Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Under Her Watch, This State’s Schools Saw Some of the Fastest Improvement
Under Her Watch, This State’s Schools Saw Some of the Fastest Improvement in the Nation As state superintendent of education from 2013 to 2022, Wright led the Mississippi Department of Education as schools in the nation’s poorest state caught up to the national average in 4th grade reading and math after long lagging the rest…
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To End Discipline Disparities Affecting Students of Color
To End Discipline Disparities Affecting Students of Color, Challenge the Status Quo What are strategies schools can implement to reduce and eliminate disparities in discipline affecting students of color? This series serves as a sort of “Part Two” to a previous series guest-edited by Terri N. Watson, Ph.D. Those responses specifically focused on discipline disparities…
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The Best Ways for Administrators to Demonstrate Leadership
The Best Ways for Administrators to Demonstrate Leadership 1. Advice for Principals: Empower Your Teachers When principals develop partnerships with teachers, it helps them both. Read more. 2. Principals: Supporting Your Teachers Doesn’t Have to Be Such Hard Work Principals can show teachers they care by something as simple as a visit to their classrooms…
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Sage Advice From Veteran Teachers to Those New to the Classroom
Sage Advice From Veteran Teachers to Those New to the Classroom Meghann Seril, a national-board-certified teacher, serves as a 3rd grade teacher, new teacher mentor, and Teach Plus national senior research fellow. She was selected as a 2022 Los Angeles Unified school district teacher of the year: When I first started teaching, I had lots…
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Classroom Cellphone Use Is Fraught. It Doesn’t Have to Be
Classroom Cellphone Use Is Fraught. It Doesn’t Have to Be What are the best ways for teachers to handle situations where students are often using their cellphones in class for nonacademic purposes? Pre-pandemic, student cellphone use (for nonacademic use—I’ve always allowed my English-language-learner-students use it for translations) in my classes was a relatively minor problem.…
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NAEP Needs to Be Kept at Arm’s Length From Politics
NAEP Needs to Be Kept at Arm’s Length From Politics In a polarized time, everything tends to become political and reflexively stupid. Combating that requires a lot of things. A big one is reliable, respected facts. Well, when it comes to education, no facts are as reliable or respected as those produced by the National…
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To Combat Learning Loss, Schools Need to Overhaul
To Combat Learning Loss, Schools Need to Overhaul the Industrial-Age Paradigm The devastating picture presented by the National Assessment of Educational Progress has occasioned a lot of discussion about what it’ll take to overcome two years of pandemic disruption, which followed a decade of stagnant academic achievement. Well, Joel Rose, the CEO and co-founder of…
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11 Critical Issues Facing Educators in 2023
11 Critical Issues Facing Educators in 2023 For several years, I wrote a list of 10, 11, or even 15 critical issues facing education at the end of a year to give a glimpse into issues to consider for the following year. Then COVID happened and blew my last list of issues up. Why? Because…
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America’s Obsessed With Guns and Violence. And Schools Are the Target
America’s Obsessed With Guns and Violence. And Schools Are the Target I remember watching the events of Columbine play out after I left school that day. We didn’t have 24/7 access to the internet back then, so we watched it all unravel on the national news. It was not the first school shooting, as we…
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8 Ways COVID Has Changed Some Teachers Forever
8 Ways COVID Has Changed Some Teachers Forever One is the increased use of technology in my instruction. I do think I used it too much last year (and I believe students agreed). However, I’m confident that I’ll reach an equilibrium in the coming months and years that will balance providing students with enough non-screen…
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