Rowland Foundation

"...the key to understanding ePortfolios is realizing that what you're looking at is a supporting technology that opens up an enormous range of potential for evidence-based learning."

"Learning Futures was a programme designed to get young people engaged actively and positively with their learning, achieving better outcomes and retaining a commitment to learning beyond school. We are now looking for people interested in becoming an 'Engaging School'."

Many great links to resources, tools, and related documents.

A recent study in the US found that: * 98 percent of students feel bored at school at least some of the time; * Two-thirds of students feel bored every day; * A quarter of students feel unchallenged by lessons

One page overview of program.

Would love to learn more about this.

"Florida's standardized testing program is being misused and has 'severely impacted student learning,' according to a new white paper that says that school districts in the state are required to give as many as 62 tests a year to students."

"While the specifics are about Florida, the general conclusions about the negative impact of state standardized programs are relevant across the country - not only because other states have their own version but because some looked to Florida as a model as they developed their own school accountability systems."

Interesting read.  Again, we need to question and challenge everything...especially those things we Most believe in.

"In this poignant, funny follow-up to his fabled 2006 talk, Sir Ken Robinson makes the case for a radical shift from standardized schools to personalized learning -- creating conditions where kids' natural talents can flourish."

15th Annual NEASCD Conference in Boston, MA on Dec 1- 3 at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel. This year's Conference, Leading and Learning: What's Next? Presenters: Heidi Hayes Jacobs Rick and Becky DuFour Alan November John D'Auria Kim Marshall Brian Mull Will Richardson

"Sometimes you need to convince colleagues to think about using educational technology in their lessons, or to identify where in their scheme of work they could incorporate it. This list is a starting point: you may find one or two points that would "resonate" with your co-worker, and grab his or her attention."

"It seems paradoxical, but the most boring classrooms tend to be the ones that are full of technology..." "...the reason, in a nutshell, is that in the sorts of classrooms I've just described, the emphasis is on technology rather than learning."

What if we applied the principles of Formative Assessments to the district level rather than just in classroom practices? "...like unemployment statistics. Scores on standardized tests ... usually arrive too late to help individual children or schools that are struggling." "Leading indicators - indicators that provide early signals of progress toward academic achievement - enable education leaders ... to make more strategic and less reactive decisions about services and supports to improve student learning."

Twelve youth-adult teams from Vermont's "Youth and Adults Transforming Schools Together" initiative (YATST) are excited to once again "Be the Buzz" at this second annual conference. Two rounds of "learningshops" will follow for engaging activities and deep discussions focusing on 1) why schools need to transform, 2) how schools might engage youth in the process of transformation, and 3) what transformed schools might look and sound like.

"The reality is that a quarter of all students currently enrolled at colleges and universities are taking at least one course online, and one-in-ten is enrolled in a degree program that is delivered entirely online." So, the question is "How are we as educators in Vermont preparing our students to be successful in college if we are not exposing them to online and/or blended learning experiences in high school?"

Keynote at ISTE 2012.  Here is a video of YongZhao's presentation.  He was a wonderful speaker, very engaging and funny, but with a clear and serious message.  There is about 15 minutes of intro stuff first, but you can fast forward that if you are short on time.  His talk is about an hour and well worth your time.

"Principals report that service-learning has a positive impact on teacher satisfaction, school climate, academic achievement, and school engagement."

The Rigor/Relevance Framework is a tool to examine curriculum, instruction, and assessment. The Rigor/Relevance Framework is based on two dimensions of higher standards and student achievement.

This is great! Thanks Adam. I feel like so often schools have aspirations of quadrant D, but spend so much time focusing on quadrant A that they never reach those aspirations. This reminds me a lot of Stephen Covey's time management matrix...schools spend so much time in quadrant 1 being reactive (Putting out fires aka chasing standardized test scores.) that they never get to focus on being proactive (quadrant 2) and really think about what we want our students to learn in school.

"Service-learning can help students improve their standardized test scores because it makes learning interesting and real - in a word - exciting. Research has shown that involvement in quality service-learning projects makes students more engaged in the classroom, less likely to skip class, more apt to discuss school outside of the classroom, and understand the importance of hard work (Morgan and Streb, 1999; Melchior, 1998)."

YATST schools in Vermont provide one model for youth and adults to engage in meaningful conversations and action about Rigor, Relationship, Shared Responsibility and Relevance in our schools.

The Finnish education system is one of the best performing and most equitable in the OECD. With Prime Minister Julia Gillard's promise to make Australia one of the best five performing countries for education in the world, what can we learn from the Scandinavians?

Great clip on what it means to be knowledge-ABLE...and Content Curation.