Competing for Talent

Private schools who want to hire highly qualified and experienced teachers must complete in the market with California public schools.  Let’s consider the benefits of becoming a public school teacher in California: The CDE reports: “The average salary of public school teachers in 2020–21 for the State of California was $85,856.“ In an 2019 EdSource …

IEPs and Autism

Refresher on Immunizations addressed how SB 277 removed the personal belief exemption, and how this bill was motivated by a high-profile measles outbreak. The article went on to explain the exemptions, how SB 277 can not exclude students with an IEP, so I realized it is time to check in on those IEP statistics. CDE …

Refresher on Immunizations

I’m just a school teacher, I’m not a lawyer, and I certainly don’t give legal advice.  However, as Studia Nova’s Head of Teachers I need to have a good grasp of the legal framework in California, particularly on hot-button issues. It all began with the 2014 Disneyland measles outbreak. The measles is a highly contagious …

A Literacy Guarantee

Prosperity for America recently published an article on Literacy Statistics,  “Adults with literacy below the 6th grade are 54%”  In the USA, 8th grade reading level is generally considered to be literate.  Our system of education is completely failing a half of the adult population.  Further, California has one of the worst adult literacy rates of …

De-Institutionalizing Children

Our great institutions. Perhaps you are an institutionalist, one who believes that our institutions are part of our nation’s greatness.  Many people admire American institutions.  But should we instiutionalize our children?  Yes that sounds over-dramatic since the word has many meanings, so bear with me. Let’s consider for a moment if instiutionalizing our children, in …

Learning Communities

The New One Room School House The way we teach students has failed on so many levels, so let’s imagine how we would create a new type of schooling system.  It is surprising that we all tend to imagine the exact same format of classroom learning, we just imagine we will do it better.  Frankly, …