Written by Ellen Daye Owens Implicit Bias is more than just a hot topic that surfaced during the 2016 presidential campaign. Implicit bias is real and it negatively impacts the lives of marginalized individuals every day across our country. The Kirwan Institute at The Ohio State University defines implicit bias…

This summer the International Association for Online Learning (iNACOL) and CompetencyWorks invited me to the 2017 National Summit on K-12 Competency-based Education to explore personalized learning and CBE. The Summit brought together experts and leaders from across the country to focus on 4 key areas: 1) quality, 2) equity, 3)…

Check out the awesome work of our partners at the Dream Center during their Summer Leadership Camp 2017. Congratulations to the team and nice job to the participants! Enjoy their video HERE. To learn more about the Dream Center visit them online HERE or on FaceBook at TheDreamCenter1.

  By Beckett Age 6, First Grade Awesome teacher Teachers teach Caring Loving Helping me learn Hoping I feel happy Can I learn? Yes!

This is the first in a series of blogs to explore personalized learning.  In the first installment, I share my own journey as a parent to understand why personalized learning should be a goal of PK-12 systems and how I came to believe that.  The “evidence” for my parental belief…

 “Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding  will be lifted from our fear drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with…

No man is an island, Entire of itself, Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. –John Donne, No Man is an Island   We are all parts of communities where we engage daily – with family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues; face-to-face, online, and on…

My children’s elementary school recently celebrated our 60th birthday.  We gathered at the school, listened to alumni who are now junior high and high school students play orchestral music, ate cookies, picked a few remaining vegetables from the school garden, and spent time with our friends and neighbors.  Retired teachers,…

Are you picturing several people sitting cross-legged on big floor pillows, drinking herbal tea, and reading poetry aloud between gentle yoga stretches? While that sounds appealing (and before I had kids you might have hit the nail on the head with that image), that is not what I mean. For…

Yesterday during our elementary school’s annual “Chalk the Walk” to thank our teachers, my nine year-old son drew this picture near the school entrance. I must admit I was a little nervous when he started drawing the man with the funny teeth. I know he loves his teachers, but he…