THE STRATEGIES OF DAVID We have heard the stories of David and Goliath. David’s strategy was to aim at Goliath’s one point of weakness, the spot on the giant that wasn’t armored. The American school system was such a Goliath, heavily armored in layers of bureaucracy that resisted the calls for change. An education reformer and former New York City teacher said it best: “The American education system is broken, failing too many children,” according to John Taylor Gatto. Impersonal bureaucracies... more

The McCormick Standard strongly recommends this article for the sake of an ‘honest’ dialogue about the future of public education in the United States. (Reposted from Educationnext.org) CAMBRIDGE, MA –Recently, states’ definitions of what makes a student proficient in math and reading have been changing—in some cases for the better, in others for the worse. In a new Education Next article, “Despite Common Core, States Still Lack Common Standards,” authors Paul Peterson and Peter... more

The source of resistance to change is human emotion. In the political environment, reaction and perception are reality. COALITION BUILDING Since the Charter School Association had no money, it was time to build a broad statewide coalition of integrity-driven citizen leaders. With uncertain support from politicians, we would need a multifront strategy. My motivation was twofold: my passion to help children caught in ineffective educational systems, and the fact that time was running out on my commitment... more

CITIZEN LEADERS It’s funny how an idea can turn quickly into a passion. Throughout most of my professional and volunteer career, I have been hired because I have been considered a “change agent.” I became comfortable with the term in 1996, when Bill O’Brien, the former executive director of an Appleton Catholic school district, suggested that I work with middle-school students. Creative and innovative, Bill O’Brien was looking for outside-the-box ideas in providing a curriculum for his... more

A strict adherence to a core set of values and principles, incorruptibility is the standard for journalistic integrity of which the citizen/voter and candidate should be intimately aware. In today’s society of instantaneous communications via blogs and the Internet, we must all guard against journalists who are tempted to forego the following values and principles by way of self-interest and greed. According to the Society of Professional Journalists, the ethical standard of professionalism is... more