This post is for those who are tired of asking for people to acknowledge 400 years of black pain in America. This post is for those who know that our education system works in tandem with our criminal justice system to devalue black lives. Our school leaders and policymakers shouldn't have needed to see George … Continue reading Tools for students and parents fighting against racism in their schools
What students say about COVID-19 and remote learning
With school buildings in Delaware now closed until the end of the academic year, it is more important than ever that educators and policymakers understand how remote learning is working for students. Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of moderating a panel of students from across the state of Delaware where they shared their thoughts … Continue reading What students say about COVID-19 and remote learning
Reflections after last night’s educator evaluation committee meeting
Imagine an evaluation system for teachers where a teacher is considered “Effective” after earning “Needs Improvement” ratings on both of their measures of student learning AND on each of the following criteria: managing student behavior, creating an environment to support learning, engaging students in learning, demonstrating flexibility and responsiveness, and using questioning techniques. Most casual … Continue reading Reflections after last night’s educator evaluation committee meeting
Keeping Students in our View
When education policy leaders are spending months negotiating the technical details of state accountability systems or educator compensation policies, it can be easy to lose sight of their mission: serving students. Mired in debates about whether to pay highly-effective teachers more; whether the Smarter Balanced assessment should be reincorporated into teacher evaluation; whether parents should … Continue reading Keeping Students in our View
Urgency of Now 