Guest Thinkers

In a previous post, I commented on the perceptions of many K-12 educators that their school’s academic success is hostage to their student demographics. There’s another angle to this – […]

I’m on a search for administrator blogs and/or podcasts, particularly those that are using such tools to communicate about school / district issues to their communities. Anyone know of any […]

Much conversation has occurred in the educational blogging community about DOPA. One of the arguments against DOPA that hasn’t popped up that much is the fact that the perceived problem […]

My local paper, the Star Tribune, had an article today on helicopter parents, those overinvolved moms and dads who hover closely around their children’s school, teachers, and/or administrators. Helicopter parent […]

Much attention has been paid to the value of teachers and/or students blogging. Today I kick off a week-long series of posts that discuss the potential value of blogging by […]

I was delighted to see Miguel Guhlin’s fictional response last week to Anne Davis’ draft letter requesting permission to use Flickr in a hypothetical school district. The brilliant part of […]

NACOL, UCCP, and Pepperdine University are co-sponsoring a regional online learning symposium in Los Angeles, California on October 11, 2006. The web site for the symposium states that the presentations, […]

Superintendents and principals are rarely the technology leaders in their organizations. As Director of CASTLE, I say this with both confidence and dismay. Here are a couple of quick examples […]

While browsing in Barnes & Noble last night, I ran across this quote from Joy at Work: The idea of servant leadership in K-12 education is nothing new. As with […]

A recent post by Kevin Carey at The Quick and the Ed highlights one of the essential dilemmas faced by those of us who are working desperately to improve students’ […]

In a previous post I noted that our technology leaders are rarely superintendents or principals, the individuals in formal positions of authority within school districts. So if our technology leaders […]

A few years back I did a nationwide study of district technology coordinators for NCREL, with help from CoSN and QED. Although our response rates were much lower than we […]

Most educators have a national association that advocates for the educational, work, and political interests related to their particular role in schools. For example, teachers have NEA and AFT, counselors […]

In conjunction with its fabulous annual conference, the Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) is hosting its first-ever educational technology research symposium. Accepted papers will be published on CD-ROM and in […]

We know – we know! – that sustainable success in schools never occurs without effective leadership. And yet, when it comes to digital technologies, our nation’s school leaders are sorely […]

One of the most important issues in K-12 technology right now is the lack of engagement of administrators who are in formal positions of authority. For example, you can go […]

Is anyone else tired of the constant struggle to get the federal government to invest in our nation’s future (hello, there’s a T in STEM!). I confess that I’m getting […]

Here’s a not-so-secret tidbit for you… If you think states and school districts are doing a poor job of preparing administrators to lead in this digital century, university educational administration […]

“In the long run, we’re all dead,” John Maynard Keynes once said in defense of his brand of economics featuring an array of short-term solutions. It seems like the state […]

It was an elegant accident of editorial timing: two major articles on post-traumatic stress (and the attendant increase in prescription pill use among members of our military), and a beautiful, […]

What is does the U.S. government actually do? Ezra Klein has an answer. Klein says that when you look at what the U.S. government spends its money on, it’s clear […]

To not even acknowledge the secular tones of the revolution takes a great deal of disillusionment or chutzpah on al-Qaeda’s part. 

Ok, since I clearly have some time tonight, I was going to post on the new communications bill and the second dust-up between the al-Ahmar boys and Salih loyalists, but […]

Too busy today (and possibly tomorrow) for a substantive post, but maybe I can sneak in a new Mystery Volcano Photo. If you recall last time, Chris Reykjavik nailed the […]

In discussing the latest books on technology, The New Yorker’s Adam Gopnik derides Clay Shirky’s utopian views as “history taken from the back of a cereal box.”

In much the same way Hosni Mubarak (former president of Egypt) constantly and consistently made the argument that he was the only thing standing between Egypt and a radical Islamic […]

There have been many things to blog about lately – Salih’s meeting in Amran with shaykhs from Bakil, even while the Hashid governor watched, Bakil.net’s mocking take on Tariq al-Fadhli’s […]

A new study suggests that lefties and right-wingers both accept only the pieces of science that support their values.

I eat out of bins too. So what? Freegans know the best use of leftover food is to eat it – why arrest a woman for picking up discarded waffles?

Regular readers may recall some of my despatches from the Maldives in the Indian Ocean last year. I had been asked to go there in order to meet with President […]