Today’s NewsOK article, “Lottery paid $400M to Oklahoma schools” by Megan Rolland is very misleading in addressing the issue of lottery funds “supplanting” rather than “supplementing” state education funds. Megan notes correctly: The lottery law stipulates that the money is not supposed to supplant current education funding but is supposed to be in addition to
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On November 13, 2011, Ali Carr-Chellman (@aac3 on Twitter) shared an important and courageous message at TEDxPSU. Her 13.5 minute message was titled, “A Closer Look at Cyber Charter Schools.” Among other things, Ali challenges us to question the growing nexus between non-profit “cyber charter schools” and for-profit curriculum companies. As we continue hear different
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As 2011 draws to a close I’m organizing, sharing, and tagging a variety of photos I took this past fall with my iPhone on Flickr. In the past at times like these I’ve tended to upload large bunches of photos and skip the process of individually labeling photos. Instead, I’ve just organized photos in sets
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For years I’ve wished our state elected officials were required to take the same “exit” level standardized tests our students are coerced to take in public schools. I’ve not only wished our elected officials would take them: I’ve wanted those officials’ test results to be published and shared. The reason for this is simple: Much
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What do you do if you’re a high school administrator and one of your students uses a personal Twitter account to criticize your state governor? What do you do if you’re the state governor who was criticized? How about the director of communications for the criticized governor? The answer might be “nothing,” but that was
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We need to be investing MORE in education today, not less, in part to ramp up workforce skills. Consider this perspective: The problem is that not enough people know how to use the new tools of the Internet, mobile, and cloud computing. The workforce as a whole does not have the right mix of skills.
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A new two hour documentary film was released in select U.S. theaters this fall about teaching and public education: American Teacher. It’s a direct response to last year’s “Waiting for Superman” movie, which (among other things) cast teacher unions as demons in educational improvement debates. See my October 2010 post, “Waiting For Superman: A Good
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When will our Oklahoma politicians and voters finally recognize the “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB) law is fundamentally flawed and was designed primarily to demonize both public schools and public school teachers as “failures” irrespective of academic results? One of the most telling quotations from today’s NewsOK article, “More Oklahoma schools, districts than ever ‘need
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I’m not just interested in playing a catalyzing role in the learning revolution worldwide: I’m also deeply interested and motivated to bring about a political revolution. I’m interested in and committed to peaceful self-determination. Larry Lessig has articulated the kind of change I want to both see and tangibly advance in his 30 minute video,
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Last month 4th grade students in Brad Wilson’s class in Stevensville, Michigan, took a field trip to their state capitol in Lansing and interviewed their representative, Al Pscholka. Students used an older iPod Touch equipped with a thumbtack mic, and the free application Cinch to record as well as publish the 43 second interview. Thanks
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On Sunday following the Learning 2.011 Conference in Shanghai, China, I explored the Bund with friends. According to Wikipedia, the Bund: is a waterfront area in central Shanghai, People’s Republic of China. The area centres on a section of Zhongshan Road (East-1 Zhongshan Road) within the former Shanghai International Settlement, which runs along the western
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Diane Ravitch‘s article today, “The reform movement is already failing,” is one of the best I’ve read highlighting both the misdirected agenda and LACK of research support for the GW Bush / Obama / Bill Gates / Jeb Bush / “Waiting for Superman” crowd of educational reformers. Ravitch writes: We are in the midst of
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The four images below are the result of brainstorming during a breakout session I attended today at the Oklahoma Governor’s Council for Workforce & Economic Development meeting at OSU-OKC. Among other things, participants discussed the need to connect industry certifications and K12 education, the importance of educating students about different workforce sector/track employment options, and
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These are my notes from the Governor’s Council for Workforce & Economic Development meeting at OSU-OKC on June 3, 2011. MY THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS ARE IN ALL CAPS. I arrived late to the meeting near the end of comments by Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin. Comment from Mary Fallin: Maybe this needs to be part of
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Nebraska Loves Our Public Schools (nelovesps.org) is a project of The Sherwood Foundation, which: …has embarked on a campaign designed to instill pride in Nebraska public schools among various constituents. From parents to lawmakers, taxpayers to those considering a move to the state. We want everyone to know about the good work taking place throughout
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This podcast includes a twenty-three minute excerpt of the Studio46 Podcast from May 13, 2011, published by the Edmond Sun newspaper and Oklahoma Christian University. Dr. Brian Bush, Executive Director of Oklahoma Christian’s Academy of Leadership & Liberty in Edmond, is the host of the Studio46 podcast and interviewed Wesley Fryer for the final portion
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Podcast379: Discussing Education Reform & High Stakes Testing in Oklahoma on the Studio46 Podcast [ 30:19 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (2095)
Back in August of 2006 I created the blog “Eyes Right” as a Christian team blog where I (and others) could share posts related to Christianity and our walks of faith. Since that time, I’ve generally shared posts focused on religious, spiritual, and specifically Christian topics there rather than here on my main blog, “Moving
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The following 54 second video is not only an effective marketing message for the July 30th “Save our Schools” march in our nation’s capitol, it’s also a poignant reminder that as citizens we need to stand up and take action on behalf of students as well as teachers in our public schools. Here’s to the
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It’s National Teacher Appreciation week. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s “Open Letter to America’s Teachers” includes not only praise for our nation’s educators, but the first hint I’ve read to date that he recognizes (and maybe even wants to address) some of the fundamental flaws in NCLB and our overall, dominant paradigm of high
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The top CNN headline today, on May 2, 2011, is the death of Osama Bin Laden at the hands of U.S. special forces. The following detail from the article about his killing and death likely raises questions in the minds of many: Bin Laden’s body was later buried at sea, an official said. Many Muslims
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