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Vicki Davis

Arne Duncan Supports Using Student Portfolios To Evaluate Teachers? | Larry F... - 2 views

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    There is a move to have blind evaluation of student arts portfolios in Tennessee as a means of evaluating teachers. Arne Duncan endorsed the view of using this method of teacher evaluation. As a computer science teacher, I'd love this view and in fact, my school does evaluate me by the results of my students. While not all students have perfect work, you can see the rigor in what my classroom is doing with the efolios they build at the end of the year.
Tony Richards

The Atlantic Online | January/February 2010 | What Makes a Great Teacher? | Amanda Ripley - 14 views

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    "What Makes a Great Teacher? Image credit: Veronika Lukasova Also in our Special Report: National: "How America Can Rise Again" Is the nation in terminal decline? Not necessarily. But securing the future will require fixing a system that has become a joke. Video: "One Nation, On Edge" James Fallows talks to Atlantic editor James Bennet about a uniquely American tradition-cycles of despair followed by triumphant rebirths. Interactive Graphic: "The State of the Union Is ..." ... thrifty, overextended, admired, twitchy, filthy, and clean: the nation in numbers. By Rachael Brown Chart: "The Happiness Index" Times were tough in 2009. But according to a cool Facebook app, people were happier. By Justin Miller On August 25, 2008, two little boys walked into public elementary schools in Southeast Washington, D.C. Both boys were African American fifth-graders. The previous spring, both had tested below grade level in math. One walked into Kimball Elementary School and climbed the stairs to Mr. William Taylor's math classroom, a tidy, powder-blue space in which neither the clocks nor most of the electrical outlets worked. The other walked into a very similar classroom a mile away at Plummer Elementary School. In both schools, more than 80 percent of the children received free or reduced-price lunches. At night, all the children went home to the same urban ecosystem, a zip code in which almost a quarter of the families lived below the poverty line and a police district in which somebody was murdered every week or so. Video: Four teachers in Four different classrooms demonstrate methods that work (Courtesy of Teach for America's video archive, available in February at teachingasleadership.org) At the end of the school year, both little boys took the same standardized test given at all D.C. public schools-not a perfect test of their learning, to be sure, but a relatively objective one (and, it's worth noting, not a very hard one). After a year in Mr. Taylo
Suzie Nestico

COnceptual Framework of How Evaluators Make Everyday Practice Decisions - 6 views

    • Suzie Nestico
       
      Overall, the field of evaluation lacks evidence about how evaluators actually use their knowledge, experience, and judgment when deciding how to approach evaluations in their daily practice. The purpose of this article is to introduce a conceptual framework for studying evaluators' practice decisions in everyday environments.
Kelly O

Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply & Questions to Ask - 0 views

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    Evaluating web pages
Julie Shy

Sweet Search - 11 views

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    SweetSearch (http://www.sweetsearch.com/), A Search Engine for Students, is a free custom search engine that searches only 35,000 Web sites that have been evaluated and approved by our team of Web research experts. It excludes unreliable sites that often rank high in other search engines and waste students' time. With only credible results to evaluate, students can focus their energy on determining which results are most relevant to their research. Here are but two examples where SweetSearch's results are far superior to those of Google or Bing: "Shakespeare" http://bit.ly/7Reg7p vs. http://bit.ly/6lUphg vs. http://bit.ly/6ycRcZ "War of 1812" http://bit.ly/87HMYn vs. http://bit.ly/57hoOO vs. http://bit.ly/5L7xiz It's not just that we exclude obvious spam sites; we also usually exclude marginal sites that read well and authoritatively, but lack academic or journalistic rigor, and thus are not citable. As importantly, many of the best academic resources on the Web, such as university or other .edu web sites, make little effort to optimize their search rankings and thus often don't appear till the 3rd or 4th page of Google results. Because SweetSearch searches a smaller, more qualified pool of sites, these academic sites often appear on the 1st page of SweetSearch results. And to most students, the 1st page is the only one that exists. To place a SweetSearch search box on your own Web site, copy the code for our widget onto your site: http://www.sweetsearch.com/widget.html
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    this search engine is quite biased, at least in its "sponsored" results at the top of the page. It appears that a separate search engine is providing these, based on the note in the corner of the search that reads "More results from findingDulcinea".
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    Ken, findingDulcinea is owned by the same company as SweetSearch. Most search engines put paid advertising links, which are never helpful to students, in the sponsored ads box. SweetSearch puts the most relevant content from findingDulcinea, and clearly labels it as such.
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       Every Web site in SweetSearch has been evaluated by our research experts. School Librarians, organized by subject and academic level, Biographies for profiles of 1,000+ significant people...
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    "SweetSearch is a Search Engine for Students. It searches only the 35,000 Web sites that our staff of research experts and librarians and teachers have evaluated and approved."
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        Every Web site in SweetSearch has been evaluated by our research experts.         SweetSearch Web Research Tutorial Teaches Web Research Skills to Educators and Students.  SweetSearch4Me is our search engine for emerging learners.      
Dennis OConnor

Information Fluency: Online Class: Investigate and Evaluate Digital Materials - 0 views

  • On Demand Classes help you meet the needs of your students. You know the need for 21st Century Information Fluency Skills has never been higher You also know you’re understaffed and overbooked Start the new school year with a customized online training experience that will teach your students critical reading skills as they learn to search and evaluate Internet resources. Our multimedia enhanced, interactive course is suited for students from middle school through adult.
    • Dennis OConnor
       
      If you are reading this note, you are tuned to the need for 21st century skills. See if our work can help your work! ~ Dennis@21cif.com
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    We combine performance evaluation with a series mastery quizzes to lock in the essential concepts delivered by the tutorials. As an educator you'll have access to performance evaluation and mastery quiz data. You'll have an online record of each student's performance that can be downloaded for data analysis.
John Evans

How To Evaluate A Web Site Trustworthiness and Credibility - Robin Good's Latest News - 0 views

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    Principles for Evaluating WebsitesBy Stephen Downes How do you know whether something you read on the web is true? You can't know, at least, not for sure. This makes it important to read carefully and to evaluate what you read. This guide will tell you how.
Dave Truss

10 Steps: Students Taking Responsibility for their Report Card Marks. - Educate My Mind... - 12 views

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    "We must constantly remind ourselves that the ultimate purpose of evaluation is to have students become self evaluating. If students graduate from our schools still dependent upon others to tell them when they are adequate, good, or excellent, then we've missed the whole point of what education is about."    - Costa and Kallick (1992)
Roland O'Daniel

Teacher Evaluations: Publicly Naming Educators Tied To Performance Scores Hinder Reform... - 1 views

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    Should teacher value-added information be released publicly?  I agree that evaluation decisions should not be based solely on one criterion but think something like value-added data should be public information. I would want to know this kind of information about my children's teachers. 
Carl Bogardu

National Evaluation Series - 5 views

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    Apparently, Pearson is involved in developing a group that will work on a national evaluation for teachers. Pay for the development week is $350 a day and includes travel/lodging in some cases.
Jacques Cool

Educational Leadership:The Effective Educator:Evaluations That Help Teachers Learn - 14 views

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    A good system of teacher evaluation must answer four questions: How good is good enough? Good enough at what? How do we know? and Who should decide?
Dennis OConnor

The Keyword Blog: Check the Facts! Cross Check the Facts! Lessons & Media - 6 views

  • Check the Facts! Cross Check the Facts! Lessons & Media Fact checking is essential in a (mis) information rich environment. 
  • Brilliant resource from the Annenberg Public Policy Center
  • FactChecked.org Luckily, FactCheck.org also has a highly developed classroom section that provides in-depth lesson plans and media links. These are highly polished materials for educators seeking a way to teach critical thinking and evaluation skills to their students. The Lesson Plan Archive ( http://www.factchecked.org/LessonPlans.aspx ) will intrigue any educator looking for a way to engage students. These plans are edgy and up to date. If you've been looking for a way to teach thinking and evaluation of media.
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    Superb resources for anyone interested in teaching website evaluation, critical thinking, media literacy or 21st Century learning skills in general. FactCheck.org and FactCheckEd.org are essential tools for living in this part of the century. 8-)
Duane Sharrock

Metacognition: An Overview - 7 views

  • Metacognition refers to higher order thinking which involves active control over the cognitive processes engaged in learning. Activities such as planning how to approach a given learning task, monitoring comprehension, and evaluating progress toward the completion of a task are metacognitive in nature.
  • "Metacognition" is often simply defined as "thinking about thinking."
  • While there are some distinctions between definitions (see Van Zile-Tamsen, 1994, 1996 for a full discussion), all emphasize the role of executive processes in the overseeing and regulation of cognitive processes.
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  • Most definitions of metacognition include both knowledge and strategy components
  • According to Flavell (1979, 1987), metacognition consists of both metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive experiences or regulation. Metacognitive knowledge refers to acquired knowledge about cognitive processes, knowledge that can be used to control cognitive processes. Flavell further divides metacognitive knowledge into three categories: knowledge of person variables, task variables and strategy variables.
  • These processes help to regulate and oversee learning, and consist of planning and monitoring cognitive activities, as well as checking the outcomes of those activities.
  • What is the difference between a cognitive and a metacognitive strategy?
  • Cognitive strategies are used to help an individual achieve a particular goal (e.g., understanding a text) while metacognitive strategies are used to ensure that the goal has been reached (e.g., quizzing oneself to evaluate one's understanding of that text).
  • Metacognitive and cognitive strategies may overlap in that the same strategy, such as questioning, could be regarded as either a cognitive or a metacognitive strategy depending on what the purpose for using that strategy may be.
  • Metacognition, or the ability to control one's cognitive processes (self-regulation) has been linked to intelligence
  • Knowledge is considered to be metacognitive if it is actively used in a strategic manner to ensure that a goal is met.
  • Sternberg refers to these executive processes as "metacomponents" in his triarchic theory of intelligence (Sternberg, 1984, 1986a, 1986b). Metacomponents are executive processes that control other cognitive components as well as receive feedback from these components. According to Sternberg, metacomponents are responsible for "figuring out how to do a particular task or set of tasks, and then making sure that the task or set of tasks are done correctly" (Sternberg, 1986b, p. 24). These executive processes involve planning, evaluating and monitoring problem-solving activities. Sternberg maintains that the ability to appropriately allocate cognitive resources, such as deciding how and when a given task should be accomplished, is central to intelligence.
  • Cognitive Strategy Instruction
  • Cognitive Strategy Instruction
  • Those with greater metacognitive abilities tend to be more successful in their cognitive endeavors.
  • CSI) is an instructional approach which emphasizes the development of thinking skills and processes as a means to enhance learning. The objective of CSI is to enable all students to become more strategic, self-reliant, flexible, and productive in their learning endeavors (Scheid, 1993)
  • Metacognition enables students to benefit from instruction (Carr, Kurtz, Schneider, Turner & Borkowski, 1989; Van Zile-Tamsen, 1996) and influences the use and maintenance of cognitive strategies
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    "According to Flavell (1979, 1987), metacognition consists of both metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive experiences or regulation. Metacognitive knowledge refers to acquired knowledge about cognitive processes, knowledge that can be used to control cognitive processes. Flavell further divides metacognitive knowledge into three categories: knowledge of person variables, task variables and strategy variables."
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    Sternberg defined intelligence as mental activity central to one's life in real-world environments; individuals "succeed" in life when they use mental skills to adapt to, select, and shape external environments. Correspondingly, in the late 1990s, Sternberg changed the name of the theory to the Theory of Successful Intelligence. As per its original name, the theory comprises three types of intelligence: analytical (also referred to as componential); practical (also referred to as contextual) and creative (also referred to as experiential).
Julie Shy

Guest Blog: Angry Birds: A Lesson in Formative Assessment @kathyperret - 8 views

  • Sharing learning intentions – At the beginning of each “launch” the player is shown the formation of the structure and the placement of the little pigs. (I think that’s what they are.) A player can sweep back to this area of the game at any time. This gives the player the clear intentions of what needs to be accomplished in that specific level.
  • Sharing and negotiating success criteria - Once an Angry Bird is launched from the slingshot, the path of the bird is clearly marked for future reference. These marking stay throughout the level. I’ve found them useful in negotiating my success, even though I have not perfected this!
  • Giving feedback to pupils – When playing Angry Birds, I know right away if I did not complete a specific level. (Right now I’m stuck on Level 15.) While the wording “Level Failed” is not exactly appealing to me, it isn’t harmful. Nothing bad happens. I just have the opportunity to try again, and again, and again until the level is complete. I’ve also noticed that the other Angry Birds waiting their turn seem to be cheering on the bird that is being launched.  I’ve just noticed another feature – The Mighty Eagle. He is there to help a player get out of a tricky level
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  • Effective questioning – I know there are many places I could go to ask effective questions in order to improve my Angry Bird skills. I’ve found online communities of like-minded individuals and groups to be extremely helpful when professional questions arise. This sense of belonging provides me a chance to ask my questions in a non-threatening environment. I’m sure there are groups formed to discuss Angry Bird strategies. Right now I have many of Angry Bird questions.
  • Encouraging pupils to assess and evaluate their own and others’ work – Right now, I’m attempting to evaluate my work on Level 15. I’ve been able to successfully get the two pigs on the sides, but the one – in strong middle structure has me stumped. As an adult, I know to assess and evaluate my work on this level. I could also probably find some online tips from other players.
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    I'm embarrassed to admit, but two weeks ago I didn't even know anything about  Angry Birds. It looks like this addicting little game has been around for a while. I know … Where have I been? I guess I've been spending time with a less angry little bird … I'm really not the angry type! I guess I see Twitter as better use of my time and professional collaborative learning than shooting birds out of a slingshot. A casual conversations with my hairdresser a few weeks ago about the game led to a quick demonstration on her phone. Another reference came last Friday while attending a session on Instructional Coaching for principals. Some areas that Instructional Coaches can assist schools with are referred to as the Big Four: Classroom Management, Content, Instruction, and Formative Assessment. While the presenters facilitated dialogue around the topic of formative assessment the analogy was made to video gaming; and specifically Angry Birds. This piqued my curiosity.
Brett Campbell

Updated teacher observations are key to improvement, report says - Los Angeles Times - 7 views

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    "The old-fashioned practice of rating instructors by watching them teach is tricky, labor-intensive, potentially costly and subjective - but perhaps the best way to help them improve, according to a study released Friday by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation... "And the observers, typically the school principal, frequently don't know what to look for anyway. "The best way to evaluate teachers, while also helping them improve, is to use several measures - including data-based methods that rely on students' standardized test scores, along with an updated teacher observation system, the report found.
Susan Sedro

Education Research Report: Problems with the Use of Student Test Scores to Evaluate Tea... - 14 views

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    Student test scores are not reliable indicators of teacher effectiveness, according to a new Economic Policy Institute report, Problems with the Use of Student Test Scores to Evaluate Teachers. The paper was co-authored by a group of distinguished education scholars and policy makers, including four former presidents of the American Educational Research Association, a former assistant U.S. Secretary of Education, EPI Research Associate Richard Rothstein, and others. The authors find that the accuracy of these analyses of student test scores is highly problematic. They argue that the practice of holding teachers accountable for their student's test score results should be reconsidered.
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    I'm sorry, but if this is news to anyone, you've been asleep at your desk. I'm sick of people being all professional about this issue, it is well past time to rebel against it. It's bad for the teachers, it's bad for the students, it's bad for society, and it's bad for the economics of education too! Get active, join a group against NCLB & high-stakes testing, and END IT. I would post the group(s) I work with, but I don't want to be dismissed as promoting them - find one(s) that are right for you and get behind them.
Reuven Werber

City Brights: Howard Rheingold : Crap Detection 101 - Information evaluation - 13 views

  • To me, the issue of information literacy could be even more important than the health or education of some individuals. Fundamental aspects of democracy, economic production, the discovery and use of knowledge might be at stake. Some of the biggest problems facing the world today seem to be far beyond the ability of any individual or community, or even the whole human race, to tackle.
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    Evaluating the accuracy of information on the Internet
Joseph Alvarado

b9667271ee6c154195_t9m6iij8k.pdf (application/pdf Object) - 1 views

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    Great research paper on why student test scores should not be used to evaluate teachers.
Dave Truss

B.I.A.T. - Bringing It All Together - 0 views

  • The end result of the facilitated math experience is that the student will have had his mastery needs met because he was able to fix a miscalculation, he was able to share his fix and feel safe about making mistakes and learning from them. This student is more likely to embed the concept into his mathematical schema.
  • FACT: Students do not need marks to be motivated. Most of the best work I have ever seen came from students who were not worried about evaluative handcuffs.
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    FACT: Students do not need marks to be motivated. Most of the best work I have ever seen came from students who were not worried about evaluative handcuffs.
Dennis OConnor

21CIF Self-Paced Website Evaluation Class: Join Now - 0 views

  • 8 hour self-paced online class devoted to Website Evaluation using investigative search methods.  Course Ends August 31, 2009
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    8 hours of Self Paced Instruction Investigative Searching 20/10
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