Archive by Date

2017

• PROJECT LIFT: ‘The soft bigotry of low expectations’
  June 11, 2017 This morning, the Charlotte Observer published a pair of articles under the headline, “Two Charlotte leaders debate: Has Project LIFT been a success or failure?” Dr Ophelia Garmon-Brown ...
• Diploma ‘endorsements’: Making a case for their use in tracking student success
  Feb. 14, 2017 Arthur Griffin believes that a little-known N.C. tool already in place might give an additional and useful picture of whether CMS is preparing all students for a productive future. The ...
• Absurd and cunning
  Feb. 9, 2017 By Arthur Griffin Last week, I attended the Tuesday Morning Breakfast Forum meeting. The guest speaker made several outlandish allegations without regard for the truth. I understand that the ...
• Past, present, or…
  1/30/17: Children represent 23% of the present U.S. population and 100% of our collective future.
• How will we respond?
  1-29-17: “We can, whenever and wherever we choose, successfully teach all children whose schooling is of interest to us. We already know more than we need to do that. Whether or ...
• Separate But Equal: Here We Go Again
    Jan. 19, 2017 I was asked by several people to take a look at the most recent CMS Pupil Assignment documents. The documents include a CMS Board policy statement, board ...
• Affordable Housing or Workforce Housing?
  Jan. 19, 2017 Is it affordable or workforce housing? Most of us really don’t care about the name. Just make sure that safe, decent and sanitary housing does not cost me ...
• Thank you for your prayers
  Jan. 17, 2017 Happy New Year! Front Porch Charlotte started in December 2014 as a reminder to me, and a way to share how I learned some of life’s lessons. It was ...

2016

• Opportunities abound
  12-28-16: At its Oct. 25 meeting the CMS Board of Education approved a bunch of construction contracts, mostly for heating and air conditioning work. They are listed here in descending ...

2015

• Break the cycle
  8-21-15: Who gets the leg up from pre-K programs? In 2013 about half of the children of adults with graduate or professional degrees were enrolled. But only about a quarter ...
• Gains are not sticky
  5-30-15: “NAEP long-term trend results indicate that the average reading and mathematics achievement of 9- and 13-year-olds improved between the early 1970s and 2012; however, only 13-year-olds made score gains ...
• ‘Disruptive Demographics and North Carolina’s Education Challenges’
  May 26, 2015: UNC demographer James Johnson offers the school board a glimpse of the demographic trends that are reshaping America, and North Carolina, and Mecklenburg County.
• Pursue the obvious
  5-8-15: It’s connect-the-dots time: What if the read-by-third-grade advocates followed each newborn home from the hospital and tested  the  crib and the  apartment for any lead exposure that will doom that child to developmental ...
• What priorities?
  5-4-15: If research shows us that education in the first four years of life is the most important, why is it we don’t we have per-child spending in the first ...
• What part of ‘all’ don’t they understand?
  3-18-15: “No matter how many times the Court has issued Notices of Hearings and Orders regarding unacceptable academic performance, and even after the North Carolina Supreme Court plainly stated that ...
• Fixing the achievement gap
  3-16-15: “Real equity is about having ALL our children prepared for school when they enter kindergarten.  Until such becomes a reality, the achievement gap will prove virtually impossible to close.” – ...
• Who knew?: What we’ve done to our schools
  March 14, 2015: Who knew?: What we’ve done to our schools.
• Electronic distractions
  3-5-15: “A recent study at Michigan State University tracked 500 students in an introductory psychology class and found that the more they used the Internet for nonacademic purposes such as reading Facebook ...
• ‘The Common Good’
  3-2-15: “If policy makers were to listen to educators – and to students and parents – they would hear that the real crisis in public education is the loss of ...
• Obsevations on the CMS Strategic Plan
  Feb. 10, 2015 Former CMS Board of Education Chair Arthur Griffin Jr. addressed the board Feb. 10, 2015 to urge changes in the board’s strategic plan, and to end “unconscionable” treatment ...
• Get out more
  1-22-15: “If you truly believe you could work full time and support a family on less than $15,000 a year, go try it.” – President Obama to Congress, Jan. 20, 2015, ...
• Educating poor children
  1-17-15: “We have to give them quality teachers, small class sizes, up-to-date equipment. But in addition, if we’re serious, we have to do things that overcome the damages of poverty. ...
• Reading too soon hurts?
  1-15-15: “Rebecca Marcon found negative effects of overly-directed preschool instruction on later school performance in a study of three different curricula, described as either ‘academically oriented’ or ‘child-initiated.’ By third ...
• Our children deserve more coordinated work on poverty, reading
  High levels of poverty and low levels of reading are inseparable problems that should be studied and ameliorated together.
• Seeking answers
  1-9-15: “I don’t understand what youth are dealing with in their schools every day. I didn’t realize. My daughter, who’s a senior at Harding, says they see fights on the ...
• Strong families
  1-8-15: “Students from first- and second-generation immigrant families are more likely than their peers from non-immigrant families to have strengths such as parents who remain married and households where multiple ...
• Economic engine
  1-3-15: “Now I can make a very powerful case to a parent about the opportunities they want for a child that they love. But I can make a business case ...
• Be part of something big
  1-1-15: Heads up, adults: Monday begins the next year of young people’s school lives. Are you constructively engaged?

2014

• Resolutions
  12-30-14: Tal Gross, a Columbia University assistant professor, making a New Year’s resolution, in the Washington Post, to ban electronics from his classroom: “We are becoming a distracted nation, constantly ...
• Study a reminder of the washout effect on early learning
  Dec. 29, 2014: Duke study shows many big-picture issues getting better for youth. So why has high school achievement flat-lined?
• Taking action
  12-27-14: Messages left by Empty Stocking Fund donors this year included this: “As an example for the young set by Granna.” Just so.
• Wisdom of the salon
  12-24-14: What does it take to ensure that children read by third grade? “Read to them,” said the hair stylist mom. Don’t cut back on that. Holidays are the perfect ...
• Happy Holidays!
  12-19-14: Time to say goodbye to fish sandwiches and rotini with meat sauce until Jan. 5. Stay healthy, dear children. Run from the TV and curl up with a blanket ...
• Virtually nuts
  12-18-14: We all entered primary school as cut-ups and left it as social beings. What part of a virtual K-12 schoolhouse prepares our children to live and work with one ...
• Test scores continue to contradict CMS’s lofty goals
  Dec. 15, 2014: Test scores continue to contradict CMS’s lofty goal.
• English language learners: Small number, big increase
  Dec. 11, 2014: Percentage of English language learners is highest at earliest grades. A chart.
• Leaky system
  12-10-14: The LIFT project was sold as a feeder-area system, where focused work with elementary students would yield big gains later at West Charlotte High. The Year 2 consultant’s report, ...
• Awakening the blog…
  12-10-14: Lorem ipsum dolar sit amet, consectetur adipscing elit, set do liumsmod tempor incidididunt ut labore et dolare magna aliqua.
• Student performance update: Good news, bad news
  Dec. 8, 2014: CMS graduation rate is up, test score gaps nudge a bit, but the gaps remain huge.

2012

• Arthur Griffin Jr.
  Dec. 3, 2012: An interview with Arthur Griffin. Tying shoes. Having high expectations for every child. Having a community conversation that leads to stronger public schools.
• Push for algebra: A look back at its impact
  Dec. 1, 2012: The push to get virtually all middle schoolers through algebra may not have borne fruit, a Duke University study found.
• Test scores: The long view
  Nov. 30, 2012: In the long view, test results show little closing of the achievement gap.