Lizabeth smiled as our class sang “Happy Birthday” on her screen and beamed as she held up the new lamp she had received. After she told her parents about our class analysis of the solar system, they gave her a moon-shaped lamp for her birthday. I watched Lizabeth show...

You’ll see headline after headline out there telling school districts how they should go about their reopening plans. Many are prudent and thought out by experts, but they’re missing some really important things: parent engagement, input, and approval.  The Walton Family Foundation asked parents around the country what their priorities...

An important question a lot of people ask is: “How do we teach kids to read?” An important question we don’t ask enough is: “How do we teach kids to read independently?” We need to figure out the answer to the second question because it is undoubtedly, inextricably stitched into the...

Was I dreaming, or did the president of one of America’s largest teacher’s unions recently post in favor of school choice?  Randi Weingarten, the President of The American Federation of Teachers, has historically opposed the idea. But check out one of her latest tweets: Your demography does not define your...

Dear Pandemic Homeschooler,  Nobody in your family has done this before. Take a minute and take that in. It is back-to-school time and there are a lot of questions surrounding what that looks like for children. Many parents, after losing faith in their school system, are eager to explore homeschooling. So,...

Northern Cass School District in North Dakota has a story that’s familiar to many rural districts. Their graduation rate is high, and their students typically demonstrate above-average performance on state tests. However, it wasn’t until administrators began noticing that students’ skills weren’t transferring to the real world that Northern...

Full disclosure: I make it my pastime to hate on Democrats—and not because I'm Republican or Libertarian, in fact I don't hold any political allegiance. But I simply relish in pointing out the mere hypocrisy of it all. Democrats claim to uphold education but have long worked to block...

For our children, the last 18 months have been a daunting exercise in adapting to a “new normal” and dealing with the ever-present challenges of growing up amidst vast social unrest and uncertainty. As my son returns to the classroom, ensuring that his mental health is prioritized inside — and...

I have the privilege of speaking to a lot of parents. I recently made the switch from supporting teachers to supporting caregivers, opening a small business called The Community Classroom in western New England. I now spend my days listening to parents and caregivers talk about their questions and...

The power of choice and voice are human rights that intrigue us at Anne Frank Inspire Academy (AFIA). As an open-enrollment public charter school, we believe not only in the right to choose where your child attends school, but also in the right to maintain your voice. During the 2020–2021 school...