70 Years of Promises in Education. What Will It Take for Us to Keep Them?

The promise of public education is that it prepares young people for life—and the commitments we have made to meet this aspiration have dramatically increased…

You Can Call It a ‘Lost Decade,’ But I See a Lot of Good Things Happening

WHAT WE GOT RIGHT: The spin never stops when it comes to education and it goes into overdrive with the close of a decade. Amidst all the hype of a lost decade and the need for humility from education reformers, I see a glass way more than half full.…

Here’s What All the NAEP Coverage Missed

Articles on the release of the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) scores rang an alarm of familiar decline: “Math scores remained relatively flat in…

As the U.S. Department of Education Turns 40, the Real Battleground for Kids Lies in the States

This week marks the 40th anniversary of President Jimmy Carter signing the legislation that authorized him to create the U.S. Department of Education (ED). In…

This New Report Shows How Parents and Teachers Can Work Together

As a parent, I want my children to love learning and succeed academically. But even though I work full-time in education, I don’t always feel…

A Second Listen to Student Voice

Common Core author David Coleman shocked a crowd of educators in 2011 when he declared, “…as you grow up in this world, you realize people…

Poor Curriculum Is a Recipe for Disaster, Here’s How Schools Can Help Teachers Find and Use High-Quality Materials

Lately, I’ve seen a meme that keeps popping up on social media: “Telling a teacher to use a boxed curriculum is like forcing a chef…

If You Really Want to Make America Great Again, Stop Ignoring Social Studies

It’s funny how a student can make you pause and think hard about something you teach. Recently, I didn’t just pause, I got smacked upside…

If We Want to Personalize Learning, We Need to Rethink the Common Core

This past spring, I was proudly describing a performance assessment in which I had my ninth- and 10th-grade students map out their neighborhood using parallel…

Coffee Break: How Arthur VanderVeen Is Lighting a Spark Under PARCC

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, is a standardized test developed with federal funding to determine if students are meeting…