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)…

In 2001, Pennsylvania enacted a masterful piece of legislation to allow funding to assist the children of qualifying families to attend faith-based or private schools.  Rather than a “voucher” system, which directs funds collected from the State government to schools willing to accept the amount as payment in full for the child to attend a…

Several years ago, a disturbing trend began to happen in education – teachers were leaving the field. Not the teachers that had reached retirement age, or who were offered early retirement packages, but young teachers, who were those enticed to enter the field because of the market. A little earlier in time, the media shed…

Some people believe that tax credits and vouchers are the same thing when it comes to new ways of funding education. They’re not. While they both have an effect on the State’s budget, the source and processes regarding those funds are completely different.  With vouchers, state monies go directly to benefit families who would qualify…

To be clear, this doesn’t mean that there should be prayer in public schools.  Actually, if the local community wants prayer to be present “in” the public school, it should be allowed…but that’s another topic for another article. Regardless of if prayer is or isn’t permitted in the school, the school and its students should…

One of my earliest childhood memories was snuggling up to my mom on the couch on Sunday mornings.  She would read the comics to me.  It didn’t matter that I may not have understood the humor the cartoonist was presenting, because mom would explain what was going on in the pictures.  I still remember bringing…

You may think the title of this article has the word “teaching” spelled incorrectly.  That assumption would be incorrect.  “Teching” was a termed coined in the early video game era, but some folks started to use it regarding the increasing utilization of technology. Today, most children “tech” for enjoyment…alright, young adults do too, as evidenced…

When I was a teacher, all ten of us – one teacher for each home room (K-8), and yours truly who taught 7th and 8th grade science and health, 8th grade algebra, and instrumental music – had recess duty once a week every other week. Kids played. It was not structured. It was not attuned…

Recently, I met a gentleman who told me he played in a band for 19 years, and made 3 records. He loves music, and is grateful to his dad for “making” him learn a musical instrument – even though when he was young, he hated it…especially when his friends were outside playing baseball and street…