On the walls of Tim Cline’s office hang samples of outstanding work completed by students in Interior Distance Education of Alaska (IDEA), the public school program he runs. Visiting parents are often impressed. Nothing unusual about that??except that IDEA’s students are homeschoolers who may never enter a public school classroom, and those impressed parents are […]
The U.S. public school system's focus on struggling students leaves high-achieversÁ'especially minorities, the economically disadvantaged and English-language learners Á'without a challenging enough education, experts say. A lack of federal funding and patchwork policies across states often leave decisions on identifying and serving gifted students to district administrators. An estimated 3 million to 5 million academically […]
When the District of Columbia Public Schools’ Chancellor Kaya Henderson announced in 2012 the launch of an ambitious plan to transform our schools, we were all very excited, albeit a little nervous. But the plan to invest in struggling schools, and focus significant resources and attention to raise proficiency rates across the district, made our […]
Arizona and North Dakota in January became the first two states requiring high school graduates to take a U.S. citizenship exam. Legislators in 14 others states recently introduced similar initiatives in a what's been labeled as an effort to better prepare students to participate in a democratic society. Questions are drawn from the same test […]
Education advocacy group ASCD is calling for a two-year moratorium on using standardized test results for teacher or school evaluations. The move represents a growing push nationally to cut back on testing and limit its use as an accountability measure because it may not accurately reflect a teacher's classroom performance. "We're not saying Á¢†˜Don't test,' […]
Audio plays a crucial role in making collaborative student learning environments effective. Students need to be able to communicate with their teacher when necessary, and teachers should be able to hear what all students are saying during small group instruction. This web seminar, originally presented on April 2, 2014,featured educators from Andover USD 385 in […]
At the beginning of the 2012-13 school year, Principal James Lee was concerned when he compared P.S. 20 Anna Silver’s math and ELA scores to their science scores. “There was a huge discrepancy,” says Lee. “Students scoring 4s on the science test were scoring as low as a 1 in other subject areas. We knew […]
A National Council onTeacherQuality report citing a lack of rigor and grade inflation in teacher preparation courses is being disputed by the organization that represents college and university education programs. The November report, "Easy A's and What's Behind Them"Á'which is based on graduation data from 500 institutions surveyedÁ'found that students graduate with honors from teaching […]
McPherson Magnet School is part of Orange USD, located in southern California. A K8 magnet school focused on science, math and technology, McPherson has been open since 1997 and serves 900 students. The school's mission includes valuing a range of learning styles, utilizing a variety of learning tools and strategies while extending the learning environment […]
By integrating technology into mathematics classrooms to complement face-to-face instruction, educators can provide uniquely individualized learning for all students. This web seminar, originally broadcast on August 28, 2014, featured administrators and a blended learning expert, who shared successful approaches for implementing this technique, including strategies, tips for modeling blended learning for elementary mathematics, and as […]
