The Public School Insights Blog
Yesterday I had the extremely good fortune to be in the audience for President Obama’s remarks on education. It was my first time being so close to a President, an experience that was much more exciting than I expected it to be. Of course, it helped that this President is extremely charismatic. And when he bounded off stage to start shaking hands with the students and others in the audience, his enthusiasm was catching, regardless of whether you agreed with his policy positions or not. Though to be honest, I did agree with many of the points he made in this speech.
For example, the President pointed out (as Secretary of Education Arne Duncan did last week) that more than 80% of public schools could be labeled as failing for not meeting their goals under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) this year. But we (the broad we – the public, politicians and education community alike) know that 80% of schools aren’t failing. And when you look at which schools would be labeled as ...
The theme of the March issue of Principal Leadership, the publication from NASSP, is “Seeing the Future…” and features thoughtful articles by Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana, Richard Rothstein, Diane Ravitch, and George H. Wood. Each article explores the complexity of the issues facing public education today and going forward and explicates the simplistic approaches currently in vogue to “fix” schools. In his look at “The Future of Public Education” George H. Wood captures both hope and despair for the institution of public schooling. The despair is the short term view with subsequent hope for long term change.
Wood’s despair, shared by many of us who have spent our careers working in public education, is around the current rhetoric and policy initiatives labeled as “reform” that redirect funds toward programs that fail to address the core problem and result in the scapegoating of professionals in the field. While acknowledging that many institutions of teacher preparation are dropping the ball when it comes to turning out the teachers that schools need, what is now being touted as an innovative approach is teachers who come through “quickie” certification programs and who focus on drilling kids to succeed on tests. Also, the notion that new teachers who come through alternate certification programs are somehow more capable of working with students in ...
Earlier this week the MetLife Foundation released the first of two reports from its 27th annual Survey of the American Teacher. The survey, which in addition to middle and high school teachers included student, parent and business executive (aka potential employer) respondents, examines “the importance of being college- and career-ready, what the preparation includes and what it may take to get there.”
Postsecondary education is being seen as a necessity - both executives (77%) and students (84%) strongy agree that there will be few or no career opportunities for students who do have some education beyond high school. And not surprisingly, there is broad agreement among stakeholders that all students should graduate high school ready for college and a career. There were, though, differences in how high a priority this should be – less than half of executives think it must be done, compared to 73% of parents.
What I found particularly interesting - and what I think could have important policy implications for schools, districts, states and the federal government - were the areas of consensus, and divergence, in what being college- and career- ready means.
Teachers, parents, students and executives all overwhelmingly agree that problem solving skills, critical thinking skills, the ability to write clearly and ...
Today, President Obama, the Department of Education, and the Department of Health and Human Services are hosting a Conference on Bullying Prevention. The conference will have student, parent, and teacher attendees, and it will discuss bullying in communities across the country.
Bullying is clearly a major problem in many schools and districts, and LFA members have a sizable collection of helpful materials explaining various issues pertinent to bullying, providing instruction on identifying and dealing with bullying, and considering other issues like bully legislation and bullying implications on school violence.
Below is a sample of some of these materials:
For an overview on bullying:
- National Education Association’s (NEA) Bully Free: It Starts With Me Campaign (with links to articles and tips)
- National Parent Teacher Association's (PTA) Connect for Respect initiative (with links to articles and tips)
- American Association of School Administrators' (AASA) Special Edition on Bullying at School and Online initiative (with
...
According to the National Endowment for the Arts and data from Chorus America, choral singing is the most popular form of participation in the performing arts; however, opportunities to participate in a school choir are declining. The arts are getting slashed from many schools as we become myopically focused on reading and math in this budget-crunched time.
To help schools avoid this fate for programs in their communities, earlier this week, Chorus America released a free advocacy guide schools can use in making a case for choral arts programs. From a pragmatic standpoint, as the American economy increasingly becomes more service-oriented, and creativity-driven, it makes sense to emphasize the arts in schools. From a motivating standpoint, courses and programs that actively engage students and offer some bonafide entertainment make school a lot more pleasurable for students, and provide them with something to look forward to. A Chorus Impact Study reported that 90% of educators believe choral singing can keep some students engaged in school who might otherwise lose interest and/or drop out.
Arts integration in schools is not a pie in the sky dream: arts used to be a much bigger focus in American schools. Dana Gioia, former Chairman of ...
Edweek recently featured a story on two cases coming before the Supreme Court next 
month that deal with proper protocols of police and school officials in questioning students. School officials are concerned that the court’s decision could put them in an untenable gatekeeping position between police and students. Thus, the National School Boards Association—an LFA member—has filed a court brief outlining concerns with the issues the case brings up that implicate administrators.
The first case—Camreta v. Greene—deals with an incident in 2003 when a state child protective services caseworker and a deputy sheriff in Oregon interviewed a 9-year-old girl at school about suspected sexual abuse by her father. The mother claims that after denying abuse for two hours the girl finally told investigators what they wanted to hear (though charges against the father were later dismissed), and that the interrogation violated the girl’s Fourth Amendment right to freedom from unreasonable seizure. A lower court ruled in favor of ...
Editor's note: Our guest blogger today is Earl C. Rickman III, president of the National School Boards Association (an LFA member) and president of the Board of Education of Mount Clemens Community School District in Michigan.
The recent Conference on Labor-Management Collaboration in Denver showed that when school boards, administrators, and teachers work as a team to improve student achievement, we can greatly strengthen the quality of education we provide to our students and our communities.
I was part of the 12-person delegation of school board leaders from NSBA and state school boards associations participating in the event. I was proud to also represent Michigan’s Mount Clemens Community School District Board of Education, where I serve as board president. My school district was one of the 150 school districts from across the country that participated in the conference.
This first-of-its-kind conference, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, brought national and local school leaders to hear from other superintendents, school boards, and teacher leaders who are working together to redefine the labor-management relationship in their communities, and it highlighted the successes some districts have achieved and ...
Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!
On March 2, 1904, Theodor Seuss Geisel was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. He would become an accomplished writer and illustrator, publishing articles in popular periodicals such as The Saturday Evening Post, Life and Vanity Fair. He gained a national reputation in advertising. During the World War II era, he first drew political cartoons for a left-leaning publication and then posters for the Treasury Department and the War Production Board. With his first wife, he wrote Design for Death, a study of Japanese culture that won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1947.
But Geisel is best known for his children’s books, penned under the pseudonym “Dr. Seuss.” His first children’s book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, was published in 1937. His last, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, was published in 1990, just a year before his death.
The most famous of his books is (arguably) The Cat in the Hat, published in 1957. I am sure you are familiar with the story. But you may not know just how it came about.
Back in 1954, Life magazine published an article entitled "Why Do Students Bog Down on First R? A Local Committee Sheds Light on a National Problem: Reading." That article was quite critical of ...
Technology has redefined how we work, play and communicate at work and at home. For those of us involved in advocating for technology’s appropriate role and substantial impact on public K-12 schooling, the redefinition has been slower than we would have liked. The Learning First Alliance (LFA) hopes to accelerate more widespread understanding and implementation of technology for both instruction and information management by expanding our coalition to include, effective March 1, 2011, the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). ISTE represents more than 20,000 educators, 80 affiliate member groups, 89 countries, and 65 education technology corporations in their efforts to advance excellence in learning and teaching through innovative and effective uses of technology.
ISTE’s value system aligns nicely with LFA goals and objectives and includes the belief that:
- strategic partnerships and collaboration are essential to realizing a shared vision for education excellence
- organizational excellence focuses on innovation, transparency, and fiscal responsibility
- power resides in a diverse and inclusive global community of members who learn, teach, and lead to advance the field
- global connections and partnerships advance educational excellence, teaching, and leadership for all stakeholders
For too long K-12 education leaders have communicated within silos of ...
On Monday, Slate featured an excellent article by Richard Kahlenberg that focused on the 
problems with Michelle Rhee’s credo and his dismay at the continued media endorsement of her efforts. In critiquing Rhee, the article also provides cogent arguments dealing with anti-union fervor (a timely topic in light of current events in states like Wisconsin, Indiana, and Ohio) and how this can serve to push into the background the singly most problematic element the education industry deals with: disadvantaged prospects and likelihood for achievement among students, stemming from race and income inequalities
While Kahlenberg acknowledges that Rhee made some significant improvements to DC public schools—such as ensuring that students got textbooks on time and making efficient use of space by closing under-used schools—he asserts that contrary to popular claims, “she didn’t revolutionize education in DC.” ...
SIGN UP
Visionaries
Click here to browse dozens of Public School Insights interviews with extraordinary education advocates, including:
- 2013 Digital Principal Ryan Imbriale
- Best Selling Author Dan Ariely
- Family Engagement Expert Dr. Maria C. Paredes
The views expressed in this website's interviews do not necessarily represent those of the Learning First Alliance or its members.
New Stories
Featured Story
Excellence is the Standard
At Pierce County High School in rural southeast Georgia, the graduation rate has gone up 31% in seven years. Teachers describe their collaboration as the unifying factor that drives the school’s improvement. Learn more...
School/District Characteristics
Hot Topics
Blog Roll
Members' Blogs
- Transforming Learning
- The EDifier
- School Board News Today
- Legal Clips
- Learning Forward’s PD Watch
- NAESP's Principals' Office
- NASSP's Principal's Policy Blog
- The Principal Difference
- ASCA Scene
- PDK Blog
- Always Something
- NSPRA: Social School Public Relations
- AACTE's President's Perspective
- AASA's The Leading Edge
- AASA Connects (formerly AASA's School Street)
- NEA Today
- Angles on Education
- Lily's Blackboard
- PTA's One Voice
- ISTE Connects
What Else We're Reading
- Advancing the Teaching Profession
- Edwize
- The Answer Sheet
- Edutopia's Blogs
- Politics K-12
- U.S. Department of Education Blog
- John Wilson Unleashed
- The Core Knowledge Blog
- This Week in Education
- Inside School Research
- Teacher Leadership Today
- On the Shoulders of Giants
- Teacher in a Strange Land
- Teach Moore
- The Tempered Radical
- The Educated Reporter
- Taking Note
- Character Education Partnership Blog
- Why I Teach
