Why Good Programs Disappear
Are we building programs that work, or are we building programs that only work while we're there?
Stop Measuring Seats Filled
Ultimately, the question isn't how many people sat in our classrooms. It's whether sitting in those classrooms changed what became possible for them.
Mission Drift Happens One Decision at a Time
Is what you're doing today moving you closer to the reason you exist?
The Most Important Classroom Supply Isn't in Your Budget
Before students can learn, they have to feel safe enough to try.
Stop Asking Programs to Do Everything
Build bridges, not empires.
Digital Poverty Is the New Literacy Crisis
Digital literacy is no longer about computers; it's about participation in society.
We Teach Reading, But Are We Teaching Learning?
Of course we want our students to earn credentials, but if passing the test is where learning ends, we've missed an extraordinary opportunity.
The Cost of Waiting for Perfect
What can we do with what we have?
When Hope Gets Heavy
The Quiet Heroes of Reentry
"Every successful reentry story has people behind it…mentors, educators, case managers, workforce specialists, and nonprofit staff who quietly help individuals rebuild their lives. This week's Sunday Morning Coffee explores why reentry nonprofits are some of the most important, and often most overlooked, contributors to safer, stronger communities."
Executive Function Lessons Every Workforce Program Should Teach
The issue isn't always that people don't know how to do the job. It's that many have never been explicitly taught the executive function skills required to keep the job.
Tiny Teaching Moves that Transform Behavior
Correctional educators often underestimate the power of their smallest moves.
“Unredeemable?”
If we believe people can change, we build systems that make change possible. If we don’t, we build systems that prove ourselves right.
Financial Literacy That Sticks
We use the phrase “financial stability” often, but for someone returning home, it has very concrete meaning.
The 3 Biggest Misconceptions Educators Have About Incarcerated Learners
Misconceptions are powerful. They shape expectations before we ever meet the people we’re teaching, but correctional classrooms have a way of rewriting those expectations, if we let them.
What Correctional Leaders Get Wrong About Motivation (and How to Fix It)
Motivation is almost never the starting point. It’s the outcome.
Harsh Sentencing, Soft Outcomes
Harsh sentencing for youth does not reliably produce the outcomes people expect. In many cases, it produces the opposite.
The Cost of Doing Nothing
Why should we spend money educating people in prison when there are already so many demands on the public budget?
The Sunday Blues in Helping Professions: Why They Hit Us Harder
Most people feel the Sunday Blues from time to time. But if you work in a helping profession, they tend to hit a little harder.
Making the Invisible Visible
Durable skills justice-impacted people already have but don’t know how to name.