Between giving thanks and dishing up Thanksgiving dinner, I haven’t followed through on a promise to share my own epiphany about how schools — and teachers — often fail gifted students. Well, the turkey carcass has now given its all … Continue reading»

I sent yesterday’s blog posting — about how students whose parents read to them regularly scored higher on those pesky international tests — to my children, and asked them about their memories of reading time with their dad. Here’s what … Continue reading»

I’d just like to take this moment – the Sunday before Thanksgiving, and just before my scattered adult kids return home – to thank my husband, who despite a busy job and huge demands on his time, read to our … Continue reading»

I meant to post about an article from last week’s Wall Street Journal, which presented a somewhat different take on the mildly encouraging NAEP fourth and eighth grade reading and math scores (I’ve blogged about these earlier.) The article, entitled … Continue reading»

Sorry about the radio silence. My AP history teaching partners aren’t sorry; they’re relieved that I’ve graded the 80 plus essays that were sitting in my Turnitin.com inbox. When I posted about the study of charter management organizations, I noted … Continue reading»

I promised that I would post more information about the charter school study conducted by Mathematica Policy Research and the University of Washington’s Center on Reinventing Public Education. As I mentioned in my earlier blog, the study suggests that overall … Continue reading»

Regular blog readers know that I’m a big fan of education policy analyst Rick Hess, who combines a commitment to reform with a keen understanding of the law of unintended consequences. So I thought I’d post his take on the … Continue reading»

Charter schools have featured prominently in this blog, with both supporters and detractors weighing in vigorously. Charter school critics frequently comment that charter schools do not outperform, and even under-perform, public schools overall. Charter supporters note that some charter schools … Continue reading»

Don’t throw any rotten apples at me, please. I could apply any number of adjectives to my teaching career, but “overpaid” isn’t one of them.Still, I recommend that blog readers take a look at a study just published by the … Continue reading»

I recently posted a Louisiana state report on teacher education programs, which suggested that alternatively certified teachers perform as well, or better, than those who go through more traditional programs.. Here’s another such state-mandated report, this time from Tennessee. (The … Continue reading»