$1 Billion

This is a quick post about some thoughts bouncing in my head…

1. I’m not sure on the exact amount of money that our state spends on testing – what if that money went into teachers (pay raises or hiring new teachers)?  What kind of change would happen in our schools?
2. If we let money follow the students no matter where they go to school (as some think should happen), does the cost of maintaining the current school building (the one the students left) also decrease?  Or does that cost remain constant?
3. If we are going to let the money follow the student, is the school where the student lands responsible for jumping through all of the hoops?
4. NCLB has had a long time to work, has it?  If not why?  If so, how do we know?
5. If there is research that indicates that there is a better way, why is it ignored by policy creators?  Or is it?
6. Is it ok that we are having such a hard time finding teachers? As a society are we ok with this?  Have we stuck our heads in the sand to avoid dealing with this critical situation?
7. Why aren’t more teachers using Twitter to have real time conversations?  How can we get more teachers involved and contributing to Twitter?  How can we harness the power of social media to show off how amazing ALL of our schools are?
8. As teachers – what can we do to get off of the “this is how I have always done it” ride?  What can we do to make our classrooms more vibrant and knock down the walls that contain us?
9. Did you click into the blog because of the title?