Joan Richardson

Writer/editor

Editor, writer, thinker, skeptic.

Editor, writer, and researcher with deep expertise about education. Creative and strategic thinker who excels at transforming publications and rethinking organizational efforts to deepen impact in schools and influence quality of learning. Skillful public speaker and accomplished professional development presenter. Extensive experience visiting schools in U.S. and abroad (Canada, China, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Haiti, Netherlands).

Portfolio

Editor's Notes

Kappan
Slow down to speed up

Most of us need a little think time in order to do our best work and our best learning.

Kappan
Father knows best

Generosity and a sense of community support and participation should extend further than one's own neighborhood

Kappan
64 words

I cried the night that Takeyta showed me the 64 words she had learned to read.

Kappan
OK with discomfort

The assigned book was The Scarlet Letter. My seat was right behind the girl who got pregnant.

PDK poll on education

Kappan
Tough love for teachers

Twenty years of unrelenting teacher bashing has not managed to budge the American public’s views of teachers: Teachers are great.

Interviews

Global perspective

Kappan
Helping Haiti

Returning Haiti’s education system to its pre-earthquake character will not be sufficient, just as returning New Orleans schools to their pre-Katrina status was deemed unacceptable.

Kappan
Haiti: Making education a right

In Haiti, the poorest nation in our hemisphere, work is under way to make education available to more of its children living in abject poverty.

JSD
Steeped in study

A remote Canadian school district approaches professional learning with a passion.

Kappan
The Finnish way

Once an also-ran in international comparisons, Finland has soared to the top by building a system based on trust and responsibility.

Profiles

Kappan
The ultimate practitioner

Profile of Rick DuFour, one-time superintendent of Adlai Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Ill., and one of the principal architects of professional learning communities.

JSD
Second to none

Profile of Stephanie Hirsh, then the incoming executive director of Learning Forward and a passionate advocate for ensuring high-quality professional learning for all educators