Category: Weekly Updates

I’ve already heard the 2016 U.S. presidential election called “the biggest political story of our lifetimes” by more than one pundit in the past week.  No doubt the events of the past seven days and of this whole presidential campaign will be talked about and have an impact for the foreseeable future.  But for students…

One week from today is the official voting day in Georgia, though early voting has been happening for a bit now.  If you’ve yet to cast your ballot, I encourage you to become educated on Amendment 1 before you do so.  The proposed amendment would give the state (via the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement)…

Looking for a blog post from me from last week?  There wasn’t one.  Instead, I wrote a piece that was a part of our ANCS quarterly “Principles in Practice” newsletter.  The fall 2016 edition focuses on healthy minds and healthy bodies.  You can see it here.

Seven years ago this week American public education lost one of its greatest thinkers and teachers, Ted Sizer.  Ted, along with others, helped to found the Coalition of Essential Schools, a national network of schools connected by their belief in a set of principles about what makes for a great school.  ANCS and the many…

As Georgians head to the polls this November, the presidential election isn’t the only big vote that they’ll face on the ballot.  They will also vote on a proposed constitutional amendment by answering “yes” or no” to this question: “Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to allow the state to intervene in chronically failing…

“I respect teachers and educators – and I want to give them the support they need to do the job we ask.” – Hillary Clinton “I’m a tremendous believer in education.” – Donald Trump And that about sums up the depth of the discussion of K-12 education in the 2016 presidential campaign among the major…

Last Wednesday, I went to the one and only session offered by the Georgia DOE in the metro Atlanta area to give feedback on the state’s ideas for revising state policy to comply with the federal education law known as the “Every Student Succeeds Act” (ESSA).  I think every person—parent, educator, community member—who has an…

Tonight at the first ANCS PTCA meeting of the year I’ll be giving my annual “state of the school” update.  You can read the main points I’ll be highlighting below…but you should still come on out to the meeting to ask questions, hear discussion, and also to attend some of the great breakout sessions planned by…

With Labor Day come and gone, pretty much every public school in the U.S. is now back in session for the new school year.  And like clockwork, there’s a return to now familiar debates about homework and recess.  Maybe my memory of elementary and middle school is foggy, but I don’t seem to recall such…

In April 1965, President Lyndon Johnson sat outside the Texas elementary school he attended as child, and, seated next to one of his childhood teachers, signed into law the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), ushering in a new era in the role of the federal government in K-12 education. Through a series of provisions—especially…