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.
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StatWorld - Interactive Maps of Open Data | StatSilk - 0 views
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Worldmapper: The world as you've never seen it before - 1 views
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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.
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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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Historical Census Browser: University of Virginia Library - 1 views
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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
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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.
Data Visualization: Modern Approaches | Graphics | Smashing Magazine - 0 views
www.smashingmagazine.com/...isualization-modern-approaches
visualization design data information statistics
shared by Adrea Lawrence on 20 Apr 09
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16 Awesome Data Visualization Tools - 0 views
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Education chief calls for teacher prep overhaul - Yahoo! News - 1 views
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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
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second, they say there were not taught how to use data to improve instruction and boost student learning
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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
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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
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administration is using stimulus dollars to reward states that tie student achievement data to the education schools where their teachers had credentials
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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.
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Learning Never Stops: Maps of World - A Great Learning Tool (and maps too) - 0 views
seekoutlearning.blogspot.com/...d-great-learning-tool-and.html
learning maps world tool resource geography history
shared by Michael Sheehan on 11 Feb 13
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Report shows wide disparity in college achievement - washingtonpost.com - 0 views
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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
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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
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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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Only 7 percent of minority students who entered community colleges received bachelor's degrees within 10 years.
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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.
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Obama Puts Spotlight on Education Grants - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com - 1 views
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Under the draft criteria for the competition, states must not prohibit the use of student achievement data in evaluating teacher performance.
Two Minute Survey on Data Visualization | nmc - 0 views
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Eager Students Fall Prey to Apartheid's Legacy - 1 views
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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'Race to the Top' - we expected better - 0 views
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From the perspective of a classroom teacher, reform must be rooted in classroom practice and supported by research.
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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."
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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.
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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.
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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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Teacher turns 'crazy idea' into new school - CNN.com - 1 views
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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
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bility ranks among the top barriers blocking the nation's children from receiving the best education possible.
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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.
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The lack of quality school leadership is a big reason that experienced teachers leave their schools,
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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.
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To qualify for Race to the Top, the rules call on states to create "data systems" linking student success with teacher performance.
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"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."
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Study Finds High Rate of Imprisonment Among Dropouts - NYTimes.com - 2 views
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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
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The report puts the collective cost to the nation over the working life of each high school dropout at $292,000.
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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.