Category Archive

It’s hard to resist the temptation to make a few New Year’s resolutions each year—resolutions that typically focus on something we want to change to improve ourselves. We look to people we admire for their success (whatever that might mean to us—popularity, wealth, fitness, power, balance) for our inspiration. Rarely do we contemplate that a role model’s current success may … Read More

I love reading. I love the feel of a book in my hand and seeing the ink stains from combing a newspaper from front to back. The end of summer makes me a little sad that I won’t have the extra moments to squeeze in one more novel, journal article, short story, or blog. I can’t imagine my world without … Read More

States across the country are facing tough decisions about education expenditures in the face of declining revenues and increasing budget shortfalls, North Carolina is no exception. On Tuesday, N.C. Governor Bev Perdue announced that tax revenues collected on April 15 were $1 billion short of what is needed to get North Carolina through the current fiscal year, which ends June … Read More

A flower garden in the park has a total of 80 daisies. 30% of the daisies are red, ¼ are yellow, 2/5 are purple and 5% are pink. How many of each color flower are in the garden? Do you find yourself immediately calculating 30% of 80? Did you start to draw a picture of daisies in a garden? Or … Read More

By Heather Sparks, 2009 Oklahoma Teacher of the Year Note: A National Board Certified Teacher, Heather Sparks teaches math at Taft Middle School in inner-city Oklahoma City. The school serves some 850 students in grades 6 through 8, more than 90% of whom are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch programs. This is a story of hope. Three years ago, … Read More

Mary-Dean Barringer, CEO, All Kinds of Minds March has come to be associated with “madness,” particularly for NCAA basketball fans. We cheer for our favorite college team during the tournament, but we are enthralled by the unexpected Cinderella story. We love the team – previously overlooked or counted out – that surprises us all with stunning performances. In recent years, … Read More

By Katie O’Neal As part of the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which President Obama signed just last week, education stands to receive almost $115 billion.  This amount, which is staggering at nearly twice the amount spent on education in fiscal year 2009, reaffirms the administration’s campaign promises of a dedication to education funding. As the money is … Read More

by Katie O’Neal Join the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality’s TQ Connection January 19 – 23, 2009 as Jean Schumaker, PhD, former Associate Director of the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning, leads a week-long discussion on RtI:  Learning Strategies. We encourage you all to log on to www.tqsource.org/forum to discuss the knowledge and skills teachers must … Read More

by Katie O’Neal The commercials are now off the air, the yard signs are in the garbage and President-elect Obama prepares to take the oath of office on January 20, 2009.  While the economy and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will likely delay any significant changes in educational policy in the immediate short-term, many electoral changes will take place within … Read More