Rowland Foundation

There are four big benefits of flex models: Competency-based: Students progress based on demonstrated mastery; they use cohort groups and teams when and where they are helpful. Customized experience: Flex models make it easy to customize the experience for each student. Portable and flexible: Students can take a flex school on the road for a family vacation or for a work or community-based learning experience. Productive operations: Flex models have the potential for more productive staffing and facilities solutions.

Lacks detail about HOW flex learning actually works, but the basic concept is appealing.

Important to know. What is your school doing to define its brand? Can you articulate in a sentence or two what your school is all about and has to offer students?As this progresses things may get even more competitive. How many students does your school need to lose to translate to reduction in staff? 10:1? 7:1?Under the progressive possibilities what would losing 35 or 40 students mean to your staffing, programs, and academic offerings?

Under this interpretation, if a school has opted to limit transfers to the fullest extent permitted by law, the 5% or 10 students limit is calculated based on the school's current full 9-12 enrollment, which excludes those who have already transferred, but have not yet graduated. In determining how many transfer slots are available in any given year, the number is the lesser of 5% of the then-enrolled students, or 10. And this standard is cumulative over a four-year period. For example, a high school with 180 presently-enrolled students may limit transfers (during the following year) to 9 students (the lesser of 9 (5% of 180) or 10). In the following year, if enrollment at the school is 171, and if all of the 9 remained in other schools, the transfer limit for students participating for the first time would be 8, for a total of 17.

"Based on a review of the best educational research, the Toolkit is an independent and accessible resource which helps teachers and schools identify the most promising and cost-effective ways to support their pupils.Existing evidence shows that how money is spent in schools is at least as important as how much is spent."

Google's move to a new privacy policy includes information about staying safe on line and how Google will use your data.  Probably good to share with staff and students.

Vermont Communities in a Digital Age brings community leaders and learners together to share what they have discovered so far. Take away lots of new ideas about how digital tools and broadband can be used in your community to: create jobs, reinvent your schools, attract visitors, improve civic involvement, and enliven your community.Thursday, February 16th; 9am - 4:30pmVermont Technical College, Randolph Vermont

Projects Our projects range from the newest ways to use digital technologies in history instruction to how students collaborating across national borders formulate broader interpretations of the world. People Our staff comprises full-time researchers, former history teachers now pursuing their PhDs, and post-doctoral researchers from the U.S. and abroad.

New England Secondary School Consortium's third annual conference for secondary educators to share success stories, exchange best practices, and build momentum for innovations that will prepare all students for success in the colleges, careers, and communities of the 21st century.

WHEN: Thursday + Friday, March 22-23, 2012 WHERE: Four Points by Sheraton in Norwood, Massachusetts WHO: Educators and teams from high schools, charter schools, and technical schools across New England engaged in school improvement COST: $75 per person (includes appetizers, beverages, breakfast, lunch, and materials) PROGRAM: Click HERE to read the session descriptions

Education for Sustainability - A Public Lecture/Learning Series - Spring 2012" ...questions addressed in this lecture series seek to: clarify what we know about educational approaches to learning that can move people to authentically embrace sustainability (what is "education for sustainability"), share best practices and new approaches to engaging with the values and substance of sustainability (updates from the field), and provide opportunities for practitioners and educators to evaluate, integrate, and create new approaches to education for sustainability (learning next steps)."

Series ScheduleFeb 2: Lecture: A conversation with Bill McKibben about educational priorities in the 21st CenturyFeb 9: Panel: New concepts in engaged education for sustainability (Poleman, Kolan, Nordstrom)Feb 16: Lecture: Greg SmithFeb 23: Lecture: Taylor RickettsMar 1: Workshop: Understanding major themes in Education for SustainabilityMar 15: Panel: Student Voices on SustainabilityMar 22: Lecture: TBAMar 29: Lecture: Environmental Contamination (Paul Ligon and Jill Kauffman Johnson)(Tentative) Apr 5: Workshop: Practices that work - concepts and experiences(Tentative) Apr 12: Panel: Spreading Sustainability - A Programmatic Model (UVM Sustainability Fellows)Apr 19: Lecture: Tentative Debra RoweApr 26: Workshop: Sustainability futures - Ideas and collaborations

Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana, authors of the book, Make Just One Change, explain why teaching students to ask their own questions just may revolutionize the classroom. Audio clip.

"The simple shift in practice, from teachers asking questions of students to students learning to generate and improve their own questions, leads to significant cognitive, affective and behavioral changes in students."

Do you teach to inform...or to facilitate learning? jf

Tony Wagner, of the Change Leadership Group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, will be the keynote speaker at the September 27, 2012 Rowland Foundation Conference on High School Transformation.

"...argues that education policymakers should take a closer look at another accountability system-on-site inspections."

"...detailed look at the methods school inspectors use to evaluate schools. The process is thorough and rigorous: '[I]nspectors observe classroom lessons, analyze student work, speak with students and staff members, examine school records, and scrutinize the results of surveys administered to parents and students,' he notes."

Articles like this are interesting. But, they are powerful when we take a critical look at own practices and really evaluate if our classroom actions match the work we promote and speak so highly of in the teachers' lounge.

Becoming a master teacher takes continuous effort.1) Understand Your Reasons for Teaching2) Cultivate Ethical Behavior in Your Students and Yourself3) Pool Both Patience and Perseverance4) Design Curriculum That Works5) Perfect Instructional Practices and Assessment Skills6) Connect Positively to the Whole-School Culture