsistent methods of evaluating learning – or grading. I’ve written about this before, but just this morning I read a posting about a teacher who was fired because she refused to give a 50 instead of…

Recently I’ve been accused of being anti-public school. On one hand it’s surprising since I worked 35 years in the public school system, 25 years in a Texas urban school district and 10 more as the leader of an influential educational non-profit committed to improving public schools by working on leadership development and classroom practice.…

Here’s the first article posted when A Better Path to Learning launched one year ago today. I’ve made a few revisions, but the goal remains – The goal of this work is to explain how a new learning system can be created for our kids, with or without schools! 58 years ago, President Lyndon B.…

I know some of you might not be interested in what is happening in Texas with the Texas Education Agency (TEA) taking over the Houston Independent School District (HISD). Believe me, I’ve tried to stay away from the topic, but I wrote about it a bit last week and it looks like I’ll do the…