What We Learned from Mr. Canada

When Geoffrey Canada spoke to a room of 1,000 people at the most
recent Minnesota Meeting, everyone in the room was on the edge of their seats.  With a renowned model of success at the Harlem Children’s Zone all were anxious to hear his advice and he did not waste any time mincing words.
“If you care [...]

A High Stakes Training Program

Imagine on your first day of work walking into a board room filled with 30 of your company’s most important clients. You’re expected to present on the company’s core products.  Sounds scary, right?
Ironically, this is what new teachers experience on their first day.  They enter a classroom filled with our community’s most important clients: students.
After [...]

A Matter of Urgency for Minnesota

Education Trust’s Kati Haycock pointed out that sustaining teachers is a greater challenge than recruiting them to the field, particularly for teachers working in the most challenging schools.
This is particularly problematic given that in the next 10 years, 25,000 new teachers will be needed in this country to fill vacant positions due to retirement [...]

Leave Nothing to Chance

Recruiting and retaining high quality teachers is a high risk game. We all make mistakes at work from time to time.  I know there have been times where I have felt overwhelmed or unclear about making the most strategic decision, but the risk was relatively low.  Everything was fixable. However, for teachers, the risk impacts the 30 [...]

Raising Expectations: Strategies for Reform

Today, over 600 people attended the first Minnesota Meeting.  It was the first in a three-part series on education titled Raising Expectations.  I was incredibly excited to have many of you join us at At The Table.   I think that all in attendance were both moved and alarmed by the cold, hard facts about the [...]