Category Archives: Reflection

The Purpose of Education


Today’s post is my contribution to an ongoing project organized by purpos/ed, “a non-partisan, location-independent organization aiming to kickstart a debate around the question: What’s the purpose of education?“  I am honored to have been invited to contribute my response to this question by purpos/ed co-founder Doug Belshaw. WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF EDUCATION? The [...]

Dr. Lange’s Diaspora Question


In the current edition of the National Association of School Psychologist’s [NASP] Communiqué, Dr. Stephen Lange has an editorial entitled, “Is There a School Psychology Diaspora?” (read the full text here).  Though the piece asks more questions than it answers (rarely a bad thing, in my mind), it struck a chord with me in terms [...]

Easy Come, Easy Go


I get a lot of mailings (of both the snail and electronic varieties) from for-profit educational companies companies that sell educational education-related materials and workshops; I imagine they get my address from one or more of the many professional organizations of which I am a member.  While I normally relegate these brochures and catalogs to [...]

Unsolicited Advice: Get Out of Your Classroom


I don’t mean permanently, of course (unless you want to).  I mean for a period, or an hour, or a day here and there, to see what else is happening in and around your school. I’ve been sitting on this half-written post since December of 2009, according to WordPress.  No real reason why I never [...]

Quick Thoughts on Leadership


I recently had occasion to answer this question in writing: What characteristics define an excellent administrator? Bearing in mind I had to keep my answer concise, here’s what I came up with: When I reflect upon the excellent administrators with whom I’ve worked, they have all possessed a few common core characteristics: Students come first: [...]