Category: Learnings

Schools are starting to fight back as the Trump administration continues its immigration enforcement throughout the country. Last week, EducationWeek reporters posted the following: “A sudden rise in absences. Elementary-aged students asking questions about immigration enforcement. A school principal publicly calling for, and later celebrating, the return of a local mother and three students detained…

Recently Linda McMahon, the new U.S. Secretary of Education, was interviewed by The 74 during the ASU+GSV conference in San Diego. Here are excerpts from that interview with The 74’s Greg Toppo: “The 74: In order to dismantle the department, you have to convince seven Democrats in the Senate to get this done. What’s the…

Steubenville, Ohio has long been recognized as one of the best K-12 systems in America. The reason? Steubenville’s ability to teach their children to read – all children. Earlier this month The 74 (authored by Chad Aldeman) reported that, “There’s no more fundamental task for a school that teaching kids to read.” “But what about…

I woke up this morning hearing this story from NPR’s Morning Edition: Leila Fadel: “Three children who don’t have legal status in the U.S. are expected back in school this week in Sackets Harbor, New York. The kids and their mom were detained during a raid last month on a dairy farm. As NPR’s Brian…

Grading in traditional schools is so random. One teacher gives “zeros” for incomplete work. Another teacher doesn’t believe in “zeros,” so they give their students additional time to complete assignments. Still another teacher gives extra credit if students bring toilet paper to her since the school toilet paper is too rough for her liking. Recently,…

Last week Chad Aldeman, a reporter for The 74, posted an article titled “12 Truths and No Lies: Guiding Principles for the Future of American Education.” With some opinions added by ABPTL, here’s Part 2 of Aldeman’s article (Part 1 appeared last Thursday): 7.           Public education can take many forms. The current system of delivering…

Last week Chad Aldeman, a reporter for The 74, posted an article titled “12 Truths and No Lies: Guiding Principles for the Future of American Education.” With some opinions added by ABPTL, here’s Part 1 of Aldeman’s article (Part 2 will appear Monday): “It’s a bleak time in education policy.” “Student achievement started falling about…

I’m trying to remember when “diversity” became a dirty word in this country. Sure, there have always been folks who didn’t like sharing the world with others who looked different from them, but I always thought they were going to lose out in the end. Because the future depends on a world that works together…

Traditional schools have it all wrong. They believe that time should be the constant and the amount of learning should be variable. Instead, they should turn that around. Learning should be the constant and time should be variable. Witness the school day that begins at 7:55 A.M. and ends at 3:10 P.M. – everyday. Witness…

Rod Paige, U.S. Secretary of Education under President George W. Bush and the Houston general superintendent who hired me to be a middle school principal, once told me that there was only one public education governance body that hadn’t felt any type of reform pressure over the past 50 years – and that was the…