EverbodyLuvsRaymondsEdBlog

Homelessness in the United States  Homeless and other destitute people in our communities will find themselves having to spend their Christmas and New Years holidays without the traditional celebrations they look forward to. Many people will not have enough money to put food on the table or buy gifts for their children. They may not even be able to afford the bus fare to get to their local shopping centres. This is the reality of life for many of our most vulnerable members of society. We are here to help. Christmas Appeal 2019 Our Christmas Appeal is a way for us to make sure that everyone who needs help gets it this year. We want to give people the gift of hope and help them get back on their feet. It is the time of year when I think about less fortunate folks. One thing that comes to mind is the homeless problem in the United States. When you look at the numbers, it's not like we are in the midst of a housing crisis but rather a homelessness crisis. Many people on the streets ha...

Why do standardized test scores matter in the classroom? People would like for you to think standardized test scores do not matter. Are they right, or are they wrong? I'll let you decide. Test scores allow us to determine educational gaps. Sometimes these disparities can be directly associated with race. Any opportunity to bring attention to discriminatory educational policy should be an opportunity that we should discuss frequently. Exposing system failures keep us honest, in my opinion. A failure to provide and monitor education safeguards can be a downright failure to protect those at risk. I'm not making this argument because I believe it is accurate or because I am trying to convince anyone of anything. I will make this argument because of the opportunity to debate and educate others about what we know is necessary to end discriminatory educational practices. The American Association of Colleges of Education (AACE) recently released its 2018 Annual Survey of Postsecondary ...

Academics are essential. At the end of 13 years, I want my kids to be literate and to be able to compute. Specific levers are out in place to ensure learning occurs. The two that come to mind are informal and formal assessments. At our school, we do what we call progress monitoring. There are a host of different systems that measure progress. We’ve found a particular liking to I-Ready. However, I distinctly remember fond experiences with NWEA/Map testing. Moreover, I know the backlash from focusing on standardized testing data alone. No school leader should ever use one data set to measure student progress. Data should be comprised in many ways, as no one snapshot can capture the culmination of how students learn and how teachers deliver instruction. But in a world where two things can be true, I’ll offer this conjecture. Many of these education systems are not capable of supporting the historically marginalized. One way to hold the system accountable is by opting into standardized tes...