Part 1 of this article can be read at: Washington K–12 Education Needs a Return to Basics A 2026 Policy Proposal for Academic Mastery, Knowledge and Career Readiness THE PROBLEM Washington has adopted successive education reforms while academic performance remains a concern. The central question should be simple: Are students leaving school with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed? A modern K–12 system should not choose between basic academic knowledge and 21st-century competencies. Students need both. THE PROPOSAL Establish a statewide K–12 Return to Basics and Core Competencies Initiative built on one principle: Knowledge → Skills → Competency → … [Read more...]
Washington K–12 Education Needs a Return to Basics
Part 2 of this series can be read at: Washington K–12 Return to Basics and Core Competencies – A Reform Plan For more than two decades, American education has accumulated reform after reform: standards-based education, testing reform, personalized learning, social-emotional learning, project-based learning, competency-based education, technology integration and, most recently, artificial intelligence. Many of these ideas have merit. The problem is that reform has too often been additive. We keep adding new objectives without removing old ones or asking the most basic question: Are students actually learning what they need to know? Washington should begin answering that question with … [Read more...]
Some old-school ideas that worked
From an article at https://1819news.com/culture/jeff-minick-some-old-school-ideas-that-worked Recently I bumbled into the 1962 Spotlight, the yearbook for Boonville High School in Piedmont, N.C. I was in fifth grade that year, and the elementary school, which was on the same property and ran from first through eighth grade, was included in the album. My perusal left me a bit thunderstruck thanks to the differences between then and now. Integration and Consolidation Schools in the South were still segregated that year. Boonville’s black school was no more than a mile or two from ours. Desegregation would begin within three years. Schools in Yadkin County were not yet … [Read more...]
15 Failures of U.S. Public Education in 2025
This article claims there are 15 definable reasons why public education is in decline in the USA. Do you agree (we don't believe this is an accurate list but it's a place to start. Here's a link to the original article: 15 Failures of U.S. Public Education in 2025 Introduction American public education is at a crossroads. Once hailed as a global standard, the system today faces deep, structural problems that undermine its ability to deliver on its promise of equity and opportunity. From worsening academic performance to chronic underfunding, the failures of the American public education system are not isolated issues but interconnected challenges. In 2025, the stakes have never been … [Read more...]
The scary truth about how far behind American kids have fallen
From Harvard University: https://cepr.harvard.edu/news/scary-truth-about-how-far-behind-american-kids-have-fallen Students of all ages still haven’t made up the ground they lost during the pandemic. Sometimes, panics are overblown. Sometimes, older generations are just freaking out about the youngins, as they have since time immemorial. That’s not the case, unfortunately, with kids’ learning right now, more than four years after the pandemic shuttered classrooms and disrupted the lives of millions of children. The effects were seen almost immediately, as students’ performance in reading and math began to dip far below pre-pandemic norms, worrying educators and families around … [Read more...]
Private school observations
This was posted on Facebook by a teacher in private school. We are cross-posting the original. Ask these same questions in your home and see what happens. Carol silva denSosrpot4ma95ucl25 l15h5t :P7a257yMlM3751 14ua70a5i 5157mg · I teach at a $15,000/year private academy. Last Tuesday, I gave my 6th graders a simple quiz: Why is the ocean blue but water in a cup is clear? Twenty-four students. Not one of them could answer. These parents are paying for excellence. We're delivering expensive memorization. I've been in this classroom for 12 years. The parents who send their kids here are successful. They pay $15,000 a year because … [Read more...]
The New Face of Woke Education
Sold to parents and teachers as harmless programming for “emotional intelligence,” Social Emotional Learning (SEL) became – with the use of cloud-based technology – a centralized apparatus for values transmission that threatens the autonomy of future generations. Through SEL, collectivist propaganda now pervades modern classrooms, shaping your child’s worldview, click by click. What started small has become a dangerous subversion of the educational system aimed at surveillance, indoctrination and, ultimately, compliance with a globalist Sold to parents and teachers as harmless programming for “emotional intelligence,” Social Emotional Learning (SEL) became – with the use of cloud-based … [Read more...]
“Stupid In America” Turns 20
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/stupid-america-turns-20 Tylder Durden writes.... In January 2006, ABC’s John Stossel’s brutally honest documentary, “Stupid in America,” first aired. At the time, he referred to it as “a nasty title for a program about public education, but some nasty things are going on in America’s public schools, and it’s about time we face up to it.” Stossel exposed the ineffectiveness of many government-run schools. But now, 20 years later, things are even worse. Test scores from the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), released this year, show that 33% of 8th graders—a higher percentage than ever—are reading at the “below basic” … [Read more...]
Stop the Struggle: How Parents Can Make Homework Time Smoother
Todays article comes to us from 0ne of our regular readers...Emily Graham at www.mightymoms.net Evenings shouldn’t feel like a battleground. But for many parents, homework time—especially when it involves tricky subjects like language learning—brings tension, frustration, and exhaustion for everyone involved. The goal isn’t to become a substitute teacher or suddenly fluent in Spanish. It’s to create an atmosphere where your child can move forward with clarity, confidence, and calm. That starts with adjusting the environment, your involvement, and your expectations. Here’s how to do it—step by step. Keep it Predictable, Not Perfect Children focus better when they know what’s coming. … [Read more...]
Aussie Students Spend The Most Time In School, Polish Kids The Least
Ever wonder how much time kids spend in school...by country? Today's article sheds some light on the topic. From ZeroHedge and Tyler Deerdan. Students in OECD countries and economies receive an average of 7,604 hours of compulsory instruction during their primary and lower secondary education. However, as Statista's Anna Fleck shows in the chart below, a wide gap exists between countries, with students in Poland receiving an average of just 5,304 hours, compared to Australia where children must attend nearly double that at 11,000 hours. You will find more infographics at Statista In the United States, children spend 8,917 hours on average in compulsory classes across … [Read more...]
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