Iowa 1:1

Poverty is the unspoken and ignored weight on education outcomes, and while U.S. public education needs significant reforms, education reform will never succeed without the support of social reforms addressing childhood poverty and income equity.

We must, then, come to terms with two facts: (1) We must drop Utopian claims about education because education is not the sole key to overcoming social failures, but a single element in the larger working of our society, (2) claims of crisis in education are misleading since the problems we are considering (student outcomes and drop-out rates, for example) are patterns that have existed for over a century.

"Our main focus is, how are we using these laptops?" he said. "Is it being used just like you use a textbook? Or are we doing what we consider 21st-century skills things with it, rather than just finding information, taking that information, synthesizing and creating something new? That is what we want."

In an effort to establish a more accurate connection to achievement, the county is developing an internal assessment to measure the use of the technology with the students' ability to apply it to critical thinking and problem-solving and communicate what they are learning.

"It may or may not improve achievements as a measure by test scores, but it improves opportunities, it opens up possibilities and affords students new ways to learn."

Welcome to our Educational Book Club Wiki We are starting this site as a place to discuss books of interest to educators. We will use the discussion page as a starting point to post and discuss reflections and reactions as we read and process these thoughts and ideas. As anyone who has ever done a book group can tell you, the discussion is often much more significant and impactful than reading the book itself. Hopefully this project will allow us to extend that discussion across boundaries of time and distance and learn together! I have created the initial structure of this Wiki but it can be changed, added to, or reworked by anyone who wants to participate. We will start with the book Drive by Daniel Pink. You can find more information on the book on the Drive - Daniel Pink page. We will use the discussion page to organize our discussions about the book. I have read the book once, but I am looking forward to reading it again and exploring some of the concepts as they relate to education.

Join this wiki (click on join this wiki link on left hand side of page). Click on the discussion tab and find your grade(s) and/or content area. In the reply box, please enter your name, job description, and most importantly, all the ways for others to connect with you (Twitter, Skype, Facebook, etc.). If you fit into more than one category, feel free to copy and paste your information into multiple discussion thread replies. Begin connecting, collaborating, and changing the learning experiences for you and your students! Tell others about this site. Enjoy and good luck!