Blogs on High (9-12)

We've been hearing a lot recently about how the problem with our schools is the people in it -- the principals, the teachers and especially their unions. Or the problem is governance. Clearly kids can't perform well because the system is keeping them down. If only we had more charter schools -- that would solve everything.

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to attend a panel discussion called "Culture Shift, Alternatives to Suspension: Creating Connections for All Students," which highlighted the effectiveness of a restorative justice and youth court as an innovative approach to juvenile justice.

Many of us out there know that project-based learning (PBL) inspires students to understand core content knowledge more deeply and gain key skills for success in college and career. Many of us have also directly contributed to results for students on state tests, college-going, and college persistence metrics.

In the late 1970s, when I moved into my very first apartment at the start of my junior year in college, my father gave me a gift. It was a gift fit for his daughter -- a box of nails, and a hammer to pound them with, pliers, a set of wrenches, a flat and a Phillips screwdriver, and a manual drill, all neatly arranged in a blue metal toolbox. The handsaw, being too large for the box, was packaged separately.