The National Association for Gifted Children defines gifted children as “those who demonstrate outstanding levels of aptitude or competence in one or more domains.” While many public schools offer specific gifted and talented programs, a number of schools do not, especially in states where it is not mandated. Most teachers are likely to have the pleasure of teaching …

Special education is a rewarding field, helping students with special needs reach their goals and become as independent as possible. To be an effective educator, good communication must be maintained with all of the team members and the Individualized Education Plan(IEP) must be followed at all times. IEPs are essentially the blueprint for a student’s education, so creating one is not a process to be taken lightly. Since the IEP requires careful planning, considerations and a team-based approach, here is some information on how special education teachers can help develop truly individualized educati…

This blog was originally published on Finding Common Ground at Education Week by Peter DeWitt on November 22, 2012 9:53 AM.

Failure is something to learn from, not run from.

The other day I ran into a guy I went to high school with which seems to be a lifetime ago. The first thought that came to mind was that it was over twenty years ago. Then I thought about how quickly life goes by. It doesn't seem that way when we are younger. When we are young, life ticks by slowly as we wait to become old enough to drive or graduate from high school.

Although we both only live about an hour from where we grew up it was the first time I had seen him since we went to high school. It's funny how running into someone from our past…

George Lucas’s sale of the Star Wars franchise to Disney has been making major headlines. Disney paid a whopping $4.05 billion for exclusive rights to Star Wars, and according to Business Week, Lucas is receiving approximately $2 billion in cash and $2 billion in D…

Disciplinary referrals and suspensions have been on the rise in schools across the country. This has especially affected minorities and students with disabilities, decreasing their access to quality instruction time. As a result, many schools have embraced new policies and programs to empower teachers and help the most at-risk students. Offering support to new teachers, implementing positive behavior support programs and other school-wide strategies are showing promise in decreasing challenging behavior. New Teacher Training Unfortunately, teacher-training programs vary when it c…

Recently elected to his second term in office, President Barack Obama had already laid the plans for some of his education initiatives during his first term. Here is a look at the president’s education policy that will shape schools over the next four years:

Race to the Top (RTTT)

Started in 2008, Obama’s Race to the Top program had states competing for funding by establishing plans to increase teacher effectiveness, adopt Common Core Stan…