Marc Comtois
The national NEA’s Commission on Effective Teachers and Teaching published a report, “Transforming Teaching: Connecting Professional Responsibility with Student Learning,” (PDF) that lays out their vision for modernizing and reforming the teaching profession. The Commission laid out three guiding principles upon which the teaching profession should be based: Student learning is at the center of…
One of the most attractive aspects of imposing Mayoral control–vice school board oversight–via Mayoral Academies or the like is that it is a vehicle by which a school can start fresh by cutting through the red tape and other problems currently hamstringing innovation in our schools. Further, it puts one person–and a visible one at…
With the 70th Anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, it feels like the passing of an age is upon us. Fewer and fewer of those alive during those times–particularly those who fought–are still alive today. It seems the emotional resonance that past remembrances of the “day that will live in infamy” began to dampen…
First, they didn’t have Christmas Trees in 1663 Rhode Island, so the answer to the post title is “No.” I’m also pretty sure that, by now, as he looks down upon us, Roger Williams has gotten used to people calling upon his founding authority to help make the case against religion in the colony he…
In a GoLocalProv story that reiterates much of what I wrote about back in April, Russel J. Moore also explains the mess that Warwick’s pension system is in and also traces it back to then-Mayor Lincoln Chafee: Governor Chafee has been an outspoken advocate for municipal pension reform. But several of the issues in Warwick,…
If not for the determination of Sarah Hale, maybe we wouldn’t be stuffing ourselves, watching football and, um, actually giving thanks together, as a nation, today. It was she who wrote a letter to Abraham Lincoln urging him to call for a national day of thanksgiving. From Sarah J. Hale to Abraham Lincoln*, September 28,…
I’m hardly a regular consumer of celebrity culture, but the fact that Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis followed through with their promises to attend respective Marine Corps balls gives me hope that at least some of our contemporary Hollywood stars “get it.” By all accounts, both were good dates. Timberlake blogged about the experience and…
I mentioned reports that Senator Sheldon Whitehouse had apparently benefited from rules that make it OK for our Washington politicians to engage in what, in any other arena, would be considered insider trading. While Whitehouse continues to deny that he made the trades (instead, it was his financial adviser who did it for him), More…
If you haven’t already, take some time to watch the 60 Minutes piece on congressional insider trading. Taking the lead from work done by Peter Schweizer for his new book Throw Them All Out, the story delves into how so many of our elected officials manage to end up as millionaires after a few terms…
Celine Coggins, founder and CEO of Teach Plus, has some questions for 21st Century teacher union leaders. Please read carefully before assuming the worst (regardless of which “side” you are on the issue). What would it mean to put an emphasis on the New Majority? After almost a half-century of baby-boomers as the dominant demographic…