A Better Path to Learning

Category: Learnings

  • The Question of Research

    —

    by

    svb802
    in

    Donald Trump doesn’t impress me as someone who is interested in the value of research. This was evident last week when his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) minions, led my Elon Musk, shut down grants and contracts for various research activities at the institute of Education Sciences (IES). Today, in an article published in The…

  • Musk and Trump – Saviors of Learning?

    —

    by

    svb802
    in

    Until we find a better system of learning for our kids, we have a moral and ethical responsibility to provide the best K-12 educational system possible for current students, their families, and their communities. Blowing up the current system, without a viable alternative for students to migrate to, won’t work. We learned this during our…

  • Raised to Obey

    —

    by

    svb802
    in

    “The expansion of primary education in the West was driven not by democratic ideals, but by the state’s desire to control citizens, and to control them by targeting children at an age when they are very young and susceptible to external influence and to teach them at that young age that it’s good to respect…

  • A Matter of Money

    —

    by

    svb802
    in

    I remember sitting in a district leadership meeting one morning, listening to a fellow high school principal lament about how strapped for money his school was (his school wasn’t hurting for resources). Finally, he exclaimed “Just once I’d like to try ‘more money’ as a solution to all of the problems his high school and…

  • A Presidential Review

    —

    by

    svb802
    in

    It’s President’s Day, so it might be a good time to look back at how our presidents approached K-12 education, beginning with Jimmy Carter. Today, EducationWeek spotlighted presidential challenges and successes in a series of online articles. Below are excerpts from those pieces:  Jimmy Carter – “Jimmy Carter campaigned for president on a promise of…

  • Building Around a Passion

    —

    by

    svb802
    in

    Imagine a world of learning where everything started with this question: “What would you like to learn today?” And then, everything else filled in from there. Education Reimagined shared a story this week that encompasses that type of learning spirit: “Aboard a tall ship, learners step onto the bowsprit, suspended over the open ocean, trusting…

  • Lack of Imagination in DMPS

    —

    by

    svb802
    in

    I write a lot about public schools in three states: Texas, Vermont, and Iowa. I worked in the Texas public school system for 35 years, and I’ve lived in Vermont and Iowa over the past seven years. All three systems are different when it comes to providing public education to their youth. Texas has one…

  • Research Out the Window

    —

    by

    svb802
    in

    I’ve asked this question before: In public education, why don’t we do what we know is the right thing to do? The answer to this question points to the importance of research, and, more importantly, how we often ignore that research when it comes to best practices in teaching reading, writing, problem-solving, and character development.…

  • Conversation as Learning

    —

    by

    svb802
    in

    Conversation is essential to learning. The Greek word for conversation is “dialogos,” meaning “through speech and reasoning.” The Greeks were fully committed to “dialogos” as a learning medium. Our one-room schoolhouse was full of conversation, as many 19th century adult learning leaders knew the importance of peer conversation. It wasn’t until America moved to the…

  • More Bad News for K-12 Continued

    —

    by

    svb802
    in

    When it rains, it pours. We just spent the last two days lamenting over our country’s latest NAEP (the National Assessment of Educational Progress or The Nation’s Report Card). And now there’s more bad news. Today, EducationWeek released a story that addresses American opinions about the quality of public education in the United States. Kevin…