Was I destroying the fabric of our democracy by being a fair and sensible principal? Will the kids would grow up to assume that most decisions made by adults were equally fair and sensible? YIKES!
Read MoreNot-So-Strange Bedfellows
As co-founder of a small charter high school, I decided to interview Mike Klonsky, Chicago-based leader in the modern small-schools movement. Mike and I have a lot in common: we agree that small schools offer a more humane and functional alternative to big schools. We also share the belief, as evidenced by research and our own experiences, that small schools have lower teacher turnover, experience less violence, and allow for greater teacher autonomy.
Read MoreSo a kid without a head walks into a school…
According to the US News & World Report Data:
* The number 1 school has only 1% of its students eligible for free and reduced lunch.
* The number 2 school has only ONE STUDENT eligible for free and reduced lunch.
* The number 9 school, an AZ charter, has not one single student eligible for free and reduced lunch.
Svegli e L’odore del Caffé
At the end of this year, House Bill 2281 will likely be signed into law. This bill will effectively outlaw ethnic studies classes which have been especially meaningful for our Mexican-American, African-American and Native American students. These classes have provided an important setting for students who have not been able to see themselves or hear their stories in the traditional curriculum. We learn best when we can form a personal, relevant connection to what is being taught. And when we can’t, we shut down.
Read MoreNothing Special
Jim has been teaching 1st grade for twenty years. Opportunities to work collaboratively with his colleagues should be as common to him as his annual bulletin-board-supply shopping trip, and yet over the course of his 20-year tenure, Jim has spent countless hours in, what he and most of his colleagues would describe as, “the fancy-man-in-the-suit-with-the-power-point trainings”. If Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000-hour rule holds true, then Jim and so many others have become experts at feeling patronized and isolated.
Read MoreJust Shoot Me.
At the most recent annual AZK12 Summer Leadership Institute, I sat with a small group of colleagues from around the state to discuss the future of public education. At least I would refer to them as colleagues. They would refer to me as “all-that-is-wrong-with-public-education” or, more simply, the devil.
Read More