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Julian Hipkins, III

Washington Post Magazine: D.C. 1791 to Today (washingtonpost.com) - 1 views

www.washingtonpost.com/...dc-1791-to-today

shared by Julian Hipkins, III on 24 Feb 09 - Cached
  • Julian Hipkins, III on 24 Feb 09
     
    Washington Post Magazine: D.C. 1791 to Today - Working with the Washington Post and washingtonpost.com, a team of students at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill developed a series of images to digitally illustrate the myriad changes to the architecture and landscape of Washington, D.C. since the city's inception in 1791. Working from maps, plans, drawings, and photographs, the UNC students have represented the physical history of Washington in a set of time slices, showing side-by-side views of familiar landscapes, then and now, and modeling significant changes to important buildings and monuments.">
  • anonymous on 02 Mar 09
     
    Wow- this a perfect map for my 5th grade class on the history of DC! Thanks Julian- JB
Debbie Moore

The National Portrait Gallery/Education/Teacher Programs - 1 views

npg.si.edu/...schoolprograms.html

gallery education teacher social studies history

shared by Debbie Moore on 09 Oct 09 - Cached
  • Debbie Moore on 09 Oct 09
     
    The National Portrait Gallery is one of the Smithsonian Museums in the DC area. The great thing about NPG is that it has resources available online for teachers. There are a variety of school programs and teacher programs but the best offerings are the online exhibitions. It is like having the gallery right there in your classroom. Some of those exhibits include George Washington: A national Treasure, Presidents in Waiting, and A Brush with History. The online exhibits are usable in the classroom directly from a computer or lap top. For example, the George Washington online exhibit begins with a famous portrait accompanied by an audio explanation of the portrait and the symbolic and historical items found within the portrait. Using the portrait as a starting point provides students with a visual association of that person and the historical events surrounding that person. There is also a link to biographical information about Washington and his role in our country's history. The Teacher's Guide associated with the George Washington exhibit includes lesson plans, activities and other teaching ideas; all printable and useable in class. NPG also offers two publications both of which are available on line. "The Patriot Papers," designed for students, features various historical events in an interesting and engaging fashion. For example, there is a "Special Edition on Slavery" featuring information on slavery and the key players involved. One of the articles in this publication is "A Chat with Harried: 1869" and also includes her portrait. The second publication, NPG in your Classroom, provides information to teachers on how to integrate NPG into classroom lessons. There are many more valuable tools on this site such as a "Reading Portraiture Guide for Educators." Check out the site….it is awesome!!!
Joellen Kriss

Several of Region's High-Profile Private Schools Are Changing Leadership - washingtonpo... - 0 views

www.washingtonpost.com/...AR2009092001805.html

Independent Schools Head of School Superintendent Search

shared by Joellen Kriss on 21 Sep 09 - Cached
    • Joellen Kriss
      Joellen Kriss on 21 Sep 09
       
      This notes the shift and commercialization of schooling. "Heads of School" in any situation, private or public, have to be super human in their ability to do everything. They have to please everyone, and do it all with a smile.
  • In the past, school heads could luxuriate in a Mr. Chips-like existence, focusing primarily on education. Today, they have to be schmoozers who raise funds to pay for costly programs, construction titans who dream up new facilities, and managerial stars who keep students, parents, alumni and teachers mixing smoothly.
    • Joellen Kriss
      Joellen Kriss on 21 Sep 09
       
      These are the people that hire the teachers that teach the chilrden. It's an interesting cause and effect kind of relationship: people are less willing to leave their old jobs because they can't hire their own kind of people in the next position, meaning the job will be harder and less of their own. It adds a whole additional dynamic.
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • One of the fastest ways that heads put their mark on a school is with the people they hire,
  • making teachers slower to retire and less likely to shift jobs, and also making it harder to lead a school than in the past.
    • Joellen Kriss
      Joellen Kriss on 21 Sep 09
       
      See previous Sticky Note
  • candidates who have already headed other schools remain in short supply
    • Joellen Kriss
      Joellen Kriss on 21 Sep 09
       
      This is a really interesting statement and 100% true. School culture after a while becomes a given, so when a new head of school, whether they be of a private school or the superintendent of a public school district, comes in, that hiring board (of directors or of education) needs to now put it out on the table and naturally, things are reassessed in some way. It's kind of a thought provolking idea.
  • "A lot of what has been implicit in school culture has to become explicit" when the schools start meeting candidates,
    • Joellen Kriss
      Joellen Kriss on 21 Sep 09
       
      Holy Moly.
  • Branch's total compensation from Georgetown Day, including benefits and expenses, was $442,097 for the year that ended in June 2008. At Bullis, Farquhar's total compensation including benefits and expenses was $336,222. Total compensation for public school superintendents in the Washington region, including benefits and perks, averaged $350,078 in fiscal 2007-08, according to a 2007 Washington Post analysis.
  • Joellen Kriss on 21 Sep 09
     
    This Washington Post article talks about the competative hiring market for heads of private schools in the DC area, but also raises some interesting points about school culture in the process.
Alan Edwards

D.C. Launches Rigorous Teacher Evaluation System - 0 views

www.washingtonpost.com/...AR2009093004729_pf.html

teacher evaluation DC Michelle Rhee

shared by Alan Edwards on 02 Oct 09 - Cached
    • Alan Edwards
      Alan Edwards on 02 Oct 09
       
      Bill Turque's article in yesterday's Washington Post feels like a balanced view about a controversial plan. It definitely relates to some of the issues we've been chatting about in and out of our classes. These issues of teacher evaluation, standardized tests, teaching methods, and unions is important for anyone teaching in DC.
    • Alan Edwards
      Alan Edwards on 02 Oct 09
       
      So this year, it appears that the folks downtown will be testing a new method of teacher evaluation based on five in-class evaluations and the teacher's students grades and test scores. The program will only apply to about 20% of the teachers in D.C.
    • Alan Edwards
      Alan Edwards on 02 Oct 09
       
      DCPS will use a team of expert teachers to evaluate the teachers in 2 of the 5 evaluation sessions. They will look for active student engagement, diverse teaching methods, and teachers who work to create a safe learning environment for their students. I think that it's great that teachers will be a part of this evaluation process because great teachers have opportunities to give the best advice for these teachers. Moreover, the experts would have a degree of independence from the school's administration and union influence.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • Rhee is investing $4 million in the system, called IMPACT, which will also assess teachers against an elaborate new framework of requirements and guidelines that cover a range of factors, including classroom presence and how carefully they check for student understanding of the material. But IMPACT is likely to be another flash point in Rhee's turbulent relationship with local and national teachers union leaders. They say that growth statistics are too unreliable to include in performance evaluations and that the new assessment system -- which the District can legally impose without union consent -- is an instrument to identify and remove struggling teachers, not a means to help them improve.
  • This year only reading and math teachers in grades 4 through 8 -- fewer than 20 percent of the District's 3,800 classroom instructors -- will be evaluated on the basis of growth on the annual District of Columbia Comprehensive Assessment System, or DC-CAS. Student value-added will account for half of their evaluation.
  • To allay teacher concerns that assessments will be tainted by personality clashes with principals, IMPACT will employ a corps of third-party "master educators" to conduct two of the classroom observations. The District's old system, like those in most other cities, required fewer classroom visits and left them largely to school administrators, who often had neither the time nor the expertise in subject matter to render fair evaluations, educators say. The master educators, who do not report to the principals, have backgrounds in the teachers' subjects.
  • IMPACT documents suggest that no nuance will be left unexamined in the 30-minute classroom visits. Observers are expected to check every five minutes for the fraction of students paying attention. Teachers are supposed to show that they can tailor instruction to at least three "learning styles" (auditory, visual or tactile, for example). They can lower their scores by "using sarcasm that visibly hurts or decreases the comfort of one or more students." Among the ways instructors can demonstrate that they are instilling student belief in success is through "affirmation chants, poems and cheers."
kkasargodstaub

Rethinking Schools - 1 views

www.rethinkingschools.org/index.shtml

socialstudies education educationreform

shared by kkasargodstaub on 20 Sep 10 - Cached
  • Proving Grounds: School “Rheeform” in Washington, D.C.
  • Michelle Rhee is the exemplar for Duncan's school “reform.” What's really happening to children and teachers in D.C.?
    • kkasargodstaub
      kkasargodstaub on 21 Sep 10
       
      An interesting and not often heard take on Michelle Rhee's reforms in Washington D.C.
  • kkasargodstaub on 20 Sep 10
     
    While this is not directly a lesson planning website. I think it's really important for social studies educators to understand the issues that students, teachers and schools are facing. In order to be informed and powerful in our work, we must understand the entire context.
Joellen Kriss

Report shows wide disparity in college achievement - washingtonpost.com - 0 views

www.washingtonpost.com/...AR2009120302569.html

washingtonpost achievementgap collegegraduation

shared by Joellen Kriss on 04 Dec 09 - Cached
  • 45 percent of low-income and underrepresented minority students entering as freshmen in 1999 had received bachelor's degrees six years later at the colleges studied, compared with 57 percent of other students
  • Fewer than one-third of all freshmen entering two-year institutions nationwide attained completion -- either through a certificate, an associate's degree or transfer to a four-year college -- within four years
  • The success rate was lower, 24 percent, for underrepresented minorities, identified as blacks, Latinos and Native Americans; it was higher, 38 percent, for other students.
  • ...3 more annotations...
    • Joellen Kriss
      Joellen Kriss on 04 Dec 09
       
      This is the issue we delt with at McKinley: the kids go to college, but they don't usually make it all the way through.
  • Only 7 percent of minority students who entered community colleges received bachelor's degrees within 10 years.
  • report found a 51 percent graduation rate among low-income students and a 46 percent rate among underrepresented minorities, compared with a graduation rate of about 64 percent for higher-income students and 67 percent for whites and Asians.
  • Joellen Kriss on 04 Dec 09
     
    So this article from the Washington Post talks about a report that examines college graduation rates. The findings are illustrative of the situation Lindsay and I encountered at McKinley this semester and I found it interesting that there's data that supports this. The advice I'd give people who want to decrease the gap (and I'm sure Lindsay would agree): schools need to be preparing these students for rigorous college work loads instead of coddling them and focusing on just getting them into college.
Joellen Kriss

Extra Credit: With IB Rules, the Fast Track Can End Quickly - washingtonpost.com - 0 views

www.washingtonpost.com/...AR2009090803338.html

International Baccalaureate

shared by Joellen Kriss on 13 Sep 09 - Cached
    • Joellen Kriss
      Joellen Kriss on 13 Sep 09
       
      The IB Program is a program of High School education that has been standardized in the high schools in which it is implemented. What makes it unique is that it is an international program and thus extremely helpful to those students who might move around a lot.
    • Joellen Kriss
      Joellen Kriss on 13 Sep 09
       
      Unfortunately this parent is ignoring all of the other extremely important benefits of the IB Program by focusing only on math and not any other parts of his childs education.
  • Because the IB Diploma Programme requires students to take two-year Higher Level exams after senior year -- the program does not officially start until junior year -- she was advised to defer the Math HL I course for a year and take Math Standard Level I this year as a sophomore.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • This restriction seems to apply only if she pursues the IB diploma; there might be no such constraints for IB certificate candidates. If this is the case, perhaps she could continue an accelerated math curriculum, maybe taking a class such as multivariate calculus before starting college, by leaving the IB diploma path.
  • we can't help thinking that she's being held back. Although the IB Programme might need to establish rules and guidelines for consistent implementation, there's always a chance that they don't always provide for our kids' best educational opportunities.
  • Joellen Kriss on 13 Sep 09
     
    This is a letter written by a parent into the Washington Post Education section. As an IB Diploma recipient, I find this extremely interesting, as the parent ignores all of the wonderful and beneficial things that one gets out of an IB education, questioning it because it doesn't allow his daughter to accelerate her math classes.
Joellen Kriss

An Education Debate for the Books - washingtonpost.com - 0 views

www.washingtonpost.com/...AR2009082603408.html

liberal education

shared by Joellen Kriss on 28 Aug 09 - Cached
    • Joellen Kriss
      Joellen Kriss on 28 Aug 09
       
      A debate that my cousin who has a degree in The Classics from Oberlin has with my Uncle, during which he famously stated "I think you are confusing education with job training" and is definitly something that has added thought to my own education.
  • "People all think that in a bad economy, they need skills for a job," said Christopher Nelson, president of St. John's. "What they don't realize is that a liberal arts education will give them skills for life, and that will get them a job."
  • St. John's is one of a handful of American colleges that offer a curriculum built upon great works of literature, art, science and mathematics. Students read and discuss texts by Homer, Euclid, Chaucer and Einstein. There are no majors; students graduate with broad knowledge in several disciplines but a specialty in none, and without anything approaching vocational skills. Investing in a St. John's education requires a leap of faith.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • St. John's freshmen generally assume that they will learn their eventual trade in graduate school
  • Joellen Kriss on 28 Aug 09
     
    Article from the Washington Post that discusses the downward turn in applicants to schools like St. John's College where the emphasis is on a broad liberal education. Students at St John's don't choose a major and receive a broad education with very little in the way of job training. It raises an interesting debate about learning for the sake of learning, rather than learning with an objective (job placement, test scores, etc).
Maria Mahon

The History Cooperative || Booker T. Washington Papers - 3 views

www.historycooperative.org/...index.html

Booker T. Washington online resources

shared by Maria Mahon on 29 Oct 09 - Cached
  • Maria Mahon on 29 Oct 09
     
    While I am not sure of the best way to highlight different pages of this website to suit the format of Diigo, I think this could be a really helpful website. The "Volumes" link takes the viewer to a section where you can go through the volumes page by page. These writings are a great primary source/document to bring into the classroom.... so much more exciting to read the real thing than just see a mention of it in a text book.
Maria Mahon

How Arlington National Cemetery Came to Be | History & Archaeology | Smithsonian Magazine - 2 views

www.smithsonianmag.com/...The-Battle-of-Arlington.html

Arlington National Cemetery Civil War

shared by Maria Mahon on 09 Nov 09 - Cached
  • In correspondence, her husband referred to the place as "our dear home," the spot "where my attachments are more strongly placed than at any other place in the world."
    • Maria Mahon
      Maria Mahon on 09 Nov 09
       
      Finding some direct quotes from figures like Robert E. Lee that shows his link to Arlington could be an interesting way to express the struggle between loyalties to nation, state, land, etc.
  • Orton Williams was not only Mary Lee's cousin and a suitor of her daughter Agnes but also private secretary to General in Chief Winfield Scott of the Union Army.
  • Orton Williams was not only Mary Lee's cousin and a suitor of her daughter Agnes but also private secretary to General in Chief Winfield Scott of the Union Army.
    • Maria Mahon
      Maria Mahon on 09 Nov 09
       
      Mary Lee received a warning from her cousin/a suitor of her daughter... who was also a private secretary to a general in the Union Army.... this underscores how complex relationships were at this time and how families were torn apart.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • A sprawling Freedmen's Village of 1,500 sprang to life on the estate, complete with new frame houses, schools, churches and farmlands on which former slaves grew food for the Union's war effort.
    • Maria Mahon
      Maria Mahon on 09 Nov 09
       
      The Freedmen's Village is also an important part of Arlington's history.... a rich cultural community sprung up here.
  • Maria Mahon on 09 Nov 09
     
    This article provides a great hisory of something in our own backyard here in DC - Arlington National Cemetery and its history in the Washington family and as the home of Robert E. Lee. Studying this could be a way to link the Civil War to the area.
Lindsay Andreas

Comedian urges Hispanic students to stay in school - washingtonpost.com - 0 views

www.washingtonpost.com/...AR2009110505271.html

Fund motivational speaker hispanic drop out rates college financing

shared by Lindsay Andreas on 06 Nov 09 - Cached
  • One in five Hispanic teens drops out of high school, according to U.S. Education Department statistics. That's about twice the rate for black students and more than three times the rate among white students.
    • Lindsay Andreas
      Lindsay Andreas on 06 Nov 09
       
      I found this statistic about hispanic drop-out rates really alarming. Considering that the Hispanic population is quickly growing, education policy makers should be moving this to the forefront of their concerns.
  • . "A lot of Latino students look at the sticker price and think, if my family makes $18-20,000 a year, I can't afford it," said Deborah Santiago, vice president of policy and research for Excelencia in Education, a Washington-based advocacy organization.
    • Lindsay Andreas
      Lindsay Andreas on 06 Nov 09
       
      This was something that I personally ran into in my practicum. Better information needs to be distributed regarding college financing. There is a stigma in lower-income areas about taking out college loans and a lot of misinformation. When I taught a lesson on saving and investment for an Economics class, I spent the majority of the lesson answering questions regarding this and reminding students that college is an investment and that it will pay-off in the end. An example that worked really well was the game of Life, since many students have played it. In the board game if you go to college in the beginning, you will end up in the better retirement home in the end.
  • He told Wheaton students about a guidance counselor who encouraged him to go to college, and about his time at Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles, where he became disillusioned, started partying and stopped studying. "I went from being the first in my family to go to college to becoming another Latino statistic: a dropout," he said.
    • Lindsay Andreas
      Lindsay Andreas on 06 Nov 09
       
      Both parts struck me. Encouragement is so important, because if your teacher doesn't encourage you, who will after all? Second, a problem we have at McKinley is that students that go to college get distracted and overwhelmed by college and dropout the first year. This is important on two fronts, we need better college prep programs in high school and also the colleges and universities need better support systems for first generation college students.
Maria Mahon

Washington, DC--Old Stone House - 2 views

www.nps.gov/...dc17.htm

historic sites Washington DC

shared by Maria Mahon on 04 Nov 09 - Cached
  • Maria Mahon on 04 Nov 09
     
    This website contains a great list of Historic Sites in DC - for example, I have bookmarked the page for the Old Stone House in Georgetown. If you select, "List of Sites" - you will be taken to a listing by neighborhoods of other historic sites in the DC area. This could allow you to search for places near your school that could be a great resource to incorporate into your lessons. Many, including the Old Stone House, offer tours throughout the day. The Old Stone House is also staffed by well-informed Park Rangers who are eager to share their knowledge.
Debbie Moore

Recovery.gov - 1 views

www.recovery.gov/home.aspx

diigo recovery gov recession government spending

shared by Debbie Moore on 24 Nov 09 - Cached
  • Debbie Moore on 24 Nov 09
     
    This is the site that the government has created to provide the average citizen with information regarding the "stimulus plan," which is actually called the Recovery Act. I must warn you that it is NOT an exciting site; however, it is useful if teaching government or making comparisons with other economic crises. For example, there is a ticker that is updated regularly and displays the number of jobs that have been created or saved from the money provided by the stimulus package. One can track awarded funds and used funds by state, project or recipient. For example, in Washington, DC approximately 2300 jobs have been created or saved and American University was awarded and received about 2.5 billion dollars from the recovery act. As I said, it is not exciting but certainly informative.
  • Debbie Moore on 24 Nov 09
     
    Ooops. Make the 2.5 MILLION not BILLION.
jbdrury

Capital Gains FAQs - DC Public Schools, Washington, DC - 1 views

dcps.dc.gov/...de50edb2b17a932c69621014f62010

faq capital gains DCPS cash awards to students

shared by jbdrury on 23 Nov 09 - Cached
    • jbdrury
      jbdrury on 23 Nov 09
       
      Emery Educational Campus is one of these fifteen participating schools.
    • jbdrury
      jbdrury on 23 Nov 09
       
      The assessments done at our school are created by the teachers. The students are also judged considerably based on their classroom behavior. A sort of giveaway is the awards for wearing the proper uniform.
    • jbdrury
      jbdrury on 23 Nov 09
       
      I feel this website could have gone into greater detail explaining exactly how much money these students might be earning.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • The Capital Gains program is a partnership between DCPS and Dr. Roland Fryer, economics professor at Harvard University and the founder of Harvard’s Education Innovation Laboratory (EdLabs). In addition to Washington, DC, EdLabs and Dr. Fryer work with school districts in Chicago and New York City on similar incentive initiatives.
  • jbdrury on 23 Nov 09
     
    I know we've all heard about the rather controversial Capital Gains program - where DCPS is paying students cash awards for good academic performance and behavior - but I wasn't certain how much anyone really knew about the specifics of the program. I just recently learned that my own school - Emery Educational Campus - is participating in Capital Gains. I can say that my own students do not seem to take the program very seriously, or at the very least not enough to study more to make certain they perform well on the mandatory assessments (said one student: "I don't really care about the extra money").
  • Lindsay Andreas on 23 Nov 09
     
    They have "Tech Tickets" at McKinley, it's just a huge joke because the rewards are like breakfast with Mr. Pinder the principal, who they hate. Last Wednesday, they started joking around about starting a black market for tech tickets, at least they are inventive about it. But it doesn't motivate them.
Walter Antoniotti

http://www.textbooksfree.org/Building%20America's%20Democratic%20Federalist%20Republic.htm - 0 views

Building America's Democratic Federalist Republic 1. The Early Colonial Period 1619 Began Representative Democracy and Slavery Freedom of Religion Began in 1636 All Immigrates Welcomed By 1654 Ne...

history resources education teaching Social Studies socialstudies

started by Walter Antoniotti on 18 Jan 17 no follow-up yet
Maria Mahon

The Washington Teacher - 2 views

thewashingtonteacher.blogspot.com

student protests Teaching firings DCPS unions teacher

shared by Maria Mahon on 01 Oct 09 - Cached
  • Two days of protests by DC students in response to unfair teacher layoffs. Students held protests on September 28 at the DCPS central office and at Duke Ellington High School for the arts on September 29 at lunch time. These videos say it all. Our students are following the lead of the rank and file teacher rally held on last Thursday, September 24. What a tribute to DC teachers. You have taught them well !
    • Maria Mahon
      Maria Mahon on 01 Oct 09
       
      The teachers at Takoma Education Center told me about the protests and I think it really emphasizes how much of an impact the lay-offs have on the students themselves and the level of personal investment they must feel in their education.
  • McKinley Technology Senior High School located in NE DC was disrupted today as students unexpectedly protested teacher layoffs at the DCPS central headquarters near the Capitol today.
    • Maria Mahon
      Maria Mahon on 01 Oct 09
       
      I thought our classmates doing their placements at McKinley would be interested in this!
  • Maria Mahon on 01 Oct 09
     
    I thought this might be interesting to share in light of what is happening with DCPS. Yesterday was my first day at my practicum placement and during lunch a few teachers were talking about the "buzz on the blogs" and the firings. All of them mentioned the students protestes by the students at the Duke Ellington School.
  • Lindsay Andreas on 02 Oct 09
     
    The kids protesting in the videos, most of them were my kids! They are so wonderful. :)
  • Laura Wood on 02 Oct 09
     
    THis is fantastic! Thanks for posting it. Interesting that Fenty says no teachers will be taken out of classrooms . . . John, maybe you should call him . . . ;-)
jbdrury

Re-thinking Newsweek and U.S. News Rankings - 0 views

www.bethesdamagazine.com/...rethinking-rankings.php

school rankings achievement montgomery county newsweek U.S. News bethesda measuring top schools best schools

shared by jbdrury on 18 Sep 09 - Cached
  • Re-thinking the Rankings
  • B-CC had been ranked as the nation’s 64th best high school on the 2008 Newsweek list, but it was missing from U.S. News’ top 100. One parent e-mailed: “Should I be worried?”
  • In the 2009 Newsweek rankings, released in June, four county schools (Richard Montgomery, B-CC, Thomas S. Wootton and Winston Churchill) were ranked among the nation’s top 100, with two others (Walt Whitman and Walter Johnson) narrowly missing
  • ...31 more annotations...
    • jbdrury
      jbdrury on 18 Sep 09
       
      Not to detract from MCPS, but I have often wondered if the fact that the designer of the index happens to live in the Bethesda is at all a coincidence?
  • Most years, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) has more schools in the top 100 of both lists than any other school system in the country
  • rankings validate that the school system is “seeing the benefits of providing the academic support that allows our students to aim high and achieve at the highest levels.
  • But do the rankings really mean much?
  • I feel obliged to question the validity of the methods used to rank high schools.
    • jbdrury
      jbdrury on 18 Sep 09
       
      This is the basic explanation for how Newsweek ranks its schools; interesting to note that it is based almost solely on a sort of "preparation for college" mindset
  • for ignoring graduation rates and achievement gaps among socioeconomic and ethnic segments.
    • jbdrury
      jbdrury on 18 Sep 09
       
      The author speaks directly with the designer of Newsweek's index
  • Mathews’ goal is to improve students’ academic preparation, especially in lower-and middle-income neighborhood schools. His solution is to expose more students to challenging course work, and he unapologetically describes his purpose as “advocacy as well as evaluation.
  • He says the Challenge Index’s key attributes make it the singular best measure of a school’s quality: It can be easily understood; it points directly to implementing positive change through rigorous course offerings; and it can be applied meaningfully to all schools—unlike quality evaluations based on traditional measures such as test scores, which, he says, are inherently biased toward schools in wealthier, upper-middle-class neighborhoods.
    • jbdrury
      jbdrury on 18 Sep 09
       
      As a side note; this is my former social studies teacher and the person I credit most with making me want to become a teacher
  • Walter Johnson Principal Christopher Garran
  • Critics
  • have attacked the Challenge Index for not effectively capturing what it purports to measure (school quality), in part because it doesn’t gauge student achievement, only the number of rigorous course exams taken.
  • Newsweek ranks schools based on the Challenge Index, which was developed by Washington Post education reporter (and Bethesda resident) Jay Mathews. A school’s Challenge Index score is the number of Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB) and Cambridge tests taken by all students in a school year divided by the number of graduating seniors. (AP courses are well-known; IB and Cambridge also consist of rigorous courses for which students can receive college credit. Like AP, their standardized exams are graded by outside examiners.)
    • jbdrury
      jbdrury on 18 Sep 09
       
      U.S. News also uses its own "college prep" index, but includes standardized test results, and takes socio-economic and racial differences into account
  • U.S. News’ approach
  • far more computationally complex
  • a school must do significantly better on standardized state English and math tests than statistically expected given its economic makeup; be in the top half of its state (approximately) in the performance of its minority students
  • “College Readiness” formula combines two components: the percentage of 12th-graders who had taken an AP or IB exam during or before their senior year; and the percentage who passed at least one exam—equivalent to an AP test score of 3 and an IB score of 4.
    • jbdrury
      jbdrury on 18 Sep 09
       
      He also directly quotes the manager of the U.S. News' index
  • U.S. News project, cites three ways its methodology is superior: “We measure success [tests passed]—not just quantity of tests taken. We factor in how well schools do in serving economically disadvantaged students and minorities. And we recognize schools within their respective state.”
  • The U.S. News rankings have been attacked by education experts for intermixing highly selective “elite” schools, such as Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Va.—currently their top-ranked school in the U.S.—with schools having open admissions
  • Unlike U.S. News, Mathews eliminates some academically elite schools, setting the cutoff at the level of the highest average SAT/ACT scores of any “normal enrollment” school in the country.
  • “It would be deceptive for us to put them [schools above this threshold] on this list [because] the Challenge Index has been designed to honor schools that have done the best job in persuading average students to take college-level courses and tests. It does not work for schools that have no, or almost no, average students.”
  • As of 2009, schools with AP exam pass rates lower than 10 percent (schools that would have made the list in previous years) have also been eliminated from the main Newsweek ranking. Most of these schools, which are typically located in low-income neighborhoods, have recently introduced their students to academically challenging courses as a form of “shock therapy.”
    • jbdrury
      jbdrury on 18 Sep 09
       
      A summary of the author's thoughts; pro's and con's of both methods
  • Just as the Challenge Index is too limited in its concept of best schools, the U.S. News procedures try to cover too much. The crux of the problem is combining three essentially different criteria (college readiness, overcoming economic disadvantage and minimizing ethnic group disparities) into one ranking. Schools that excel in one aren’t necessarily those that excel in the other(s). Some schools that do the greatest job of preparing their minority students might not have total-school achievement scores that are among the best. Other schools characterized by superlative overall college readiness might score only slightly above average relative to their economic profile. In trying to incorporate “economic disadvantage” and the reduction of ethnic group (minority) achievement gaps together with schoolwide high achievement, the U.S. News ranking risks confounding different educational objectives. Depth and breadth of performance, and exceeding expectations, should be reported separately, rather than conjoined. Separate rankings would be easier to understand, more informative and less disputable—although perhaps less likely to help sell magazines.
  • Several principals, including Whitman’s Goodwin, noted how nonacademic programs that help students succeed and are a huge part of some students’ lives (arts, music, sports, civic activities, etc.) are not examined.
  • comparing large and small schools can be misleading
  • eferring to the many qualitative features that go into making a great school, Doran says, “The rankings are measuring the brain of the school—not the heart of the school.”
  • jbdrury on 18 Sep 09
     
    Having grown up in Bethesda, I am well aware of the preoccupation with the ranking of U.S. schools. This article shares some insight into how two of the more popular (or circulated) ranking systems come up with their results.
Erin Power

Reauthorization of ESEA: Why We Can't Wait -- Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks at the Mo... - 1 views

www.ed.gov/...09242009.html

Education Policy Duncan

shared by Erin Power on 27 Sep 09 - Cached
    • Joellen Kriss
      Joellen Kriss on 27 Sep 09
       
      What a conundrum this is...
  • People want support from Washington but not interference. They want accountability but not oversight. They want national leadership but not at the expense of local control.
  • And now that I'm here I'm even more convinced that the best solutions begin with parents and teachers working together in the home and the classroom.
  • ...19 more annotations...
  • Many teachers complain bitterly about NCLB's emphasis on testing. Principals hate being labeled as failures. Superintendents say it wasn't adequately funded.
  • And many parents just view it as a toxic brand that isn't helping children learn.
    • Joellen Kriss
      Joellen Kriss on 27 Sep 09
       
      I like how he/his speech writers recognize here that schooling is something that belongs to the states. It seems like he's saying that the federal government is just stepping in for a moment, until things start going well.
  • Until states develop better assessments—which we will support and fund through Race to the Top—we must rely on standardized tests to monitor progress—but this is an important area for reform and an important conversation to have.
  • it places too much emphasis on absolute test scores rather than student growth—and it is overly prescriptive in some ways while it is too blunt an instrument of reform in others.
    • Joellen Kriss
      Joellen Kriss on 27 Sep 09
       
      SUPER DUPER BINGO! NCLB encourages hig TESTING standards, but not LEARNING standards!! Good for you Arne (that's what he wants his staff to call him...in case you didn't know.)
  • NCLB is that it doesn't encourage high learning standards. In fact, it inadvertently encourages states to lower them. The net effect is that we are lying to children and parents by telling kids they are succeeding when, in fact, they are not.
    • Joellen Kriss
      Joellen Kriss on 27 Sep 09
       
      This is one of the issues in my practicum schools and one of the big debates there right now.
  • We don't believe that local educators need a prescription for success. But they do need a common definition of success—focused on student achievement, high school graduation and success and attainment in college.
    • Joellen Kriss
      Joellen Kriss on 27 Sep 09
       
      ...because the goals are and always have been, decent, but the means, are and always have been, bad (to keep it clean.)
  • In my view, we should be tight on the goals—with clear standards set by states that truly prepare young people for college and careers—but we should be loose on the means for meeting those goals.
  • They are simply not ready for college-level work when they leave high school.
    • Joellen Kriss
      Joellen Kriss on 27 Sep 09
       
      But do they really?
  • Before we do, however, we want to hear from you. We want your input.
  • We don't need another study. We must stop simply admiring the problem. We need action.
  • And so the work of reauthorizing ESEA begins in states and districts across America—among educators and policy makers, parents and community leaders. This work is as urgent as it is important.
  • And yet we are still waiting for the day when every child in America has a high quality education that prepares him or her for the future.
  • Our shared goals are clear: higher quality schools; improved student achievement; more students going to college; closing the achievement gap; and more opportunities for children to learn and succeed.
  • Let's build a law that respects the honored, noble status of educators—who should be valued as skilled professionals rather than mere practitioners and compensated accordingly.
  • Joellen Kriss on 27 Sep 09
     
    Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's speech at the Monthly Stakeholders meeting this past week. It's a part of a series of town hall style meetings that the secretary is holding with those who have a stake in the policy they will be shaping: teachers, parents and others. The speech is interesting mostly because, what he's calling for sounds great to me, but I wonder if there's any possibility of anything this reasonable ever happening. Secretary Duncan seems like an ok guy (didn't know he is a former superintendent) but I still wonder what the next big thing is going to turn out to be and how/if it's going to help.
  • Erin Power on 05 Oct 09
     
    The Duncan speech we were talking about in class
Maria Mahon

Au Contraire! Rhee Disses Layoff Claims | NBC Washington - 1 views

www.nbcwashington.com/...es-Layoff-Claims-63669572.html

school security firings Rhee

shared by Maria Mahon on 07 Oct 09 - Cached
  • Maria Mahon on 07 Oct 09
     
    I happened to see this clip on TV this morning while having my cereal and getting ready to head off to my practicum placement. In it, Rhee addresses the security issues and says that the security company "went under" and that is why police were called in. This was a big topic among my teachers today at school.... they feel that the story about the security company "going under" is false and are pretty angry that they had NO security last Friday and that teachers had to take turns outside the school acting as security.
  • Laura Wood on 08 Oct 09
     
    Oh good gravy. What next?!
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