by Jim Rietmulder | Apr 12, 2014 | Public policy, Stories
Professor Richardson asked 15-year-old Ian what he would most like to change about public school. With 25 people in the room, most of them graduate students and current or future teachers, here’s what Ian said earlier this week: [Ian:] I think it would be the...
by Jim Rietmulder | Jun 2, 2013 | Play, Public policy
“Children are biologically predisposed to take charge of their own education.” So says psychologist Peter Gray in his recent new book, Free To Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better...
by Julia James | May 31, 2013 | Ideas, Public policy
Peter Gray’s latest post over at Psychology Today, Be Glad for Our Failure to Catch Up with China in Education, reminds me of this post Jim wrote here back in October. Both make the pretty commonsense point that standardized test scores are probably not a great...
by Jim Rietmulder | Mar 24, 2013 | Ideas, Public policy
As a teenager in the 1970s, I wanted to be a fifth-grade teacher—an impulse that remains today, perhaps because I still love and listen to my inner nine-year-old. I studied interesting schools back then (still do), and traveled to visit several while still in high...
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by Julia James | Jan 17, 2013 | Play, Public policy
Play is a hot topic these days, and every article I read on the subject reinforces for me the “rightness” of the Circle School experience. Here’s an article about the benefits of play, both social and “academic.” Enjoy. 🙂...
by Jim Rietmulder | Nov 5, 2012 | Public policy
Tomorrow we Americans elect a president. Two days ago we Circle Schoolers hosted a group of families and educators here, telling them about life in our democratic school. Now I’m thinking about the connection between Washington gridlock and American schools....
