Cain's Corner

Preparing Learners For A Different World I highly recommend reading  Eric Sheninger's  new blog post "Preparing Learners for the Fourth Industrial Revolution"   .  In the post, Sheninger shares why schools must to change to prepare learners for anything, not just for something. That something in education has been the phrase "college and career ready". We need to move beyond the buzz words. Are college and career important? Sure. It's also myth in 2018 that all high paying careers require a 4-year college degree. The skills learners need to enter into the global workforce today are far different from those required of my graduating class in 1996. Read this report: Automate This "Building The Perfect 21st Century Worker to gain a greater picture of the skills learners need to enter today's workforce.  Employment growth has been fastest in jobs requiring more critical thinking and computer skills and slowest for jobs requiring the physical ...

Thoughts on Teacher Walkouts If you are not a reader of the blog of Jefferson County (CO) Public Schools Superintendent Jason Glass, I highly recommend it. This evening Jason wrote a thoughtful and informative blog on the walkouts of teachers here in Colorado. I responded to his post and wanted to share my responses here.  For me the walkouts certainly have financial aspects (ex. teacher pay, per pupil funding). They also have have climate and culture aspects created by the brand of Education "reform" that's dominated Colorado since the passing of SB 191 in 2010. In my response I addressed both. I'd be curious to hear from you -- how has "reform" impacted you positively or negatively where you live and work?  Response 1 Hello Jason, Thank you for the informative post. I’m in agreement with our educators on the financial aspects behind teacher walkouts across our state. I’ll share some additional financial information in my initial respons...

PLC's, CFA's and DDI, Oh My! There are schools across the country that are struggling to increase student growth and achievement. Many schools here in Colorado and across the country fall into the category of showing high student achievement, but low student growth. At the heart of this issue is teachers using data to inform instruction. In schools with low growth and declining student achievement, why are teachers not using data-driven instructional practices to inform instruction and close skill gaps quicker for students? I call this playing "small ball". You need to know your learners to grow your learners.  Identifying skill gaps and intentionally planning to close them accelerates both growth and achievement. Paul Bambrick-Santoyo (2012, pg. 23) writes, “effective instruction is not about whether we taught it. It’s about whether students learned it.”  Teachers and schools often fall into the trap of asking, “did we teach it” as oppose...