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"Teaching financial literacy in the classroom is one promising way to improve financial capacity for today's young people. Today's young people face an overwhelming number of complex financial decisions. However, many are unprepared to make informed financial choices as they move into adulthood. In fact, three out of four young adults cannot answer basic financial questions. Teaching financial literacy in the classroom is one promising way to improve financial capacity for today's young people. Research shows that by the age of 12, students will develop an economic understanding that researchers describe as "essentially adult". By including lessons on smart money habits early in their cognitive development, we can encourage young people to save money, foster family conversations, a"

"If you're working with an innovation management platform, then you know the importance of building a community. The success of these programs is intrinsically linked to the spirit and engagement of your community: how much they participate, how they're participating, why they're participating. In fact, many companies partner with their HR departments in order to use innovation management as a means to improve employee engagement. And the programs that regularly deliver on and communicate change do actually succeed in improving organization-wide employee engagement. That's the virtuous cycle that can be created from innovation management. But how do you get it to work? And how do you know when it's working? Well, here are three places to start."

"Please, No More Professional Development! By Peter DeWitt on April 17, 2015 8:10 AM Today's guest blog is written by Kristine Fox (Ed.D), Senior Field Specialist/Research Associate at Quaglia Institute for Student Aspirations (QISA). She is a former teacher and administrator who has passion for teacher learning and student voice. Kris works directly with teachers and leaders across the country to help all learners reach their fullest potential. Peter DeWitt recently outlined why "faculty meetings are a waste of time." Furthering on his idea, most professional development opportunities don't offer optimal learning experiences and the rare teacher is sitting in her classroom thinking "I can't wait until my district's next PD day." When I inform a fellow educator that I am a PD provider, I can read her thoughts - boring, painful, waste of time, useless, irrelevant - one would think my job is equal to going to the dentist (sorry to my dentist friends). According to the Quaglia Institute and Teacher Voice and Aspirations International Center's National Teacher Voice Report only 54% percent of teachers agree "Meaningful staff development exists in my school." I can't imagine any other profession being satisfied with that number when it comes to employee learning and growth. What sense does it make for the science teacher to spend a day learning about upcoming English assessments? Or, for the veteran teacher to learn for the hundredth time how to use conceptual conflict as a hook. Why does education insist everyone attend the same type of training regardless of specialization, experience, or need? As a nod to the upcoming political campaigns and the inevitable introduction of plans with lots of points, here is my 5 Point Plan for revamping professional development. 5 Point Plan Point I - Change the Term: Semantics Matter We cannot reclaim the term Professional Development for teachers. It has a long, baggage-laden history of conformity that does not

"I agree with Brene Brown about developing "shame resilience" and have found the usual tug of war between with teaching and mistake making diminishes when we introduce students to a mindset in which they appreciate the importance of recognizing our errors and strive for constant improvement. When I think about design thinking, I believe it could be a powerful way for students to experience their vulnerability and develop perspective taking, all the while creating real cool stuff-whether it is a piece of writing, a t-shirt, a rollercoaster, an app or, in my Early Year's classroom, a garden. They learn how to fail forward and create another prototype. This design sprint is not a destructive but constructive element because, although they spent a lot of time developing their idea, the focus shifts from the product itself to the user-who will reap the benefits of this redesign. It gets the kids to detach from what they are making to who they are making it for. This nuance has a relatively big impact on the process of improvement."

"You may have heard of play. It's that thing children do - the diverse range of unstructured, spontaneous activities and behaviours. Children play in many ways, including by exploring movements, constructing with equipment, creating games, using imagination and chasing others around a playground. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child recognises play as every child's basic right. But play is becoming extinct. Global studies, across generations, have confirmed outdoor children's play has been declining, across all age groups, for decades. Play is every child's basic right. from shutterstock.com Unstructured play improves learning and social and physical development. Providing a variety of play options, improved play access and fewer restrictions can encourage children to engage in physical activity with peers in line with their imaginations."

"Educators, policy makers and business leaders often fret about the state of math education, particularly in comparison with other countries. But reading comprehension may be a larger stumbling block, writes Motoko Rich in an important article in today's New York Times: "

"There are few things more valuable to small business owners than time. Research shows small business owners consider time to be a more valuable asset than computers, mobile phones and the company's office or storefront. In addition, one-quarter of small business owners would pay $500 for one extra hour in their day."

"A few days ago, we shared with you this handy infographic featuring 12 important tips to help you refine your Google searches and get precise search results. Today, we are introducing you to these equally important resources shared by Google Inside Search. These are free self-paced courses to help you develop and improve your Google search skills. You will get to learn 'tips and tricks to become a fast and effective fact-finder with Power Searching with Google, deepen your understanding of solving complex research problems using advanced Google search techniques with Advanced Power Searching with Google, and join  a growing global community of Power Searchers.'"

"2.5 Million Laptops Later, One Laptop Per Child Doesn't Improve Test Scores [STUDY]"

"Is the PD day broken? Professional development days may do little to improve teaching"

The National Center for Academic Transformation is devoted to improving learning and reducing cost in higher education.

"It should be abundantly clear to anyone with experience around classrooms, teachers or students (which is to say almost all of us), that teaching is a highly emotional craft, loaded with possibility and expectation, importance and scale. It's troubling when the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future says that 46 percent of new teachers leave the profession within five years. And even worse, this turnover is also impacting the whole public education machine - learning, teacher education, teacher training, funding, public perception, and so on - in a dizzying cause-effect pattern stuck on repeat. Fixing this issue is an illusion, as it's not a single issue but rather a product of countless factors. However, there are six ways we can address it here and now."

"With the recent release of the new version of iMovie, my colleague Matt Przybylski (tech coordinator at our school) created this presentation for part two of our iPad workshop series. (Check out part one, iPad filming tips here) i"

"The best way to remember facts might be to set them to music. Medical students, for example, have long used rhymes and songs to help them master vast quantities of information, and we've just gotten fresh evidence of how effective this strategy can be. A young British doctor, Tapas Mukherjee of Glenfield Hospital in Leicester, was distressed by a survey showing that 55 percent of nurses and doctors at Glenfield were not following hospital guidelines on the management of asthma; 38 percent were not even aware that the guidelines existed."