Author: svb802

Twenty years ago, our K-12 system talked a lot about preparing students to be “college and career ready.” The thought back then was kids needed to have strong reading, writing, and problem-solving abilities no matter what path they were pursuing – college or a trade. The sad news today is that our traditional public education…

Mike Miles is not well liked in certain circles in Houston, Texas. Miles is the state-appointed school superintendent that seems to be hanging around the Houston Independent School District (HISD) for too long, some say. ABPTL covered a story awhile back about Miles and his central office cronies mandating Houston classrooms to cease reading chapter…

If you pay attention, there are signs all over the place that our current K-12 educational system is failing. Although it’s no fault of most teachers, administrators, and students, the fact remains that too many of our kids are not becoming smarter and stronger after spending time in our public schools. Witness a story appearing…

Mary Maker is a South Sudanese refugee, a United Nations High Commission for Refugees activist, and founder of Elimisha Kakuma, a non-profit committed to helping Sudanese refugees to become smarter and stronger. In 2018, Maker gave an impassioned TED Talk at TedxKakumaCamp titled “Why I Fight for the Education of Refugee Girls.” Here are excerpts…

Instead of asking young learners the right questions to discover what their true interests are, we deliver a state-approved, district-initiated curriculum that works for some, but doesn’t for so many others. I watched with interest while Noeline Kirabo delivered her TED talk at the TEDWomen conference back in 2019. Kirabo started an organization called Kyusa,…

I ran across two articles over Thanksgiving break on artificial intelligence. Each one offered an interesting perspective on what AI could be for young learners, both today and when they grow up to be our country’s workforce. Richard Culatta, CEO of ISTE+ASCD, compared human intelligence with artificial intelligence in his article “What a Dump Truck…

I’m back, hoping everyone had a restful and wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. And now on to Christmas! I see a lot of vacant buildings that would make outstanding learning centers, places for young learners to meet with their learning coaches to create and act on personalized learning plans that improve reading, writing, problem-solving, and character development…

It’s estimated learning loss over the past five years (after the 2020 pandemic) will cost the American economy over $90 trillion dollars in future growth. The 74 recently posted an article (11/10/25) that highlights research from Stanford University researchers that shows America having an average of 6% higher gross domestic product every year for the…