EdSpeak: Connecting Teaching to Policy Through Research

Despite the emergence over the last twenty years of the computer and the access it gives us to the web, we are still not sure what it means to be digitally literate. To further complicate our thinking, the phone brought … Continued

Last night on 60 Minutes, Seattle came into sharp focus on the rise in homelessness. We learned that homelessness is the general term, but to the agencies working on homelessness, the name for these homeless living in tent city number … Continued

A recent episode of NOVA, “The Violence Paradox,” highlighted evidence of decreasing violence over the last seven centuries and yet, many communities in the United States, particularly some cities, are experiencing more violence. What caught my attention was that the … Continued

When I look at the Mona Lisa painting by Leonardo DaVinci, I see a slight smile. Not much. And if I look away and then back I can see it more clearly….but if I just stare at it….I begin to … Continued

Arts integration is often defined as a teaching method, a way to build the capacity of schools, something that policymakers should take notice of, and a way to build community. The method might involve bringing an art form into the … Continued

There are always people looking for new designs for schools. The charter school movement has taken new designs and funded them through new funding structures that allow much of the money allocated to schools to pass directly to those schools. … Continued

I write a lot about improving student learning, but with reading scores flat, do we need better models for learning, better models for assessing and better models for environments to accomplish both? In this blog I look at a model … Continued

It is important to remember that we teach humans and all humans have struggles that they are trying to overcome. “Daniel, a student at Philadelphia Elementary School lost all his belongings in a house fire. However, teachers and students, fastened … Continued

There is an enduring tension between getting every student to meet a common standard and honoring their individuality in how they attain that common standard. Teachers have for years resolved this by helping students in a more individual way while … Continued

Today’s blog is very important for arts in education people. If the arts are to be taken seriously, we must join the mainstream reform efforts in general, and understand the best ideas in specific, in order to partner well with … Continued