There are different kinds of motivation, and the kind matters more than the amount.

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.

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.

In education, parody is obsolete.

Trying to do well and trying to beat others are two different things. Excellence and victory are conceptually distinct . . . and are experienced differently.

Very few things are as dangerous as a bunch of incentive-driven individuals trying to play it safe.

We learn most readily, most naturally, most effectively, when we start with the big picture - precisely when the basics don't come first.