Tag: parents
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Big Rocks!
I spent all my professional career teaching and leading schools in Texas. When I first arrived to the Lone Star State in 1984 the public school system had a state curriculum known as “Essential Elements”. Later, the “Essential Elements” turned into the “Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills”, or “TEKS”. A big problem with the “Essential…
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The Art of Questioning
I’m a big fan of feedback. And, let’s get one thing clear – standardized tests should no longer be considered effective forms of feedback, as we’ve come to use them over the years, if they ever were. Feedback is best used as a learning tool when it’s specific, personal, and inquiry-based. Today, we focus on…
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Friday News Roundup
Here’s your Friday News Roundup Schools Face ‘Urgency Gap’ on Pandemic Recovery: 5 Takeaways from New Study (The 74) The 74 reported this week that “New research on post-pandemic student achievement presents a sobering picture, offering a reality check for anyone who might think recovery is proceeding apace.” “The study, from CALDER at the American…
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Defenders of a Broken System Aren’t Helping
This week seems to be the week when I’ve been critical of those who continue to defend a broken public school system, hoping to fix it while some make money from it. We covered Rudy Crew and Pedro Noguera and their attempt to leave no child behind by emphasizing reduced class sizes, extended instructional days,…
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Beware of the Defenders
In Monday’s column I wrote about Rudy Crew and Pedro Noguera’s recent article titled “What It Really Takes to Leave No Child Behind.” In the article, Crew and Noguera encourage the traditional public school system to change their ways so that all kids inside their system can receive an excellent education. Crew and Noguera use…
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$250 Billion of Action Research
According to U.S. Department of Education statistics, over 2.5 million students currently attend low performing public schools across the nation. I’ve been in my share of low performing schools. Most of them aren’t nice places to be. Toxic in fact. Some raise moral and ethical questions about why we continue to expect black, brown, and…
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It’s Time for a Change
Last week, Rudy Crew and Pedro Noguera published an article titled “What It Takes to Truly Leave No Child Behind” in the ASCD Newsletter. Rudy Crew is a professor at the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California and previously served as the Chancellor of New York City Schools from 1995-2000. Pedro…
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Friday News Roundup
It’s Friday. Time for the Roundup. News usually slows between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but here are a few stories that caught my attention. The 3 Teachers on the NAEP Panel Say It’s Time to Act on Drops in Scores (EducationWeek) Three teachers currently sit on the National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees and sets policy…
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How to Provide Better Feedback
When it comes to learning, providing quality feedback to the learner is most important. That feedback should focus on tasks important to the learning cycle – definition, planning, execution, and evaluation. But as important as feedback is to the learning process, many adult learning leaders struggle with providing specifics about how the young learner can…
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Is It Time to Give Up on School Integration?
Monday’s article focused on African-American families becoming more and more interested in forming their own learning pods and microschools post-pandemic. Yesterday we explored an article written by Kenneth B. Clark, a psychologist, professor, and social activist, writing about alternative school options as a solution to segregated schools in the late 1960’s. Today, an article in…
A Better Path to Learning 