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Review of Khan Academy’s “American History Overview Part 1: Jamestown to Civil War”
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I had not been a huge fan of Khan Academy.
Even before I started working with one of its competitors, I generally took a dim view of anyone that though they could do better than a teacher with just a computer and a voice recorder.
However, Salman Khan’s little creation, originally meant to help his own cousin in math, has been a founding father of today’s explosion in virtual pedagogy. Practically everyone, including my own kin at LearnZillion, has a patch in the virtual quilt—from reading to math and even science and social studies.
When I heard that Khan Academy had ventured into history, again, I was skeptical. His approach seemed to work in math, and somewhat with language. History, however, is a massive, multi-headed monster that can go
I had not been a huge fan of Khan Academy.
Even before I started working with one of its competitors, I generally took a dim view of anyone that though they could do better than a teacher with just a computer and a voice recorder.
However, Salman Khan’s little creation, originally meant to help his own cousin in math, has been a founding father of today’s explosion in virtual pedagogy. Practically everyone, including my own kin at LearnZillion, has a patch in the virtual quilt—from reading to math and even science and social studies.
When I heard that Khan Academy had ventured into history, again, I was skeptical. His approach seemed to work in math, and somewhat with language. History, however, is a massive, multi-headed monster that can go
Representative Ives’ HB3303. Again with turning our pension into a 401(k)?
Between now and July when the General Assembly again meets to go after public employee pensions, Representative Jeanne Ives will be pushing her HB3303. It is another Republican attempt to turn our defined benefit pension into a Vegas-style gamble.
Last week, Constitution Blogger Association member Glen Brown took on this foolishness.
Last week, Constitution Blogger Association member Glen Brown took on this foolishness.
Don’t be fooled by some Illinois politicians’ saccharine prevarications about stabilizing the public
Remainders: Some co-locations are controversial, but not all
- Sometimes, school space-sharing plans stir up controversy. Sometimes, they don’t. (Brooklyn Bureau)
- A special education teacher recounts the saga of waiting for an observation that never came. (Miss Rim)
- Joel Klein is still not sure how the market will respond to Amplify, but he’s optimistic. (Fast Company)
- A new video profiles two schools that are teaching Asian languages to their students. (Asia Society)
- Houston is considering using student surveys for up to 30 percent of teachers’ ratings. (Joanne Jacobs)
- A city teacher who once backed the Common Core says she has changed her mind. (Living in Dialogue)
- In a new video, the State Education Department tries to win over Common Core skeptics. (GS in Brief)
- The city is opening 29 new dual-language programs this fall: what they are and where. (Insideschools)
Sally Ride is Still an Inspiration, 30 Years After Becoming America's First Woman in Space
On the 30th anniversary of America sending its first woman into space, late astronaut Sally Ride is still an inspiration. In addition to making history in space, Ride helped younger generations as an educator, environmentalist, and author of science books for kids ("Mission: Save the Planet"). This roundup of quotes includes her thoughts on being a trailblazer, stereotypes about girls and science, and being a female astronaut among many more men ("Weightlessness is a great equalizer").
Nearly half of Crenshaw High's teachers won't return this fall
; Credit: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images
Students at Crenshaw High School will have a lot of new teachers when they return to school in the fall. That’s because roughly half of the school’s teachers were not rehired as part of a campus reorganization ordered by Superintendent John Deasy.
The reorganization closed the chronically low-performing school and transformed into three magnets: Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA); Business Entrepreneurship Technology (BET); and Science, Technology, Engineering, Math & Medicine (STEMM) academies.
A magnet program for gifted students that was already at the school was also closed. Its students will be folded into the new magnets.
“These three were selected by the community as a way of enticing those students that live in the Crenshaw attendance area to come to Crenshaw and not get on a bus and go off to another non-Crenshaw school,” said George Bartleson, director of Intensive Support and Intervention at LAUSD.
As part of the transformation, Crenshaw teachers who wanted to stay at the school were told to apply for
Close the Achievement Gap: Support Boys of Color GIVE to SMART Saturdays
UEA believes that what Frederick Douglass said more than 150 years ago holds true today, "It is easier to build strong children than to fix broken men." SMART Saturdays builds strong boys of color equipped with the skills they need to learn, succeed, and lead. SMART Saturdays prepares boys of color for the challenges of school and life. Too many young men of color find themselves on the fringes of American society simply because they lacked solid educational foundations. UEA changes this paradigm by ensuring that boys of color begin cultivating the academic and critical social/emotional competencies required to do well in school, their careers, and life. 80% of low-income boys of color lose 200 hours of classroom time each year due to disciplinary actions, which ultimately results in too many young men of color visiting probation officers instead of college admissions officers. 70% of boys of color end up dropping out of high school
Consequences for teachers from school testing can wait a year
States that are implementing the Common Core national academic standards and new standardized tests in public schools can have an additional year before they have to use those student test scores to decide pay and job security for teachers, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Tuesday.
Read full article >>
Read full article >>
Critical report on teacher preparation programs sparks debate - by Jane Meredith Adams and Kathryn Baron
California’s teacher training programs were excoriated as among the worst in a nation of poor-quality programs in a report released Tuesday, immediately sparking a debate about the validity of the report’s methodology and findings. Nearly every teacher preparation program in California, at both public and private colleges and universities, received poor ratings in the report, which was issued by...
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Children and hedge fund profits.
Ken, Illinois retiree now living in Florida, is a member of our unofficial Constitution Bloggers Association.
Once people realize that their own children are being experimented upon and used for profits, the greed grab will end. The testing craze, the corporate education reform industry, the for-profit and non-profit charter industry, the online educational programing business, etc. will dwindle and either die out or become minuscule.
The profit margins are estimated, the marketing planned, and the technologies used to lure parents
Bill Ayers: Obama should be put on trial for war crimes
Radical anti-war revolutionary turned education advocate Bill Ayers said Tuesday he believed President Barack Obama should be charged with war crimes. Ayers, who co-founded the far left revolutionary Weather Underground group, told Tom Bevan and Charlie Stone of Real Clear Politics that...
HUMILIATION WILL GET YOU NOWHERE
The Chicago Tribune continues to browbeat and humiliate any and all Illinois legislators who dared to vote against the pension reform proposal that the Tribune is endorsing. The Tribune even singled out individual legislators in a series of lengthy lead editorials. The newspaper used the word “coward” to describe legislators who abstained from voting.
Here is a tip for the Chicago Tribune: People do not like to be humiliated and they especially don’t like it when it
Here is a tip for the Chicago Tribune: People do not like to be humiliated and they especially don’t like it when it
Bill Introduced: H.R.2316 Success in the Middle Act of 2013
To provide grants to States to ensure that all students in the middle grades are taught an academically rigorous curriculum with effective supports so that students complete the middle grades prepared for success in secondary school and postsecondary endeavors, to improve State and district policies and programs relating to the academic achievement of students in the middle grades, to develop and implement effective middle grades models for struggling students, and for other purposes.
Robert Skeels Attends a pRev Meet and Greet
Robert Skeels attended a “meet and greet” sponsored by pRev (the organization formerly known as Parent Revolution). Read what he learned as he socialized with those who are prepared to close down 50 public schools in Los Angeles. Why? Well, firing people makes better schools. Or does it?
L.A. school board OKs $30 million for Apple iPads
Apple Inc. won a $30-million contract Tuesday from the L.A. Unified School District, paving the way for the company to provide every student with an iPad in the nation's second-largest school system.
USD Students Condemn Native Studies Program
VERMILLION S.D. — Some University of South Dakota students are criticizing the school’s Native Studies major, saying it falsely advertises coursework and doesn’t have enough instructors.
School administrators say they understand the frustration and are making changes that will get the program back on track.
Jackie Hendry of Rockford, Ill., told the Argus Leader newspaper that the program was what drew her to USD. But a year into her studies, the 20-year-old has found the coursework and instruction lacking.
“I was under the impression that it was a great Native Studies program, and I had an interest in that,” Hendry
School administrators say they understand the frustration and are making changes that will get the program back on track.
Jackie Hendry of Rockford, Ill., told the Argus Leader newspaper that the program was what drew her to USD. But a year into her studies, the 20-year-old has found the coursework and instruction lacking.
“I was under the impression that it was a great Native Studies program, and I had an interest in that,” Hendry
60,000+ Sign Petition in Support of College Student Expelled for Being Gay
Danielle Powell (left) was expelled from Grace University for her same-sex relationship.
In fall 2007, Danielle Powell enrolled in Grace University in Omaha, Neb., to pursue a degree in psychology. She chose to study at Grace, a Christian college, because her older sister lived in Omaha and she was “offered generous scholarships.” Powell played on the women’s volleyball team and did well in school.During the spring 2011 semester of her senior year, Powell traveled to Mississippi to work at a civil rights foundation to finish her degree. While there, Powell and another student, Michelle Rogers, began a same-sex relationship. After the relationship became known by Grace, Powell was suspended. Shortly after, Grace began billing Powell for $6,300, the amount of her scholarships for that spring semester, which had been revoked.
Powell was determined to finish her degree; so, after careful reflection and consultation with her mentors, she decided to apply for readmission to Grace. In order to re-enroll, Powell had to fulfill the university’s requests to live off campus and go through a prescribed program that addressed sexual relations. She had also planned to
District Could Pay Millions for Additional AP Classes
More AP courses could cost millions for Florida schools.
TAMPA Fla.—County school superintendents told the state Board of Education on Tuesday that a recent legislative bill allowing high school students to take as many advanced placement courses as they can handle will cost districts millions of dollars that their budgets can’t support.Pinellas School superintendent Michael Grego said the bill will cost districts between $40 million and $60 million per year. While the state funds K-12 education at five hours daily, schools may have to provide eight hours of classes to meet the mandate. AP courses count as college credit, allowing some students to finish their college and university studies quicker.
Grego told the panel that he would be meeting with St. Petersburg College, which has offered to help offset some expenses in unorthodox ways, such as facilities sharing, but those plans are not firm as yet. He agreed that AP