In 2016 the Houston Chronicle published a report claiming that the Texas Education Agency had imposed a "special education cap" on the percentage of a district's students that could be classified as special education. In 2018 the US Department of Education completed its investigation and found that Texas had indeed illegally set this cap at 8.5% an…

Your at-risk student is looking for your support. Your GT student is looking for a challenge. We've talked a lot about intervention for your struggling students, but what do you do when you have gifted and talented students who are struggling? The struggle may look different when you're working with advanced courses and high achieving students, but…

All of us have been asked the question at one point or another. What made you decide to become a teacher? You've been asked it in job interviews, where the right answer seemed critical. You've been asked it by incredulous family members, where the right answer seemed impossible. You've been asked it by students, where the right answer seemed loaded…

In the midst of our wider, cultural conversation about women, and power, and leadership, and power, let us pause for a moment to consider the quite curious case of gender in education. Of course, education is an historically female driven profession - for much of the last century it was, in fact, one of the few jobs a woman could even realistically…

Well my friends and colleagues, welcome to 2018! Welcome to the second half of our year ... the LAST half of our year! Are you back at work? Are you sitting in professional development? Are you currently being trained on the latest piece of life changing #edtech that your district has bought for you? Don't you wish you could find a piece of educati…

On today's episode, we have a special treat -we are joined by our guest, long-time teacher, first time author Brendon Lowe, who speaks with us about his new book, Know Thy Students: Differentiation Made Simple available now on Amazon right here. Differentiation made simple? We're in. Brendon comes to the tricky topic of differentiation as a seconda…

Hey teachers. We've got a subversive message today. YOU are enough for your students. Drop the professional development. Drop the instructional strategies. Drop the trainings. It's not that. It's not pedagogy. It's not curriculum. It's not co-teaching. It's not graphic organizers. It is YOU. On today's episode we talk about the empowering, amazing,…

In today's episode we discuss what a data driven classroom can ACTUALLY do for you. What does state wide, school wide, or even classroom wide data actually mean to you? Can you really use data trends to inform your teaching? Does that even make sense? Listen to our new episode here or where you listen to your podcasts. As always if you like our pod…

Real Talk Intervention is back! We took a summer hiatus to refresh our hearts and souls and prepare to return to school, intervention, and podcasting. But it's August now, school is back in swing, and on today's episode we discuss how to get a great start to the new year. In our conversation we move beyond the First Day of School, policies and proc…

In today's episode, we take on the Texas science standards with our friend John Long, a former AP/IB/PAP biology teacher. We take on how we differentiate instruction both for at-risk students and for students who really need to be gearing up to take AP classes in a few years. And, of course, we address the ongoing controversy over those re-written …

In today's episode we speak with two women who served on the Texas Education Agency's standards writing committee for the brand new English Language Arts TEKS. They shed light on who it is, exactly, that writes these standards we all follow, how involved the state assessment department is with the standards, and they give their opinions on how thei…

In today's episode, we discuss the philosophy behind the standards. How can one set of standards for every content possibly satisfy all the different educational outcomes a student might want to achieve? This month we're looking at the philosophy behind the standards, wondering how the standards align to college and career readiness standards and c…

May is #happyteacher month at Real Talk Intervention! Standardized testing is behind you, and before you lies the most rewarding time to be an educator - June, July, and part of August. It's time to recharge those batteries by thinking about what you really LOVE about your profession. What makes you a #happy teacher? Stefanie and I share some trick…

April is a tough month. The weather is getting beautiful, teachers and students are getting burnt out, and end of the year assessments are looming. We spent the month of April casting a critical eye on education - from teachers to the government - and now we're casting that eye on ourselves. It's time for some Real Talk - why do WE do the things we…

Today's special episode was recorded live and on location inside a Senate meeting room as we prepared to give testimony against Texas House Bill 1333, colloquially known as The Teaching Over Testing Act. This bill, which aims to reduce the number of standardized tests given by Texas to the federal minimum while also drastically reducing the emphasi…

The human face of the school accountability movement is one no one wants to see. The human face is 18 years old. He has attended school for 90% of his Mondays through Fridays. She has ridden the bus for twelve years. Attended all the classes. And done it all with the entirely reasonable expectation that at the end of this journey lies the cap, the …

Let's be real - there can be a LOT of complaining in education. You're sitting in the teacher's lounge, just trying to eat your noodle cup and chat about last night's episode of The Bachelor, when in comes THAT teacher. That guy who's always mad; the lady who yells at her students every day at 2:45 like clock work. And you feel for them. You do. Yo…

Its April, and that means just one thing - less time spent outdoors in the beautiful spring weather, and more time spent inside preparing detailed test reviews before your STAAR exam in May, your class's final exam, or, if you're SUPER lucky - BOTH! Test reviews are that special kind of terrible - not only are they frequently no fun for teachers or…