What did we learn from the confrontation between school personnel and a non-compliant student at Spring Valley High School (South Carolina)? You may remember the CNN, Google News and tabloid coverage of this story; it was their headline for a … Continue reading
Managing Your School’s DEFCOM Events
Not Reading This Summer? You Will Start School In September With Less Than You Left It in June
When my grandsons told me not to give them more books as summer gifts, I knew they were heading into the long, eroding slide of a non-reading summer. “We have enough books, Gramps”, they said, and “School is over and … Continue reading
In Education, Everything Is Politics
What should one do when “the Great Hub Bub” seems so overwhelming and no one appears capable or willing to listen to those who yell “Stop! What are we doing! This makes no sense!”? The conundrum of public education in … Continue reading
The Big Picture Is Needed For A Better Future
Who sees the Big Picture for your school? The Big picture. You remember what that is. Generally, the Big Picture is the school’s Mission Statement. It is the collage of high ground learning outcomes that your school wants all children … Continue reading
Close Achievement Gaps Before They Gape
What does it take to cause all children to achieve grade level reading proficiency? “Whatever it takes” is the correct and only answer. The problem is that public education has not done a satisfactory job of causing all children to … Continue reading
The Key To “What If” Is “Whatever It Takes”
What if? We all ponder our “what ifs”, those long shot wishes that it would be great to realize, yet we know that long shots are more wish than possibility. Half of pondering is considering “what it would take” to … Continue reading
Stop Being Too Little and Too Late
“Closing the barn door after the horse has bolted,” was a favorite idiom of years gone by to tell someone that they are making a large to do after the fact. Some might have added “Too little, too late!” Each … Continue reading
Mandates to Close Achievement Gaps May Show Gap in Reasoning
It’s like a math story problem that plagues every sixth grader. “If Student A’s achievement at the end of third grade is more than a full school year ahead of Student B’s achievement and Student B’s learning is expanding by … Continue reading
Teach Children What “Done” Means
After 30 minutes of practice at her piano my granddaughter asks, “Can I be done?” After ten minutes with a reading assignment I hear the same question, “Can I be done?” Later, when she is completing her math homework I … Continue reading
The Era of Struggling Productively
Children forever hear slogans and sayings about the virtue of hard work and perseverance. These are just three. “It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” Babe Ruth “The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are, first, … Continue reading