Skip to main content

Home/ ADMS707/ Group items tagged grades

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics Simple Middle
Phil Riddle

The Missing Link in Accountability? - 2 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

Accountability School Reform

shared by Phil Riddle on 27 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • Phil Riddle on 27 Jan 11
     
    Teachers grading parents-a good read
  • mirabilecp on 31 Jan 11
     
    from Candy...Parenting is the hardest thing I have ever done, and I would not feel comforatble grading someone else as there are too many variables at play that I may not even know about....however, some type of voluntary request for feedback from teachers seems reasonable.
REL N

E Pluribus Unum? : Education Next - 0 views

educationnext.org/e-pluribus-unum-2

ADMS707 Federal CoreStandards

shared by REL N on 07 Feb 11 - Cached
  • And that content should be married to national standards of “proficiency” in these subjects at these grade levels, and joined to national exams by which we determine how well and by whom this is being accomplished.
    • REL N
      REL N on 07 Feb 11
       
      It is interesting that VA has chosen to stay out of the Core Standards frey--not because the state Board of Ed doesn't agree with the concept but because they feel that VA's SOLs are superior and more rigorous than a national core might be. Interestingly the VA performance in the chart below hovers closer to the poor end of the spectrum... not the superior end.
  • attempting to avoid bias by including everyone’s biases only generates more problems.
  • I’d probably install Core Knowledge in the primary and middle grades and the International Baccalaureate (IB) in high schools.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • having these things vary from state to state produces mediocrity, cacophony, waste, duplication, and confusion (see Figure 1). Survey after survey makes clear that (if the question is asked correctly) parents favor national standards and tests. Instead of letting “That’s the first step toward a national curriculum” serve as a conversation stopper, let’s deploy it as a conversation starter. Let’s acknowledge that “curriculum,” loosely defined, is supposed to be aligned with standards and appraised by assessments.
  • Let me note, finally, that I’m unimpressed by Meier’s “habits of mind” alternative to content (see below). It’s wonderfully seductive, but the serious psychologists with whose work I’m acquainted (see, for example, “Reframing the Mind,” check the facts, Summer 2004) don’t put much stock in this Howard Gardner–originated proposition that youngsters can learn skills devoid of content. It’s the absence of essential core content from her view of schooling that lies at the heart of our curricular disagreement.
  • We boiled it down to five “habits of mind” that we claimed (somewhat pompously) underlay all the academic disciplines as well as the mental and social disciplines needed for living in a complex modern society: (1) How do you know what you know? What’s the nature of your evidence? How credible is it? Compared to what? (2) Are there other perspectives? What affects our points of view? How otherwise might this be seen? (3) Are there patterns there? A sequence? A theory of cause and effect? (4) Could it be otherwise? What would happen if? Supposing that x had not happened? and (5) Who cares? Why does it matter? As you can see, they blend into each other and, in a way, just define a mind state of skepticism and informed empathy. It suggests having to take seriously the idea that one might be wrong, and so could others. We added “habits of work” like meeting deadlines and being on time and “habits of the heart” like caring about one’s impact on others.
Jonathan Becker

Teachers' Colleges Upset By Plan to Grade Them - NYTimes.com - 1 views

www.nytimes.com/...09teachers.html

ADMS707 politics highered teachers grades ratings

shared by Jonathan Becker on 09 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • Jonathan Becker on 09 Feb 11
     
    This is really about the politics of higher ed., but it's an issue that's near and dear to me and my colleagues in the School of Education.
mirabilecp

Trailer - The First Grader - 1 views

www.thefirstgrader-themovie.com/trailer

#ADMS707 Mirabile

shared by mirabilecp on 14 May 11 - No Cached
  • mirabilecp on 14 May 11
     
    An older gentleman wants to attend first grade in Kenya....coming soon to a theatre near you!
REL N

Jeb Bush Finds New Role as Education Adviser - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...27bush.html

ADMS707 Niemeyer Broad & Gates

shared by REL N on 27 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • One out of five state school superintendents have joined a group that his national foundation created, Chiefs for Change, to rally behind a common agenda.
  • Mr. Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education. The nonprofit group received contributions of $2.9 million in 2009, from the foundations of Bill Gates and Eli Broad, among others, and for-profit education technology companies.
  • By eighth grade, Florida students begin to lose their advantage on the NAEP, and by 12th grade, they fall behind national averages.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Skeptics point out that other changes could explain the improvements in test scores. In 2002, voters passed one of the nation’s most ambitious class-size reduction plans, over the objections of Mr. Bush. School financing, including for reading coaches, also rose.
  • REL N on 27 Apr 11
     
    Gerard Robinson (the Secretary of Education in Virginia) joined Chiefs for Change... along with a number of other governors from the south. Oh, yes and Chris Christy.
Tara McDaniel

Education Week's Quality Counts - 0 views

www.edweek.org/...ityCounts2011_PressRelease.pdf

shared by Tara McDaniel on 28 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • Tara McDaniel on 28 Jan 11
     
    Report Awards State Grades for Education Performance, Policy; Nation Earns a D-plus on Achievement, Some Movement Seen On Reform Initiatives Despite Recession
Tara McDaniel

Virginia's Public Education System 4th in Nation - 4 views

www.doe.virginia.gov/...jan21_gov.shtml

shared by Tara McDaniel on 28 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • Tara McDaniel on 28 Jan 11
     
    Virginia's public education system's fourth place ranking in Education Week's annual Quality Counts report. The rankings are based on four critical areas: the chance for success, K-12 achievement, school finance, and policies related to transitions and alignment.
  • REL N on 04 Feb 11
     
    Sadly... none of the states got an A or A-. Alas, MS is no longer dead last. Granted they have the lowest C- possible. I know we say that grades are not everything but it is sad that there are no "A" states and our national average is mediocre at best. And, this is not a comparison to other developed countries....
Georggetta Howie

Fixing Teacher Tenure Without a Pass/Fail Grade - 1 views

www.time.com/...0,8599,2044529,00.html

Tenure Teachers Reform Performance Union

shared by Georggetta Howie on 27 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • Georggetta Howie on 27 Jan 11
     
    Proposal of doing away with tenure and introducing contracts that will reward based on performance not time served.
REL N

Charles Kolb: Educational Success: America's New Industrial Policy - 1 views

www.huffingtonpost.com/...al-success-ameri_b_810464.html

ADMS707 Federal Resource-allocation

shared by REL N on 04 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • And we need to approach our education investment as we approach infrastructure or industrial policy.
    • REL N
      REL N on 04 Feb 11
       
      NOOOO! We need to better define the type of success we can achieve given that individuals are in different places at different times in their lives. We need to support people where they are and help them move forward in areas and at a pace that is right for them. If a 16-year old is able to perform well in a college program then that is where s/he should be. If a student is gifted in math and abhors and does poorly in history, then we should nurture her/his strengths and stop holding them to their social grade level in math and wasting their time and their passion drilling them in history. Ultimately, they will be happier, more productive, and more willing to contribute to society in a math-related endeavor.
  • "define success up." Our new industrial and competitiveness policy as a nation should be focused relentlessly on those talented young children and adolescents who show educational promise. We should double, perhaps triple, federal, state, and private sector resources that support gifted-and-talented programs in our schools. We should nurture this talent the same way some institutions nurture athletic talent. This approach is not elitism; it is smart commonsense.
    • REL N
      REL N on 04 Feb 11
       
      Yeah... I think we all saw what happened when we had a leader who was proud of getting "C's" in college. And, then we are not really sure if a "C" actually meant a "D-" but was given to ensure social promotion. I would not go to a surgeon who either did not want to go to medical school or was not able to succeed in her/his training. That is not elitism. It is more than simply common sense. It is effective data-driven/evidence-based decision-making. A person might be terrific and funny and caring (and perhaps rich and attractive too) but they should not be given a role beyond their knowledge and capabilities.
  • If such an exam cannot be developed within six months, then perhaps we really have wasted a lot of time over the last 30 years. Algebra in New Hampshire is not different from algebra in California. Reading skills and reading-level assessments should be the same in each state. Grammar doesn't vary across state borders, and gravity tends to work the same way everywhere. The governors are well-positioned to lead a national discussion about what our high school graduates should know and be able to do -- and then devise a test that measures the success of our young people in mastering what they need to know to be successful. The National Governors Association is already doing excellent work in this area -- but it has to move faster.
    • REL N
      REL N on 04 Feb 11
       
      f we stopped the gaming in elementary and middle school testing and relied on the teachers and administrators to implement effective local testing and take appropriate actions to ensure learning, we would have more resources (time, money, people) to develop appropriate and resonable assessments at the high school level. These must be based on higher order thinking and include essays, video-taped dialogues/presentations, and some simple answer tests. The evaluation should be done by humans outside the local area and care must be taken to ensure inter-rater reliability. This is done in other countries as well as in the states with the IB diploma programme. It is do-able and the graduates will be well prepared and confident that they can move forward. Our initial pass rates may not be as high as we would like, and we need to be prepared to accept that some students may take more than 12 years or choose to take a less rigorous set of exams; however, we will have a higher level of success overall and our students will be much better prepared as citizens and workers.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • We need to change our approach from preventing failure to promoting success.
  • In late December 2010, the Education Trust reported that nearly 25 percent of high school graduates taking the U.S. Army entrance exam cannot answer basic questions in math, science, and reading. Some of the questions were pretty basic: "If 2 plus x equals 4, what is the value of x?"
  • all children can learn, not all children are ready to learn at the same time. If some of our classrooms have disruptive students, these students should attend other classes until they become serious about learning.
  • And finally, we should learn from the French, who for decades have had a baccalaureate exam that is a prerequisite for advancing to post-secondary education. In France, the "bac" exam is typically taken by 17- and 18-year-olds, but if a student fails the exam, he or she can take it again -- even later in life. The "bac" serves two purposes: it sets a standard for what French high school graduates know and can do, and it serves as a moment of consequence for French young people: they cannot move forward until they have proved their proficiency.
  • In several states, where testing has been adopted, we find large discrepancies between how the states report their children's performance on "No Child Left Behind" tests and the often much lower performance found by the objective National Assessment of Educational Progress.
  • resources we've squandered. We need a more tough-minded and focused approach that identifies, nurtures, and rewards success
  • REL N on 04 Feb 11
     
    I'm not sure how I feel about this blog. Part of me says "Oh no!" while the other part says that we need to make education accessible but we would be better served to go with a more individualized approach. Right now it feels as though we often cater to the lowest common denominator which is not fair to anyone. Can we learn something from the operations concept of mass customization? Educators--feedback please!! I'd love to hear what your experience tells you r.e. these issues.
  • mirabilecp on 05 Feb 11
     
    I am intrigued if not in full agreement with this piece by Kolb. He makes good points about a national baccaulaureate exam...it's true, algebra is algebra, grammar is grammar, in all 50 states. Some of our colleagues would disagree that we need primarily focus on the best and the brightest and that those who are not ready to learn should be sequestered until they are (paraphrasing here). He says, "We really aren't serious as a nation when it comes to education," but I think that we are fast approaching a time when (I hope) it becomes a primary focus of our political debate (from Candy).
Jonathan Becker

Hampton School Board vs. Patrick Russo trial scheduled for March - dailypress.com - 3 views

www.dailypress.com/...-0214-20110214,0,2382190.story

school board hampton ADMS707

shared by Jonathan Becker on 14 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • Jonathan Becker on 14 Feb 11
     
    The Hampton School Board's lawsuit against former superintendent Patrick Russo is back on the court docket. A two-day jury trial has been scheduled for March 21-22 in Hampton Circuit Court. The board is suing Russo for the $102,220 it paid into a retirement account before he resigned in February 2009 to leave for nearby Henrico County Public Schools, where he is still at the helm.
  • Phil Riddle on 14 Feb 11
     
    Dr. Becker, if you had to guess, what do you think will be the result?
  • Jonathan Becker on 15 Feb 11
     
    Hmmm...Philip. I wish I had some insight here. This is a contract issue and the worst grade I got in law school was in Contracts class :-)
REL N

Education Week: Poll: Students Grade High School Down, College Up - 2 views

www.edweek.org/...421715_ap.html

ADMS707 Niemeyer Mission Effectiveness

shared by REL N on 19 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • A majority say their school wasn't good at helping them choose a field of study, aiding them in finding the right college or vocational school or assisting them in coming up with ways to pay for more schooling.
  • getting students ready for work remains central to high schools' mission.
  • most young people say their school didn't do a good job of preparing them for work or helping them choose a future career.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • The one category where young people rated high schools best was preparing them for further education: 56 percent say their school did a good or excellent job at that.
  • 4 in 10 young people voice strong satisfaction with their high school education.
  • Dill, now 21, self-employed and living with her father in Arcadia, La., thinks high schools should offer juniors and seniors workshops on how to get a job, how to build a career and the many educational options besides a four-year degree.
  • Almost half of college attendees feel that the schools "get" them. That's significantly more than among those whose education stopped at high school; just 3 in 10 say the school system could identify with them.
  • Nonwhite students were more likely than whites to say their high school counselors helped them, and also gave their high schools better ratings for helping find money for college.
  • Georggetta Howie on 19 Apr 11
     
    Thanks for sharing. This is true and in my case and majority of my peers. My success in going to college goes to my mentors!
1 - 11 of 11
Showing 20▼ items per page