BackboneAmerica

Cool: I now recruit as well as teach. At my urging, the mother of one of our previous students became a substitute teacher (more…)

Why does the performance of 16- and 17-year olds stagnate in both reading and mathematics, amid a 40-year trend of rising academic (more…)

There’s a personal angle when I read a story like the one today about 20 colleges and universities asking the federal government (more…)

Heckuva week with grades due, service learning for a day, new students, training, ACT planning, substitute plans, coffee with a school board (more…)

It is too obvious why Secretary of Education Arne Duncan visited Denver public schools this week: to boost Michael Bennet, (more…)

“Sticks and stones can break my bones and words can really hurt me!” That’s my update on the old schoolyard saying (more…)

(Hilton Head, SC – Mar. 25) Once at the Comedy Club, sitting up front, the comedian asked me why I wasn’t laughing. “I’ll laugh when you say (more…)

Maybe I need to eat my words, or at least nibble them, when the Denver Post now informs us the DPS board and superintendent support (more…)

Running for a seat on the Colorado Board of Education almost two decades ago, I championed the idea of an accountability test. Little did I (more…)

I keep telling myself I like my job and love my students, but when the weather is mild, students’ behavior gets wild. And boy, could I use (more…)

State Sen. Nancy Spence, R-Centennial, is sponsoring SB-130, a pilot program for three charter schools serving autistic students. (more…)

“Charters fuel DPS growth,” said a Rocky headline this week. Why do public charter schools have waiting lists while (more…)

Colorado High School Charter, where I teach, has an amazing culture, says a former teacher who came back as our discipline coach (more…)

I miss Val. Val was an ornery girl when I first met her. I mistook her for a he because of her gender-bending style. But she kept me on my (more…)

In New York the teachers union wants to organize a couple of KIPP charter schools. That couldn’t be done in Denver without concessions (more…)