In a word, learning is decontextualized. We break ideas down into tiny pieces that bear no relation to the whole. We give students a brick of information, followed by another brick, followed by another brick, until they are graduated, at which point we assume they have a house. What they have is a pile of bricks, and they don't have it for long.

Trying to be number one and trying to do a task well are two different things.

When test scores go up, we should worry, because of how poor a measure they are of what matters, and what you typically sacrifice in a desperate effort to raise scores.

The overwhelming number of teachers ...are unable to name or describe a theory of learning that underlies what they do.

When was the last time you spent the entire day with only 42 year olds?

Standardized testing has swelled and mutated, like a creature in one of those old horror movies, to the point that it now threatens to swallow our schools whole.

Do rewards motivate people? Absolutely. They motivate people to get rewards.