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...]
To Love Math, Kids Should Start Older And Encounter Its Beauty
Brought us by The Federalist: To Love Math, Kids Should Start Older And Encounter Its Beauty When are we ever going to use this?” Every math teacher (and every parent who has helped his child learn math) has heard this question more times than he cares to remember. In a new book out from Encounter in July, J. Jacob Tawney says we have been giving the wrong answer. Teachers often defend the mental strain required of math students by pointing to the ubiquity of math in our lives. They say things like, “You won’t always have a calculator and you’ll need to know how to do this,” or describe the high pay of careers in STEM fields. Not only are these answers completely unsatisfying to … [Read more...]
Stepping into the World of Teaching: A Guide for Aspiring Educators
Today's guest article by Emily Graham at MightyMom's. Emily shares her perspective on considering teaching as a career and avocation. Teaching is a profession that offers the unique opportunity to shape futures and ignite the sparks of knowledge and creativity in young minds. If you have ever considered stepping into the classroom as an educator, know that the journey requires a blend of passion, preparation, and adaptability. Preparing to become a teacher involves more than just acquiring the necessary academic qualifications; it encompasses gaining practical experience, developing crucial skills, and continually adapting to new educational methods and technologies. In this article, … [Read more...]
The Sabotage of Public Education
From an article published at American Thinker written by https://www.americanthinker.com/author/bruce_deitrick_price/ Genuine rigorous testing of educational ideas is rare in America. Why? Because practical testing usually goes against what the professors want to do. Their impractical ideas don't perform well in the real world. For example, Operation Follow-Through was the biggest, most systematic testing in American education, continuing for ten years, 1967 to 1977. This research showed absolutely that common sense, often called Direct Instruction, works best. Quite simply, that's where a teacher teaches, and students learn. Honest educators would say, okay, that's what … [Read more...]
Is memorization good or antiquated?
Growing up I was taught to memorize some thing such that I could explain, repeat and show I understood. Fast forward 50 years and today it seems like the movement has shifted to NO memorization. So, it memorization good, bad or makes no difference? We went looking for writing of others to see what we could find. We offer the following for your consideration. What say you? From a blog article at Successful Teaching from 2008: Memorization is Good for the Brain I have heard some fellow teachers argue that rote memorization doesn’t teach our students anything but I disagree. I think it is an important part of our learning process and should be encouraged every year. We learned to … [Read more...]
Why do tech leaders limit their children’s use of tech? What do they know we don’t?
The people who develop and sell technology for use in schools telling us how valuable and useful it is tell us: Technology will improve test scores in K-12. Technology will make every child equal in school. Technology will bring the United States into the 21st century so we can compete with the world. Technology will allow individualized education which will be better. Technology gives us more data so we can improve the educational experience. Technology gives instant access to knowledge. Technology prepares students for the future. Technology connects with students. Technology makes learning more fun ("gaming"). Technology helps save the environment by … [Read more...]
The three stages of learning: the Grammar stage, the Logic stage, and the Rhetoric stage
In today's busy world of education we have gotten to involved in computers, social emotional learning, positive behavioral intervention support, common core, ESSA...the list goes on and on and on... Those in charge of education have decided that the old ways are no longer valid or useful or appropriate as we wend our way into the 21st Century. But...is that really true? Can we still learn from the past and are there basics that can and should be part of our education foundation that have been pushed aside? We say yes. We reached out to Mr. Peabody and his Way-back-Machine and bring you this treatise on the best of the past that is still valid today. If you agree ask your local school … [Read more...]
WHAT Students Read Matters More Than You Think
From Intellectual Takeout - Daniel Lattier In today’s standards-based education system, the main focus is on teaching skills rather than content. There’s a prevalent idea that it matters less what students read just so long as they are reading. But according to E.D. Hirsch, professor emeritus of education and humanities at the University of Virginia, that’s bull. Some of you may know Hirsch through his famous advocacy of “cultural literacy”—the idea that some amount of “shared, canonical knowledge is inherently necessary to a literate democracy,” and that students in a particular culture should have common exposure to certain texts and concepts. But what you might not know is … [Read more...]
Do schools in Massachusetts perform better than Washington schools because they spend more money?
From a report at The Washington Policy Center - author is Liv Finne Key Findings Schools in Massachusetts perform better than Washington’s because of the way they spend public money, not because they spend more of it. Massachusetts provides parents with education choice. Massachusetts requires high school teachers to be certified in content knowledge. Massachusetts maintains high expectations for students in math and reading achievement. In Massachusetts, the state head of education is appointed by and accountable to the governor. In Massachusetts 60 percent of school funding is provided through local taxes. In Washington, due to court rulings, only 19 percent of … [Read more...]