As I speak with principals, assistant superintendents and curriculum directors each day, one of the first questions I always ask is “what is it that separates your superstar teachers from the rest of the pack?” The answer that comes back is
Have U.S. Students Fallen Victim to Self-Fulfilling Prophecies?

This is a reprint of an article originally published on Cooperative Catalyst I was reminded of an interesting tidbit about the Finnish school system in one of the education news emails I receive the other day. This information has been
Five years later…

In 2011, I started Kidzmet in the hopes that, as parents and educators, we start celebrating and embracing the strengths that our kids were born with rather than trying to school them into molds that society deems optimal at the
Sometimes you read an article and feel blessed.

While both the parents and educators attached to Kidzmet feel strongly about giving kids the best education they possibly can, sometimes you read an article that makes you feel truly blessed to be in a position to advocate for BETTER education and
3 Easy Steps to Help Your Students Avoid Summer Slide

Article originally written by Jen Lilienstein and published on LessonPlanet. As we round the bend into summer, visions of holiday fun occupy the daydreams of pupils, parents, and teachers. While summer can be a great time for your students to
Welcome to Kidzmet’s Recipes for Success!
At Kidzmet, we believe that just as a pre-packaged product is not the ONLY way to cook a dish, nor the ONLY dish we should consume, we cannot continue to think about a pre-packaged standard of intelligence to which we
Smart Reasons to Keep Kids Learning Over the Summer

article originally written by Jen Lilienstein for FamilyShare. For many kids, their mid-July mantra is “lazy”— not “learning.” While summer fun is on the daily agenda, some conceptual calisthenics also needs to make it onto the calendar during July and
YOUR favorite (or least favorite) teacher story

It seems like very few days go by when I don’t hear one story or another about the positive impact a teacher that “got” them made on someone’s life. I also hear lots of stories about unbearable school years where
Necessity PLAY is the Mother of Invention

I stumbled across our Monsters, Inc DVD last night and one of the key themes replayed in my mind…the realization at the end of the movie that joy/laughter creates significantly more power than fear. I think we need to
5-15 Reports :: Learning from our Students
One of my former colleagues recently posted this in our Facebook group. We used to use this technique to get our creative juices flowing vis-à-vis product development and corporate strategy in the educational software world. I’m still a believer that

