A Better Path to Learning

Tag: students

  • Debating with a Traditionalist

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    A dear friend just retired from a central office position in a traditional suburban school district. He used to buy me beers at happy hour during my first year of teaching in Houston, Texas because I didn’t have money to pay for my own. We watched each other get promoted inside our Houston district, with…

  • Learning Like Picasso

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    I just returned from Spain. While there I visited the Picasso Museum in Barcelona for a second time. I’m glad I returned since there is too much to capture on just one trip. Picasso was born in Spain in 1881. Throughout his long career as an artist, he created more than 20,000 paintings, drawings, sculptures,…

  • Friday News Roundup…

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    It’s Friday! Time for the news roundup! ‘We Beg You. Do Something’: Principals Who Lived Through Shootings Plead for Action (EdWeek) “Current and former principals who experienced shootings in their school have issued a plea to lawmakers at all levels of government to “Do something. Do anything” to keep “our educators and our kids from…

  • Public Schooling Over Public Schools

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    Lots of folks think I no longer appreciate public schools. That might be true. Public schools, at scale, are mediocre at best. Public schools have produced flat line National Assessment of Educational Progress (the nation’s report card) results over the past 40 years. Out nation’s public schools have been rated a “C” by EdWeek, a…

  • Weavers to the Rescue?

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    I came across an interesting new movement recently. It’s called Weave: The Social Fabric Project and it was started by New York Times columnist David Brooks and the Aspen Institute in 2018. The project seeks to mend the broken social trust that has left Americans divided along many lines. Over the past four years, the…

  • Necessity is the Mother of Invention or 5 Ways Traditional Schools Can Try to Improve

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    Somewhere along the way I saw a sign stating: “Necessity is the Mother of Invention.” Few schools follow this type of advice. Instead, most campuses double down on tried and not so true strategies like improved teaching, better principals, stronger curriculum, high stakes testing, and the list goes on and on. The traditional school system…

  • Friday News Roundup…

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    It’s Friday! Time for the news roundup. Oakland’s New Opportunity Ticket Gives Students in Failing Schools a Shot at Attending Its Most Sought-After Ones (The 74) I mentioned this lottery program in yesterday’s column. This past March, the Oakland (CA) Unified School District board approved a plan to offer spots to some of their most…

  • Schools Are Inequitable and That Can’t Be Fixed

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    Lately I’ve heard a lot from traditional school districts that this coming year they are really going to work on the equity issue inside most, if not all, schools. School leaders realize black, brown, and poor kids are getting the short end of the stick and now they have decided they are going to do…

  • Kids Can’t Be in Places Called School Any Longer

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    I’m back from Spain, and I wish I was coming back to a better America. This morning I listened to a mother describe how her daughter survived the horrible Uvalde, Texas school shooting this week. According to the mom, her daughter curled up in a ball and felt like she was having a heart attack.…

  • Friday News Roundup…

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    It’s Friday the 13th. Time for the news roundup. Fuller: Biden’s New Charter School Rules Are an Assault on the Right of Families of Color to Choose the Best Education for Their Children (The 74) I don’t know Howard Fuller well, but I’ve always respected his opinions when it comes to public education and why…