Accountability in Education Student outcomes involve far more than proficient standardized test scores, and accountability for outcomes is a shared burden that extends outside the school. Families, communities, businesses and policymakers- these parties and more are all stakeholders in student outcomes and need to meet the challenge of empowering learners in a collaborative way, with […]
The State of Education
Posted inUncategorized
A Teacher Requests Her Students Not To Be Tested
I have had the immense fortune of being able to be in front of children in many different capacities for 25 years. It truly humbles me to know that for 25 years, parents have trusted my professionalism, training, care, creativity, and judgment when it comes to their children. My experiences include both regular/general education, and […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, English Language Learners, Featured, From the Front Lines, Middle School, Principals' Corner, The State of Education
How Can We Build "Cultural Capital" With Our English Language Learners?
By Maria Montalvo-Balbed Often, principals or school leaders with whom I am working ask me to provide them with no more than three implementable strategies to make an ELL population successful. I wish it were that easy to name just three “things” to help students automatically develop great listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. As […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Series, The State of Education, Uncategorized
The State of Education: Funding Control Changes in California
Approximately 93 percent of education funding comes from the state or local level. As we are a federalist system where a state is responsible for the safety, morality, and health of its residents (known as “police powers”), education falls within a state’s reserved powers, and thus it is primarily a state responsibility to fund its educational […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum, Teacher Branding, The State of Education, Uncategorized
Teacher Branding 101: Teacher Brainwashing Has to Stop
“Well, I’m okay with struggling financially, I teach because I love my kids not to get rich.” “Well…I’d like to move to that job in Central Office, but I don’t know if I’m qualified.” “I don’t know if I could ask for what I wanted. They may not let me do that.” As educators, we’ve […]
Posted inCommon Core, Featured, From the Front Lines, School Improvement, The State of Education
Education, Circa 2038
Twenty-five years from now, I will be just shy of 65 years old. I should be retired by then. As I read recently about Amazon’s delivery drone idea and at the same time thought about the seeming inevitability of the Common Core State Standards and their associated tests (even, eventually, in my non-CCSS home state), […]
Posted inFrom the Front Lines, The State of Education
The State of Education: Montana
By Peggy Cordell Two state educational issues in Montana are receiving some attention these days. The first is an issue of equity in school funding. Our bicameral legislature has struggled to find a fair funding formula between large (urban) and small (rural) school districts. Through the years, legislative school funding measures have passed and lawsuits […]
Posted inCommon Core, Current Events in Education, From the Front Lines, The State of Education
The State of Education: State of Fear in Small-Town Tennessee
The area in which I teach can be viewed from the outside as your typical agricultural region: farms, tractors, cowboy boots, Southern accents, etc. Newcomers feel wary of the locals and of being treated like outcasts; meanwhile, locals feel wary of newcomers and of being treated like simpletons. Truth is, life is more complex than […]