If you’re going to be in Ohio in June, there are two events that you cannot miss. The first of these is #edcampcle taking place in Cleveland on Saturday, June 14. Wondering what an edcamp is? Check this out from the website: What is an EdCamp? When people attend professional conferences, they often remark that the best parts are the spaces ...

Probably a subtitle more like: “Bravely going where no language arts teacher has gone before” might’ve been more appropriate. Our middle school language arts teachers have been on quite a journey this year, and we’re capping it off with our second joint meeting tomorrow (ALL 14 teachers from grades 6-8 at both MS buildings, plus an intervention ...

accountable  (əˈkaʊntəb ə l)-adj.1. responsible to someone or for some action; answerable 2. able to be explained Since the early 1990's (perhaps before, but I wasn't particularly concerned before then) both state and federal politicians have been calling for measures to ''hold teachers more accountable.'' Most of their ideas have lacked ...

I’m stuck tonight unable to sleep.  It seems dumb, but I cannot stop thinking about those HB555 changes.  I’ve got this image in my head of what the end of the 2014-2015 school year will look like in Ohio, and it’s a little something like this: We’re a year into holding kids back in third grade for the Third Grade Reading Guarantee.  Elementary ...

When all this teacher evaluation stuff started almost a year ago, I saw some benefits in restructuring to create more consistent expectations across the state. The 50% Performance Pieces 50% of the evaluation is based on performance, which is also tied to the Ohio Standards for the Teaching Profession (which are also similar to the Ohio ...

I am always thankful to Join the Future for finding news I miss. Check out this post on 11th hour changes to evaluations…Hope your district hasn’t spent massive amounts of money on creating SLOs yet….

In what must be the Common Core controversy flavor of the month, the most recent criticism of the Standards addresses the split of nonfiction to fiction texts at the secondary level.  Alarmist articles decrying the replacement of classic literature, such as The Catcher in the Rye, with instruction manuals are far off base from the language and ...

I’m at the Ohio Education Conference today–here’s the notes from Acting Superintendent for Ohio’s “Straight Talk” session. I love these informal conversational opportunities. Feel free to email questions if something in my notes is unclear… New IIS– Across state procurement processes are holding up the process. They are goin to initiate their ...

Which is the more noble task? Generating the idea or carrying it out?  Action without thought is ineffective, but thought without action is useless.  The dichotomy reminds me of James' warning in the Christian Bible's New Testament.  He reminded early Christians that ''faith without works is dead.'' For two millennia, Christians have debated the ...

ODE just released an RFP (“Request for Proposals”) from any local district (RttT and non-RttT) for alternative compensation plans. Proposals are due November 1 and must include: Each proposal shall include: A detailed description of the LEA’s current compensation system Evidence of the need for, interest in, and commitment to an alternative ...