In case you’ve been living under a rock, 2020 presidential candidate Bernie “#TheRevolution” Sanders made waves late last week when he announced his plan to ban for-profit charter schools. It landed with a resounding thud among parent and educator activists who view charters as a solution for increasing high-quality schooling options for Black and Latino children in urban areas. To…
Category: Featured Stories
So You Really Wanna Know What’s Wrong With Ed Reform?
It seems like every week I come across another article that tries to point out where “school reform has gone astray.” Many of them are penned by teachers, angry and confused by the adoption of charter school laws and rapid changes to their state’s accountability systems. Others are written by reform-minded folks with legitimate concerns about the direction that the…
I Am ‘Just A Teacher’ And Proud Of It.
OK, so here’s this embarrassing thing I did recently. I kinda promised myself I would never admit this to anyone, so please don’t tell. It was my friend’s birthday, and my friend is this super impressive person who has been elected to office and whose friends are all impressive people that help people get elected to office and have job…
Kentucky’s Getting A New Teacher of the Year. Their Job Is Going To Be Tough.
If you follow my site regularly, you’ve probably noticed that I don’t talk about myself very often. I’m an issues guy — I focus my writing pretty squarely on the policies and practices in Kentucky that impact equitable outcomes for our children, and I try to use my platform here to discuss how we can fix the obstacles that hinder…
How One Program Is Fighting To Solve Teacher Shortages In Rural Schools
Last April, when I was invited on to the Rural Matters podcast to talk with former Assistant Education Secretary John White, I argued that the recruitment and retention of high-quality teachers is at the heart of inequities in rural schools. Communities like mine have major shortages of high-quality science and math teachers, and in many cases, schools have to rely…
Spilling The Tea with Tyler Murphy
We’re back with another Q&A session, this time with Lexington’s Tyler Murphy. He made waves by winning his race for Fayette County Board of Education last fall, and he’s continued to make a name for himself as an education and equity advocate since then. Enjoy! Garris: Hey Tyler! Thanks for joining us. For those who may not know you well…
We Have To Set High Expectations For Our Kids, But Getting It Right Is A Pretty Tough Balancing Act.
I’m going to be honest with you. If you’re a teacher too, then my version of “high expectations” might not look like yours. We know that high expectations are the goal, of course, but knowing what they look like is a lot tougher than we may realize. Let me clarify a few things about my own expectations so you’ll see…
4 Ways We’re Getting The Teacher Shortage Crisis All Wrong
The end of the school year is approaching, which means that principals are pulling out all the stops to recruit new hires and fill those hard-to-staff positions. After all, there’s a major teacher shortage across the country, so schools need to act fast to pick up any solid free agents they can find. Just like pro sports, am I right?…
Coal Helped Shape Our Rural Community’s Schools. Now, Everything Stands to Change.
My family roots have been here in Muhlenberg County for as long as I can remember. This is coal country, and for decades, local mines and industries like TVA have provided economic security in a community where not many other opportunities exist. The mark that coal has left on our local school system is indelible. In addition to providing jobs,…
There’s An Obvious Way To Improve Teaching Quality, But Getting There Won’t Be Easy
As conversations on school quality rage on, the authors of a new study from Education Next tackle a question that seems so obvious, you would never think to ask: “Do smarter teachers make smarter students?” Based on research in math and reading performance across 31 different countries, it appears that they do, and the relationship is much stronger than some…