Feed-up, Feedback, Feed Forward: Making Formative Assessment Come Alive « The Whole Child Blog « Whole Child Education

Feed-up, Feedback, Feed Forward: Making Formative Assessment Come Alive « The Whole Child Blog « Whole Child Education:

Feed-up, Feedback, Feed Forward: Making Formative Assessment Come Alive

by Klea Scharberg

A comprehensive formative assessment (FA) system should fit seamlessly within the daily flow of the classroom. But in many places, FA requirements signal an end to instruction so that students can be tested. In a recent webinar, Nancy Frey discussed an ongoing approach to FA that enhances the give-and-take relationship between teachers and students to promote learning and will share examples from elementary and secondary classrooms.

Watch the archived presentation below, download the handouts, and listen to Frey and other guests talk about assessment on the Whole Child Podcast.

Frey is a professor of literacy in the School of Teacher Education at San Diego State University and a classroom

Unschooling in the Art of War | Lefty Parent

Unschooling in the Art of War | Lefty Parent:

Unschooling in the Art of War

by Cooper Zale

This is quite a long piece (over 7000 words) weaving a narrative thread through my young life that I think illustrates a key principle of unschooling. That principle is that the natural desire and capability of a young human being to learn and the opportunity to take a “deep dive” into the subject of interest results in a profound degree of broad learning and development beyond the perhaps narrow area of exploration. Note that though the subject of my youthful interest was the “art of war”, the impact and benefit of my learning pursuing that interest was much broader than the narrow and arguably non-progressive subject matter. Also note that very little of this tale involves anything that I learned in school (beyond learning how to read and basic math).

As far as I understand it, the premise of sending kids to school is that they will be given an opportunity to learn things, and in particular, the things that the larger community feels are important for kids to learn to become

Diane Ravitch Addresses Sacramento, and Undresses Education Reform « InterACT

Diane Ravitch Addresses Sacramento, and Undresses Education Reform « InterACT:

Diane Ravitch Addresses Sacramento, and Undresses Education Reform

by David B. Cohen

While my main purpose in traveling to Sacramento last week was for an event I helped plan and present, the added benefit was seeing some excellent speeches at the Sacramento Convention Center that evening. The main draw was Diane Ravitch, who delivered a vigorous call to action for the audience of a few thousand like-minded educators and allies. I was positioned to capture some of the event on video, though without a tripod or a proper video camera, I couldn’t capture the whole speech. I’ll be posting some clips of Ravitch, and also some clips from the speech by Linda Darling-Hammond, which was similarly well-received by the teachers I spoke to after the event. I have already posted a short clip of my friend and ACT co-founder Anthony Cody speaking at

Jersey Jazzman: Miss Laura Frets About Charters

Jersey Jazzman: Miss Laura Frets About Charters:

Miss Laura Frets About Charters

by Duke

Well, fiddle-de-dee! Miss Laura Waters is so very upset by the nasty tone of those who object to having charter schools shoved down their throats; I'm afraid she's going to get the vapors!

Perhaps the biggest rap against charters is that the local community must pay for them -- at least for tuition and transportation -- a fact that's trotted out at seemingly every opportunity by their opponents.

In the fabric of New Jersey's public education system, the thread-count for charter schools is low. Yet their existence provokes the sort of red-faced rhetoric more suited to a Giants game than a discussion of educational options. It’s time for everyone to take a deep

This Week In Education: Thompson: Oakland's "Mutual Consent" Unfair To Veteran Teachers

This Week In Education: Thompson: Oakland's "Mutual Consent" Unfair To Veteran Teachers:

Thompson: Oakland's "Mutual Consent" Unfair To Veteran Teachers

by john thompson

It's hard not to agree with the notion presented by Jill Tucker in this SF Chronicle article that "there is a particular type of teacher who wants to work in an urban environment," and that many teachers who are great "in schools with few challenges" would not make it in the inner city." That is why we have such a shortage of teaching talent in the toughest schools. That also explains why so many great teachers work their hearts out in the toughest schools for a certain time period and then use seniority rights to transfer to schools where better conditions allow for great teaching over a sustainable career. In my experience, those dedicated educators fret through months of

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top Early Afternoon Posts 1-27 #ows #edreform

Where did she go? Emily Alpert Former Voice of San Diego Reporter Joins the LA Times - FishbowlLA

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 9 minutes ago

Former Voice of San Diego Reporter Joins the LA Times - FishbowlLA:Former Voice of San Diego Reporter Joins the LA TimesBy Matthew Fleischer on January 17, 2012 10:00 AMLooks like former Voice of San Diego reporter Emily Alpert has landed on her feet. Alpert was one of three VoSD journos laid off shortly before the new year due to fundraising shortages at the journalistic nonprofit. According to her Twitter account, Alpert has since moved north to join the LA Times ... more »

All Education Matters: Why America Is Losing the War On Poverty

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All Education Matters: Why America Is Losing the War On Poverty:Why America Is Losing the War On Povertyby Cryn JohannsenHere's a snippet from my latest article, "Why America Is Losing the War on Poverty," at The Loop21.com:Recent figures about poverty in America paint a grim picture about the living conditions of a large majority of Americans. Not only is poverty spreading rapidly, but the chances of escaping it are becoming more difficult, if not impossible. For instance, Timothy Smeeding wrote ... more »

Major Bill Actions in Education - U.S. Congress - OpenCongress

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 9 minutes ago

Education - U.S. Congress - OpenCongress:Bill Sent To President: H.R.3237 SOAR Technical Corrections ActOpen Congress : Major Bill Actions in Education - 12 minutes agoTo amend the SOAR Act by clarifying the scope of coverage of the Act. January 25, 2012: Presented to President.Bill Introduced: H.R.3826 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to extend the reduced interest rate for Federal Direct Stafford Loans.Open Congress : Major Bill Actions in Education - 12 minutes agoTo amend the Higher Education ... more »

Weekly Update, January 27, 2012: In Tucson racism is alive and well, Rahm bus(ted) in Chicago and other stories in education | Seattle Education

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 9 minutes ago

Weekly Update, January 27, 2012: In Tucson racism is alive and well, Rahm bus(ted) in Chicago and other stories in education | Seattle Education:Weekly Update, January 27, 2012: In Tucson racism is alive and well, Rahm bus(ted) in Chicago and other stories in educationby seattleducation2011This has not been a slow news week so I’ll get started with all the news that fits.First up, the teachers and students in Tucson. If you haven’t been following this story, I would recommend that ... more »

5 Biggest Lies About the Right-Wing Corporate-Backed War on Our Schools | | AlterNet

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5 Biggest Lies About the Right-Wing Corporate-Backed War on Our Schools | | AlterNet:5 Biggest Lies About the Right-Wing Corporate-Backed War on Our SchoolsThough National School Choice Week has some liberal support, its primary backers are deeply conservative activists whose goal is to dissolve public education in the US.January 23, 2012 | LIKE THIS ARTICLE ?Join our mailing list:Sign up to stay up to date on the latest headlines via email. National School Choice Week, a pet project of big ... more »

Can Codecademy Teach Poor Black & Brown Kids to Code?

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Can Codecademy Teach Poor Black Brown Kids to Code?:Can Codecademy Teach Poor Black Brown Kids to Code?By Marshall Kirkpatrick / January 18, 2012 8:02 PM / 19 CommentsinShare76Share on TumblrUnemployment among youth of color is widespread complex; can a tech education startup change things?The White House announced new participation in a jobs initiative yesterday from fast-growing technical education website Codecademy, as well as some venerable social justice oriented organizations Level Playing Field Institute and College Bound Brotherhood, a group dedicated ... more »

Schools Matter: GUEST BLOG: IDOE–Shrinking State Power to Expose Your Tender Underbelly (UPDATE)

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 9 minutes ago

Schools Matter: GUEST BLOG: IDOE–Shrinking State Power to Expose Your Tender Underbelly (UPDATE):GUEST BLOG: IDOE–Shrinking State Power to Expose Your Tender Underbelly (UPDATE)by P. L. ThomasIDOE–Shrinking State Power to Expose Your Tender Underbelly (UPDATE)by Douglas Storm[UPDATE in the body of the text]Indiana is at the forefront of a concerted and aggressive drive to weaken state power. That sounds good to so many of us, especially those who believe there is a libertarian with a good heart out there. But here’s ... more »

VIDEO: Dallas ISD board meeting turns chaotic before vote to close schools | Dallas ISD Blog | dallasnews.com

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 9 minutes ago

VIDEO: Dallas ISD board meeting turns chaotic before vote to close schools | Dallas ISD Blog | dallasnews.com:VIDEO: Dallas ISD board meeting turns chaotic before vote to close schoolsby Matthew Haag/ReporterThe Dallas school board voted Thursday night to close 11 schools -- but not before the audience taunted and yelled at trustees, police escorted community activist Joyce Foreman from the auditorium and board members moved to another room. It was a chaotic scene, and Tawnell Hobbs captured it all:

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit

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4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit:TWO L.A. UNIFIED SCHOOLS WIN $100,000 GRANTS FROM TARGETsmf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 6 hours ago-- Rick Rojas | la tIMES/la nOW | http://lat.ms/yDWdEK January 25, 2012 | 7:42 pm :: Two Los Angeles Unif-ed schools, nominated by viewers of Ellen DeGeneres' daytime talk show, have received $100,000 grants from Target, the district announced Wednesday. Crenshaw High School and Enadia Way Elementary School were two ... more »

Modern School: Data Driven Nonsense--Few Credible Studies of Charter Schools

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Modern School: Data Driven Nonsense--Few Credible Studies of Charter Schools:Data Driven Nonsense--Few Credible Studies of Charter Schoolsby Michael DunnTeachers in the trenches have long suspected that the “data-driven” reforms being shoved down their throats by Gates, Broad, Walton, Obama, Duncan, Rhee, et al, had little credible data to back them up and little hope of improving educational outcomes for their students. An article in the latest issue of Science (reposted on EurekAlert) lends credibility to these suspicions.According to UC San ... more »

Letter From Reynoso Indicates UCD Police Not Cooperating With Investigation #ows

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Letter From Reynoso Indicates UCD Police Not Cooperating With Investigation:Letter From Reynoso Indicates UCD Police Not Cooperating With InvestigationWritten by David GreenwaldWednesday, 25 January 2012 04:20A letter from former Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso sent to UC President Mark Yudof indicates there will be delays in the original timeline. The delay means that Justice Reynoso is now "targeting February 21, 2012 for the release of the report of the Task Force."Mr. Reynoso indicates the changes result "primarily from our negotiations ... more »

Comprehensive, Continuous, and Coherent Assessment « The Whole Child Blog « Whole Child Education

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 18 hours ago

Comprehensive, Continuous, and Coherent Assessment « The Whole Child Blog « Whole Child Education:Comprehensive, Continuous, and Coherent Assessmentby Klea ScharbergOur goal is to educate students who are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged and who are ready for the demands of college, career, and citizenship. Through a combination of assessments of and for learning, such as growth models; portfolios; criterion-referenced tests; norm-referenced tests; computer adaptive assessments; diagnostic evaluations; and formative, interim, and summative assessments; we get a more... more »

NYC Public School Parents: The decline of science education in NYC high schools as shown by the falling number of Intel submissions and semi-finalists

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 18 hours ago

NYC Public School Parents: The decline of science education in NYC high schools as shown by the falling number of Intel submissions and semi-finalists:The decline of science education in NYC high schools as shown by the falling number of Intel submissions and semi-finalistsby Leonie HaimsonThese posts about the decline of independent science research at NYC high schools – especially at the less selective non-specialized high schools – were written and researched by NYC parents Steve Koss and Melvin Meer. For ... more »

Jersey Jazzman: NOLA: Charter Nirvana

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Jersey Jazzman: NOLA: Charter Nirvana:NOLA: Charter Nirvanaby DukeRick Hess took the week off and left the keys to his blog with Neerav Kingsland, the chief strategy officer for New Schools for New Orleans. His posts this week - here, here, here, and here - are both astonishing and infuriating.Astonishing because they call for a radical upending of public education through the entire country. Infuriating because Kingsland simply ignores the primary issue with charter school expansion:In the following letter I aim ... more »

Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top 1-26 Early Evening Posts #ows #edreform

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 18 hours ago

Life in Rahm’s Chicago. Thursday edition. « Fred KlonskyBig Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All)-58 minutes agoLife in Rahm’s Chicago. Thursday edition. « Fred Klonsky:Life in Rahm’s Chicago. Thursday edition.by Fred KlonskyRahm doesn’t think pay-for-protesters is a problem.And his hand-picked board of education seems to have skipped a step. They’re budgeting for turnarounds before all the public hearings and actually taking a vote.The Sun-Times:The mayor was not concerned.“The ministers have a right — who have been long involved in school ... more »

SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: Demonstrators Protest Rhee and Corporate Agenda for Schools

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 18 hours ago

SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: Demonstrators Protest Rhee and Corporate Agenda for Schools:Demonstrators Protest Rhee and Corporate Agenda for Schoolsby Duane Campbell“Silent” protestors with their mouths tapedshut confronted Sacramento MayorKevin Johnson and corporate education proponent Michelle Rhee as they entereda carefully promoted andcontrolled discussion abouteducation issues at the Tsakopoulos Library Galleria, 828 I St, in Sacramentoon Wednesday, January 25.Demonstrators held a news briefing with local mediaoutlets. The Sacramento Bee didnot

NYC Public School Parents: Concerns with the MRDC study on small schools released today

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 18 hours ago

NYC Public School Parents: Concerns with the MRDC study on small schools released today:Concerns with the MRDC study on small schools released todayfrom NYC Public School Parents by Leonie HaimsonMDRC released a study today, which the NY Times writes “appeared to validate the Bloomberg administration’s decade-long push to create small schools to replace larger, failing high schools.” The report mentions the current controversy over the massive number of school closings, here in NYC and across the country, and thus there ... more »

No-Day Lobby Day. « Fred Klonsky

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 18 hours ago

No-Day Lobby Day. « Fred Klonsky:No-Day Lobby Day.by Fred KlonskyI don’t know why the leaders of the IEA decided not to mobilize teachers for Lobby Day in Springfield this year.I know that their stated reason, that the Capitol building is under renovation, doesn’t make any sense. We have met with Park Ridge State Senator Dan Kotowski in his Capitol building office, in his office when it was in some

Life in Rahm’s Chicago. Thursday edition. « Fred Klonsky

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 23 hours ago

Life in Rahm’s Chicago. Thursday edition. « Fred Klonsky:Life in Rahm’s Chicago. Thursday edition.by Fred KlonskyRahm doesn’t think pay-for-protesters is a problem.And his hand-picked board of education seems to have skipped a step. They’re budgeting for turnarounds before all the public hearings and actually taking a vote.The Sun-Times:The mayor was not concerned.“The ministers have a right — who have been long involved in school reform, longer school day, turnaround schools, who don’t accept the status quo — to speak up,” ... more »

RheeFirst! » Protesters stage duct-taped “silent protests” on Rhee’s home turf

Big Education Ape - PostRank (PostRank: All) - 23 hours ago

RheeFirst! » Protesters stage duct-taped “silent protests” on Rhee’s home turf:Protesters stage duct-taped “silent protests” on Rhee’s home turfby adminA spirited “silent protest” was held in Rhee’s home turf last night. Rhee’s “Town Hall” had advertised itself as open to all Sacramento residents but a member of the public shown here was turned away because she did not belong to StudentsFirst or Stand for Children.Eventually, Rhee and her employees noted the growing number of protesters standing outside with their mouths