A new report by LFA and Grunwald Associates, with support from AT&T, examines how parents perceive the value of mobile devices, how they see their children using mobiles, and what they think of the possibilities for mobile learning.
Assessment
Blog Entries
In June, two towering figures in education and on the LFA Board retired: Paul Houston of AASA and Warlene Gary of the national PTA.
I recently interviewed Houston about the state of public schools, the state of school reform, his vision for the future of public education, and his own legacy after 14 years at the helm of the American Association of School Administrators. (My tribute to Warlene Gary will appear in this space next week.)
In the interview, Houston describes the failure of too many recent reform efforts to address 21st-century challenges, the danger of looking to China for guidance on education policy, the American education system's abiding faith in second chances, the evolving role of the superintendent, and the reasons for his famous bloody-mindedness on matters of school reform. ...
In the first installment of our interview with innovative teacher Luajean Bryan, Bryan described the hands-on projects that have driven up enrollments in her advanced math and science classes. In this second installment, she tells us about her strategies for overcoming the challenges teachers face when attempting do these types of projects, including how she corrals the resources she needs and her thoughts about the "time" dilemma.
Be sure to listen to our highlights from the interview (5 minutes):
Or check out our transcript: ...
Luajean Bryan is a star.
Just ask her principal at Walker Valley High School in Tennessee, the students who flock to her advanced math and science classes, or the people at USA Today who named her to their 2006 all-star teaching team.
Bryan recently spoke with us about the innovative teaching practices that have won her local admiration and national attention. Her emphasis on hands-on learning is exciting students and swelling enrollments in higher-level science and math classes. With support from the NEA Foundation, for example, she accompanies students into caves and on untethered hot-air balloon trips to help them learn first-hand about mathematic and scientific principles that govern the world around them. ...
I couldn't swing a cat over the past few days without hitting a reference to the virtues of performance assessment--thanks in large part to the Coalition of Essential Schools' effective promotion of National Exhibition Month, which "promote[s] and celebrate exhibitions as a preferred form of student assessment" ...
Just last week, the Forum for Education and Democracy issued an important report on the federal role in K-12 education: Democracy at Risk: The Need for a New Federal Policy in Education. With its obvious nod to Nation at Risk, the publication joins a long line of reports that raise the alarm over American students' declining standing in international assessments. Unlike many of those reports, however, Democracy at Risk strongly criticizes recent reform efforts' almost exclusive focus on "mandates and sanctions." ...
Mimi Bair is the principal of Memorial Middle School in Little Ferry, NJ, and a former staff member at Woodrow Wilson Elementary in Weehawken, where she helped implement an innovative arts-focused curriculum that has helped the school's mostly low-income students outperform students state-wide. (You can find PublicSchoolInsights.org's story on Woodrow Wilson Elementary here.)
Ms. Bair recently shared some of the secrets of her success.
The Seattle Times is reporting that federal testing demands have driven the cost of Washington State's standardized tests much higher than expected--and higher than state lawmakers are willing to spend. Lawmakers' answer to the problem: Seek savings by "chopping the number of open-ended, thought-provoking questions and delaying some extra features...."
The situation in Washington State offers an object lesson in the perils of mounting ambitious testing regimes on a shoestring. As Tom Toch argued in 2006, policymakers' tendency to nickel and dime assessment programs is strengthening incentives "for states and their testing contractors to build tests that measure primarily low-level skills." Not only do such tests encourage schools to put higher-order skills on the back burner, they offer meager evidence of actual student learning.
As budget crises loom in states across the country, advocates for sound assessment will have their work cut out for them. ...
As I mentioned last week, a new organization called Common Core has taken shape to combat narrowing of the K-12 curriculum.
Common Core has come out of the gates with a study examining American students' knowledge of history and literature. Among its findings: More than half of the American 17-year-olds surveyed believe that the Civil War occurred either before 1850 or after 1900, and more than a quarter believe that Columbus sailed the ocean blue after 1750. ...
I recently spoke with Professor Yong Zhao from Michigan State University, a leading international education expert who worries that American fears for its economic competitiveness are actually fueling counterproductive education policies.
A native of China, Dr. Zhao is University Distinguished Professor of Education at Michigan State, the founding director of the US-China Center for Research on educational Excellence and a Phi Delta Kappa International Board Member. He and I spoke about the dangers of following in China's educational footsteps, the kinds of skills youth need in a global society, the promise of educational technology, and the importance of international education.
Listen to the following excerpts of our conversation, or read through the highlights below: ...
Success Stories
A "Beacon of Light": Baldwin Academy
Story posted December, 2007. Results updated October 23, 2012.
Results:
Outperforms state averages in all subjects across all grade levels, despite serving a higher percentage of low-income students.- Baldwin's school rating based on state test scores rose from 493 in 1999 to 858 in 2012 (the statewide goal is 800)
- Standardized test scores continue to improve - for example, from 2011 to 2012, 5th grade ELA proficiency rates increased from 49% to 69%; science rates increased 56% to 78% and math rates increased from 67% to 91%.
Baldwin Academy Principal Bonnie Wilson refers to her school as a "beacon of light" for the surrounding community in the San Gabriel Valley of California. Today, Baldwin's light is shining brighter than ever thanks to a high level of support for staff, plus extensive collaboration among teachers at all levels. ...
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