Should Parents Be Held Accountable for Their Bullying Kids?
“Sticks and stones may hurt my bones, but words will never harm me….” That ditty bolstered a whole of us back when, but nowadays nasty words find their way online, too, potentially causing cause great and endless hurt. Question is, while schools are out there on the...
Helicopter Parents vs. and the Snow Plow Types
As if helicoptering parents weren't enough, there's a new breed of moms and dads nowadays, These so-called "snow plow" types, don't just hover, they remain ahead of the curve removing potential obstacles in their children’s paths to ensure their smooth sailing through...
The Two Types of Childhood Trauma Taxing Educators
As reported by Education Week, school districts are now figuring how best to work with students affected by the two kinds of trauma affecting our children as never before. TYPE I results from a single incident that affects a number of children or even an entire...
The Powerful Attraction of Screen Time and Its Potential Risks
Many parents use screen time as a kid-sitter, enjoying the quiet that descends on their youngsters when in the grip of a video game, social media, a texting exchange, or TV… Meanwhile, the Pew Research Center recently found that, in 2018, 95% of teens own a smartphone...
Education Week’s Alyson Klein Reports: “Digital Tools are Everywhere, But Evidence of Their Impact Is Not
As Education Week's Alyson Klein writes, “ Educators are using digital tools to boost student learning more than ever. But few believe there’s good information available about which resources are going to be effective in the classroom.” And that’s the conclusion of a...
A School-Wise Look at Schooling by the Numbers
From teacher strikes to how best teach reading, these stats tell us a great deal about what's happening to and in our public schools... A recent PDK survey of 556 teachers found that 55% said they’d be willing to strike for better salaries, and even more said they’d...
Experts Take On Everything from Ed Tech and the Value of Play to Our Troubled Children
Those in-the-know speak out … “Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.” ~ Fred Rogers, TV personality “If I was a spider princess, she said, I would spin...
The American Library Association’11-Most Challenged Books of 2018—and the ReasonsWhy
As reported by USA Today’s Mary Cadden, here are the ALA's most often challenged books of last year… George, by Alex Gino: Said to encourage children “to clear browser history and change their bodies using hormones; for mentioning dirty magazines, describing male...
Vaping: From Smoking Cessation Aid to Killer
Admission: I lit my first cigarette in 7th grade, thrilling to the grown-up feel of it all, as it fed my rebellious side. In other words, I’m in no position to judge kids who light up nowadays, though I pray they never do. What I don’t get at all, however, is the...
Tech Gets Daily In-School Workouts: A Good Thing or Not So Much?
Ed tech continues to change schooling—and our kids too, though maybe not altogether for the good: More than 35,000 Mississippi kindergartners—about 64%--didn’t meet the state’s readiness guidelines, and those who spent the 2017-18 school year in Head Start scored only...
Why High School Kids Don’t Read Anymore, by Jeremy Adams
Jeremy Adams, a high school and college political science teacher in Bakersfied, recently crafted a piece about high school reading in the tech age, and so, with thanks, here are a few excerpts worth reading: Most of us who grew up in the United States before the...
Introducing Senator Ben Sasse
Introducing Ben Sasse America 2019: Lots of noise, little wisdom, sides taken, no room for dialogue or compromise. Nowadays, you’ve got a beef, take to social media and rant and/or take to the streets and shout till you’re hoarse… Enter a voice a reason, and whatever...
OECD Reports on How Much Teachers & Students Work around the Globe
The numbers are in: American students and teachers spend a lot more time in school than their counterparts in the 46 OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) member countries. According to the report … The typical American student spends 8,884...
Renowned Alfie Kohn Says, “Educators, Start Asking Better Questions”
Renowned author, lecturer, and progressive education proponent, Alfie Kohn says, “Many questions in education, for example, take for granted the inevitability of traditional practices. That means our job is to challenge the question’s hidden premises. ‘Wait,’ we might...
A Statistical Glimpse at America’s Schools from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
Definitely worth taking look and giving it all some thought... Of our 133,853 schools in the 2015-16 school year: Elementary: 88,665 Secondary: 26,986 Combined: 16,511 Other: 691 Of those… Traditional public: 92,147 Public charter: 7,011 Private: 34,576 About our...
A Sign of the Times: Teens’ Lack of Life Skills
Ironically and at least according to the most recent C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health, 87% of parents think they’re doing a decent job preparing their teens for the so-called real world; however, these stats paint a very different...
TD Ameritrade’s Latest “Young Money Survey”
Many of us are concerned about money—spending it; saving it; having enough of it—hence this timely “Young Money Survey” which asked millennials and GenZers about their money habits and attitudes… On average, our 15- through 21-year-olds expect to be financially...
Henry “Fonzie” Winkler on Dyslexia, Writing, and Learning
Much has changed for Henry Winkler since his award-winning stint as Fonzie on “Happy Days.” Along with actor, his resume now includes producer, director, and, yes, author, too. And yet, when his agent suggested he write a book, he had said quite simply, “I can’t do...
Classroom Edu-Tech: A Parent Alert
Parents, make your voices heard because schools have embraced tech big-time, with a lot of reform and financial encouragement from politicians, tech folks, and textbook publishers, too. Take the $8.5 billion textbook giant Pearson’s recent shift from print to digital,...
Education Headliners: Retirees, Principals, Game-Based Learning, Charter Schools, & Back-to-School Spending
Senator Cory Booker’s brother Cary co-founded Omni Prep, a charter school forced to close in 2016 due to financial and management issues, poor academic results, and inexperience with early childhood education. Nevertheless, NJ Governor Phil Murphy recently hired him...
