Tag Archives: Common Core

Teacher Professional Development Done Right

Today I have had the great pleasure of attending STEM: Innovation Forum 2015 in Portland, Maine. The forum was  sponsored by the Perloff Family Foundation, the University of Southern Maine, the Maine Community Foundation, and the Maine Space Grant Consortium. The forum was offered free of charge to educators in the state. The day-long program […]

My child – and yours – deserves an education equal to that of any other child in the state!

Education in the state of Maine is currently consumed by the transition to standards-based curriculum. In Maine, local districts are focused on creating graduation standards and aligning curriculum to those standards. Lots of time on the part of teachers, administrators, and school board members is being spent on this transition. We all know that time […]

Common Core shines light on Santa

 The Common Core should be treated by school districts as the draft of a guide for curriculum development rather than as a blueprint. During the next few years, as we try and implement the standards outlined in the draft, the need for revisions will become clear. Common Core standards for the early years of schooling, for […]

Bringing out the best in children

As I was walking down Church Hill today the potential of our nation torpedoed toward and then past me in the form of a vigorous 8 year-old girl. Her feet pounded the pavement, her wide golden eyes locked with mine, and then she was gone. “Who knows?” I thought. “Maybe that girl will do humankind […]

Half-baked Common Core

Some believe the Common Core will help improve education in this country; others do not.  Elizabeth Green, in Why Do Americans Stink at Math? falls into the latter category, and so do I. Even if we could agree that the standards of the Common Core were developmentally appropriate, worthy of implementation, and sensible in every way, it […]

Common Core Will Not Cure All

My chief criticism of the Common Core at this point is that it is being touted as a cure-all for our nation’s educational problems, but in fact it will not cure all. Mediocre teachers implementing the Common Core within the context of our current mediocre schools will only produce mediocre learning outcomes in students. What we […]

Principals Should Focus on Instructional Leadership

  Gordon Donaldson and George Marnik’s The Maine Principal Study reports that school leaders in our state devote relatively little time to initiating educational programs, evaluating curriculum, collecting student data, and other activities directly aimed at improving learning outcomes in students. The principal’s job is so demanding in other areas that it is challenging for […]