School reform from the inside out

On August 24, the same date that Maryland was awarded 250 million dollars in Race to the Top funds to support bold education reform across the state, the Fordham Institute published a report analyzing  America’s Best (and Worst) Cities for School Reform.  Surprisingly, Baltimore received a “C” and was ranked 17th out of the 26 […]

Investing in education innovation

Two decades ago, a young Princeton University undergraduate student proposed an “audacious idea” as part of her thesis: to create a grassroots organization devoted to education reform by recruiting the best and brightest college students to teach in America’s most challenged classrooms. Today, Wendy Kopp is recognized by Time Magazine as one the world’s most […]

What are youth worth to the state: the creation of a generational glass ceiling

Since the beginning of time many groups have overcome situations where their advancement within the hierarchy of society was undermined. From women to racial groups, many have seemingly broken the “glass ceiling” looming over their heads. Yet I have a hard time believing teenagers facing the prospect of jail and prison as the only viable […]

Education goes 3D: the power of play

What makes a classroom different than a children’s museum? In many kindergartens today, children sit passively at their desk while teachers deliver the latest scripted lessons on vocabulary, spelling and addition—lessons sometimes dotted with classes in science and history. In children’s museums, these same students can be seen engineering bridges with tinkertoys, testing the force […]

Let’s get serious about play

Here’s my audacious idea: let’s show children just how seriously we take their education by making sure that every school has a least one adult whose job it is to make play happen. Let’s take play seriously. I don’t mean make it boring and regimented. Play is some of children’s most important work. The motivation […]

Investing in education

A lion’s share of the best and the brightest minds devote their energy into designing programs to capture students’ attention in order to improve their performances. The value of teaching facts and history, concepts and theory is understood; the challenge is weaving those elements into a format that imprints on the students, encourages retention, and […]

Informal science education enhances classroom learning

The chorus of proponents for increasing math and science education is getting larger and louder—and with good reason. Study after study indicates that as science and engineering (as well as almost every other part of our professional and personal lives) becomes more global, our students must have the education and skills to compete and to […]

Project Hope

A few years ago I mentored a young man who was 14 years old. He was in an alternative school, reading at a 2nd grade level, and performing math at a 4th grade level. The previous school year he had missed somewhere around 100 days of school for various reasons. He had a loose affiliation […]

Fostering greatness by honoring beginnings

We seldom miss the opportunity to celebrate an achievement, whether it is a good report card, an acceptance into a competitive school, or a school graduation. However, with less than 15 percent of Baltimore City School students graduating from college, too often these important milestones simply never happen. My audacious idea is that we celebrate […]

Open schools/lifelong learning

America has two kinds of schools: the first are well-equipped private and suburban public institutions or magnet/charter schools with inviting facilities where kids feel at home, feel known, and can grow in a nurturing environment. Having invested in their infrastructure, these “beacon” schools have a vested interest in staying open long after the school day […]