Category: Learnings

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…

We love anecdotes. Public school advocates especially like anecdotes, especially those that explain away the problems our current educational system faces. Recently, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) won a court case allowing it to replace the school board and superintendent in Houston. Mike Morath, the Texas education commissioner, gave an interview to a local Houston…

I saw recently that the ASU/GSV Summit, a conference for educators along with ed tech folks, is going to award Wendy Kopp their Lifetime Achievement Award this coming April. As many of you are aware, Ms. Kopp started Teach for America, an organization which invites recent college graduates to sign on to a two-year hitch…

I receive thousands of advertisements every year, promising to have the solution to everything that ails our traditional public school system. Like this one: “Hello Scott, We’ve leveraged the process of innovation in a stimulating, multi-disciplinary course that promotes the real-world skills of creativity, problem-solving, and entrepreneurship. The course engages students at all levels for…

I recently read an interesting piece posted by Will Richardson from the BIG Questions Institute. Richardson writes, “As much as the systems and structures of school seem to be intractable, let’s remember one thing: All of what we do is a choice.” “We don’t have to give grades. Lots of schools don’t. We choose to…

I recently listened to a podcast when Ezra Klein interviewed Rick Rubin, the famous recording producer. In the introduction, Klein says this about Rubin: “Reading Rick Rubin’s production discography is like taking a tour through the commanding heights of American music over the past few decades. Jay-Z. Run-DMC. Beastie Boys. Slayer. The Red Hot Chili…

When it comes to building athletic and performing arts teams, traditional schools invest time and energy to make these teams highly effective. When it comes to building academic teams within traditional schools? Well, not so much. I recently read with interest an article that appeared in Fast Company earlier this year titled “How Building Teams…

It’s always been perplexing to me why traditional educators have always equated learning space with places called schools. It’s like the traditionalists can’t recognize that learning is happening anytime and anywhere – not just 8 AM to 4 PM, August thru May. Earlier this month, I read with interest an interview published by Education Reimagined.…