Swimming becomes even more relevant when you read the alarming drowning statistics – particularly as these concern African Americans and Latin Americans… according to a recent CNN article highlighting water safety hero, Wanda Butts, only 60-70% of these minority kids can s
Below is a copy of my response; I encourage you to also read the reader’s comments posted, below. And join in! There’s no silver-bullet, and no one person has the answer. The fact that we are all to some degree educated makes this a valid situation for us all to get involv
*this announcement came from NAESP: ASSISTments is a free online platform that allows teachers to write and select questions, students get immediate and useful tutoring, and teachers receive instant reports to help inform their classroom instruction. Register for this seminar in Alexa
As we transition into the new year, I have faith in our ability to learn and grow to survive. So, with that, here’s the top 5 things in education that I am excited to see happen in 2012: 1. The successful execution of the new plan of the NEA Commission on Effective Teachers and
The book covers five countries: Shanghai (not a country, and that’s something to think about as you read), Finland, Japan, Singapore, and Canada. The accounts of these nations debunks several myths about education, including several excuses for America’s mediocre performan
We’ve been reading both of these education gurus for years, now, and they come from two very different perspectives. So, when they come together and agree on a few basic points, I think we all should take notice. Here is an excerpt of their article on “How to Rescue Educat
The three programs listed are: Teachers of Critical Languages Program (www.tclprogram.org) – To start or expand Arabic and Mandarin programs by placing exchange teachers at U.S. schools for a full year Educational Seminars (www.americancouncils.org/es) – To promote profess
And here is another one that I’ve been pondering for a while… it’s become vogue to highlight college acceptance rates and charter schools often market themselves as college prep programs, but does everyone need college? Or, can we make HS more rigorous and informed,
And here is another one that I’ve been pondering for a while… it’s become vogue to highlight college acceptance rates and charter schools often market themselves as college prep programs, but does everyone need college? Or, can we make HS more rigorous and informed,
Although I wouldn’t discourage faraway teachers from working in a certain community, I personally preferred the community-based approach. I wanted to connect. So, when my charter school was catering to the Shaw neighborhood, I lived walking distance. Later on, I moved to NE (Hechinger
While it may seem radical or heavy handed, having all kids apply to college is actually a GOOD thing, in my view. I used to work at a school that had very low numbers of kids taking the SAT’s/ACT’s and attending college. We implemented a course called, Senior Seminar, in p
Occupy the Classroom by Nicholas Kristof for the New York Times In this timely op-ed, Kristof discusses how taxing billionaires would do little to fundamentally change our society–if we want real change, he says, we need to invest in early childhood education. He also deftly dis
When I was a classroom teacher, I was a big proponent of compensating teachers based on performance. A bit later on, I remember having a subsequent conversation with a brilliant young software developer… While I was focused on raising the level of respect for teachers, he summed up th
You can read it for yourself, right here:http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/sat-reading-scores-drop-to-lowe… One of the key statements about this article, is that “The disappointing SAT scores come as schools have made major efforts to raise scores on state stan
There was a recent article that talks about standards, and how a teacher was asked to re-score an exam to help a student pass: “Richard Petkovsek, a social studies teacher there from 2001 to 2010, said in an interview that he faced growing pressure to pass students and was disgusted w