Connie Steele is a working professional who lives with her husband and their two boys, ages 3 and 6, in Northern Virginia. “I have my own marketing consulting business, which can make things pretty busy and hectic,” said Connie. She added that “being able to...
Teachers are rightly expected to meet the needs of their students. There is much proper attention now to how we clarify teaching expectations, measure student growth against those expectations, and support teachers when the regular evaluation of their performance shows that help is needed. Teachers...
When Steven Foster penned the words “The Sun Shines Bright on My Old Kentucky Home…” I am sure he had no idea how powerful a message he would be sending us in today’s time. My beloved Kentucky has been known for decades for excellence in...
Workforce analytics—using “big data” to hire, manage talent, and measure workforce performance—is becoming an increasingly prominent part of the American business landscape, as more companies turn to new techniques to streamline their hiring and retention processes. This type of quantitative analysis seems to get a bad...
This spring, the Next Generation of Science Standards (NGSS) was released. This suite of science standards is being discussed, considered and adopted across the country. Some states will adopt NGSS in its entirety, others in parts and some not at all. The Common Core for State...
As the hit AMC show Breaking Bad prepares to end its run this August, it is easy to see what made the show so compelling. In addition to the stellar writing and Emmy Award-winning performances, the premise of a high school chemistry teacher driven to...
Every kid looks forward to summer. You stay up later, sleep in, swim, and go to camp all day long. There's no homework or tests, and your family takes that long-awaited vacation. Truth be told, every teacher looks forward to summer as well. In many instances...
A plethora of important issues regarding public education vie for attention today. This makes it difficult to choose one thing that I, as a veteran teacher, would change to improve education. However, after combining my own musings with what Katherine Bassett, the Executive Director of the...
Thirty years ago, we learned from the report A Nation At Risk: the Imperative for Educational Reform that American students lagged far behind their international peers on a number of benchmarks. The findings expressed serious concerns about content, expectations, time, and teaching. The release of the report was...
Early in my career, before I was married, I admit that I enjoyed all the comments and attention that came with being a male elementary school teacher. "Awww, that's so cute" or "You must be sensitive" were ones I heard quite often. I remember that even...