Tag: schools

We are still struggling with learning loss caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but this time the loss is infecting those kids who weren’t even in school when COVID appeared back in March of 2020. This past summer, The New York Times reported that, “The pandemic’s babies, toddlers and preschoolers are now school-age, and the impact…

When I worked in the traditional K-12 public school system, I constantly thought we didn’t ask enough of our young learners. We were content to have them sit passively at their desks, listening to us lecture on and one about things we knew about, and they didn’t. But what if they knew more about subject…

Education savings accounts are currently being used by mostly middle-class families who are interested in leaving our public school system and enrolling in available private schools. What education savings accounts should be used for is to help primarily lower class families to find learning options for their kids so that those youngsters no longer have…

Exploration is one of the best learning models available – for both young and old. Exploring usually begins with a question, and then pursuit toward answer for that question. Exploration almost always involves challenge and struggle, but with the right type of support and encouragement, most questions lead to answers which lead to learning. Last…

Elisa Villanueva Beard, CEO of Teach for America, wrote an interesting article for The 74 last week titled “Too Many Students Say School Just Isn’t Relevant. It’s Time to Listen to Them.” I’m no longer a big fan of Teach for America. Like most reform efforts, after making a big scene in their first 10…

As much as I want to get away from this story, I can’t. I promised my readers – No More Cell Phone Coverage for the Rest of the Year – but the story will never die. Now, it’s Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds making news in the Hawkeye State that she will propose a bill banning…

Many agree that America’s K-12 education system is stuck, unable to break out from the shackles that prevent too many kids from becoming strong readers, writers, and problem-solvers. But if we look at other countries around the world, their schools seem to be working better for their kids than ours. Why? Recently, Virgil Hammonds from…

I remember the day I was talking with one of my high schoolers in my office. I was the principal of an urban high school in Houston, Texas at the time. I was asking the kid how he was doing in one of his courses and he shared that he was going to do okay…