In our efforts to reduce class sizes in schools, we are missing a more important metric.Son Adam noted years ago in his school safety findings that there’s correlation between school size and school safety. A smaller school is more likely to be a safer school, irrespective of other factors in the community.Researchers have published a […]

At lunch today, I talked with a former professor about some of the issues that he sees with his students. This, by the way, is at Amherst. The students who get in there did so because they knew how to present themselves to their high school teachers and admissions boards. They knew how to win.Many […]

Bill Cosby talked about how the grown-ups “improved” the playground by adding monkey bars and other malevolent inventions that were deemed fun for kids. He vowed never to play on any playground equipment that he didn’t see adults using.He tried the merry-go-round once. “You sit on it and three of your friends push you around […]

The Brits have a dessert that’s tasteless in both senses of the word. Spotted Dick is, according to various sources, a boiled suet pudding with raisins or currants stuck to the outside. Serving the delicacy with custard doesn’t help much. It’s best to eat the sweet, dried fruit and then look for the dog to […]

How do you talk to your kids about big hard subjects? You talk to them. Then, you give them something to do about it.Kids know and feel a lot about troubles in the world. They might not always know the details of the problem, but they know something isn’t right. They might think it funny […]

UMass offers online undergraduate and graduate programs. To learn about the programs, you need to fill out a form and select the program(s) that interest you before you can download a brochure.The form lists several programs, including some with long names that are truncated by the form window. Too bad. I was wondering what a […]

Last week’s Technology in Education conference left me with a couple of ideas to ponder: There are a lot of good people on the front lines of education, teachers and administrators. They have the smarts and commitment to do great things. They’re creating lots of small successes, even in small, rural school district where bandwidth […]