According to educationbug.org, there are 1,424 public schools in the state of Maryland. More than half (866/60%) of those schools are elementary level. With a little investigating at localschooldirectory.com one can discover that there are 33,000 elementary teachers (K-5) in Maryland and 24,544 secondary teachers.



The question I have is, if there are nearly ten thousand more elementary teachers in Maryland than secondary teachers, why has there been only one elementary level Maryland… Continue

I began blogging a year ago today. This is my 70th post in a calendar year. I was never the type to keep a journal. When I was eleven years old I was given a diary for Christmas from my mother. I dutifully wrote in that diary for six weeks, then my entries trailed off to nothing. Maybe it’s a guy thing. We’re just not a reflective gender. Nevertheless, I started writing Common Sense School Leadership on October 7, 2013.



For me, Twitter was the “gateway” from micro-blogging to full… Continue

In 2000, the National Reading Panel issued a report that served as the basis for reading instruction across the United States. Many NCLB initiatives used the Panel’s report to justify a very narrow definition of reading instruction. Their findings suggested that the best approaches to reading incorporate:



Explicit instruction in phonemic awareness

Systematic phonics instruction

Methods to improve fluency

Ways to enhance comprehension



Fourteen years later, as… Continue