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Now the College Board tells us what we instinctively kinda, sorta knew already--the US lags in college graduation rates--when compared to other countries. We used to be the world leader in education. And, we all know that education is key to our continued growth and success in the coming years. So this is a worrisome report. (US, once leader, now lags in college graduation). What to do? Some say, OK--leave it. We don't need to be # 1 forever. I don't agree. I believe we need to [...]

(Massachusetts debates joining the national standards). Massachusetts has been touted as having among the best standards in the U.S. So now, the move is on to join the 'national standards.' A hot, hot controversy in the Bay State. Will this move lower the standards? Essentially bring an end to the MCAS test? Raise the standards? Have no effect really? It's hard to know what's right on this issue. I have not read through the proposed standards. My question is whether the state [...]

(Letter about hiring special educators, according to Globe article of July 11) Check it out! Your thoughts? The letter and article generated lots of on-line comment.

The Boston Globe published my letter that they titled, “Better Ed, not special ed.” It’s about hiring more regular educators to beef up regular education as a way to improve learning for all, rather than just hiring special educators.  http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/letters/articles/2010/07/14/better_ed_instead_of_special_ed/

John Merrow's new book, Below C Level--How American Education Encourages Mediocrity and What We Can Do About It cites Miriam and the Fixing Special Education--12 Steps to Transform a Broken System book!

I'll be speaking at the MASS conference (Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents) in Mashpee! Topic: Fixing Special Education and its Ethical Dilemmas. Come join us!

(Teaching jobs in special education, but not other fields). I read this article with great sadness. The trend is leading education in the wrong direction. The way to improve special education is to improve regular education. We need to add more teachers--especially at the early grades to teach students how to read and do math (and never need special education.) Sadly, however, this is not happening. The trend is not a good sign. We cannot continue to grow the special education [...]

( AFT now has more than a million and a half members). More union members? Better education? You decide.

(Diane Ravitch's education ideas in historic context). Is it, as the French say, "Plus la change, plus la meme chose"? That is, the more things change the more they stay the same. We have worked on education reform for the better part of the 20th, and now, the 21st century. Ravitch envisions the worst case scenario: higher test scores and worse education. Since the early 1900's, have we made progress? Where do we go from here? As I said, a good Sunday read.

(Study: too much self esteem in teens). We saw this coming. The self esteem movement has run its course, I hope. The best book I've found on these issues is Carol Dweck's Mindset. There are two types of mind sets: fixed mindset (which gets praised for being smart, pretty, athletic, etc) and growt mindset (which gets praised for effort, working hard, trying, succeeding, etc). Too much praise in high schools comes from the fixed mindset, so that when kids in college actually get a [...]