A 2016 Moon Shot – Revitalizing the Nation One Community at a Time
Education Reform is a Start but it is Not Enough Reforming education alone will not revitalize lower income communities across the US. Creating meaningful career paths and job opportunities for young people of color provide the best motivation for their continued focus on schooling and educational persistence. Education reform policies that ignore job creation in […]
Another Inconvenient and Unfortunate Truth – A Failed Moon Shot
In these days leading up to the 2016 election, it is difficult to avoid news events created by the presidential candidates scrambling for our attention and vote. In election season, forgotten neighborhoods are visited, promises of a great future are made and the pains of communities wounded by racial injustice and institutional neglect become the […]
Innovations from New Orleans – Results Don’t Lie
Last week Louisiana released their 2015 state K – 8 Math and ELA assessment results. These long awaited student academic performance scores, based on the new Common Core state assessments (PARCC), are the culmination of nearly three years of preparation by many educators in Louisiana. Not only has the “expectations” bar moved much higher, but […]
Reprinted – The Student as Individual Framework
Does equal opportunity for all mean that we are all the same? Does it mean that high school students share the same goals? Travel the same academic path? Have the same abilities and interests? Of course not. It is time that the debate on education reform focus on the student as an individual and not […]
Another Inconvenient and Unfortunate Truth: Race Matters – Part 1
During the past few years there has been a marked rise in racially charged events. The nearly monthly police shootings of black men has unleashed a national conversation about issues of race, discrimination and systemic indifference to the disparity in income and incarceration of people of color, especially African Americans. This is in stark contract […]
A Wheel of Fortune: Charter School Purchasing Power
As education reform strives to level the playing field for under-served populations, some effort should also be made to support job creation activities in lower income communities throughout the US. Charter schools have been lauded as innovative alternatives to traditional public schools. Several reports show they are having a positive impact on learning, especially for […]
Rules of Engagement and The Biggest Winner Challenge
When a School Leader in New Orleans wanted a rapid rise in math scores she turned to Ed Inquiry to create a school-wide “campaign” of change. The campaign, called The Biggest Winner Challenge, resulted in math score increases of 22% in 1 year in target grades. Students, teachers and parents were actively engaged in the […]
Finding the Right Mix for Blended Learning Success
Many school leaders are looking for new ways to raise student scores and make teachers more effective while also engaging students in their learning. One alternative that has been gaining popularity is the concept of “blended learning,” a term new to many educators, but with a history that is decades old, having been first introduced […]
Beware the pitfalls and landmines on the road to Data Driven
If you have attended an educational conference in the past few years, you have heard or become familiar with the term “data driven.” These two words have become a standard mantra in the education reform movement. Books such as “Leverage Leadership” describe the progress that can be made when school leaders strategically use data to […]
Why learn to swim if there is no water? The 4 Es.
(Education – Exposure – Employment – Entrepreneurship) Educators and non-educators are now pushing for serious and lasting education reform. At the same time, lower income boys are gunned down on a near weekly basis throughout the country. The most horrific shootings, often caught on video, are shown over and over on 24 hour news shows, […]
