Dr. Matthew Lynch
- Location
- West Chester, Pennsylvania, USA
- Birthday
- December 31
- Title
- Professor
- Company
- Widener University
- Bio
- Dr. Lynch is an Assistant Professor of Education at Widener University, a blogger for the Huffington Post, and an education advice columnist for Education World. He spent seven years as a K-12 teacher, which gave him an intimate view of the impediments that hinder genuine education reform. He has focused the second stage of his career on researching topics related to educational policy, school leadership and education reform, particularly in the urban learning environment.
Dr. Lynch’s scholarship is intended to make a redoubtable, theoretically and empirically based argument that genuine school reform and the closing of the well-chronicled achievement gap are possible. His research and commentaries have been featured in publications throughout the United States and have centered on issues ranging from school reform to politics. Throughout his career, he has been interested in developing collaborative enterprises that move the field of education forward.
Dr. Lynch is the author of a newly released book entitled, It’s Time for a Change: School Reform for the Next Decade. In addition, he is the author of two forthcoming books; A Guide to Effective School Leadership Theories (Routledge, February 26, 2012), and The Call to Teach: An Introduction to Teaching (Pearson, 2013). He is also the editor of the forthcoming 2-volume set, Before Obama: A Reappraisal of Black Reconstruction Era Politicians (Praeger, 2012). Please visit his website at www.drmattlynch.com for more information.
MY RECENT POSTS
- Education Reform in
Mississippi: Hopes and
Possibilities
April 24, 2012 03:52PM - Grading Barack Obama's First
Term
April 23, 2012 08:48PM - Continuing the Fight for
Charter Schools in Mississippi
April 04, 2012 03:26PM - Grading Obama's Education
Policy
April 03, 2012 11:02AM - Trayvon Martin and the Burden
of Young Black Males
March 26, 2012 11:11AM
MY RECENT COMMENTS
- “It's one thing to
appease your base, but don't
do it at the
expense of
America's…”
February 11, 2012 12:43AM - “Good idea, I hadn't
thought about including
this
archetype.”
November 28, 2011 11:19PM
Dr. Matthew Lynch's Links
- New list
- My Personal Website
APRIL 24, 2012 3:52PM
Education Reform in Mississippi: Hopes and Possibilities
Substantial educational change will never occur in Mississippi
until its citizens decide that enough is enough and make a
commitment to change, no matter what it takes. Over the last 15
years, I have hoped and prayed that my home state would fix the
systematic issues that plague its public schools,…
America's focus is on the 2012 presidential race. Will Barack Obama
be elected to a second term or will a new challenger knock him off
his throne? I think it's safe to say that at least half of the
country still supports President Obama, even though they may not
agree with…
APRIL 4, 2012 3:26PM
Continuing the Fight for Charter Schools in Mississippi
On Tuesday, April 3, 2012, Senate Bill 2401, which proposed to
expand charter schools in Mississippi, failed to make it through
the House Education Committee by a 16-15 margin. In response, Gov. Phil
Bryant is considering convening a special session, hoping that the
bill will pass in the full House a…
APRIL 3, 2012 11:02AM
Grading Obama's Education Policy
A couple of weeks ago, a friend and I were discussing President
Obama's performance in the area of education -- more specifically
P-20 education, which begins in preschool and ends with graduate
school. As is usually the case when we debate matters of education
politics, the debate became quite conte…
MARCH 26, 2012 11:11AM
Trayvon Martin and the Burden of Young Black Males
Initially, I was hesitant about writing an opinion piece on the
killing of Trayvon Martin and the subsequent public outcry, because
a multitude of gifted writers had already tackled the story from
seemingly every angle. However, after reading Charles M. Blow's,
"The Curious Case of Trayvon Martin," I…
MARCH 6, 2012 2:49PM
Winning the Drug War in Our Schools
The war on drugs has not been won yet. Walk into any urban,
suburban or rural environment and you would probably be amazed at
how easy it is to purchase illicit drugs. More than one half of American students will
try an illicit drug at least once by the time they…
FEBRUARY 29, 2012 4:23PM
Friendly Advice for the Chester Upland School District
Unless you have been living under a rock for the last couple of
months, you have probably heard about Chester Upland School
District's (hereafter referred to CUSD) financial woes. Also, you
have heard the heartfelt story of its teachers agreeing to work for
free, because the district's coffers were a…
FEBRUARY 27, 2012 2:44PM
Why Charter Schools in Mississippi Are a Good Idea
For over a decade, I have hoped and prayed that Mississippi's
public school system would find its way out of the dark ages and
embrace genuine school reform. Why? As a native of Mississippi and
a former public school teacher, I am deeply concerned about the
future of its education system…
FEBRUARY 21, 2012 5:26PM
A Guide to the School Reform Process
Many school districts across the U.S. could benefit from genuine
school reform, but they may lack the resources and/or expertise to
carry it out. The purpose of this article is to guide school
districts through the reform process, step by step. As a
disclaimer, since every school district or educatio…
FEBRUARY 15, 2012 12:11PM
Living Legends: Paying Homage to the Late-Great Whitney Houston
It is with a heavy heart and great sadness that I write this
edition of "Living Legends." On February 11, 2012, the world lost
one its greatest voices, Whitney Elizabeth Houston. As far as my
series goes, she was definitely on my "wish list" of people that I
dreamed of interviewing…
President Obama has agreed to exempt 10 states from the most
rigorous tenets of NCLB, in exchange for adopting higher standards
and creating more innovative ways of measuring student achievement.
The president essentially signed this executive order because
Congress has failed to amend the law in spi…
FEBRUARY 8, 2012 5:44PM
Before Obama: Remembering Black Reconstruction Era Politicians
Every February, we celebrate the accomplishments and sacrifices of
outstanding African Americans. Why? Because it allows us to pay
homage to our ancestors and reconnect with our storied past. We
have endured much long-suffering as a race but, we continue to
persevere and survive. For over five years…
FEBRUARY 6, 2012 10:06AM
Living Legends: An Interview with the Incomparable Nikki Giovanni
The second installment of "Living Legends" features one of
America's foremost poets and intellectuals, Nikki Giovanni.
Giovanni's incomparable perceptive on poetry is a product of her
own experiences. Her literary works investigate a plethora of
topics, from jazz to racism and are extremely individua…
JANUARY 31, 2012 4:25PM
Building a Nurturing and Supportive Environment for All Students
As a student-centered instructional method, culturally responsive
instruction is focused on catering to the social, emotional, and
educational needs of the student. Among the first goals that
teachers must achieve in order to successfully create a culturally
responsive environment is convincing thei…
JANUARY 25, 2012 7:28PM
Understanding Parental Involvement
When we discuss parental involvement in schools, we often
concentrate on ways in which parental involvement can help schools
perform better and how parents can help their children excel in
learning. It is a well-known fact that parental involvement can
help students achieve success in school; however…
JANUARY 11, 2012 12:59PM
Living Legends: An Interview With Howard Gardner, Part II
In
Part I of my interview with Howard Gardner, he discussed his
famed theory of multiple intelligences, in addition to some of his
other theories and concepts.
Without further ado, here is Part II of the interview:
ML: In 2011, you received the Prince of Asturias Award in… Read full post »
Without further ado, here is Part II of the interview:
ML: In 2011, you received the Prince of Asturias Award in… Read full post »
JANUARY 9, 2012 10:49AM
Living Legends: An Interview With Howard Gardner, Part I
On Christmas Eve 2011, I came up with the idea of developing an
interview series entitled "Living Legends," to spotlight people who
are considered to be at the avant garde of their respective fields.
Developing the concept was easy, but I couldn't decide who to ask
to do the first interview…
JANUARY 6, 2012 10:43AM
Promoting Respect for Cultural Diversity in the Classroom
A primary goal of culturally responsive education is to help all
students become respectful of the multitudes of cultures and people
that they'll interact with once they exit the educational setting.
This can be a daunting task for the educator, given that the world
at large is infinitely more comple…
JANUARY 2, 2012 12:32PM
Culturally Responsive Training: Exploring Your Students' Cultural Backgrounds
Once an educator has thoroughly examined their own cultural
beliefs, values, and biases, they are ready to begin learning about
other cultures. Researchers have theorized that diverse cultures
demonstrate common patterns of thought and community behavior. In
order to explore these cognitive and behav…
DECEMBER 27, 2011 9:08PM
Using Time to Improve Student Performance
Proponents of a year-round school year suggest that a shift in the
time designated for teaching and learning will help students
achieve more by minimizing summer learning loss, allowing for
innovation and implementation of creative programs, and providing
the time needed to assist children who need e…
DECEMBER 16, 2011 2:51PM
Classroom Management in a Culturally Responsive Environment
Consideration of classroom management techniques is critical when
building a culturally-responsive learning environment. It is
imperative that the instructor have a vast body of knowledge
regarding culturally-dependent interpersonal behaviors or else it
is possible that behaviors that are normal wit…
DECEMBER 14, 2011 2:30PM
What is Culturally Responsive Pedagogy?
The growing popularity of culturally responsive instruction is
slowly causing traditional trends to be reversed, with the onus to
adapt to the demands of the multicultural classroom being
increasingly placed on the teacher. Given the wealth of diversity
in our nation's public schools, it is no wond…
DECEMBER 9, 2011 12:03PM
Lessons From Educators on the Big Screen Part II
In part I, we discussed and analyzed four
inspirational movies about transcendent educators. In part II, we
will discuss three additional movies and end with a brief summary
and discussion. Without further ado, let's begin.
Lean on Me is not really about a teacher per se, but about a principal,…
Lean on Me is not really about a teacher per se, but about a principal,…
DECEMBER 8, 2011 5:42PM
The 10 Types of Friends Who Will Ruin Your Relationships Part II
In part I, we established that one of the
avoidable hindrances to your relationships may be the company you
keep. Also, we also unveiled the first 5 types of friends who can
potentially ruin your relationships. Without further ado, here are
the final 5 types of friends.
The Jealous Friend
…
The Jealous Friend
…
DECEMBER 3, 2011 2:02PM
Lessons From Educators on the Big Screen Part I
The factor that ultimately determines how successful a student will
become academically is the teacher(s) that they are assigned to. In
this piece, I will discuss several movies that have explored what
great teaching is all about, including great teaching in
underprivileged schools. As I begin this p…
Kerry Lauerman
Joan Walsh
Salon.com