Mindworkers

Charlet T. Kerchner / MindWorkers

A 4th of July Salute to a Courageous Judge: Remembering Paul Egly

My friend Dick Johnson sent along a “what should we celebrate” list for July 4.  It includes “the waves of immigrants from all parts of the world who struggled to accept each other and find a place in this country,” escaped slaves and their allies, working people who championed reforms and the right to organize, […]

How To Make the Next LAUSD Superintendent Successful

The Los Angeles Unified School District is—once again—in search of a leader.  There have been nine superintendents in the last two decades, much more turnover and change in direction than a thriving organization can withstand. The school board is rightly concerned with more instability.  In recent days, the notoriously fractious LAUSD board has been making […]

Here’s The Peace Dividend In Los Angeles Charter School Wars

Learning from L.A., our book about institutional change in public education, was published a decade ago.  Then, we saw charter schools as a logical force in the transition of an institution built for the industrial age to one designed for the 21st Century. Instead, in the space of a decade, charter schools in Los Angeles […]

Five Days in La La Land: Hiding in plain sight in Hollywood

Leanne and I have explored Paris on the #69 bus that goes to the Pere Lachaise cemetery and Florence, where the #7 bus goes up the hills for a view of the city.  We visited Berlin when we were young, before the Wall went up, and when we were old after it came down.  We […]

Retirement, Week 2: Driven to write about Boyle Heights protests

This isn’t going so well.  I am having news withdrawal symptoms.  I look at some of the Twitter feed and the email subscriptions I get every day and think them boring.  But my fingers want to be on a keyboard, and there are ideas out there that need exploring. I’ve been fascinated by the Boyle […]

Chicago Library Provides Example of High-Tech and High Touch. Is L.A. Ready For This?

Brandon Towns was having trouble opening his MacBook to show me the movie he’d made because his fingers were sticky with the glue he was using to make a paper maché mask. Both sticky fingers and the Macbook capture the essence of YouMedia, the 5,500 square foot space in the Chicago Public Library where Towns […]

LAUSD viewing IPads as Key to Common Core

I have been in Chicago this week.  My colleague David Menefee-Libey, professor of politics at Pomona College reports on this discussion of LAUSD’s iPad purchase program and its relationship to the Common Core of standards. Wednesday evening I attended KPCC’s panel discussion “Tech in the Classroom: How Much is Too Much?” at their Crawford Family […]

In “Austerity” Mark Blyth Traces the History and Politics of a Dangerous Idea

Mark Blyth took a career detour to be a co-editor of The Transformation of Great American School Districts. So it was with great anticipation that I read his new book, Austerity. I recommend it to educators as a valuable corrective to the belief that boosting educational standards will increase the life chances of American students […]

About

Charles Taylor Kerchner is an Emeritus Professor and Senior Research Fellow at Claremont Graduate University. My daily musings appear in the blog. The archives of my EdWeek blog are available via link under the 'On California' head. Some of my photography can be seen by clicking on 'Gallery.' And numerous links to academic work and other research and commentary can be found by clicking on 'Projects.'

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