Principal. Chemistry Teacher. Evidence-Based Teaching Enthusiast. Mind, Brain, & Teaching. Likes & retweets ≠ endorsement.
NorCal
Joined September 2011
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Today I learned that several states are still using Value Added Models to evaluate educators. While I'm thankful California doesn't, here's why VAM is fundamentally flawed: 🧵
If we care about the science of learning and evidence-based practice, we need frameworks that evaluate actual instructional quality. We cannot rely on rigid algorithms that punish educators for the statistical noise of human development. Let's evaluate teaching, not variance.
Credit to the late, great Theodore Micerri for being the one to point this out to me years ago. We love you Ted.
researchgate.net/scientific-…
James Stewart retweeted
So much of what we call reading comprehension failure is basically disguised vocabulary failure. Struggling kids don't need to be taught to "find the main idea", they need to be taught more words. And explicitly.
Reading Marzano's book on vocab and I'm fascinated by this table. Look at the jump from grade 2 to 3!! There is a vocabulary avalanche in grades 3-5. The jump from 782 terms to 2,398 is just massive.
Again, when students encounter so many new academic terms in grades 3-5 and struggle to "make inferences" or "identify main ideas", the problem is not “comprehension strategies”, it’s not understanding enough words!
And there is an argument to say that what we think of as ‘higher-order’ subjects are really just high-density subject vocabulary subjects, even Economics, Sciences, Advanced Math terminology etc
Again "critical thinking skills" don't help you if you don't understand what you're reading.
This is clearly disturbing. However, there is a middle way between the "Ban all screens" and "Personalized learning for all kids, 1:1 laptop at all time" crowd. AI tutoring shows a lot for promise, and so does some other EdTech.
The question is how to navigate that middle way.
This is crazy. "In a survey of American teenagers by the nonprofit Common Sense Media, one-fourth admitted they had seen pornographic content during the school day. Almost half of that group saw it on a school-issued device." nytimes.com/2025/11/16/opini…
James Stewart retweeted
NEW BLOG POST
Explicit instruction vs. corrective feedback
Continue reading: matbury.com/wordpress/index.…
The new California Math Framework isn't the beginning of something new in math. It's the culmination of a trend that's been building for the last decade in Math Ed. It's a return to the same failed ideas of the 1989 NCTM Math Standards, and the 1960's "New Math".
“Learning math is somewhat like learning to read: we can do it, but it takes time, effort and requires mastering increasingly complex skills and content.”
Inspired by the recent UC SAN Diego report on the steep decline of students’ foundational math skills, I feel that this article is very timely. Is it a matter of students not being able to do math or is it a matter of teachers not being trained to teach it in a way that aligns with the cognitive scientific research? #Math
SoRticle: Is It True that Some People Just Can’t Do Math? By @DTWillingham
Link: aft.org/sites/default/files/… #SoRticle
@C_Hendrick Has written a great piece on AI in Education. It mirrors many of my own thoughts. I highly recommend reading it. Some reflection that I had while reading it:
carlhendrick.substack.com/p/…
In Star Trek, Vulcans have always represented what humans could become if we grappled sufficiently with the darker sides of our nature, but they also have been a plot tool to explore what could happen if we become too technical and cold to our humanity.