Ecology of Education

A graduate student seeking a degree in secondary math education has been studying research about the ways children learn and evidence-based methods developed to support those ways.  He enters his practicum site and teaches a lesson on the Pythagorean Theorem. The lesson consists of displaying a page from the textbook on the electronic whiteboard, lecturing […]

I am very happy to say that I spent my weekend occupying Wall Street.  During this time, I had the amazing opportunity to speak with people who  are not only angry, but hopeful. They are individuals who protest our  country’s economic policies not out of hatred, but out of love for our  country. They see […]

Below is an infographic illustrating what teachers feel is most important toward improving instruction. (Click on the image for a closer look.) Its data is telling to be sure. At a minimum it can serve to illustrate the gap between merit pay proponents and educators themselves. Perhaps we should look at this graph and wonder: […]

Even amid the heated debates & discourse, my inner Pollyanna still dream’s big. Here’s my blue sky, if I had my way: 1. United Teachers They become a force to be reckoned with. Politicians, news outlets, and policy makers take notice and make room at the table. They ask teachers questions like, “What can we […]

It came as quite a surprise for some when Florida was not listed among the winners of Race to the Top. What went wrong? A look at Senate Bill 6 & House Bill 7189, reveals Florida’s failure to collaborate.

(You can read Part 1 here) In such an integrated world, where the reverberations of problems and solutions ripple far beyond their localized sources, we must learn to think in terms of systems (called systems thinking), to see beyond compartmentalized events, and work with others from diverse backgrounds and cultures toward common goals. That’s a […]

I marvel at my phone.  It surfs the internet, finds my e-mail, lets me twitter, takes calls, and gets along well with my computer.  It’s a calendar, a stopwatch, a newspaper, and a means of distracting my daughter when she needs distracting.  It’s the height of integration (for now).  So many systems amalgamated. So many […]

Let’s take a moment to flip through some snapshots from our Educational Landscape Photo Album: Here’s Achievement Gap on a culinary tour of Urban Areas, circa 2009.  Bigger than ever and looking healthy. Take a look at High Stakes Test — that trickster keeps giving our schools bunny ears. How cute! In this one the […]

The involvement of parents and families in schools is often cited as one of the most important ways to improve education. High levels of parental involvement correlate with: improved academic performance higher test scores more positive attitudes toward school higher homework completion rates fewer placements in special education academic perseverance lower dropout rates fewer suspensions” […]

In his article, Creme de la Career (titled “With Finance Disgraced, Which Career Will Be King” on-line), Steve Lohr of the New York Times suggests that “the financial crisis and the economic downturn are likely to alter drastically the career paths of future years.” This trend proved true during both the Depression and “cold war […]

This week, while walking around the hallways and classrooms of my school, I found myself acutely aware of all of the different noises that take place on a daily basis. There were the typical facility-related sounds, such as bells signifying the change of classes and doors opening and closing. I heard phones ringing, papers rustling […]

Recently, on the Harvard Business Publishing website, The Big Shift team (John Hagel III, John Seely Brown, and Lang Davison) posted an article titled, Introducing the Collaborative Curve. They tell the story of how a fax machine, by itself, is pretty worthless.  However it becomes increasingly more valuable as more fax machines are added to […]