by Stuart Singer, The Teacher Leader On August 31 “NBC Nightly News” Brian Williams moved into a commercial break with a tease of his next segment. “As more and more school districts are moving to a four-day week, parents are asking, ‘What are we supposed to do with our kids on that extra day?’.” While [...]
by Stuart Singer, The Teacher Leader Teaching is a tough, time consuming job. I knew a high school English teacher who would periodically have to take a day of sick leave for the purpose of grading an overwhelming amount of student work. With a pair of grocery bags crammed full of essays in hand, he [...]
Background: The Washington Examiner reports that "Fairfax County (VA) Superintendent Jack Dale is planning to tell principals to ease teachers’ workloads outside the classroom, following months of complaints from school employees who say they’re overworked and overwhelmed." I was attending a principals’ meeting held in a neighboring high school. When the meeting ended, I walked [...]
by Stuart Singer, The Teacher Leader Many school districts have decided to have remediation sessions during the school day. This approach adversely impacts the vast majority of students and needs to be replaced. “There is no limit to what you learn about schools if you listen to teachers.” When I saw this opening sentence to [...]
"Truancy is a nationwide epidemic and the old tools don’t work."–Travis Knox, President of AIM Truancy Solutions Desperate to improve student attendance, schools are now using GPS devices to track truant students. According to a recent report schools in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Kentucky, Kansas and California "have resorted to fitting students with hand-held GPS devices the [...]
by Stuart Singer, The Teacher Leader Nearly a year ago I wrote about the importance of little things in education. These adjustments were minor, no-cost changes that could improve the academic environment of a school. The discussion at that time focused on utilizing classrooms to minimize teacher movement, avoiding surprise disruptions in the daily schedule, [...]
by Stuart Singer, The Teacher Leader In any conversation about education, the views of Bill Gates should be given serious consideration. Unlike many of the other high profile people engaged in this ongoing discussion, his thoughts are not influenced by any professional involvement. Gates does not have a job description to fulfill as does Secretary [...]
"They’ll have better attendance, wreck fewer cars and be more agreeable. All we have to do is let high school students sleep in." You know a school or a school district is in trouble when the strategic plan follows the principles of the ABC School of School Management–Administration By Convenience. One of the best indicators [...]
Ask any educational reformer for a list of the most critical problems in our schools today and the topic of student attendance will inevitably be found near the top. The logic is simple—if you are not there, you are not going to learn. But based on a recent Education Week article by Hedy Chang the [...]
by Stuart Singer, The Teacher Leader In a recent op-ed article in the Washington Post, Robert J. Samuelson documented the failure of educational reform for the past four decades. He presents a compelling collection of data that clearly demonstrates that much of the innovation done in this country has been totally ineffectual. Some of this [...]
