Road Trips in Education
David B. Cohen is a veteran high school English teacher from Palo Alto, Calif., and former associate director of Accomplished California Teachers. When he was on sabbatical, he used the time to travel to schools throughout California and write a book about his experiences. Follow him on Twitter @CohenD. This blog is no longer being updated.
Teaching
Opinion
Atlanta Injustice Demands a Response
As a teacher, I do not tolerate cheating by my students, but I also take responsibility for creating assessment conditions that minimize cheating. Will any policy makers accept responsibility for the conditions surrounding the Atlanta test-cheating cases?
Teaching
Opinion
Libraries and Librarians: Essential to Thriving Schools
We still have to fight to keep libraries and librarians in our schools and municipalities.
School & District Management
Opinion
The Perfect Person for Imperfect Circumstances
Don't ask schools, students, or teachers to rise to your expectations of excellence if you aren't just as deep in the fight for their expectation of equity.
Teaching
Opinion
Speed Up and Slow Down
Living with the ambiguity, the occasional dissonance, and remaining positive - that's what the team seemed to have achieved, and modeled for the rest of the group.
Teaching
Opinion
Promoting Serendipity in Education Policy
Is it possible to craft education policy that takes into account the value of serendipity in learning?
Teaching Profession
Opinion
Making a Teacher of the Year
The stories that emerged demonstrated that great teaching involves not only content area and pedagogical knowledge, but also risks, resources, and relationships.
Teaching
Opinion
Why Employers Care What Workers Want
Teachers are often told that if we were employed in "the real world" then we'd have to adapt to competition and performance incentives. As it turns out, in the real world, the workplace sometimes adapts to the worker.
Education
Opinion
Are School Choice and Equity Incompatible?
It's difficult to argue against the concept of educational choices - but practices involving competition and profit-seeking will not advance the goal of building a strong and equitable public education system.
Teaching
Opinion
Learning That Lasts
I find myself wrestling with an idea that's mildly unsettling for my practice: maybe we teachers worry too much about knowledge.
Teaching Profession
Opinion
Teacher Leadership Drives Successful Turnaround
For years, I've been skeptical about federal policy relating to school improvement grants requiring the use of certain school turnaround models. Recently, I visited a high school that has me checking my assumptions after seeing the success of their turnaround effort.
Education
Opinion
California's Window of Opportunity
California has a chance to show how a state can dodge the supposedly silver bullets of weaker education reform efforts, and move towards meaningful structural changes that benefit students and schools.
School & District Management
Opinion
Education Investments Reflect Expectations
We say students should graduate from high school "college and career ready" - but what does it look like when a school really commits to student learning that lives up to that ideal?
School & District Management
Opinion
The Virtue of Reinventing the Wheel
One path to education innovation may be the reinvent-the-wheel approach. Because the wheel can be reinvented.
Education
Opinion
Duncan's Hammer: Test Scores
But then we see the typical Duncan flaw in the policy; testing data included where they don't belong, and the threat of reduced funding as a potential consequence for low scores.