Kerry McDonald

Schools With “Radical Politics” Must Be Tolerated in a Free Society

There is a lot of concern these days about what type of curriculum is—or is not—being taught to schoolchildren. “Curriculum…

1 year ago

Artificial Intelligence Will Transform Education For the Better—If We Let It

It’s hard to believe that it was only a bit over a year ago that ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence (AI)…

1 year ago

Why Is There A Dyslexia Epidemic?

The earliest documented cases of dyslexia, or a language processing disorder that makes it difficult to read, date back more…

2 years ago

In Los Angeles, a Tiny School Lets Young People Direct Their Own Education

From the outside, the headquarters of Alcove Learning looks like any small home in the largely Latino Boyle Heights section…

2 years ago

As Education Decentralizes, Those Who like Control Are Nervous

As more parents gain the opportunity to abandon a compulsory schooling assignment for other options, including homeschooling and microschooling, it’s…

2 years ago

No, John Oliver, Homeschooling Doesn’t Need More Regulation

Those of us who have homeschooled for years are accustomed to periodic calls for greater regulation of homeschooling. Whether it’s…

2 years ago

Compulsory Schooling Laws Have Got To Go

When Massachusetts passed the nation’s first compulsory school attendance law in 1852, parents were mandated to send their children to…

2 years ago

To The Mom Who Doesn’t Want to Send Her Kids to School

It’s back-to-school season and some parents aren’t happy about that.  Take the example of Rousmery Negrón, a single mom of…

2 years ago

On His Birthday, Milton Friedman Would Be Happy

I think that Milton Friedman would be happy. I can’t know for certain, as the Nobel Prize-winning economist passed away…

2 years ago

The Solution to Pandemic Learning Loss Is Less Schooling, Not More

The latest data dump from the Nation’s Report Card reveals declining academic performance among US students. As with previous releases…

2 years ago

Gallup Poll Reveals Americans’ Plummeting Confidence in Public Schools

Americans have soured on public schools. That’s the takeaway from Gallup polling results released earlier this month showing that Americans’…

2 years ago

Loosening Youth Employment Regulations Empowers Teens

My 16-year-old daughter just got her first part-time job, working at a local coffee shop. She comes home beaming after…

2 years ago

In a World Full of Robots, Humans Wanted

The K-12 district schools I went to while growing up in a Boston suburb look nearly the same today as…

2 years ago

Two ‘Mompreneurs’ Created a Forest School That Reaches Thousands

It was a cool, muddy morning in March when I pulled into the empty parking lot of a sprawling forest…

2 years ago

Why Youth Social Media Bans Are a Bad Idea

A teenage boy is scrolling through his Instagram account one night. He notices that a friend has posted a distressing…

2 years ago