SPECIAL Mid Day Banana Break
Student Engagement—Essential for Success in School—Is More Complex, Changeable Than Previously Thought
“Enhancing student engagement has been identified as the key to addressing problems of low achievement, high levels of student misbehavior, alienation, and high dropout rates.” – Pitt professor Ming-Te Wang
A student who shows up on time for school and listens respectfully in class might appear fully engaged to outside observers, including teachers. But other measures of student engagement, including the student’s emotional and cognitive involvement with the course material, may tell a different story—one that could help teachers recognize students who are becoming less invested in their studies, according to a new study coauthored by a University of Pittsburgh researcher.More importantly for educators, the study, published online in the professional journal Learning and Instruction,suggests that student engagement—essential for success in school—is malleable, and can be improved by promoting a positive school environment. The result paves the way for future work to offer teachers diagnostic
Best Kept Secret': How a teacher helps autistic students
"Best Kept Secret" is a new documentary worth watching about a teacher in New Jersey who works with autistic students to help then prepare to live in the world once they graduate from school.
The students attend JFK High School in Newark, a public school for students with a wide range of special needs. Administrators there answer the phone by saying, "This is John F. Kennedy High School, Newark's Best Kept Secret."
Read full article >>
His last day of school, after 33 years
Thursday is Ron Maggiano's last day of school after a 33-year award-winning teaching career.
Maggiano is a social studies teacher at West Springfield High School in Fairfax County but is retiring, four years away from full retirement, because he feels he can no longer participate in the standardized test-obsessed environment that now drives public education. (He wrote about it in a letter I recently published.)
Read full article >>
At the Chalk Face is back, this Sunday, June 23rd, 6PM EST
At the Chalk Face is back, this Sunday, June 23rd at 6PM EST. Educated educators talking education, this time on the recent NCTQ report on teacher preparation. Remember, we are at the helm in the BTR chatroom, live tweeting @thechalkface, and you can always call in to speak with us live, 805-727-7111. Tagged: at the […]
New online tool gives community college students an idea of post-degree salaries
Students at Glendale Community College. New data shows that many students with community college degrees earn the same amount as four-year degree holders. ; Credit: Mae Ryan/KPCCA new online tool released this week shows that 45 percent of community college students with associate degrees earn the same median wage as bachelor's degree holders in California: $54,000.
Those numbers are for community college students who did not transfer to a four-year school. The data, which was released by the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office, represents their earnings five years after
L.A. Parents Score Big Victory Over pRev at Board Meeting | Diane Ravitch’s blog
by Diane Ravitch – Los Angeles parent Karen Wolfe here recounts the hilarious showdown at the meeting of the LAUSD school board between real parents and the organizers from Parent Revolution. The subject at issue was whether the board would assure an open, transparent, public process when some outside group (ahem) seeks to gather signatures ...read more
South Carolina Will Adopt Privatization Strategy | Diane Ravitch’s blog
by Diane Ravitch – Public education in South Carolina, already suffering because of underfunding and intensely segregated schools in some districts, will sustain another blow. The privatization movement claims another victory. Now parents will be able to get a tax-credit when they send their children to little religious academies where the teachers are uncertified and ...read more
Education Bloggers; Filling The Education Journalism Void | Mother Crusader
by Darci Cimarusti – I was fortunate to spend last night in the company of some amazing people, including the incomparable NYC teacher bloggers Gary Rubinstein and Arthur Goldstein, at the Class Size Matters 5th Annual Skinny Awards. If you have not checked out their work, please do. They are both tireless public education advocates, ...read more
SRC rebuffs KIPP plan to move into closing Wilson Elementary
by Sonia Giebel
Backed by several neighborhood parents, KIPP Philadelphia CEO Marc Mannella publicly asked School Reform Commission members Wednesday night to endorse -- or at least discuss – his offer to open a kindergarten in the closing Wilson Elementary School.
“If we were to want to do something with this for the ’13-’14 school year, obviously time is getting late, but this is something that we feel we could do today,” he told the commissioners.
But he was met by stony silence.
read more
Backed by several neighborhood parents, KIPP Philadelphia CEO Marc Mannella publicly asked School Reform Commission members Wednesday night to endorse -- or at least discuss – his offer to open a kindergarten in the closing Wilson Elementary School.
“If we were to want to do something with this for the ’13-’14 school year, obviously time is getting late, but this is something that we feel we could do today,” he told the commissioners.
But he was met by stony silence.
read more
Thompson: Common Core "Pause" Opponents Have It Backwards
Some "reformers" are upset that states can wait until metrics are somewhat more accurate (or less inaccurate) before firing teachers using high stakes tests. The TNTP complains that some states will retain bad teachers who are rated as ineffective. It doesn't mention the states that will also fire good teachers who are wrongly identified as ineffective by not-ready-for-prime-time tests and statistical models.
The Education Trust makes the same point, but then it contradicts itself. It complains that Duncan’s new policy
IB Curriculum: World Class or Indoctrination?
International Baccalaureate programs are gaining momentum in public schools, but are they worth the price?
This is the Choice Media Ed Reform Minute for Thursday, June 20.
Produced by Maryrose Mullen
More than ever, U.S. schools are embracing the International Baccalaureate program, or IB, as an alternative to traditional public school teaching. The method was developed in 1968 as a two-year high school diploma for the children of diplomats and jet-setting businessmen. It’s since expanded into elementary and middle school programs, and their numbers are rising: today, the US boasts 1,651 IB programs, more than tripling since 2003, when the country had 503. Ninety percent of these programs are being implemented in public schools.
The "I" in "IB" isn't just there for show. The international aspect is inherent to the curricula. The IB website says the goal of the program is to "develop the
This is the Choice Media Ed Reform Minute for Thursday, June 20.
Produced by Maryrose Mullen
More than ever, U.S. schools are embracing the International Baccalaureate program, or IB, as an alternative to traditional public school teaching. The method was developed in 1968 as a two-year high school diploma for the children of diplomats and jet-setting businessmen. It’s since expanded into elementary and middle school programs, and their numbers are rising: today, the US boasts 1,651 IB programs, more than tripling since 2003, when the country had 503. Ninety percent of these programs are being implemented in public schools.
The "I" in "IB" isn't just there for show. The international aspect is inherent to the curricula. The IB website says the goal of the program is to "develop the
This is a guest post by Laura Thomas, Director of the Antioch Center for School Renewal, the service division of Antioch University New England’s Education Department. Laura is currently involved in research around the experiences of students and educators in rural environments, particularly in the areas of social justice, problem based learning, and technology integration. The author of Facilitating Authentic Learning, (Corwin Press, 2012), she blogs at The Critical Skills Classroom and can be found on Twitter @CriticalSkills1
When we talk about schools in the 21st Century, we talk about a lot of things. Data, testing, competency, standards, and accountability are part and parcel of the lexicon of schools. Our focus has shifted to the hands and head - what children and teachers know and can do - at the expense of the heart and soul - what we believe and feel. In Chapter 10 of A Year at Mission Hill, we watch the community move through a series of reflective processes - exhibitions, retreats, and conversations about the future - by which they build a bridge between the head and the heart made up of equal parts faith and courage.
Any educator worth knowing recognizes that teaching is an act of tremendous faith. The seeds planted in a single school year may not be ready to harvest until years later. “It’s not about how hard we’re working,” says one teacher at Mission Hill, “it’s
Capitol rally generates excitement about summer learning
Students rapped and Sacramento City Unified Superintendent Jonathan Raymond showed off his purple polka dotted socks at a summer learning rally at the Capitol this morning.
About 350 students from summer school programs across the state were invited to a pep rally featuring state schools chief Tom Torlakson. He presented a Champion Award to Raymond for his emphasis on summer learning.
Put school closings behind us? ‘NO WAY’! Families occupy classrooms at Lafayette. | Mike Klonsky’s SmallTalk Blog
by Mike Klonsky – Three weeks ago, a well-orchestrated call could be heard, coming from Clark Street and the 5th Floor at City Hall. ““We are putting the past behind us,” Byrd-Bennett said. “It is time to turn the page” on school closings. Yesterday, the community resistance movement answered back. As the first wave of ...read more
Update: Deasy, Zimmer Attend College Readiness Event
KPCC’s Adolfo Guzman-Lopez has been sending out tweets about this morning’s conference on the district’s academic requirements. For example:
@DrDeasyLAUSD taking part in conf. on 2016 requirement that HS seniors graduate #UC ready #AGForAll
Top schools at #LAUSD falling short of 8 yr old A-G policy: 64% of grads at LA Center For Enriched Studies were UC ready in 2011
Top schools at #LAUSD falling short of 8 yr old A-G policy: 64% of grads at LA Center For Enriched Studies were UC ready in 2011
#LAUSD board member Zimmer says college ready grad requirement is a civil rights issue, like district’s huge school building project.
Want to know more? Follow the event hashtag #AGforall, or follow @ABC_PolicyLA, one of the sponsors of the event.
Want to know more? Follow the event hashtag #AGforall, or follow @ABC_PolicyLA, one of the sponsors of the event.