In Search of Statutory Authority for Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Standards
On Tuesday, the State Board of Education rejected DESE’s proposed social-emotional learning standards. It appears the decision was largely influenced...
It Is Time to Restore Trust in Missouri’s Public Education System
A version of this commentary appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Trust is foundational to any healthy school learning community. This...
Stop Blaming Homeschoolers
In an incredibly shameless move, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has submitted a budget request for...
Social-Emotional Learning Standards: Under What Authority?
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) “is seeking input on newly proposed K-12 Learning Standards” for Social-Emotional...
Missouri Students Are Sadly Still Struggling
Recently, DESE released the preliminary results of the 2023 Missouri Assessment Program (MAP), and the results were bad enough to...
Cherry-picked Data Can’t Hide the Truth about Missouri’s Workforce
A version of the following commentary appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. A couple of weeks ago CNBC released its...
Want Higher Teacher Salaries? Raise Property Taxes
In the past year, much has been made about Missouri’s teacher salaries. According to the National Education Association, Missouri ranks...
You Can Take Your Shades Off
The future of Missouri’s workforce may not be very bright. A recent CNBC analysis of the Top State for Business...
20 Missouri Districts Seek Exemption from the Missouri Assessment Program (Part 2)
Twenty districts in Missouri are seeking a federal waiver in order to be exempt from the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP)....
The “Bruno Principle” of School Finance—Don’t Talk About Total Expenditures
What do the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and most newspaper reporters have in common? They follow...
Does Missouri Need DESE?
Several years ago, I made an interesting discovery—I had been blocked by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education...
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The results of the Missouri School Improvement Plan (MSIP) 6 have just been released, and they landed with a shrug....
Parents’ Bill of Rights Legislation Clears Senate
In a significant first step to becoming law, the Missouri Senate passed Senate Bill (SB) 4 on Tuesday. The bill...
Follow the Money
Believe it or not, the average amount spent per student in Missouri last year was over $13,000. Do you ever...
What Does Missouri’s Teacher Shortage Really Look Like
A version of this commentary was published in the Columbia Daily Tribune. Over the past few years, Missourians have gotten...
Breaking: The Actual Starting Teacher Salary According to DESE
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and other major media outlets in Missouri, continually claim that Missouri teachers are, on average, the...
Does the Independence School District Have a Teacher Shortage Problem? 2022 Data Update
In a previous post, I presented 2018 and 2020 application and vacancy data from the Independence School District. The data...
Does the Independence School District Have a Teacher Shortage Problem?
The Independence School District (ISD) school board recently voted to move to a four-day school week. One of the stated...
Lead Us into Battle for Academic Development
I still find myself thinking about the Missouri Commissioner of Education’s vague comments following Missouri’s dismal scores on the National...
Fright Night in Missouri Comes Early
Reviewing the recent release of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is an ideal way to get into the...
