Angela Duckworth graces the Costco Connection this month talking about the character grit that she says made her who she is today. She wants America to teach children to have grit too, so they will be successful. She has a Grit Scale. HERE. And she runs a character lab. Her grit goals for children include […]
School Safety: Include Teacher and Student Support!
What’s being done to improve school safety? There’s much discussion about school violence and “core values,” and dealing with horrific events once they occur. Suggested solutions are often controversial. Reducing class size isn’t mentioned. Yet how teachers carry out school safety training would seem to be contingent on manageable class sizes. By supporting teachers as […]
What Have DeVos, Trump, Congress, and the Wealthy Oligarchs Done to Improve School Safety?
Children are entrusted to us. Students rely on parents and adults in the community to keep them safe. That’s still the case as children grow into teens and beyond. There have been 288 school shootings since 2009. That’s 57 times any other industrialized country. Some question how many shootings actually take place as in this recent […]
Demand that Kindergarten Be a Happy Time and Place: A “Garden for Children!”
Welcome to kindergarten! This is the year children are introduced to school. It should be a happy time and place so children will move forward enjoying school. A few years back we learned through a University of Virginia study that kindergarten was the new first grade. Five-year-old children face unjustifiable, draconian reforms that push them […]
Response to Intervention’s Role in the Texas Special Education Scandal: What are Other States Doing?
Whenever we read or hear about special education in public schools, it is important to remember, that since the beginning of Public Law 94-142 (IDEA) in 1975, many policymakers have resisted funding services for students who learn differently. The bill was so unpopular that President Gerald Ford refused to have a Rose Garden signing. Since that […]
My Blogging Anniversary: How Has School Reform Changed in Five Years?
I recently passed the five-year anniversary of when I started writing my blog. What has changed? In this post, I analyze some of the issues I’ve written about over the years. Then, I thank you for your support. Change or lack of change in education can seem dark and foreboding, but there’s a great deal […]
Teachers, Hold On to Your Desks! YOU Make Instruction Work!
Teachers, hold on to your desks! Your classroom footprint matters! It’s always a thrill this time of year to see teachers on social media showing off their classrooms. Not only are teachers proud of their workspace, they understand that the ambience in those rooms is critical to how students feel about learning and school. Teachers often dip […]
Who Arne Duncan is Today Speaks To His Past Role as Education Secretary
Former Education Secretary Arne Duncan recently stepped away from his ventures to discuss his new book How Schools Work: An Inside Account of Failure and Success from One of the Nation’s Longest Serving Secretaries of Education. Few teachers were impressed with Duncan in this role. He never worked in a school. He’d never been a […]
What School Safety Reports Ignore: Reducing Class Size
Over the summer we have seen a glut of school safety reports. Local, state, and federal agencies have written possible solutions they think will thwart future school violence. Some suggestions might be well-advised, but others have created concerns about questionable student surveillance. It’s difficult to believe any solutions will be successful if no one addresses class […]
Toddlers & Preschool Testing? Don’t Steal the Joy of Reading!
A child three years old is still a toddler. What demands, if any, should be placed on a child this young when it comes to learning to read? Will it harm their chances of enjoying reading in the future? This is what we should ask when it comes to the new PELI testing. The same […]