How much should children help each other learn? Peer tutoring, or peer-assisted learning, is trendy. Search the literature and it’s all over the place, although much of the research involves peer tutoring in higher education. When does peer tutoring cross the line? How much tutoring should a child do, or get? Is the tutee (child […]
Teaching and Purpose: A Response to Bill Gates and his Purpose Problem
I recently ran across Bill Gates’s blog. He was reviewing Yuval Noah Harari’s book Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow. The title of his post was, “The Purpose Problem: What if People Run Out of Things to Do?” Gates ironically reflects on what it means to have purpose in one’s life. I say ironically, […]
Betsy DeVos Speaks About Special Education!
While parents wonder what will happen to their children with disabilities and their schooling due to the possibility of cuts to Medicaid, we’ve wondered, where’s Betsy? As families try to make sense of the information provided online by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, it would be nice to see DeVos speak out in support […]
Will Medicaid Cuts Mean the Death of Special Education?
The new American Health Care Act (AHCA) will be a disaster for children with special needs. The GOP still doesn’t discuss what those cuts will mean to children with disabilities, even though they appear to be praying awfully hard. Back in May, in a PBS report with Judy Woodruff, correspondent William Brangham told us that […]
Why Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Graduation Plan Is “Cruel”
Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt By now most have heard about Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Graduation Plan to make students describe what they will do after school in order to get […]
Dallas Dance: Dancing Into School Districts with Digital Devices
Resigned BCPS Superintendent Dallas Dance Takes Consulting Jobs By Joanne C. Simpson Dallas Dance could be coming to a school district near you. For a visit anyway. Dance’s new role after leaving his $287,000 annual superintendent job at Baltimore County Public Schools after June 30–at least two national consulting gigs. Both companies, MGT Consulting Group […]
Public Schools and Freedom: A New Threat as We Celebrate This 4th of July
I wish to dedicate this post to the woman I’m calling America’s librarian, Joan Kramer, who lost her battle with cancer last week. Joan fought for children, their libraries, and their schools, bolstering us with her strong but kind ways. I felt it was important to acknowledge her this 4th of July. A hero and […]
Florida Business Leaders Can’t Enjoy Luncheon Due to Dismal Reading Scores
Florida business leaders got together for lunch and the mood was somber. They were sad because children in Manatee and Bradenton are not reading well. And they’re right. In Sarasota, 29 percent of third graders aren’t reading at grade level. In Manatee, it’s 50 percent. Between both counties, 40 percent of third graders are having […]
Personalized Learning Is NOT Inclusion!
One is the loneliest number that you will ever do…. ~Three Dog Night Personalized learning must not be mistaken for inclusion. The reality is that it’s student isolation! Inclusion is generally defined as the action or state of including or of being included within a group or structure. Doing schoolwork on a digital device by […]
How School Data Fails to Tell Us What’s Important
Teachers look for solutions. That’s what we do. But data collection often fails when it comes to solutions. You can collect all the information in the world, but if you don’t know how to use it, or it can’t be translated into something meaningful, the information is worthless. That’s how I feel about yesterday’s article […]