I am not anti-Charter Schools in the least, and I do not want anyone who reads this article to think such. My point here is to explain how the system is going to be altered over the next several years as states are cutting school funding throughout the country. We are about to enter the [...]

In a previous post, I spent some time discussing “Misconceptions of Cooperative Learning” where I talked about the need for assignments to actually show some type of cooperation. In other words, rather than just throwing a name on something, I would advocate that we actually instill the practice and teach our kids to work together. [...]

I’m starting to believe that there is no such thing as “large-scale” education reform unless the government steps in and mandates it. Quite frankly, I don’t think large scale reform should exist anyway (especially by bureaucrats). Right now, the educational world has thousands of people who all have the answers to the question of what [...]

I bought a brand new car yesterday (Prius), and in “Aaron Eyler” fashion, I sat there arguing the price for a good three-four hours (as I am sure everyone does). When all was said and done, I was at the dealership from 3:30-8:45, but left with a brand new car that was well within my [...]

I want to start the conversation off with a question: if we are working diligently to create lifelong learners, does an emphasis on exclusive teacher accountability denigrate the efforts of the system to cultivate this trait in kids? By the way, I am NOT talking exclusively about standardized testing. In my mind, I am ALWAYS [...]

A lot of politicians and business elitists seem to think that there is some severe crisis in American education as a result of scores on international tests like the NAEP and the TIMMS. There are a number of reasons why we should be wary of this kind of assertion in doing a statistical analysis, but [...]

This week, several states announced their desire to pilot a program that would allow students to graduate high school early and immediately enroll in community college. These states should be applauded for taking steps in the right direction to customize education for all students. Note the fact that they are NOT pushing students out of [...]

In another post I wrote about how assignment structure is detrimental to teaching kids “how” to think and how we are creating a generation of students that are incapable of completing a task without an assignment sheet, rubric, models, or constant guidance. I think it is important we take that one step further and investigate [...]

In reading Seth Godin’s book Linchpin, I can’t help but marvel at the role that education has played in developing workers as interchangeable parts. The fact is that the “factory system” of education WAS very well-suited in preparing people for jobs throughout the 1900s-1980s or so. Regardless of how you feel about its effect today, this method of education [...]

One of the problems with the development of project and problem-based learning is that students are given too much structure in how to complete these types of activities. It is amusing to me how we talk about how much we care about student success and preparing them for the future, but we also provide them [...]