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conventional practices, including homework, grades, and tests, prove difficult to justify for anyone who is serious about promoting long-term dispositions rather than just improving short-term skills.

Some of the features that I’ve listed here will seem objectionable, or at least unsettling, to educators at more traditional schools

A truly impressive collection of research has demonstrated that when students are able to spend more time thinking about ideas than memorizing facts and practicing skills — and when they are invited to help direct their own learning — they are not only more likely to enjoy what they’re doing but to do it better. Progressive education isn’t just more appealing; it’s also more productive.

About one-third of America’s eighth-grade students, and about one in four high school seniors, are proficient writers, according to results of a nationwide test released on Thursday.

Girls far outperformed boys in the test, with 41 percent of eighth-grade girls scoring at or above the proficient level, compared with 20 percent of eighth-grade boys.

Authorities in the federal government’s school testing program said they were encouraged by the results, especially since they seemed to counter other recent indicators suggesting a decline in Americans’ writing abilities.

Study: Teens See Disconnect Between Personal and School Writing by Dave Nagel Extra Credit Student Writing and Internet Usage According to the Pew/National Commission on Writing study, 50 percent of teens write something for school every day. Ninety-four percent use the Internet for research for their school assignments at least occasionally, and 48 percent sad they use the Internet for research at least once per week. More Information Study: Writing, Technology and Teens (PDF) --D. Nagel Students see a distinction between the writing they do for school and the writing they do in their personal lives. While the vast majority of 12- to 17-year-olds (85 percent) engage in some form of electronic writing--IM, e-mail, blog posts, text messages, etc.--most (60 percent) don't consider this actual writing. That's one of the findings from a study released last week by the Pew Internet & American Life Project and the National Commission on Writing for America’s Families, Schools and Colleges.

Over the years, I've come up with many scenarios where using video would be a beneficial tool in the classroom.