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goskygo_posts

Connect people News: Tool to connect people and data - Cloud storage - 0 views

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    Connect people News: The management of GoSkyGo also added the features of online file storage service through which users can access data, photos, videos, music, documents and more from anywhere at any time.
kyleassad

Worldmapper: The world as you've never seen it before - 1 views

    • kyleassad
       
      Data is sourced from the United Nations: the UNDP, Conference on Trade and Development Trade Tables, and Angus Maddison's World Economy: Historical Statistics.  At first glance, the data from which the maps are created is credible because it is from the UN with the exception of the maps sources from Angus Maddison.  The website is also a product of Sheffield University in the United Kingdom, which lends credibility.
    • kyleassad
       
      The maps are divided into categories, and provide a great visual aid when talking about how different countries, regions, and continents utilize resources, have different birth and death rates, and other factors based on geography that can help to be visualized.
    • kyleassad
       
      This website is very credible, especially based on the standards from the UC Berkeley website.  They cite their sources on their "Data" page, include credits to those who helped them, and include the sources that assisted in the formation of the maps.  They include contacts, who created the web page, and statistics on how they update errors, etc. Overall, not only is this website interesting to me because I am a map nerd, but I think this would be very useful in geography, economics, and other social studies classes.
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    Worldmapper is a collection of world maps, where territories are re-sized on each map according to the subject of interest.
Lauren Olson

Historical Census Browser: University of Virginia Library - 1 views

    • Lauren Olson
       
      citation information clearly listed-- great for student researchers!
    • Lauren Olson
       
      This option allows students with higher level research needs to use this site as a starting point for more advanced work. The linked site is free.
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    The Historical Census Browser is a comprehensive data site that allows users to sift through U.S. census information collected between 1790 and 1960. There are clear categories with which to search and the limitations of the search are defined on the home page. This site would be a great introduction search tool for lower-level soc stud students
Preston Spradling

Afrobarometer - 1 views

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    Afrobarometer is the archive for a huge amount of statistical data about modern Africa. Most of this kind of data did not exist until about twenty years ago, and all of it is amazingly valuable. All sorts of political, social and economic data are gathered here.
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    How might teachers use this site and its resources?
Lindsay Andreas

Renaissance Learning-Advanced Technology for Data-Driven Schools - 0 views

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    Lists of best sellers, publisher book-sale data, and online booksellers can tell you which books are purchased most often, but they do not know, like we do, which books students actually open and read, cover to cover. It is never a bad idea to know what kids are reading in order to connect in the classroom.
Joellen Kriss

Education chief calls for teacher prep overhaul - Yahoo! News - 1 views

  • The Obama administration is calling for an overhaul of college programs that prepare teachers, saying they are cash cows that do a mediocre job of preparing teachers for the classroom.
    • Joellen Kriss
       
      Anre Duncan scores in my book once again! He's getting his information from young TEACHERS who've gone through teacher schools!
  • Duncan said he has talked to hundreds of great young teachers while serving as Chicago schools chief and later as President Barack Obama's schools chief. The teachers have two complaints about education schools, he said.
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  • most of them say they did not get the hands-on teacher training about managing the classroom that they needed, especially for high-needs students
    • Joellen Kriss
       
      These are both interesting points. I think the AU program does a lot to give you hands-on training but the second point, is true. We get told a lot about the data and everything, but never really what it means to us and what we can do with it.
  • second, they say there were not taught how to use data to improve instruction and boost student learning
    • Joellen Kriss
       
      Teacher schools make money, but the money they make is spent on different areas of the college...interesting.
  • Their large enrollment and low overhead makes education schools cash cows for their universities
  • profits have been diverted to smaller, more prestigious graduate departments such as physics and have not been spent on research and training for would-be teachers
  • most states and school districts don't link the performance of teachers to their education schools to identify which programs prepare their teachers and which don't
  • administration is using stimulus dollars to reward states that tie student achievement data to the education schools where their teachers had credentials
    • Joellen Kriss
       
      We might get jobs after all everyone!!
  • A third of veteran teachers and principals are Baby Boomers who are poised to retire, which could create a milllion new teaching positions in the next four years, according to the Department of Education.
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    This article is about a speech Arne Duncan gave about the reevaluation of teacher programs in the country. Every time I read something else he's said or written, I like Arne Duncan more. He knows his stuff from a practical standpoint and goes where it matters to get his information: right to teachers and students. This article is small but pretty interesting.
Michael Sheehan

Learning Never Stops: Maps of World - A Great Learning Tool (and maps too) - 0 views

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    This site contains a huge variety of maps plus useful facts including demographics, economic data, and the history behind the subject of each map. Great tool for teachers and students.
Adrea Lawrence

Spatial History Project - 3 views

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    I learned about this site yesterday at the Western History Association meeting in Denver. These scholars are doing some very interesting data visualization and spatially oriented digital history.
Joellen Kriss

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

  • 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.
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    • Joellen Kriss
       
      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.
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    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.
Nate Merrill

Gapminder USA - 0 views

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    Compare States and Country Data
Adrea Lawrence

How Much Is That? | EH.Net - 0 views

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    Economic history data sets and conversion tools
Maria Mahon

Obama Puts Spotlight on Education Grants - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com - 1 views

  • Under the draft criteria for the competition, states must not prohibit the use of student achievement data in evaluating teacher performance.
    • Maria Mahon
       
      With such huge amounts of money at stake, schools will be forced to use student achievement data in evaluating teacher performance.... how much more will this lead to "teaching to the tests"?
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    Obama gave a speach on Wednesday to talk about the Race to the Top competition - a competition in which states compete for $4.35 billion in education grant money.
Alan Edwards

Eager Students Fall Prey to Apartheid's Legacy - 1 views

  • KHAYELITSHA, South Africa — Seniors here at Kwamfundo high school sang freedom songs and protested outside the staff room last year because their accounting teacher chronically failed to show up for class. With looming national examinations that would determine whether they were bound for a university or joblessness, they demanded a replacement.
    • Alan Edwards
       
      In the black townships of South Africa, many public schools do not meet the students' high expectations of career or college preparation. This article describes how students have worked for justice: protesting (at times violently) and teaching themselves lessons when teachers fail to show for work.
  • Here in the Western Cape, only 2 out of 1,000 sixth graders in predominantly black schools passed a mathematics test at grade level in 2005, compared with almost 2 out of 3 children in schools once reserved for whites that are now integrated, but generally in more affluent neighborhoods.
    • Alan Edwards
       
      Apartheid is alive and well in South Africa's education system.
    • Alan Edwards
       
      The author relies on interviews with current teachers, students, and administrators in South Africa. She also cites data and perspectives from the Development Bank of South Africa. In her piece she examines the current situation in a single township, then ties the issue to the entire nation.
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    • Alan Edwards
       
      The author works to briefly explain how the schools were intentionally segregated in order to continue the subjugation of blacks and colored people. In the wake of N. Mandela's election, she explores how corruption and unequal distribution of resources has contributed to the education system's condition today.
    • Alan Edwards
       
      The crisis in South Africa is a reminder of the horrible education inequalities between the rich and poor, the white and the black. The student responses to their situation is at times inspirational as well as disheartening. For older students, this article could be used to encourage student involvement in dialogue with decision-makers of the school. Schools need to be responsive to the positive needs of its student body.
  • KHAYELITSHA, South Africa — Seniors here at Kwamfundo high school sang freedom songs and protested outside the staff room last year because their accounting teacher chronically failed to show up for class. With looming national examinations that would determine whether they were bound for a university or joblessness, they demanded a replacement.
  • Post-apartheid South Africa is at grave risk of producing what one veteran commentator has called another lost generation, entrenching the racial and class divide rather than bridging it. Half the students never make it to 12th grade.
  • But South Africa’s schools also have problems for which history cannot be blamed, including teacher absenteeism, researchers say. And then when teachers are in school, they spend too little time on instruction. A survey found that they taught for a little over three hours a day, rather than the five expected
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    NYT's Celia Dugger examines the quality of education for South Africa's majority black population. 15 years after the election of Nelson Mandela and the official end to apartheid, the nation's school system remains a bastion of inequality.
Joellen Kriss

'Race to the Top' - we expected better - 0 views

    • Joellen Kriss
       
      Strong start, right out of the gate!
  • From the perspective of a classroom teacher, reform must be rooted in classroom practice and supported by research.
  • Public education faces complex problems and won't be fixed by simplistic solutions. Standardized tests can be a useful tool among others to assess student learning. But it is too narrow of a measure on which to base a student's grade, let alone gauge a teacher's performance.
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  • States must enact a laundry list of federally mandated "reforms" to qualify for the competition. Duncan and Obama call this initiative "Race to the Top."
    • Joellen Kriss
       
      Hittleman talks about how they'd looked forward to education law that helped, and race to the top doesn't look that much different from NCLB
  • funding mandates are controversial because they have never been shown to improve student learning.
    • Joellen Kriss
       
      Totally on target with the fact that there's so much more to education than tests and standards.
  • No Child Left Behind, an education law that focused on one-size-fits-all standardized testing.
  • A portfolio that includes multiple-choice tests but also essays, research projects, homework and classroom presentations gives a much more complete picture of student achievement.
    • Joellen Kriss
       
      A very well rounded argument, bringing in all of the factors outside of the classroom that affect learning.
  • Likewise, to judge teacher effectiveness solely on student test scores ignores a range of factors outside a teacher's control, including support (or lack of it) in the home, changes in the student's situation from year to year, or even whether the student happened to be sick on the day of the test.
    • Joellen Kriss
       
      At the end of the day, teachers want reforms that WORK, made by people who know about teaching from first hand experience.
  • We are for reforms that work, which include standards-based and common curricula that have multiple source assessments; student data available for classroom teacher use based on a comprehensive approach; smaller class sizes; new teacher mentoring; and peer assistance and review. What we oppose are reforms based on the latest bright idea that has caught the eye of a politician or pundit with no experience teaching.
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    Marty Hittelman offers one of the most comprehensive, well rounded opinions on the current policy reforms being enacted. It covers everything, which might be something I think because I agree with it all, but just read it. It's pretty good.
Erin Power

Teacher turns 'crazy idea' into new school - CNN.com - 1 views

  • Kim Ursetta
  • Denver, Colorado'
  • want to start a new kind of school," she said, a union-sponsored public school led by teachers, not a principal
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  • We've been doing schools the same way in this nation for 150 years, so if we don't step up, then nothing is going to change
  • bility ranks among the top barriers blocking the nation's children from receiving the best education possible.
  • A board-certified, 16-year teaching veteran, Ursetta, 38, believes the lack of teacher flex
  • Although they follow school board-approved curriculum and standards, instructors can easily rearrange lessons to "make better sense for the kids" -- making better connections between different subject matter, Ursetta said.
  • The lack of quality school leadership is a big reason that experienced teachers leave their schools,
  • Race to the Top also aims to give a boost to charter schools -- special public schools that are given more independence in order to encourage innovation.
  • To qualify for Race to the Top, the rules call on states to create "data systems" linking student success with teacher performance.
  • National Education Association
  • members fear it opens the door to measuring teacher performance by how students score on tests.
  • "What we're really against is using a single [student ] test on a single day" to assess teacher performance, said NEA Executive Director John Wilson. "What we're more accepting of are multiple indicators," and teacher performance "observed in classroom should count as the major part of evaluation."
  • many teachers are reacting coolly to Race to the Top because they "feel like it's too much like No Child Left Behind and are looking for something different.
  • Dubbed Race to the Top, the program is essentially a contest pitting states against each other to win a share of $4.35 billion in grant money from congressional stimulus legislation.
    • Erin Power
       
      I think this is an interesting concept that we (as future teachers) should consider. Most of the teachers I've spoken to feel that schooling is not done the most efficient or successful way. Why not consider other options? The thing I love most about this article is that this school came about someone, Ursetta, simply thinking that way - what could other options be? Then Ursetta looked at the steps she had to make and brought it into actuality.
    • Erin Power
       
      This source relies on interviews and studies conducted by CNN. A teacher could use this site to remember to be inventive in their approach to administration. This is valuable to social studies teachers so they constantly keep rethinking and questioning how to teach
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    This article talks about a Colorado school which has gotten rid of administrators and is run solely by teachers
Maria Mahon

Study Finds High Rate of Imprisonment Among Dropouts - NYTimes.com - 2 views

  • about one in every 10 young male high school dropouts is in jail or juvenile detention, compared with one in 35 young male high school graduates
    • Maria Mahon
       
      These statistics are really shocking - 1 in 10 dropouts in jail compared to 1 in 35 high school graduates.
  • The report puts the collective cost to the nation over the working life of each high school dropout at $292,000.
    • Maria Mahon
       
      Not that financial cost is everything or reveals the true extent of the effects this problem has on a community, but this is a large sum of money.
  • Again, the statistics were worse for young African-American dropouts, whose unemployment rate last year was 69 percent, compared with 54 percent for whites and 47 percent for Hispanics
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  • Young female dropouts were nine times more likely to have become single mothers than young women who went on to earn college degrees, the report said, citing census data for 2006 and 2007.
    • Maria Mahon
       
      Young women were nine times more likely to have become single mothers... also a staggering number when you think of the extra challenges they will face in life.
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    In light of all the recent discussions about DC schools and dropout rates, I found this article to be particularly relevant and upsetting. According to the study, about 1 in 10 male high school dropouts is in jail or juvenile detention (compared with 1 in 35 high school graduates).
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