Category: Learnings

Vermont is struggling trying to figure out how to pay for their public school system. While the Green Mountain State isn’t the only state finding itself in financial straits, the Vermont’s commitment to pay top dollar to provide its kids a quality education has historically been above reproach – until now. Last month, Vermont Public’s…

For the longest time public schools in this country have held a near monopoly on who it is that gets to educate our children. But recently, primarily in Republican-led states, public funds have been applied to non-public learning organizations, like private schools. Recently, Mark Lieberman, a reporter for EducationWeek, provided an analysis of what we…

When I worked in the traditional K-12 public school world, we were constantly frustrated with our inability to do what we already know works. In other words, pay attention to research and then apply that research to classroom practice. We were never able to attain the organizational discipline to execute this goal. Very few traditional…

Over twenty years ago, UCLA’s John Wooden delivered a Ted Talk titled “The Difference Between Winning and Succeeding.” Nicknamed “the Wizard of Westwood” (the location of the UCLA campus), Wooden won ten NCAA basketball championships in a 12-year period, including a record seven in a row. Within this period, Wooden’s Bruin teams won an NCAA…

It seems like school districts across the country want to celebrate success, when what they should be doing is doubling down on working to improve reading, writing, and problem-solving skills in their students – especially those students who are black, brown, or poor. Yesterday we focused on the Houston Independent School District where approximately two-thirds…

Last week Houston voters defeated a school bond worth $4.4 billion. The bond would have financed rebuilding the district’s school and technology infrastructure. After nearly 6 out of 10 Houstonians voting in the school district’s bond election said no to the bond proposal, analysts pointed to the fact that the vote became more of a…

Traditional K-12 leaders aren’t the most visionary folks around these days. They’re still stuck in a box that thinks the school year should be August to May, the school day should be 8 to 3, and that kids need to come to places called school to learn. Some of us see learning opportunities all over…

We have a terrible habit when discussing our current K-12 system to recognize it’s dismal results overall, but then try to leave the readers with a glimmer of hope by focusing on schools and school districts that are anomalies to that failing outlook. Witness an opinion piece appearing in The Hechinger Report last month, written…

I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again: When you work in schools, you work in two worlds. One world is about getting young learners stronger and smarter in their reading, writing, problem-solving, and character development abilities. The other world is about rewarding adults, whether they be teachers, administrators, staff, parents, or vendors receiving…

My wife and I keep noticing there is one thing noticeably absent when we walk or drive past schoolyards or public parks – kids playing. Part of the problem with kids choosing not to play in their schoolyards or neighborhood parks is the fact that many of those places are run down and some are…