Maybe it’s the teaching that matters.
While it is clear that not all students are as interested in learning as their peers and that students of color and from poor communities have their own unique challenges, I believe good teaching can...
View ArticleSBE discussing return to the bad old days
I was really disappointed to see in this SI&A Cabinet Report story that the Board President Michael Kirst of the California State Board of Education suggested at Wednesday’s meeting that they...
View ArticleEarly College programs benefit at-risk kids study finds
How did you like that “newspaper style” headline? I’ve been a fan of early college programs where students take college classes during their high school years and receive both high school and college...
View ArticleTime to reconsider social promotion
I’ve long thought we do students a disservice by allowing students to move on to the next grade even though they haven’t mastered the knowledge and skills for their existing grade. After we’ve done...
View ArticleEvery district needs a better teacher evaluation system
This great opinion piece by Sacramento City Unified school board member Jeff Cuneo encourages the district and teacher’s union to work together to create an evaluation system that actually works...
View ArticleTeachers want better evaluation systems too
I thought this EdWeek opinion piece by Sydney Morris and Evan Stone raised an excellent point that there are teachers who think that teacher evaluation systems are broken as well. If there was one...
View ArticleHess: Distinguishing the App Store from the Apps
I thought this EdWeek piece from Rick Hess made a great point. A crippling problem in K-12 schooling is the sequential, enthusiastic embrace of “innovations”… that… never… quite… pan… out. One legacy...
View ArticleMaranto & Paige: Learning from Success
One of my main beliefs in education is that successful schools have much to teach their less successful peers. I thought this Education Week op ed from Robert Maranto and former US Secretary of...
View ArticleMy comments to the UUSD board, October 9, 2012
Here are my comments to the board from last Tuesday’s meeting: President McGourty, Trustees, Dr. Kubin, My name is David Johnston. Thank you for the opportunity to address you this evening. Tonight...
View ArticleAPI scores still being raised artificially
Once again, coinciding with the release of the 2012 Growth Academic Performance Index (API) scores by the California Department of Education (CDE), is an opinion piece from retired educational...
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