Note: Some numbers from the Private School Review provide perspective for what follows: Currently, 64,353 Arizona students attend 478 private schools. Elementary schools charge an average of $6,268 per year for tuition and high schools charge an average of $17,116.
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Teacher Appreciation Weak
Ah, teacher appreciation week. I look forward to the handmade cards and homemade goodies, and if I’m really lucky, school supplies or a Starbucks gift card. But here’s what I really want for Teacher Appreciation Week. Stop undermining the teaching
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I’d rather be boating (instead of trying to find a 2nd job to pay bills)…
I recently emailed a previous supervisor, asking her if I could use her as a reference for a part-time job for which I am applying. She responded that she’d be “honored” to be a reference, but she also jokingly asked
Read MoreConfessions of a Failing Mentor
Before you read this, some context: Because I spend so much extracurricular time with National Board Candidates, I use Cognitive Coaching as my communication model. During the school day I record positive evidence of student learning and strategic teacher actions;
Read MoreA Warning for Public Education Advocates
Who knew the answer to all of our challenges was so simple that it could be written in bullets on the back of a napkin? Recruit top performing students from public schools. Label non-randomly selected samples of “lowest-performing” students and
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From One Moment to the Next
Last Monday in Coolidge, I was coaching a cohort of teachers who are pursuing the National Board Certificates. Ben Barth, a massage therapy teacher at the Central Arizona Valley Institute of Technology (CAVIT), was in the zone. He planned to
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Finish Strong
I have a confession to make- it’s been six months since I have been at my gym. Yes, in the past six months I have moved to a new house farther away from the facility, moderately strained my back, and
Read MoreSave Our Language: Call Them Empowerment Vouchers
Arizona gets a blue ribbon for its euphemisation of political dialogue. In order not to appear like a Common Core State Standards state, they named them the Arizona Career and College Readiness Standards. The difference between the CCSS and the
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The Slippery Slope of Teacher Certification
I swore I would never teach junior high. Junior high, two swirling years of what, as a student, I experienced as daily hell. I owe all my patient and forgiving junior high teachers a debt of gratitude. By the time
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Two-minute(ish) Challenge
We have all seen the challenges posted on social media or overheard a colleague who is on a 30-day challenge. Maybe they are changing what they eat for 30 days or doing the 30-day push-up challenge. Either way you know
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