Education Needs a Radical Change

Andrew’s work promoting the benefits of exceptional Montessori like many of us will lead to more children everywhere have access to publicly funded Montessori.

Educating Innovators, Entrepreneurs and Global Citizens

  Education Needs a Radical Change

After recently watching a film about the life of Jane Goodall, and then reading a recent interview with her, I was struck by her stark observations regarding the state of our planet – in terms of climate change, the disappearance of species, the destruction of forests, the melting glaciers, the pollution of the oceans, the desperate plight of refugees – and the fundamental question about us as humans that all these developments raise.  Jane Goodall said, “The crazy thing is the biggest difference between us, chimps and other creatures is the explosive development of the intellect. So how come the most intellectual creature ever to walk the planet is destroying its only home” She goes on to say, we’re putting economic development ahead of protection of the environment. We’re forgetting we are part of the natural world. We depend on it. And we’re…

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The Real Reading Debate and How We Fail to Teach Reading

The success of any type of education is dependent on child’s lives outside of school from the time they are born. Providing supports that embrace children and partners with families of all backgrounds benefit everyone.

dr. p.l. (paul) thomas

Sometimes cliches hit the nail on the head: It’s deja vu all over again.

Sometimes hackneyed metaphors paint the best picture: When you find yourself in a hole, keep digging.

And that brings us to the “science of reading” version of the Reading War.

Here, I want to address the often misunderstood real reading debate as well as outline how there has been a historical failure in teaching reading that continues today.

First, let’s clarify some facts about reading.

For over a century, measurable reading achievement (test scores) has been mostly correlated with socio-economic factors (the students home, community, and school) and not significantly correlated with how students are being taught to read.

In that same time period, there has never been a moment when the U.S. hasn’t declared “reading crisis.” And as a result of this myopic view of reading achievement, the U.S. has a…

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School Reforms That Are Persistent and Admired But Marginal (Part 4)

Montessori’s growth is somewhat complicated but for it to spread now, it needs to be more recognized and included in teaching degrees everywhere so that more educators understand its approach.

Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Every school reform is a solution to a problem. How a problem is identified (e.g., unilaterally, multilaterally) and who does the framing of it (e.g., policymakers, practitioners, parents), of course, matters. The cartoonish superintendent (or elected official) sees the problem in test scores declining the longer students are in school. His solution: allow 3 year-old toddlers to start school.

Poking fun at the screwy logic of this solution to an identifiable and well-known problem is easy to do. What’s harder is to figure out amid the never-ending flood of school reforms past and present, why some are adopted by districts but stayed mired in a protected corner of the system. And other adopted reforms spread to all schools in a district.

District officials are on the look out constantly for reforms that solve problems they face in school governance, organization, curriculum, and instruction. But these niche-based adopted programs (e.g., charters…

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School Reforms That Are Persistent And Admired But Marginal (Part 3)

Grateful for Larry Cuban’s recognition of Montessori education as persistent and admired!

Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Who am I quoting here? Hint: Quotes come from person born in the 19th century.

If education is always to be conceived along the same antiquated lines of a mere transmission of knowledge, there is little to be hoped from it in the bettering of man’s future. For what is the use of transmitting knowledge if the individual’s total development lags behind?

The ancient superficial idea of the uniform and progressive growth of the human personality has remained unaltered, and the erroneous belief has persisted that it is the duty of the adult to fashion the child according to the pattern required by society.

If you guessed John Dewey, you were wrong. The quotes come from Maria Montessori (1870-1952).

Born in Italy, Montessori became a physician –one of few women to do so at the time. In 1906, she was appointed as head of the Casa Dei Bambini where she…

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