I am a huge fan of reading Daniel Pink‘s work as well as thinkers like Seth Godin, Malcolm Gladwell, Thomas Friedman, and all of the others. I don’t dismiss their ideas, points, and theories, but I don’t use them for anything more than starting points for deeper thinking. What concerns me is that every time [...]

Class size discussions fascinate me especially when we start talking about making students “independent learners” and when we want to expand learning “beyond the walls of the classroom” by introducing technology and, especially, social media tools. It even fascinates me so much that I wrote a post in early January talking about “How Class Sizes [...]

The letter below was sent to the New Jersey Star Ledger on Friday, March, 19th, 2010 at 5:42 P.M. They have not published it, and I am assuming at this point that they won’t. Even though it is framed to specifically discuss New Jersey, the topic and my points in this article can be attributed [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

There are some things that kids can only experience in high school, and it is important we afford these experiences to students as an option regardless of the small percentage that we believe it actually effects. Those of you that follow me regularly are aware that I am a big advocate for high schools that [...]

I am currently reading The Dumbest Generation by Mark Bauerlein and, even though I find him to have faulty research (like using NAEP scores) and that he overstates his point (which means he knows no one is listening), I still consider where he is coming from. His second chapter discusses bibliophiles and the diminishing value of [...]