In the Media
The F.Y.I. Newsletter
Every couple weeks or so, Tom shares updates on his professional and personal projects. He calls it his F.Y.I. newsletter. Sign up below for the easiest way to stay abreast.
From the Blog
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STEM
What Incredibles Math
This clip resonates with me something fierce. As the father of an elementary age student, I can attest to the…
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History + Politics
Pencils Are Old, So Is the Need to Sharpen Them (1886)
It makes sense that pencil sharpeners are over a century old. It’s just not something one thinks about.
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Culture
Coates: Some Words Don’t Belong to Everyone
Asked at a book talk by a white college student if she and her friends have the right to use…
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History + Politics
That Time the Supreme Court Had to Make States Provide Equal Education to All
So, a little over six decades ago, in 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that public schools in the United States…
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Administrators
James Baldwin on Education
James Baldwin notes that in order to talk about education, we have to talk about the society in which it…
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Assessment
Wrong Answer: In an era of high-stakes testing, a struggling school made a shocking choice
This 2014 piece from the New Yorker tells the story of how a high-stakes accountability movement led to fraud and…
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Arts + Letters
Chuck Berry’s “School Days”…. Just Because
The great Chuck Berry performed his classic song on television in 1958. To assist in your inevitable urge to karaoke,…
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Arts + Letters
A Business Case for the Arts in Education
When the founder and CEO of the Alibaba Group, Jack Ma, was asked about what education should look like, his…
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History + Politics
Pointy Chalk (1895)
Before there were pencil sharpeners, there were, logically, chalk sharpeners.
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Project: States of Education
Unlike any other country to which the United States is compared, we do not define the right to public education at a national level. It’s not in the federal Constitution, nor the Bill of Rights. Instead, public education was a bit of an afterthought, inserted into state constitutions beginning well after the birth of the country. The result? We have 50 different definitions for the purpose of and right to public education. No wonder it’s so challenging to effect change. How does YOUR state define the right to public education? Tom made an interactive map to help you find out.
