In the schools I’ve visited over the past 18 years, I’ve heard several administrators say that if the children are happy, the parents are happy.  If the parents are happy, the teachers are happy.  If the teachers are happy, the administrators are happy.  Put them all together and it creates an environment conducive to learning…

Everyone working the field of education today has heard the arguments for and against the Common Core Curriculum as well as the benefits and drawbacks of increased standardized testing. I’m sure that anyone graduating from college with their degree in education has undoubtedly done some type of research on Common Core Curriculum (an idea that…

You may have heard of the 3 “V”s of Big Data. What’s Big Data?  It’s the voluminous amount of information that is being mined by corporations by various means (like Internet searches, surveys and preference settings) for a variety of purposes (like targeted marketing, new product development and predictive analytics). Its now the storehouse of…

When pursuing a course of study which leads to a “Master” degree, both the thesis and the practicum pathways usually involve a review of the research regarding the thesis statement.  While reviewing some of the Internet resources available regarding the implementation of publicly funded compulsory education in this country, it’s interesting to see the articles…

If you dangle a string just out of reach of a cat’s paw, the cat will do whatever it can to get it.  If it’s taken away from him and dangled again, he will continue to pounce on it, jump for it and even try to gnaw at it.  But if the cat maintains hold…

One of my favorite movies is The Usual Suspects.  Certainly not because of the violence in the film, but because of the twist that I didn’t see coming the first time I saw it.  One of the gleanings I took away from that experience (since everything you experience is a learning experience whether you think…

About 30 or so years ago, there was a crisis in education: a shortage of science and math teachers in our nation.  As a young father at the time, working as a program director for an NPR affiliate station, it resonated with me.  A couple of years before that, I left my position as a…

During the first 3 weeks of August, articles from other sources will be featured to help to form the mindsets necessary to embrace the changes occurring in education. The first article comes from Thrive Global (www.thriveglobal.com) and speaks to the two mental shifts that are necessary every highly successful person makes:  https://community.thriveglobal.com/the-2-mental-shifts-highly-successful-people-make/    I would…

Poet John Keats was born on Halloween (before it was Halloween) in 1795 and died February 23, 1821 at the age of 25.   This young man penned some of the most beloved works of those who study literature, including “A Thing of Beauty (Endymion)” which starts with the famous line, “A thing of beauty…

“Teacher quality and engagement matters more to student achievement than any other aspect of a school.” This insight was published by Rand Education (Rand.org/education/projects/measuring-teacher-effectiveness/teachers-matter.html), and quoted by: Scott Barron on SchoolGrowth.com The Center for Public Education’s statement on teacher quality and student achievement; A text published by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)…