Blog

Curiosity is a driving force in all the biographies that Walter Isaacson has written. This is true as well in The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race. This curiosity is found in both the people Isaacson engages including Nobel Prize-winning scientist Jennifer Doudna...

By Christina M. Kishimoto, Ph.D. We know innovation comes from solving difficult problems. There is no more difficult problem today than figuring out how to educate 50.7 million students in our nation’s public education systems during a highly disruptive, global health pandemic. Prior to this crisis, we already had many...

Position: Association Support Specialist Overview Learning First Alliance (LFA) is a non-profit organization that provides a platform for national K-12 education groups representing teachers, administrators, parents, school board members, and school specialists to meet to support public education by promoting collaborative, empowering relationships among stakeholders. LFA is collegial environment that...

By Cody Patterson Hamilton County Schools (HCS) in Chattanooga, the fourth largest district in Tennessee, was one of thousands of public school districts left grappling with how to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. To maintain the continuity of learning, the district launched a School Reopening Task Force and worked furiously...

Three reports recently shared with the education community found strong support for public education, but schools are facing unprecedented demands in areas of learning loss, use of technology and connectivity, and cybersecurity. One survey that was conducted by the National School Boards Action Center (NSBAC) was designed to provide information...

By Ace Parsi and Tom Gentzel The frog in the pot of warming water does not jump until it’s too late. These days, the saying feels particularly applicable to the health of our democracy. Years ago, it would have been shocking to consider arson and insurrection as new norms in...

By Matthew Woods In the past year, school systems took dramatic measures to maintain students’ continuity of learning. Transitions to digital learning that would have taken months or years happened in weeks. New and improved WiFi networks were created, procedures for feeding remote learners were established, and resources for improving...

The COVID-19 pandemic has facilitated significant disruptions in student access to and retention of learning in the United States. The realities of decreased instruction time, the remote learning format, and limited opportunities for personalized interactions between teachers and students have created a recipe for “learning loss.” These risk factors are...

How do educators address the challenges inherent in teaching during a pandemic? This is a question I repeatedly asked myself as I began my student teaching experience in the fall of 2020. After careful reflection, I came to the conclusion that the following factors, from the policy level, would support...

While schools have been focused on the instructional and safety issues related to the Covid-19 pandemic, a new challenge has emerged: Students have missed getting their regular vaccinations for measles, smallpox, and other diseases. These are mandatory vaccines needed to enroll and attend public and other schools. New data from...