Even though I’m listening to Wham’s “Last Christmas” for the third time today, I know the Ghost of Christmas Future looms right around the corner – for January brings the beginning of the Arizona legislative session. I’ve written before about
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What I discovered at our school was something that we already knew: Although we are an urban-based public school within a district with issues mirroring the nation, we had little to no annual teacher turnover. Our students return to a
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I was blessed to grow up in the rich African American (Black) culture that resides in the Washington, D.C. area. I saw our good and bad, our strengths and weaknesses, our beauty and shame wherever I looked. I was secure…I
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The following letter is written to all school and district administrators who have stayed for four years or more and worked tenaciously for school improvement. Dear Leaders, Thank you. Thank you for staying put for a few years and leading
Read MoreTeachers need to be held accountable for student learning. Teaching is a job and our job is for students to learn. Employees who work at McDonald’s are held accountable for putting a Big Mac together correctly. Workers at Target are
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For all of our conversation about critical thinking and higher level skills, we certainly spend much of our time preparing students for lower level skill assessments. If this is the case, just how low is the bar for those top performers?
Read MoreTo dramatically improve teaching and learning nationwide, structural changes and out-of-the-box thinking are needed. The most quality solutions will involve new layers of teacher support and leadership. I think the chart below speaks for itself. I mean, if horses have
Read MoreNow that I've moved into the last grading period of the school year, the magnitude of the year has started to sink in. In August, I felt scared – the national trends in education seemed daunting and overwhelming (to say the
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