One Year on the Blog

One year ago today, I created this blog and made my first post. I had written it two weeks earlier but had nowhere to go with it. I tried something on Blogspot, but for whatever reason, I could never get it to look just right. Tracking back through 222 posts and over 53,000 page views since then, I still think my desire to help people understand the interaction between socio-economic conditions and student/school performance runs as the main thread through this work.

I slowly developed a core group of followers. Now, even when I don’t write for a week, I still get quite a few page views. I like to track which posts are most popular, but since you can just go to the homepage and see whole posts (I don’t tease an idea with a few lines and then make you click through), I probably don’t have the clearest picture of that at all times. I also know that many of the people who receive this blog by email forward the posts that strike them as most relevant to their contact lists.

Let me just say that a year ago, if you would have told me I’d have 576 followers on Twitter and 307 on Facebook (many of whom are the same people), I would have been really surprised. Since I have to choose between writing anonymously or not at all, I also recognize that has kept some potential readers away.

I’ve written some posts I wish had turned out differently. I’ve had detractors critical of my work. I’ve even been corrected and publicly admitted it.

I’ve listened to your ideas when you think you have a story that isn’t being told.

That’s still the main reason I’m here. I want to correct the insidious narrative pervasive throughout public policy discussions of education. Through social media, I find that more and more Oklahomans – and more and more educators – are well-informed and willing to stand up for the truth.

While I may not have the liberty to attach my name to this blog, I respect the courage it takes for so many people in Oklahoma to speak publicly about education and how the myths and mythologists are eroding it. Privately, I do have the same discussions with my legislators that I have here.

Thank you for being here. I truly enjoy the conversations we’re having, and I hope I’m in some way helping the people who make the biggest difference.

Enough about me…