[ECP] Educational CyberPlayGround K12 Newsletters Headlines and Resources
- From: "::KE:"@freelists.org: <admin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: K12NewsLetters@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:28:11 -0500
<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>
[ECP] Educational CyberPlayGround K-12 Newsletter
Located on the Blog Educational CyberPlayGround Blog:
http://blog.edu-cyberpg.com/
SIGN UP and GET POSTS DELIVERED TO YOUR EMAIL
*Subscribe to the ECP Blog Feed:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/EducationalCyberPlayGround
*Find your School in the ECP K-12 School Directory
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/schools/
*Link to the Educational CyberPlayGround
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com
<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>
Happy Reading for today
<>
GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
Kohl's Corporation: Kohl's Cares Scholarship Program
Every year, Kohl's recognizes and rewards young volunteers across the
country for their amazing contributions to their communities. Maximum
award: $10,000. Eligibility: legal U.S. residents of a state in which a
Kohl's store is located, between the ages of 6 and 18 and not yet a high
school graduate as of March 15, 2012. Deadline: March 15, 2012.
http://www.kohlscorporation.com/CommunityRelations/scholarship/index.asp
McCarthey Dressman Education Foundation: Teacher Development Grants
McCarthey Dressman Education Foundation Teacher Development Grants
provide funding to individuals or small teams of teachers in the
formation and implementation of groundbreaking K-12 classroom
instruction. The grants provide opportunities for teachers to integrate
fresh strategies that encourage critical inquiry and to observe their
effects on students. Teachers have the opportunity to reflect and write
about their projects, as well as to share their results with other
teachers. Maximum award: $10,000 for three years. Eligibility: licensed
K-12 teachers employed in public or private schools. Deadline: April 15,
2012.
http://www.mccartheydressman.org/teacher.html
Humane Society of the United States: Education Mini-grant
The Humane Society of the United States is now accepting applications
for the 2012 Humane Education Mini-Grant, designed to fund innovative
humane education opportunities in K-12 classrooms. Maximum award:
$1,000. Eligibility: all certified K-12 teachers in the U.S. Deadline:
November 30, 2012.
http://www.humanesociety.org/parents_educators/award/humane_education_mini_grant.html
The key reform: civic investment
Too much of the public is missing from American public education, writes
Wendy D. Puriefoy in an op-ed in The Baltimore Sun. As a country, we
recognize the economic value of education, but under-invest in our
schools financially and in terms of civic capital. We must therefore
"drastically ramp up" civic investment in public education, Puriefoy
says. Our public school system is not just a service for the public to
consume, but "a lifelong compact among Americans to continually renew
our nation's future, to be actively supported by all citizens, whether
or not they have children of school age." Citizens must learn what
contributes to, and what hinders, a high-quality public education. They
should carefully scrutinize candidates and education ballot initiatives,
and vote for those that support and promote quality public schools. They
should attend school board meetings and education budget hearings, and
ask officials key questions: How do you plan to provide adequate funding
for public schools? How do you support the goal of college- and
career-readiness for every student? What do you think are the best ways
to evaluate school and student performance? Civic investment exists in
some communities, but in a nation with more than 50 million K-12
students and 14,000 school districts, it is essential for every community.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-education-investment-20120208-7,0,5253307.story
Where's Sputnik when you need it?
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute has released a new evaluation of science
standards from every state and the District of Columbia, finding the
majority earn Ds or Fs, with only a handful receiving As. In particular,
the analysis found state standards vague, overemphasizing inquiry-based
learning without clearly conveying a connection between math and
science. (The authors note that the treatment of evolution has improved
since Fordham's last assessment in 2005, but many states still fall
short.) A majority of states' standards were deemed "mediocre to awful,"
with the average grade across all states a low C. In 27 jurisdictions,
science standards earn a D or below. Only two jurisdictions, California
and the District of Columbia, have standards strong enough to earn
straight As. Four other states -- Indiana, Massachusetts, South
Carolina, and Virginia -- earn A minuses, as does the NAEP assessment
framework, and seven states earn grades in the B range. Of the 44
jurisdictions that have revised or replaced their science standards
since the 2005 analysis, 11 showed improvement, in some cases dramatic.
Kansas, for example, moved from an F to a B, and Arkansas moved from a D
to a B. The District of Columbia rose from a C to an A. The authors
recommend a purposeful focus on improving or replacing today's standards
as a key part of a comprehensive effort to boost science performance
nationally.
See the report:
http://www.edexcellence.net/publications/the-state-of-state-science-standards-2012.html
Related:
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2012/02/president_obama_hosted_his_sec.html
The problem with 'accountability'
Misguided approaches to school accountability are a major factor in the
high turnover rate of urban superintendents, writes Thomas Payzant in
The Huffington Post. High-stakes "accountability" systems isolate
superintendents, rather than helping them nurture ties to the broader
community, which is vital to aiding troubled schools and students. The
problem, in Payzant's view, is the mistaken idea that assessment drives
results. Viable accountability systems must first build capacity to
improve teacher and school-leader effectiveness. Lack of alignment
between standards and tests exacerbates the problem. In the rush to
assess and evaluate, we have developed cheap, easy-to-administer tests
that tell teachers little and the rest of us less. These tests are also
prone to system-gaming, and result in students who are proficient
test-takers but know little about subject matter or about thinking
deeply or creatively. Despite the demand for college and career
readiness -- which would require strong social and behavioral skills --
we continue to stress basic quantitative metrics. Broader measures of
student well-being, including knowledge of history, the arts, foreign
languages, science, health, and civic engagement would paint a fuller
picture of how prepared our students are for the world in which they
live. Rethinking how we hold schools, including leaders, accountable
would also represent a good first step toward recruiting the strong
superintendents we want.
Read more:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-thomas-w-payzant/school-testing_b_1248319.html
Better tests will mean better education
Parents and teachers want timely, actionable assessments that monitor
individual student performance and progress across a range of subjects
and skills to help improve teaching and learning. Large majorities of
parents and educators say it is also important to measure higher-order
thinking skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking,
communication, creativity, innovation, and collaboration.
: http://www.nwea.org/every-child-multiple-measures
Teaching to the Test
If the test makers create tests that are too easy they lose money.
Failure drivers their business.
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Teachers/test.html
Who is Smarter Chinese Children of American Children? Find out why The
Chinese don't produce someone like Steve Jobs.
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/K12-USA-or-China-Who-is-smarter.html
and
The Common Core State Standards focus on core conceptual understandings
and procedures
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Teachers/standards.html
Those Tennessee evaluations, up close
Tennessee is at the forefront of a sea change in public education across
the country, writes Sarah Garland in The Hechinger Report. Under a law
passed last spring, Tennessee's teachers must be observed at least four
times a year, six if novice. Observation scores are supplemented by a
value-added rating, but because these don't come out until after the
school year is over, and because most teachers don't teach subjects with
annual standardized tests, revamped observations have become central.
They are prompting questions: Are observations accurately identifying
struggling teachers? Are teachers learning from the feedback they
receive? Are they finding resources to help themselves improve? And are
students performing better as a result? For veteran teachers, principals
must conduct four 15-minute observations over the course of the school
year, though it has been found principals are actually spending an
average of 29 minutes on each observation. Observers grade teachers on
four different "domains," and each domain includes a list of indicators,
such as using strategies to promote higher-level thinking skills or
creating a respectful classroom culture, that teachers at all grade
levels, in all subjects, are expected to meet. During post-observation
conferences, teachers receive a score on a five-point scale. Evaluators
are supposed to point out areas in which teachers can improve and
suggest how they might reach the next level. Reaction to the new
evaluation protocol has been mixed. Garland writes that it's likely both
sets of teachers, those identified as high- and low-performers, must buy
into the new model for it to translate into better student achievement.
http://hechingerreport.org/content/new-teacher-evaluation-systems-in-tennessee-have-rough-road-ahead-2_7571/
CREATIVITY AND THE ROLE OF ART IN SCHOOLS Do Schools Kill Creativity?
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Arts/creativity.html
Where does it end?
Maryland school officials are concerned that in school year 2013-2014,
students could take as many as five state-mandated tests, The Baltimore
Sun reports. These tests would come on top of teachers' occasional
quizzes and the tests given several times each year by local school
systems. While the Maryland School Assessment will be phased out, it
will still overlap with four new assessments, created by the Partnership
for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, to be field-tested
in Maryland and 23 other states. Those tests, to be given online in
grades three through 11, will be compatible with the Common Core
standards and curriculum and will allow Maryland students to be compared
with 25 million others around the country. Maryland is one of the first
states to question the timeline that a dozen states committed to last
year when they won Race to the Top grants, according to Jack Jennings of
the Center for Education Reform. "It is one thing to build a new
accountability system. It is another thing to implement it," he says,
particularly while trying to put a new teacher-evaluation system in
place. Jennings believes that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan should
consider waiving federal testing requirements for a year while the new
assessments are phased in, or the new assessments should be slowed down.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-tests-20120206,0,4110464,full.story
K12 Department of Education administrators Are accountable.
HOLD THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT ACCOUNTABLE
School "Reform" Rhetoric: Intellectual Dishonesty and political Liars
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/k12-school-reform-accountability.html
A view of the gap from those who actually live it
For an article in Kappan magazine, Tracey and Abby Sparrow spoke with a
number of black males ages 13 to 22 in Washington, D.C. and Milwaukee,
Wisconsin to learn what they felt stands in their way of success. The
authors found the young men rarely talked about schools or teachers as
the cause of the achievement gap, but instead attributed it to cultural,
family, and community factors. All wanted and understood the importance
of a good education. They also talked about the importance of cohesive
families, attentive parents, and positive male role models, as well as
the dangers of the rap culture, poverty, and low expectations. The
Sparrows note that the interviews don't reveal anything that most people
who work with black males in urban areas don't already know. But they do
reveal that the men interviewed are clear that the challenge of
educating black males is much bigger than the schoolhouse. As one
interviewee remarked, "success 'starts at home. We don't even need
better parenting, we just need adequate parenting.' Many black kids
don't have a sense of belonging, and 'the streets accept anyone.'"
Another observed that, "life outside of schools is your main life, and
you adapt to that. All you see is all you know."
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/02/03/kappan_sparrow.html
K12 Education Prison Industrial Complex Supply Chain Business
HIGH SCHOOL DROP OUT RATES The Prison Industrial Complex: Putting
Inmates to Work: 1930s - the 2010's
Factories with Fences |Slave Labor that produces products. The U.S.
Government and private companies.
Warren Burger's 17 year tenure as Chief Justice of the United States and
his commitment to factories with fences have left a lasting imprint. In
recognition of his vision, contributions and dedication to prison reform
and prison industries programs, we proudly recognize and thank him,
wholeheartedly."It makes no sense to put people in prison and not train
them to do something constructive."— Chief Justice Warren E. Burger
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/K12-prison-system-employs-convicts.html
Building blocks for leadership
Researchers are finding that behaviors like embracing novel experiences
and supporting peers can predict whether a child will emerge as a leader
in adulthood, writes Laura Pappano in The Harvard Education Letter. The
research may also help educators encourage leadership if teachers know
what behaviors to look for and support. The new studies use longitudinal
data to test hypotheses about the relative importance of factors such as
the role of parents, inner motivational drive, intelligence, childhood
social skills, and personality traits like extroversion in shaping
future leaders. Researchers also found that children who placed the most
demands on teachers and parents to join or do activities were more
likely to be leaders as adults. More critical than the type of activity
they lobbied for was the emergence of a quest to acquire new skills and
knowledge. It also mattered that a child invested in and committed to
the new activity if permitted to pursue it. Equally important was an
adult's support in fostering new passions and interests. While
researchers found "a little overlap" between those with the strongest
inner motivation and those with top IQ scores, the data showed that
stronger motivation trumped higher IQ.
http://www.hepg.org/hel/article/524#home
K12playground: Creativity is the least important, most important
attribute and totally absent in the U.S. Federal Department of
Education. ~ Karen Ellis
The Secret To Learning is Motivation
Learn the secret ways to motivate students.
Make it fun and they will come.
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/IEC/motivate_students.html
Leadership is overrated: "The First Follower: Linchpin to Creative
Leadership"
Leadership Lessons and making a movement - watch it happen in under 3
minutes.
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Internet/ViralMarketing.html
Trust has little to do with it, perhaps
A new review from the National Education Policy Center looks at a report
from Public Agenda that offers recommendations for building community
support for federal school turnaround approaches, particularly in
communities that oppose these approaches. The reviewer was extremely
skeptical of the report, finding that it diverts attention from real
issues and does not address the body of research that shows school
turnarounds are generally unsuccessful. Though parents in the study
raise concerns that their schools are under-resourced and face
significant social problems, the reviewer feels the report does not
address these matters, but instead supplies a strategy that is in
reality "a mechanism for advancing public acceptance of turnaround
policies." The reviewer also judges that the report was "not intended to
be useful for developing substantive public policy," "holds little
promise for actually improving education," and "could prove harmful." In
the view of the reviewer, the report "embraces an unstated assumption
that the community members' knowledge of their school is somehow
incorrect and uninformed and therefore must be reformed by the
missionary efforts of an external communications strategy." As such, the
reviewer feels the report cannot be considered as a research document in
any conventional use of the term.
http://nepc.colorado.edu/thinktank/review-whats-trust
<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>
[ECP] Educational CyberPlayGround K12 Newsletters ©
Set Mailing List Preferences: Subscribe - Unsubscribe - Digest
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Community/K12Newsletters.html
Copyright statements to be included when reproducing
annotations from the Educational CyberPlayGround K-12 Newsletter
The single phrase below is the copyright notice to be used when
reproducing any portion of this report, in any format:
EDUCATIONAL CYBERPLAYGROUND
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com
Educational CyberPlayGround K-12 Newsletter copyright
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Community/K12Newsletters.html
Advertise K12 Newsletters
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Community/Subguidelines.html
<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>
Other related posts:
