Gregg Klinginsmith, a Missouri superintendent, switched his district to a 4-day school week in 2019. The district nixed a day in an effort to keep teachers from leaving for better pay in bigger cities. Both students and teachers love the new schedule, and teacher retention is up after four years. This as-told-to essay is based …
As a teacher, you know the thrill of a new day and the satisfaction of preparing for it with care. You have lessons that will captivate your students, visual aids that will make their eyes light up, and a plan to keep them engaged from start to finish. But, let’s be real, sometimes things don’t …
The Three Pillars of Effective Classroom Management in Schools Read More »
One of the latest teaching trends includes getting rid of grades and homework as part of a push towards achieving equity in the classroom. We’ve sort of created this rate race and competition all about just getting the grade rather than focusing on the learning itself and that favors, in some cases, the kids who …
Schools trending towards no homework, no grades in the name of equity Read More »
I once taught a shooter. He wrote me a scathing letter about my class a year before he murdered his mother and reportedly planned to attack the school. During a safety training at my school, we were taught that if a student is trapped in the hall during a lockdown and they knock on the door …
For teachers and students, safe classrooms feel like a fairy tale Read More »
While schools across the country struggle to fill vacant teaching positions, one Texas district is capitalizing on groundwork it laid in 2019 that has led to a near-zero vacancy rate. When Ector County Superintendent Scott Muri took over the 33,500-student district in the summer of 2019, there were 356 teaching vacancies—the equivalent of 18 percent …
A District’s Long-Term Investment in Cultivating Future Teachers Is Paying Off Read More »
When friends suggested I include charter schools among the places to visit during my recent trip to see innovative learning models in New York City, I was skeptical. I was focused mostly on spotlighting microschools, learning pods, hybrid homeschools and similar experimental programs created by entrepreneurial parents and teachers who are reimagining K-12 education in …
We need a new school of thought about charter schools Read More »
Faced with the undeniable fact city kids attending charters schools do far better on state exams than those stuck in the regular public-school system, critics routinely complain that charters “teach to the test” — as if that’s somehow a bad thing. Tests, after all, measure what kids are supposed to learn. Schools that don’t “teach to the test” effectively …
Charters succeed at teaching — that’s why their enemies hate them Read More »
In all of my language-learning experiences, whether that’s taking Japanese in college or learning Spanish in high school, I often ponder what a challenge learning a language actually is. At the time, I would question, “How did I even learn English as a kid?” Well, in many cases, children are better language learners than adults. …
OPINION: America should take a multilingual approach to education Read More »
The deterioration of boundaries, compounded with poor teaching conditions, leads to a myriad of problems. It’s difficult to create connections, let alone teach content, while being cursed by students. I usually don’t care to talk about my experiences teaching. I’m afraid that I would paint a deficit-based portrayal of my students and families (unless, of …
Standardized tests should be used as “a flashlight” on what works in education not as “a hammer” to force outcomes, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said during a speech last week. The statement reflects a shift in thinking since annual testing became federal law more than 20 years ago, and it echoes past comments from Cardona, who …
Education Secretary: Standardized Tests Should No Longer Be a ‘Hammer’ Read More »
