State Board of Education

We’re publishing early this week. The Reader will be on vacation but back again June 10.
Malcolm Gladwell writes about underdogs–in athletics and other settings–in a recent New Yorker article. He frames the discussion around a girls’ basketball team that made up for its lack of skill with effort (full-court press, all the time).
As you […]

Here is something to chew on while you read the rest of this post:
Is anyone willing to argue that achievement gaps were smaller before evil NCLB came along and messed us all up? Does anyone think that we were doing a fine job of meeting the needs of underserved populations before ‘the tests?’ Have we […]

Effective Leaders
Suburban school districts competing for students? Yes, through marketing to real estate agents.
Cars and school leadership: A story in this week’s isssue of The Economist focused on FIAT’s Sergio Marchionne, who appears to be positioned to take over Chrysler–and potentially GM’s Opel product line in Europe. Marchionne said the following about FIAT’s success […]

Since all of the weekly reader posts are organized around the foundational principles of the State Board’s Master Plan (effective leaders; effective teachers; rigorous, relevant curriculum; and sufficient resources), it made sense to compile selected resources around each of those areas. Here is a compilation of material to spur ideas about effective leadership in […]

On April 30, 2009, a rulemaking hearing was held regarding the proposed rule rule on isolation and restraint of students eligible for special education services (which is being promulgated as required by the legislature).
Comments were accepted through May 1, and then responses to those comments through the end of last week.
This PDF document […]

Rigorous, Relevant Curriculum
Making curriculum relevant through hacking. Beware, trying these in your local school district, instead of at MIT, might result in a suspension!
A video of a 21st century curricular philosophy, by Steven Hopper, a master’s degree student in educational administration at Iowa State. What transformative things are happening at your school?

To Meet […]

On April 30, 2009, a rulemaking hearing was held regarding the proposed rule being promulgated as required by 2008 Public Chapter 1063.
A summary of oral comments made at the hearing is below. At the bottom of the post are links to written comments received by May 1, 2009.
If you would like to respond to […]