About This Blog
I work as an evaluator for grant-funded projects in education. I have about 25 years professional experience in this field. Prior to that I taught middle school reading and mathematics, elementary school gifted mathematics programs, and advanced math (calculus and above) in community college, and developmental (not for credit) mathematics at two different large universities.
I earned a Ph.D. in Mathematics Education with a minor in Statistics from North Carolina State University. My masters degree is in pure mathematics, as I love to study structure. Studying mathematical structures influences how I see the world. I look for fundamental assumptions from which peoples’ perspectives are generated.
I write this blog to share my observations about how I see fundamental assumptions changing in our American culture, and in education. I am rolling out a story that is meant to be read in order, starting with the earliest posted blog.
Ways-of-Thinking
Assumptions That Support Decisions and Processes As we have evaluated grant-funded education programs, helped schools with School Improvement Plans, and helped educators move to data-driven decisions, we have seen that many programs are designed based on beliefs that...
Access, Equity, and Math Placement
What I hope to convey: Kids don't need to be gifted to learn math; Kids need help getting access to rigorous math classes, and I will do what I can to help them; We need to stop treating kids who are not in the top track in math as if they are "weak." The new...
How Using Data Changed Outcomes
This is part 10 of a series that tells a story intended to help people understand the cultural context of changes happening in education.Federal Grants Changing How to Target Kids As the whole way that federal grants operated was changing to be more data-driven,...
What the US Department of Education Was Doing
This is part 9 of a series that tells a story intended to help people understand the cultural context of changes happening in education.US DOE and the PART System As the federal grant world gradually changed, people who didn’t work with federal education grants as a...
How is the Meaning of Equity Changing?
This is part 8 of a series that tells a story intended to help people understand the cultural context of changes happening in education.Some people believe that low-income kids struggle to learn; others realize that many low-income kids learn as easily as the rich...
Through the Looking Glass
This is part 7 of a series that tells a story intended to help people understand the cultural context of changes happening in education.Different Kinds of Data During this time when No Child Left Behind was in full swing, and academic data was first required to be...
Switching Paradigms Mid Stream
This is part 6 of a series that tells a story intended to help people understand the cultural context of changes happening in education.At-Risk to Using Data Most federal education grants are multi-year grants. When these paradigm changes happened, we were in the...
The Cross-Over Period
This is part 5 of a series that tells a story intended to help people understand the cultural context of changes happening in education.I am calling the cross-over period the time when education is changing from aligning services based on demographic characteristics...
Enter the Era of Data
This is part 4 of a series that tells a story intended to help people understand the cultural context of changes happening in education.Then came No Child Left Behind (NCLB). With NCLB, states had to change their standardized tests from testing aptitude for learning...
Snake Oil Comes in Many Flavors
This is part 3 of a series that tells a story intended to help people understand the cultural context of changes happening in education.From Oxford Dictionary: snake oil /ˈsnāk ˌoil/ noun informal•North American noun: snake oil; noun: snakeoil a substance with no real...