Madison, WI is in SOUTHERN Wisconsin,  Like only about 50 miles from Illinois.  By comparison, it is 300 miles from Madison to Ashland on the state's northern border.  Still, it was 19 degrees last Friday morning in Madison.  I have no idea what the temperature was in...

Your trusty and ancient blogger will be AWOL for several days as I head for the frozen tundra of Madison, WI,  The purpose in going is to attend a meeting of the Wisconsin Public Education Network Dec. 7. This is basically a collation of local public school advocacy...

That's right.  $50 million. California elects their state superintendent of education (which makes no sense to me) and when all the counting was over in a hotly-contested race, state legislator Tony Thurmand defeated former charter school exec, Marshall Tuck. As...

While some may call me Scrooge, I can not remember the last time I shopped for a Christmas gift for someone.  I mean like where you buy something, wrap it up and give it to them. It's because I long ago decided that those who mean the most to me basically have about...

Sometimes I wonder if educators read this blog.  But then I post a story like this one and I have my answer. Suddenly my inbox is swamped as educators from every corner of Alabama chime in to agree with me.  Their frustration with the constant search for a "silver...

A friend recently told me about something that grabbed my attention.  And made a great deal of sense. She called it "initiative overload."  Meaning that we bombard educators with first this initiative and then that one.  The poor folks in classrooms and who runs...

It's not unusual to hear a teacher refer to a school as "sweet."  Now I'm not for sure exactly what they mean, but I certainly believe it is a compliment. So in keeping with this description, I definitely think Bear elementary in Montgomery is a "sweet" school. ...

Sometimes you are just dumbfounded.  Like when you read this amazing AL.com article about what just happened at Parkside school in the east end of Cullman County. It began when some teachers at the school birthed the notion to redo their rooms as Hogwarts-themed...

Like most folks, I will pay attention to all the political races on the ballot Nov. 6th, but I have more than passing interest in three Senate races and two House races. Three of them feature young, bright women running for office for the first time.  All are...

My buddy Shannon Odom is principal of Gilmore elementary in Jackson and has been for a number of years.  She and her cohort in crime, Kathy Spidle, principal at Grove Hill elementary, keep Clarke County superintendent Larry Bagley on his toes. I kid Shannon that her...

In the grand scheme of national affairs, or even those of Alabama, the PTA meeting at Vaughn Road elementary in Montgomery on Oct. 9 didn't make news of any sort.  Fox News was not there, nor even a local TV station or newspaper reporter.  Just some dedicated teachers...

The highest national honor a school can attain is being named a Blue Ribbon school by the U.S. Department of Education.  Honorees have just been announced.  Nationally there were 300 public schools and 49 non-public. Alabama had five public schools  Arab elementary in...

Of all the blunders former state superintendent Mike Sentance made (and there were many), none looms any larger than his decision to hire Jason Taylor to supposedly "straighten out" finances for the Montgomery school system. As we've said before, Taylor was the Chief...

Raise Your Hand Texas is a public school advocacy group based in Austin.  Among the many things they are involved in is an on-going effort to tell the story of today's schools and what teachers are asked to cope with. As they say: "Being an educator in today’s schools...

When then state superintendent Mike Sentence took over the Montgomery County school system early in 2017 one of his first moves was to sign a three-year. no-bid contract for $708,000 to bring Huntsville City school's Chief Financial Officer, Jason Taylor, to...

One  of the highest recognitions a high school senior can receive is becoming a National Merit Scholarship semi-finalist.  The current group of Alabama students to gain this honor has just been announced.  There are 215 of them, from both private and public schools....

Rube Goldberg is a name that will sound vaguely familiar to many of you--but you don't know why. Goldberg was born in San Francisco in 1883 and though he graduated from the University of California with a degree in engineering, he gained fame as a newspaper...

Yes, sometimes life takes twists and turns that we never would imagine. Exhibit A is the fact that just after noon today (Aug. 31) I was sworn in as a member of the Montgomery County school board for District 2.  This is the seat I ran for earlier in the year and lost...

Our friend and former longtime state department of education employee Tracey Meyer recently visited the Russellville city school system in northwest Alabama.  She was super impressed at the work she saw of superintendent Heath Grimes and West Elementary principal...

Fifty elementary schools throughout the state had lots of smiling faces this past week when it was announced that each would receive $20,000 because of improved third-grade reading results.  Funding was provided by the legislature in the 2018 session.  A ceremony will...

Being alone for the better part of each day gives me plenty of time to think about all kinds of things.  Something I have pondered a lot is what is "education" supposed to be.  And I go back to my own days in grade school and high school.  (Yes, it's been a long time...

Tragedy hit one of Montgomery's most celebrated schools when fire consumed the building housing the cafeteria, counselor's office, photo studio, art studio, broadcast media, library and a number of classrooms Friday night, August 18 at Booker T. Washington magnet...

I spent 30 minutes in the reception area of a middle school somewhere in Alabama yesterday.  It was basically bedlam.  Pre-schoolers scooting to and fro, mamas frantically looking for info about which school their child is supposed to attend, the phone ringing off the...

Sudan McKim works for the state department of education in Montgomery.  And on the first day of school each year she volunteers to work at a school.  This year she went to Garrett Elementary. Here is her account of the day.  She does a great job of reminding us that...

A few days ago we mentioned that Tracey Meyer, longtime ALSDE employee who worked to keep up with legislative happenings, had begun a blog to highlight many of the positives about Alabama public schools. In order to keep up with what she has to say, you can go to this...

Earlier in July we celebrated the signing of the declaration of independence.  A document written by men worthy of being called “leaders” far more than those we now see every day on cable news.  Men who sought Divine Guidance instead of wondering how many follow them...

I suppose it is only natural that when you realize you have far more yesterdays than tomorrows, you spend a lot of time thinking about the paths you have traveled in life and the people who made an impact on you. I graduated from high school in 1961 and headed off to...

Ted Dintersmith made a LOT of money as a venture capitalist.  And because he has two children he became very interested in education in this country.  He has spent a lot of his time and money exploring what we are doing, both right and wrong.  He has looked at schools...

Tracey Meyer is a familiar name to many in Alabama education circles.  She worked at the state department of education for almost two decades and for years was the "go to" person in working with the legislature.  She did an excellent job of tracking legislation and...

School bells will soon ring across Alabama and teachers are working hard to get their classrooms ready for a new batch of smiling faces.  (And some who may not be smiling.) Seems that every few days I get an email from these folks encouraging me to help a teacher...

My involvement with public education began in 2008 when Owen Sweatt, Gerald Carter and I set out to study ten high-performing rural elementary schools around the state.  Since all were high-poverty, we wanted to find out why they were doing so well academically in the...

Ten years ago I plunged into the world of K-12 public education.  It's been a remarkable journey.  I've met amazing people who have become dear friends. None more so that Marha Peek, who retires the end of June as superintendent of the Mobile County school system, the...

The Raise Your Hand Texas Foundation, a non-profit organization working to strengthen public education, is sending 109 educators from Texas to attend weeklong summer institutes at the Principals’ Center at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. With this new...