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  Check out the Catalpa Videos!

Tom Wilson
  Tom Wilson

Tom Wilson, architect of Practice-Based Inquiry®, introduces the methodology that is changing what we know about how well our schools are providing student learning for our students.

The videos are a good place to start your navigation through this site’s large store of ideas and information.

video Click here for the first video in the set, Introduction to Practice-Based Inquiry®.

video Click here for the complete set.

Check the news story about the videos and find why PBI® is like Maine humor.

Zoey the Catalpa Dog

Zoey and the Turtle
This is “Zoey, the Catalpa dog.” She is part mascot, part muse. Like many of us, she shows wear over time. We brush her regularly to remove dead hair, tangles, and burrs. This makes her look better, and it gives her certain poise.

We have named this web-site makeover for her, because we gave it a good brushing.

Some of you will ask, “What happened to the turtle who was on its back on the home page?” We are not sure.

An older woman said the turtle told her, “I am going to the bottom of the pile.” She happened to be the one Stephen Hawking cited in the opening of his book A Brief History of Time:

A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy.

At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: "What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise." The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, "What is the tortoise standing on?" "You're very clever, young man, very clever," said the old lady. "But it's turtles all the way down!"

Most people think the turtle showed remarkable vigor, said nothing and returned to his race with the hare. One claims she saw him just before he left. He told her that PBI® had turned him over and put him on his feet, and he asked her to thank everyone (more than 2,000 of us) for making Practice-Based Inquiry® real.

More detail about Practice-Based Inquiry »

PBI

A TIME OF NEW CHANGE FOR SCHOOLS
The historic events of 2008 have gripped us so intensely because we now know that things must change if we are to thrive or perhaps even if we are to survive. Our presidential election gave us an exhilarating dose of hope that we can turn the common responses of our lives into creative and democratic directions. While schools may not be first on our lists, we do know that the type of education our public schools provide our children is key to what we will achieve and what we will become.
Click here to read more »
 


Explore how Catalpa can help you use Practice-Based Inquiry®.

Catalpa Visits
We conduct visits to individual schools that produce certified reports of findings on how well each school is performing.

Agencies often sponsor Catalpa conducted visits to pilot the PBI visit in their area. Visits are sometimes scheduled to find new answers about why a school is facing difficult or unusual circumstances.

We also offer visits for other public institutions that provide the services of practicing professionals.

Click here for more detail on Catalpa Visits »

Visits for Rhode Island school districts
Catalpa offers special services to Rhode Island districts that capitalize on my 25 years of experience in American public school reform and on my 12 years of experience as Principal Consultant to SALT. This includes design, certification and training services for constructing district based school visits, In-School Visits, district team building and accountability strategies.

Click here for more on Catalpa's special services for Rhode Island School Districts »

Ideas to provoke thought and policy
Tom Wilson, creator of Practice-Based Inquiry®, and other PBI practitioners give these talks and workshops about PBI.

A time to think and act anew.
How Practice-Based Inquiry® is a new way to assess school performance that makes it possible to design school accountability and reform so that they can actually contribute to generating the high quality education our children need and deserve.

Thinking anew with another tool besides the hammer!
PBI expands the arsenal of ways to measure school performance so that it is at last possible to construct accurate conclusions about what actually happens in a school’s classrooms when students are (or are not) learning.

Click here to join the discussion on Tom's blog »

“What did you learn in school today?”
Why and how PBI® promotes great teaching.

Out of the closet and onto the table.
Why the professional judgment of practicing professionals is important.

Making accountability accountable.
How Practice-Based Inquiry® makes it possible for school accountability systems to be more accountable in supporting the results that the public wants for our schools.

What it takes to conduct PBI visits. Why you should.

Ongoing Catalpa Services

  • Designing and certifying a PBI® visit protocol
  • Training and certifying team chairs
  • Endorsing visit reports
  • Licensing Practice-Based Inquiry® centers
  • Setting-up large-scale accountability and support systems

Click here for more details on how Catalpa can help you »


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