"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."
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An Education Debate for the Books - washingtonpost.com - 0 views
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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.
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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).
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shared by Lindsay Andreas on 12 Oct 09
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U.S. Standards Initiative Seeks to Equalize Benchmarks - washingtonpost.com - 1 views
www.washingtonpost.com/...AR2009101101456.html
skills knowledge local education federal great works Common Core State Standards Initiative
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can be accepted nationwide without leaving the impression that states and school boards have ceded control of what is taught.
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His administration might provide money to help states develop tests aligned with the standards, if they are adopted. But the U.S. Education Department is not drafting the standards, and Congress will have no vote on approval.
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work backward through secondary and elementary grades to develop more detailed benchmarks for content knowledge and skills.
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on the proposal posted at www.corestandards.org. On Thursday, the Washington-based Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a prominent advocate of more rigorous standards, graded the effort with a B in both subjects.
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The math proposal spans equations, expressions, functions, statistics and several other topics. For instance, it says students should understand four core concepts about equations and be able to exercise six core skills.
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. "They would have gotten into a century-long battle over reading lists, multiculturalism, which authors to read and so on. They decided to duck that."
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This is what I see as the main problem with standardizing content in English and Social Studies.....bottom line we will never agree, so get over it. I realize that is cynical but seriously, especially, with the whole multiculturalism, it just seems never ending. I plan on taking on a multicultural approach but I'm sure there would still be some multiculturalists that would criticize that I didn't go far enough.
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Friendly And Highly Skilled Therapist - 1 views
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About: DocSouth - 0 views
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DocSouth is a website run through UNC Chapel Hill that provides pirmary sources relating to the American South via the internet. It's a really simple site to use, but extremely rich with content. It also provides guides on how to site the materials found within the site and could be a very good web site from which to draw primary sources for the classroom and also to help teach research skills.
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BBC - History - Bloodlines - 1 views
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This website uses research sources gathered by the BBC. I would use this website to create a family tree - it makes the process interesting and creates an interest in history by making it relatable. This is valuable to social studies teachers, because if this was employed in the classroom it would help students build research skills in a way that interests them.
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Ideas about becoming a social studies teacher - 0 views
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Sadly, much too often, social studies courses are regarded as relatively unimportant subject matter, whether in elementary school, middle school, or high school. This perception leads to diminished attention paid to social studies as a serious subject area, yet in the overall development of the intellect of students, no other subject matter content holds as much promise.
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"I think we include social studies in the curriculum for the wrong reasons. It doesn't help us avoid the mistakes of the past, and if voting turnout is an indicator of good citizenship, it doesn't have much to do with that either. Social studies is probably best understood as an organized way of helping students develop understandings and appreciations that have long-term staying power, and that will influence them in positive ways to do the right thing when doing the right thing is hard to do."
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First, you must understand the content of the social studies at a level appropriate to that which you intend to teach. To understand content means more than mere memorization of facts. To understand content for a teacher means that you can explain it in more than one way to others, whether the content concerns facts, generalizations, principles, themes, and so on.
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Second, you must be able to translate the content you so understand to make it learnable, interesting, and challenging for students at the age and grade level you are teaching. It requires rearranging what you know. This applies to social studies more than any other content area simply because social studies as a discipline lacks any widely agreed-upon structure.
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Third, you must consider pedagogy. This means that you not only understand the content in more than one way, can translate it into a form understandable, learnable, challenging, and interesting to your students, but that you also have the skills to actually teach the content. Pedagogy without subject matter content isn't worth very much. Simply "knowing about" teaching methods won't do.
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There is probably no more important skill required in teaching social studies than the ability to explain events, ideas, principles, and social interrelationships. In some ways, good social studies teaching rests on the ability to tell stories well. For social studies, this story telling ability is grounded in the depth and awareness of the connective possibilities of the content. Helping students make new connections, to find challenge and meaning in social studies content is what excellent social studies teachers do every day.
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shared by Joellen Kriss on 09 Oct 09
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All About Explorers | Everything you've ever wanted to know about every explorer who ev... - 1 views
allaboutexplorers.com
explorers history socialstudies research teaching information_literacy Social_Studies social studies
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So this web site is a really fantastic way to teach critical reading skills. It appears to be a very real web site to teach about explorers. In actuality, it's a trick. The biographies of the explorers are full of misinformation, like one explorer inventing the cell phone and another having dreams of being an Olympic athlete. It's a fun and interesting way to teach students not to always go with the first thing that they see and not to believe everything they see on the internet.
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shared by Laura Wood on 23 Oct 09
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Teaching with Historic Places - 1 views
www.nps.gov/twhp
national parks National Park Service lesson plans US History using places parks battlefields places geography history historic Education
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Adrea Lawrence liked it
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Curriculum Standards for Social Studies
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WOW! They even connect their lesson plans to the NCSS standards. This link takes you to a page that lists all the lesson plans that meet each of the NCSS standards You can click on the NCSS Standard at the top of the page and it will take to you a list of those lessons that meet that one. There are a ton for each!
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National U.S. History Standards for Grades 5-12
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Hrm. They also link to a set of standards I've never heard of . . . "Part of the National Standards for History developed by the National Center for History in the Schools, these voluntary standards promote historical thinking skills and understanding" I'm glad I haven't had to hear of them, but this page will tell you how to meet these standards as well.
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From the site: "Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) uses properties listed in the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places to enliven history, social studies, geography, civics, and other subjects. TwHP has created a variety of products and activities that help teachers bring historic places into the classroom." Including lesson plans and tips!
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Lesson Plans: The Lesson Plans link has SO MANY lesson plans. They are designed at a middle school level but can easily be adapted (says them). The lesson plans are organized by Location/State; Theme; Time period; and Skill - meaning that you can click on any one of those subdivisions and search them that way. Very exciting! You should definitely check these out. Even if you're not in that state, they still have pictures, mapping materials, and activity ideas that you can use to incorporate geography into historic concepts. For example, the Battle of Bunker Hill lesson contains two maps (of Boston today and in 1775) and inquiry questions for these, a section of text (looks like a high school level to me) and inquiry questions for that AND three images (one a sketch of an encampment and two pictures) and inquiry questions for those. These might make fantastic "Do Now"s for the beginning of the lesson even if you didn't use any of the rest of the sites info. So neat!
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Also they have lots of tips for how you can incorporate place into your lessons. AND! you can submit your own lessons. They take you through the TwHP lesson creation process and you can submit them.
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shared by jbdrury on 23 Oct 09
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NHEC | Understanding and Interpreting Political Cartoons in the History Classroom - 7 views
teachinghistory.org/...21733
political cartoons primary source documents analysis analyze interpret interpreting
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A lesson that introduces a framework for understanding and interpreting political cartoons that can be used throughout your entire history course.
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A Cartoon Analysis Checklist, developed by Jonathan Burack, is presented here as a tool for helping students become skilled at reading the unique language employed by political cartoons in order to use them effectively as historical sources
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1. Symbol and Metaphor 2. Visual Distortion 3. Irony in Words and Images 4. Stereotype and Caricature 5. An Argument Not a Slogan 6. The Uses and Misuses of Political Cartoons>
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Because political cartoons are somewhat of special category of primary source images, I thought it would behoove us to find a particular strategy for analyzing and interpreting them - much along the same lines as the SOAPS method but one specifically designed for political cartoons. This lesson plan, and its "Cartoon Analysis Checklist" is a start.
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Thanks for this add, I can use this for my lesson plan on Chinese immigration.
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Lesson Plans | Teach US History - 1 views
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"What Can You Get By Warre": Powhatan Exchanges Views With Captain John Smith, 1608" - 1 views
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“What Can You Get By Warre”: Powhatan Exchanges Views With Captain John Smith, 1608" Captain John Smith was a soldier and adventurer in Europe and Asia before he became involved in the Virginia Company’s plan to establish a settlement in North America. He was aboard one of the three ships that reached Virginia in April 1607. The first settlers, ill prepared for life in the harsh environment, had few useful skills but great expectations of easy profits. They suffered from disease, malnutrition, and frequent attacks by Indians in the early years; over one half died the first winter. Smith took over Jamestown’s government amid this chaos and death; he explored the region and traded for desperately needed supplies with the Indians. Smith recognized the need to establish peaceful relations with the powerful Powhatan Indians of the coastal region, and he traded English manufactured goods for much needed Indian corn. Smith recounted this exchange with the Indian leader Powhatan in his 1624 Historyie.
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shared by Lindsay Andreas on 25 Sep 09
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National Governors Association - 0 views
www.nga.org/...58ec82f5b198d18a278110501010a0
state education policy secondary postsecondary NGA National Governors Association
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increase student participation in rigorous college preparatory courses, better align expectations between high school and postsecondary education, hold these systems accountable, and ensure students graduate from high school ready for college or the workplace in the global economy.
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While states invest significant resources in education programs, governors also recognize and appreciate the federal government’s contribution to provide additional resources or assistance for those most in need.
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It is important to remember the break-down in financing, and therefore, where real power lies. If we want policy change, we need to know the most effective avenues for lobbying. We may think Obama sets the education policy agenda but the reality is, governors have a lot of power and persuasion in the field. For example, it always amazes me how different public higher education systems are, and this is because certain states have made it a priority to fund higher education greatly.
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In this new economy and era of education reform, now is the time to reform postsecondary education by increasing relevance and rigor, accountability, and linkages with kindergarten-12th grade (K-12) education and the workplace, and by expanding financial aid to students of all ages.
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Provide capacity-building incentives to states to increase teacher supply and retention, as well as education research.
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Authorize states to provide diverse learning options and assessment options, including the option for growth models, determined at the state level.
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Congress should refrain from establishing any federal mandates to ensure maximum state and local flexibility to create aligned systems.
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A one-size-fits all approach to high school learning is outdated and does not support the diverse needs of students. Governors encourage Congress to support state and local policies and programs that expand the availability of learning opportunities for students of all ages including, but not limited to, virtual school options, service learning, internships, apprenticeships, programs addressing out-of-school-youth, alternative learning programs, and the availability of financial aid.
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Maximum flexibility in designing state accountability systems, including testing and other indicators of achievement, is critical to preserve the unique balance involving federal funding, local control of education, and state responsibility for system-wide reform. Maximum flexibility in state testing will help improve how students are assessed for academic proficiency and postsecondary readiness. Flexibility should include the option for states to utilize growth measures to assess student performance.
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Teachers and school leaders must receive the professional support and training needed to provide students with the skills necessary to compete in a global society, particularly in science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM), literacy, and international and language studies.
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High schools must compete with other more highly compensated professions for teachers and school leaders, especially in the areas of mathematics and science. Congress should continue to support and expand state-administered pilot projects on performance pay, especially in critical shortage areas or hard-to-staff schools.
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Federal policies should encourage—not discourage—promising state efforts in dual enrollment programs that permit students to obtain high quality college-level credits or provide the opportunity to earn an industry-recognized credential while still in secondary school.
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Congress also should support state efforts that encourage more students to enroll in Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) coursework and pay for student AP testing.
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The use of a high school graduation rate in any accountability framework must serve as an incentive to promote state and local innovation to better engage and educate every student, and count all students who graduate from high school. Congress and the Administration should work closely with governors to ensure the proper use and application of the NGA Voluntary High School Graduation Rate.
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Governors believe that career and technical education programs and career and technical education teacher certification requirements should reflect the need to better integrate career and academic curriculum and integrate career professionals into the career and technical education teaching corps.
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This is the National Governors Association, education policy website, specifically, I have selected the policy position on High School Reform, as it is most pertinent to us, the end goes into higher education but that is for another time. The NGA is one of the best education policy sites. As we know, the states are the primary forces in setting education agendas and it is important to see what bi-partisan work they are doing. Governors are usually very influential in education politics.
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As School Budgets Tighten, Foreign Languages Fall Victim to Cuts - NYTimes.com - 0 views
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But such cuts have dismayed and frustrated some educators and parents, who say that children need more, not fewer, foreign language skills to compete in a global marketplace.
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interactive software, made by Rosetta Stone, allows students to learn at their own pace.
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As more and more schools and districts are faced with smaller budgets, some schools are phasing out foreign languags or turning to interactive technology programs to save money.
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Yea, I totally agree with you on the priority of teaching languages at an early age with quality instructors. It's worth the extra cost.-alan
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IB Program to Replace APs? | The Sag Harbor Express - 0 views
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The program focuses on a project based, in-depth and multi-cultural curriculum in six main fields: the student’s native language, second language, individuals and societies, experimental sciences, mathematics and computer science, and the arts.
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Nichols added, however, that as the school moves to implement the IB program, Advanced Placement classes would most likely be phased out.
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Eliminating the AP classes would help defray some of the costs associated with establishing an IB program. Nichols added that the exams associated with IB programs are on par with AP tests and recognized by most universities.
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“In AP courses the students are required to memorize and regurgitate, but in the IB program the students take their knowledge and apply it to new situations. They are asked to problem solve and synthesize information,” continued Nichols
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This is the MOST IMPORTANT DISTINCTION between an AP course of study and an IB course of study. As my IB coordinator used to put it, "AP is a testing system, IB is a learning system" and it's so true. I'm still using the writing and critical thinking skills I learned as a part of the IB program in my daily life.
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Education World ® Professional Development Center: Creating a Better World" - 0 views
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So why teach? It sounds exhausting, stressful, and almost impossible to do well! In fact, we teach because the rewards are outstanding. When your students tell you at the end of the year that they can’t believe how much they’ve learned…that is a reward. When former students, now in college, return to your classroom to get a hug, to thank you for what you did to help them believe in themselves, and to tell your present students what it was like in “their day”…that is your reward. I just received a letter from the parent of a former student who is now in graduate school. She wrote that she saw a quote and thought of me. It said, “You make a child feel good about himself and that’s a motivation to excel.” That is a reward. So, in answer to our questions of the 60’s, as teachers, we did change the world. We changed it when we taught children to believe in themselves and to share that knowledge. We changed it by teaching our youngest students to listen, to share, and to respect their classmates and themselves. We changed it by giving our students the tools and skills they needed to change their world. We made this a better world -- one child at a time.
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In this short column, a retired teacher reflects on the amazing rewards from teaching she was given over the years. Sometimes it is easy to forget why we want to teach. This would be a good article to read when starting to think about education philosophy for the portfolio. Personally, I suddenly feel the urge to contact some of my former teachers and thank them.
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Reauthorization of ESEA: Why We Can't Wait -- Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks at the Mo... - 1 views
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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.
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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.
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Many teachers complain bitterly about NCLB's emphasis on testing. Principals hate being labeled as failures. Superintendents say it wasn't adequately funded.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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