No Wrong Answers

Summer is here for our teachers! Well, almost here. (Sorry Greg.) And they are in a reflective mood. First up: what does the alleged assault of a journalist by a politician in Montana say about our societal norms? Does it change, at all, how teachers feel about counseling kids to not use violence to solve their problems? Plus, we tackle teen pregnancy. The story of one girl who was barred from walking at her school’s graduation went viral. What do schools do well (and not so well) about dealing with the challenge of teen pregnancy? Finally, our teachers look back on the students--that for better and worse--made an impact on them this year.

This week, we can’t not talk about the crazy week that was in Washington. (Here’s a recap. Believe us: you need it.) Our teachers say they used to read the news to decompress from school. No longer. Then, we tackle President Donald Trump’s proposed federal education budget, which would completely eliminate funding for a variety of programs, from gifted and talented education to civics education. Finally, has your school gone “full Google?” Our teachers’ schools have all gone one-to-one or are in the process of going one-to-one with Google Chromebooks. Is this a good thing?

Maker education is part of the broader, loosely organized ‘Maker Movement’ of tinkerers, DIYers, computer programmers, and hackers who put a lot of stock in the act of creation itself and the experimentation and failure that often goes into that. There’s a lot of buzzwords to sift through when talking about “Maker education.” But what does this look like in schools?

Betsy DeVos is back in the news and this time it was really ugly. Plus, new data tell us just how much students miss school. Finally, bullying is down but for a lot of teachers it doesn't feel like it...why this disconnect?

Everyone's talking about the new Netflix show, 13 Reasons Why...is that a good or bad thing? Plus new research qualifies just how much black teachers mean to black students.

We just completed National Poetry Month in April and we recently asked some of our teachers…for a little bit of show-and-tell to celebrate that. We wanted them to pick examples of a poem, or an excerpt of a poem they have found personally or professionally inspirational as teachers. Or maybe a poem that has been used to particularly good effect in their classroom, that resonated with students.

Everyone is talking about Trump's first 100 days, but what's the view from the classroom? And, white privilege...how does it manifest in schools and what our teachers think we can do about it.

Be honest, had you ever heard of “lunch shaming” before news broke about a recently signed New Mexico law that bans so-called lunch shaming in public schools? That is, singling out or punishing students who cannot pay for their school lunch. Our teachers had never heard the term, but they have a lot of thoughts about the bill.

Last September, the Houston Chronicle published a seven-part series of articles that exposed an astonishing fact: for years, the state of Texas had set a cap on the percentage of students in public schools who could receive special education services.

Students at a Kansas school do some investigative reporting that causes their principle to resign, are our students addicted to their cell phones and why are so many teachers fleeing the profession.

Activist Brittany Packnett created #BlackWomenAtWork. She says it was meant to start a conversation because the “slights”.against Waters and Ryan (things like comments about one’s hair) are experienced everyday by professional black women. We wanted to talk with Packnett about how #BlackWomenAtWork could be applied to the world of education.

Segregation, if you haven’t been paying attention, might strike you as an educational problem from a bygone era. But, in fact, it’s increasingly seen as a major problem in modern American schooling. Take Howard County, Maryland, one of that state’s most integrated districts.

Recently, the Kansas City, Missouri Public School District essentially declared itself a “sanctuary” district when the school board unanimously passed what it called a “safe and welcoming schools” resolution.

A new survey from the Brookings Institution’s Brown Center for Education Policy shows foreign exchange students think American schools are easy. Really easy. This is nothing new: the survey replicates a similar one done in 2001 that had nearly identical results. But our teachers take issue with what they call “school bashing” conclusions. They say, in short: “Define ‘easy.’”

Education Week reports at least 18 states have adopted some form an A-F grading system that relies primarily or partly on schools’ standardized test scores. And more states are reportedly debating legislation to adopt similar programs. But these grading systems are facing a “mounting backlash” from educators, superintendents and even parents who call an A-F system for schools overly simplistic and focused on the wrong measures.