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"As the principal of P-TECH I am focused on bringing all my students to reach their potential, including those with learning disabilities. It may seem like the 9-14 school model would exclude high-needs students but actually there are several techniques I am employing that could be used in other schools as well. Increased learning time and a school culture that expects all students to complete the associate in applied science degree are key contributors to our success."

"We've taken the Common Core State Standards and broken them down into manageable, assessable elements in order to make it easier to create real-world Common Core-aligned rubrics that will work for your classroom!"

What is CAST UDL Exchange? It is a place to browse and build resources, lessons and collections. You can use and share these materials to support instruction guided by the UDL principles.

"What is important about this new guide is that it is designed and intended for parents and hence the title " A Parent Guide to Facebook "."

Good article on Hattie's research "Can you guess the next two items on the rank order list? "Home environment" and "socio-economic status." In other words, everything on the list has a greater effect on student achievement than the student's background - despite the endless fatalism of so many teachers on this point (especially in the upper grades)."

"The Instructional Framework (IF) is the Akron Public Schools (APS) articulation of high quality teaching and learning. It is research and "best practice" based."

"This article from The American Prospect is worth a look. It all started when standardized testing took the spotlight in Governor Bush's Texas Miracle. Fast forward to today-after a series of new tests was recently introduced in the state, teachers and parents both are finally calling in Texas for standardized testing to ease up. ""

"This report is a sobering, although incomplete, message for confronting the negative consequences of poverty and inequity in the homes, communities and schools of American children."

""Just bells and whistles." That's how elementary math teacher Jennie Magiera described her feelings about the limited value of educational technology three years ago. Today Magiera serves as Digital Learning Coordinator for the Academy for Urban School Leadership's network of 25 Chicago Public Schools (CPS). As she trains others to use technology effectively, it is hard to imagine a time when she was so dismissive about technology in the classroom."

"This fine academic tool was designed to assist in the writing of reports, grant applications, and other documents related to public schools. I believe that it will be particularly useful for people involved in writing reports for WASC accreditation. Amaze your colleagues with finely crafted phrases of educational nonsense! The javascript code is adapted from Dack.com's Web Economy BS Generator. I would be remiss if I did not thank my district's Professional Development staff for introducing me to many of these gems. "

"Create here, share anywhere, and interact with visitors in real-time. Try it now, it's beautifully magic!"

Powerpoint on the Box It method on this page

"This story and video has been making the rounds on Twitter and I finally got a chance to watch it and then explore further. Each video is about 15 minutes, but I think they're worth your time. Here's the video that accompanied the Washington Post story:"

"This book aims to supply a few ideas and activities that could be useful for a youngster who uses AAC, by: Providing a reason to make sure that the Talker is always out of its bag, charged up, and on the table/wheelchair mount ready for daily use; Filling up some of those gaps in the school day with constructive and fun activities Helping the youngster to learn and practise - in other words, use - his or her Talker to enjoy interactions with others and build up useful social and communicative experiences."

"Can schools as we currently know them ever accomplish the mission we've established for them? This week Richard Elmore, one of the nation's most prominent educational thinkers, emphatically shared his conviction that they cannot.  Speaking at a forum on education reform sponsored by the Aspen Institute, the American Enterprise Institute and the Harvard Graduate School of Education (where Elmore is professor), the father of instructional rounds distinguished himself from other panelists by concluding that schooling as we know it will inevitably fail."

"Tim Holt shares his views on education, creativity, education administration, technology and the merger of all of them here. Whether it is links, articles, essays, or news, he shares a ton of information. He hopes you can keep up."

NoRedInk.com is a web-based learning platform that helps students improve their grammar and writing skills.  Here's what makes us special: High-interest Content: Students generally find grammar boring because the content doesn't relate to them. We generate all our grammar sentences using each kid's favorite celebrities, hobbies, TV shows, and personal friends, making the content inherently interesting. Students can get unlimited practice -- which is important since it often takes a long time to learn new skills. Adaptive Learning: Our engine provides differentiated instruction, adjusting questions based on what students get right/wrong and drilling down to their underlying misconceptions. When learners get stuck, we show them tutorials that help them correct their mistakes and keep going.

"How it works: I give the bus driver a stack of 'report cards' at the beginning of each month. Each morning he checks the appropriate boxes (and sometimes writes notes about the previous afternoon) and gives the paper to the student. The student delivers the paper to me (or classroom teacher) on the way to class each morning. If the student has met his goal at the end of the week, he receives a reward. "

Today, education is caught in the trap which suffocated medicine 150 years ago. Pedagogy and the structure of schooling does not change because so many of those who practice and lead it refuse to confront their egos and their self-images - and this ranges from the teacher who still uses worksheets and grades compliance to Arne Duncan, Michael Gove, and even Barack Obama. And the result is... we are "killing" kids - both figuratively and literally. Educators get caught in an awful "Anti-Virtuous" Cycle. So many did well in traditional schools for very traditional reasons. They were born to wealth and privilege, or they were born to educationally successful families. And/or, they simply are the kind of student "school" - that culture of compliance and passivity - enables."

Despite years of investigation and reporting on the disproportionate representation of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students in office discipline referrals and special education, little progress has been made in reducing these disparities. It is recommended that school personnel identify cultural inconsistencies in disciplinary practices, and develop and maintain culturally responsive practices that facilitate improvements in student behavior. The Double-Check framework promotes such practices through self-assessment, and encourages school personnel to recognize their own attitudes and behaviors toward CLD students. In this effort we describe the five components of the Double-Check model and provide a case study example that illustrates how school teams and i