A march for: Equitable funding for all public school communities. An end to high stakes testing for student, teacher, and school evaluation. Curriculum developed for and by local school communities. Teacher and community leadership in forming public education policies

The latest results from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) are public, and already some pundits are declaring it “a Sputnik wake-up.” Others shout back that international comparisons aren’t valid. Rather than wade into that debate, I’d rather look more closely at the questions in the PISA test and what student responses tell us about American education. You can put international comparisons aside for that analysis. Are American students able to analyze, reason and communicate their ideas effectively? Do they have the capacity to continue learning throughout life? Have schools been forced to sacrifice creative problem solving for “adequate yearly progress” on state tests? PISA provides some answers to those questions and offers an insight into the type of problem solving that rarely turns up American state testing. Here’s a sample PISA question that gives some insights into what American students can (and cannot) do.

I’m pleased to have been invited by the educators at the Smithsonian Institution to do a guest blog post using museum resources. I was attracted to the Smithsonian Bicycle collection because the images could be analyzed by students without a great deal of background knowledge. Students can use historic photographs of bicycles to answer critical thinking questions focused on the theme of continuity and change.
Analysis – What patterns do I see in the bicycles – construction, design, features, uses? What elements do they share in common? How do they differ?
Evaluation – In my own judgment, what elements are changing? Which are staying the same? 
Creating – What have I learned about continuity and change in the history of the bicycle? How can I represent what I’ve learned to share with others?

I’ve been invited by the folks at the education department at the Smithsonian to do a guest blog post. I have an idea for a document based question (DBQ) that explores the historic perspective of continuity and change. I thought I’d “crowdsource” my idea to my readers for some feedback.

I worked with a talented group of teachers and administrators from Helena – West Helena School District in Arkansas. We put the finishing touches on plans for a new ninth grade academy. Here’s our planning guide, mission and key features.