As this year’s election nears, I remember the early years of being a teacher. During election season, I remember how often veteran teachers in my building would talk politics in the teachers’ lounge. I am a social studies teacher by certification and a political junkie by nature, so I always appreciate political discussions. The discussions [...] Continue reading → Despite the fact that Ohio did not place in the top 20 on Forbes’ list of America’s Greenest States (we came in a dismal 39 out of 50 in 2007), or that there are no Ohio cities that made the top 50 list of greenest cities in America, according to Popular Science (2008), Ohio schools [...] Continue reading → Districts, classroom teachers, and families have been forced to cut back on spending year round. What does that look like during the “Back-To-School” shopping season? For districts, the next school year actually begins before school lets out for the summer. Budgets must be determined and supplies must be ordered. For many schools, it is a [...] Continue reading → I am encouraged that the House of Representatives has passed emergency legislation that may save 100,000 education jobs around the country, even though it is estimated 300,000 jobs are at stake. The bill now goes to the Senate. Unfortunately, pundits like Charles Lane of the Washington Post, think this “scary” number was pulled out of [...] Continue reading → As this summer began I was excited to start up with my summer reading. It seems during the school year there is never enough time or energy to read an entire book. As I hit Border’s during the second week of June, I quickly decided on the 10th Anniversary Edition of The Freedom Writers Diary [...] Continue reading → Having attended the American Library Association (ALA) annual conference and Library Advocacy Day in Washington, DC, this past week, I was disheartened to read a recent AP story on my return home by Donna Gordon Blankenship, “Libraries Fading as School Budget Crisis Deepens.” She describes in detail how school systems all over the country are [...] Continue reading → Compare the state report cards of charter and public schools in the same city, Youngstown for example, and the numbers don’t lie. Charter schools, by and large, do not educate students any more effectively than public schools in the same district. OEA research bulletin, October 2009, Dayton Daily News, 8/21/09 and 2008-2009 Ohio Department of [...] Continue reading → A study released Tuesday by Mathematica Policy Research Inc. about a Chicago program that contains performance-based compensation for teachers, shows no evidence that the program boosted student achievement on math and reading tests, compared with a group of similar schools that did not use the performance-based compensation system, Education Week reported. The study also found [...] Continue reading → One of those countless Friday after-work discussions we have with our teaching colleagues has stuck in my mind for the past year. “We’re the only profession in the world,” stated a fellow teacher, “where we are judged not by how we perform, but by how other people perform.” That stopped me in my tracks. Usually [...] Continue reading → Mason City Schools in Mason, Ohio is annually recognized as one of the top public school systems in the State of Ohio. The District earned the state’s top ranking for the past 10 years—most recently Excellent with Distinction. Mason consistently ranks in Ohio’s Academic Top 10– placing 6th out of 613 Ohio school districts this [...] Continue reading → 