Keeping Children First: Finding Another Way

Our Kids Deserve an Education Secretary Who Fights For Children in All Public Schools

As an avid sports fan from Boston, I’ve learned about the difference between winning a battle and winning a war. So in the aftermath of the bruising confirmation process for Education…

There’s Hope — Our Kids Are Everything We Ever Dreamed They’d Be

During a recent dinner with a close friend and colleague in Washington D.C., the conversation turned to our current generation affectionately known as “millennials.”

America: The Home of the Free and the Brave

“America, you great unfinished symphony, you sent for me, you let me make a difference. A place where even orphan immigrants can leave their fingerprints and rise up.”

Finding Another Way

Last month in Stowe, Vermont, I took part in a leadership training — the Executive Champions Workshop — hosted by the Society for Organizational Learning.

Honestly, at first I wasn’t sure why I was returning to this workshop. I had attended the year before, and been…

School’s Out For Summer

As a kid growing up in the 1970’s, I like to think I came of age at the peak of rock & roll. There were the Allman Brothers, The Who, The Rolling Stones, and Alice Cooper — perhaps best known for his timeless classic, “School’s Out For Summer!” Oh, how we waited to blast that tune on…

When Teaching Our Kids Means Teaching Ourselves

If you’ve ever sat in a meeting wondering why you’re there, what it’s about, and whether the person at the white board could use a dose of caffeine, you’re perfectly equipped to understand the goals of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)…

Remembering, Recognizing, and Realizing the Power of Our Stories

Perhaps because my childhood dream was of being an astronaut or flying jets, one of my favorite movies is “An Officer and a Gentleman.” I love when Louis Gossett, Jr. tells a cadet she hasn’t qualified to graduate yet…

Making Their Voices Heard

At Esteban E. Torres High School in East Los Angeles, it doesn’t take long to see the role students play in this unique urban educational setting. Their voices call loudly from every nook and cranny of this 2 acre campus, home to five pilot schools called “academies.” Since 2010…