Edu Change & Student Advocacy

     Recently, one of my local school districts decided to “stand tough” on a series of challenges to their longstanding dress code. This district happens to be the one where my own children attend and where I once worked.      For this discussion, I don’t plan on listing all of the details of the dress code. But by most standards, the dress code is lengthy and very strict (samples include that male students cannot wear earrings, have hair beyond collar length, etc.). See more info here: A Boy And His Hair Are Behind The Latest Clovis Unified Dress Code Debate      They are currently facing a series of legal challenges based on gender equity, as well as an unprecedented degree of public student protest ( Boys wear dresses to protest Clovis Unified dress code ). First and foremost, I am not opposed to a dress code. Common sense dress codes focused on decency are appropriate and understood by students. But when we go beyond things re...

     Most public schools are faced with a variety of instructional and curricular challenges in this digital age. In addition to pedagogy, these challenges are more and more centered around access, mobility, flexibility and equity.      BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) is a movement that has been gaining traction for several years now as a means for schools of increasing access to technology without the cost of purchasing a device for each student.      All of the students at Design Science High School in Fresno, California are part of a school wide BYOD Program. According to Principal Roy Exum, his school asks all students to bring a device to use in class.      "The teachers agreed to use them for instruction extensively so that they had value and that they became as important as books. We are a Google Apps for Education school and BYOD aligns well with doing all work in Google,” said Exum.      ...