Policies to Improve STEM Education: Focus on K-6

There is no policy that will have as significant or far reaching effects as one that would ensure that all students have a strong foundation of hands-on science and technical experiences, practice with logical and critical thinking skills, and a knowledge base of facts about the world around them.

Planning the Program for the E20 Summit

Blog Post at Luke Laurie’s Teacher Blog : http://lukelaurie.wordpress.com/ Teacher’s Network Leadership Institute Fellow, Policy Work for 2009-2010 The Einstein Fellowship 20th Anniversary Summit: Planning the Program Introduction: During the 2009-2010 school year I committed myself to engaging in policy work, rather than action research. My initial plan was to advocate for policies to improve STEM [...]

Educational Armageddon

Blog Post from Luke Laurie’s Teacher Blog: http://lukelaurie.wordpress.com/ If we fire teachers to fix schools, who will take their place? Under No Child Left Behind, schools serving the most disadvantaged populations of students are doomed to jump through the Machiavellian hoops of norm-referenced accountability. Indeed the expectations of these schools share much in common with [...]

Educational Equity- Legislative Solutions

Blog Post from Luke Laurie’s Teacher Blog: http://lukelaurie.wordpress.com/ Good Administration or governance requires knowledge.Our Democracy rests on the quality of public education. The fundamental unfairness in funding, opportunity, and achievement in America’s schools is the underlying reason for a significant portion of federal education funding (Title 1), and is both a reflection and contributing factor [...]

Speech- Uncertainty and Opportunity in Education

I gave the following speech at the BTSA End of the Year Seminar. Thank you. I am honored to speak to you today. Introduction I started teaching 12 years ago, before BTSA, I think. If there was BTSA back then, I didn’t go. Was there BTSA? Am I in trouble now? I was trained and [...]

Education For A Stronger Tomorrow – Rebranding our Education Law

For three years, I’ve struggled to come up with a new name for the next reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, which is currently operating under the oft ridiculed name “No Child Left Behind” and the ridiculous acronym, NCLB. I knew that when this bill was reauthorized, and drastically changed, it [...]

STEM Education: Improving Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education

In 2007, I testified at a field hearing on the issues facing science education in the NCLB influenced standards-based era. In light of a forum taking place this weekend at Cal Poly, I am reposting this testimony. Testimony of Luke Laurie Science Teacher, El Camino Junior High, Santa Maria, CA Director: RoboChallenge mrlaurie@mac.com given to [...]

Educational Equity-Legislative Possibilities

The fundamental unfairness in funding, opportunity, and achievement in America’s schools is the underlying reason for the existence of a significant portion of federal education funding (Title 1 and IDEA), and is both a reflection and contributing factor to the continued divisions and disparity between socioeconomic, geographic, and racial groups in the U.S. It’s well [...]

Let’s Run Schools Like Businesses

No Child Left Behind, did, in fact, include some of this business-like mentality with its emphasis on ‘products’, ‘quantifiable results’, and ‘accountability’, as well as a degree of privatization. But it could have been worse.