Although more and more of the recent GCP posts have been gender neutral, today's post takes us back to our roots with a focus on our boys. So here's a timely question: Are we doing all we can to raise our boys to respect girls and women, fight gender stereotypes, and understand the importance of gender equality? Probably not, [...]
Success Academy Charter Schools in New York City have had an impressive track record of helping students achieve impressive results on statewide reading tests. Their website boasts that this year 84% of their students (their "scholars") passed the mandatory English Language Arts (ELA) tests and 95% passed the math tests, making them the #1 school system in New York [...]
Another mass shooting, this time at an outdoor concert in Las Vegas. How do we talk to our children about this tragic event? GCP has discussed this issue before, after Newton and Charleston . And now we must talk about Las Vegas. But what should we say? Experts say it depends on how old our children are: Preschool:Discuss only [...]
We have all heard and seen the aftermath of the Ferguson grand jury's decision not to indict Darren Wilson for killing Michael Brown. We've had many conversations with our friends and colleagues about what a failure to indict means for the Brown family, for Ferguson, for black boys everywhere. But as time passes after this decision, we at GCP [...]
Today's New York Times "Room for Debate" discussion takes on the topic of "The Hovering Parent", and asks a number of columnists whether helicopter parenting has started to "crash and burn". Have parents gotten so involved with managing their children's lives that they are stunting their development into young adults who can think for themselves and learn from their [...]
Have you heard about the commencement speech given by David McCullough Jr., an English teacher at Wellesley High School in Massachusetts, in which he told the graduating seniors "you are not special"? Rather than deliver the expected "go out and conquer the world" graduation speech, the teacher surprised the gathered body with comments like: You are not special. You [...]
Here are some noteworthy news items which have surfaced this week: Rise in Preschoolers with Cavities: Dentists nationwide say they are seeing more preschoolers at all income levels with 6 to 10 cavities or more, according to a New York Times article published yesterday and found here. Some dentists have resorted to using general anesthesia on their toddler patients [...]
Today’s post comes from Anne Williams-Isom and Jennifer Jones Austin. Anne Williams-Isom, author of the GCP post “Words of Wisdom from a Montessori Mom” (October 4, 2011) is currently the Chief Operating Officer of the Harlem Children's Zone. She and her husband are raising their three children in Harlem. Jennifer Jones Austin is the Senior Vice President of the [...]
Here's yet another interesting educational piece in the news: Today's Wall Street Journal features an article about how Chicago preschool and kindergarten teachers are integrating math concepts into daily classroom activities, giving young students firmer footing when they learn more complex math concepts in later grades. The teachers are being trained by The Erikson Institute, a graduate school in [...]
Today’s New York Times features an article, found here, which details how little today’s schools teach about the history of the Civil Rights movement and how little today’s students know about basic civil rights history. Julian Bond, the former civil rights activist who began teaching the history of the civil rights movement twenty years ago, speaks of having students [...]