Jim McLaughlin's Blog

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  • Yong Zhao: PBL Develops Students Creative Confidence | Edutopia

    Meanwhile, he added, the U.S. is focusing on the wrong goal by aiming for higher standardized test scores. “Fixing the horse wagon wont get us to the moon,” he said, referring to the current educational system as a holdover from an outdated era. Emphasizing test scores over creativity will undermine American students talents and confidence… Read more

  • High-end College Courses, For Free

    While K-12 virtual schools for K-12 students are fairly new, online courses for college students are quite common. Now a new company called Coursera is aiming to offer high-end, online college courses to everyone, for free. For more information and thoughts on how this new trend could impact public education, see our post on The… Read more

  • State High School Exit Exams: A Policy in Transition, by Shelby McIntosh at the Center on Education Policy

    CEP’s 11th annual report on state high school exit exams finds that states are embracing higher standards on their exit exams, which means schools and students will feel the impact. The report, based on data collected from state education department personnel in 45 states, discusses the present status of state exit exam policies, the future… Read more

  • Are You Sure You’re Not a Bad Boss? – Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman – Harvard Business Review

    When we analyzed the behavior of 30,000 managers, as seen through the eyes of some 300,000 of their peers, direct reports, and bosses on 360-degree evaluations, we found that the sins of the bad boss are far more often those of omission, not commission. That is, bad bosses are defined not so much by any… Read more

  • For Those Who Want to Lead, Read – John Coleman – Harvard Business Review

    The leadership benefits of reading are wide-ranging. Evidence suggests reading can improve intelligence and lead to innovation and insight. Some studies have shown, for example, that reading makes you smarter through “a larger vocabulary and more world knowledge in addition to the abstract reasoning skills.” Reading — whether Wikipedia, Michael Lewis, or Aristotle — is… Read more

  • Improving Academic Achievement for Disadvantaged Children | Edutopia

    James Comer’s life work suggests that the test-driven regimen in schools will never successfully close the achievement gap. More to the point, it will also fail in preparing our students for the many roles we want them to fill as they become society’s responsible adults. Note four messages Comer conveys very clearly that are familiar… Read more