“Culture isn’t the most important thing. Culture is the only thing.”—Jim Senigal, CEO Costco (retired) Recently, a colleague of mine could not stop talking about CNBC’s production of The Costco Craze. I recorded it and watched it last night, and, I too, cannot stop talking about it. Why? While the report is about retail giant [...]
Raising the age to 18 sent the right message to our students. Education is critically important!
The job of a school leader is much different at a school that serves large numbers of under-resourced students.
Bloggers Note: I have often said that the principal is the “cork in the bottle.” Nothing happens in a school without the full, active support of the principal. Raising rigor and increasing the number of students enrolled in college-level courses requires a strong belief in the potential of the students, the capacity of the teachers [...]
New York City and Chicago plan to include college-readiness metrics in the way they evaluate high schools. According to Catherine Gewertz of Education Week, “This is something we’ll be seeing more and more of, given the national focus on college readiness and the Obama administration’s emphasis on judging schools according to how well they prepare students for work or education after high school.”
by Stuart Singer, The Teacher Leader The test scores for the Washington D.C. schools are in and while they are generally disappointing what is more informative is the fact they clearly demonstrate one of the fundamental causes of low academic performance—poverty. This is not a new or original discovery. Mel Riddile organized data clearly indicating [...]
by Stuart Singer, The Teacher Leader In a recent post, Mel Riddile highlighted several of the shortcomings associated with the latest method for determining graduation rates mandated by the U.S. Department of Education. While the goal of this policy is worthy—standardizing the calculations throughout the nation—the resulting process is flawed, unfair and ultimately inaccurate. The [...]
by Stuart Singer, The Teacher Leader Virginia Governor Robert F. McDonnell is the latest political leader to create a framework for funding merit pay for teachers. In this plan the state would allot $3 million to selected schools throughout the Commonwealth. The goal is to populate underachieving schools with outstanding educators. However, despite the expectation [...]
Background: Nationally, two-thirds of students are not reading on grade level by the fourth grade, the earliest year of testing in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). That proportion rises to four-fifths for low-income children, according to NAEP results released last year. A recently released national study indicates that students who are not proficient [...]
"School districts, because they want the money, are finding creative ways to meet the requirements of the law."–Gerald N. Tirozzi, Executive Director, NASSP You have probably heard the saying, "Principals don’t retire. They just lose their faculties." Apparently, in Minnesota, where "ousted principals quickly find new jobs," as well as in many other states, fired [...]
