It is my birthday today, so please forgive me for allowing my contemplation once again lead us down a well-travelled path. I have discussed this topic in posts before, but it is a subject that will not go away as long as we have younger people working next to older people. As one of those older folks, I might better state it as the “rookies” working beside the “seasoned veterans”. Of  course all of this is further confused by the introduction of the digital native theory. For these, and some…

Creating Education Success at Home

Despite the fact that the United States spends more per student on elementary and secondary education than any other nation except Luxembourg, students in a growing number of nations outperform our students. Our organization, the National Center on Education and the Economy, has researched the education systems of the…

I was part of the professional development collaboration at New Milford High School in New Jersey yesterday. It was organized and run by my friend for many years now, Eric Sheninger. If you are active on Twitter, you know him as @nmhs_principal. As I attended this conference, I tried to figure out why this felt a little different from other conferences. It was not an Unconference, yet it was clearly not a typical organization-led, schedule-driven conference of the past. It…

COMMENTARY | Education

Congress can make students improve, and improve, and improve, and improve, and…

1. The arts teach children to make good judgments about qualitative relationships.

Unlike much of the curriculum in which correct answers and rules prevail, in the arts, it

is judgment rather than rules that prevail.

2. The arts teach children that problems can have more than one solution

and that questions can have more than one answer.

3. The arts celebrate multiple perspectives.

One of their large lessons is…

Teaching Secrets: After the Honeymoon

The school year's honeymoon is over. Teachers and students are settling into routines—which can be comforting but can also confront new teachers with the reality of how tiring a teacher's life can be. This can be a make-or-break period for new teachers. It's when you need to develop habits that will sustain you—and keep your excitement and…