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Julie Chambers

Suburban Schools Are Getting the Urban Experience - Finding Common Ground - Education Week - 7 views

blogs.edweek.org/...ting_the_urban_experience.html

urban education schools reform

shared by Julie Chambers on 19 May 12 - No Cached
Lauren Dunlap liked it
  • Students walk in shaped by their parents' ideas and school is a place where those ideas converge. Given the right circumstances, schools can be a great experience for students.
  • Many would agree that schools need to change, but the present situation is forcing schools to change for the worse, not the better. Public schools are in the midst of a perfect storm.
  • During a time when one big initiative would be a lot for schools, many are the middle of three. Those three are adopting the Common Core State Standards, teacher and administrator evaluation and budget cuts. All three together could have devastating effects on the public school system and we seem to be surrounded by people who really don't care.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • As the political game is controlling the education students receive, it is time for suburban, urban and rural teachers, parents and administrators to show that they are the true lobbyists for children.
  • Julie Chambers on 19 May 12
     
    This article highlights some of the changes that suburban schools are just now facing, that urban schools have been facing for years. 
  • ...5 more comments...
  • Amanda McIntyre on 19 May 12
     
    It's interesting to see how these suburban schools are handling what urban schools have been dealing with for many years. Residency has always been a huge issue where I teach. Students who live in the district move out, and continue to attend the same school without any type of notification to the teacher or school. In so many cases it is not discovered until there is a problem with a student's attendance.
  • Maggie Steensma on 20 May 12
     
    Interesting article. It's a good debate. It is frustrating to see schools who have everything: 4 star rating, award winning sports, academics, and music teams, and all the best equipment, while others have holes in the ceiling and technology that is severly outdated. Is it fair, however, to take some of these things away from them in order to level the playing field? To stop having great and less than great schools and make them all equally mediocre.
  • Jenn Renner on 24 May 12
     
    The first paragraph in this article touches on "teachable moments". This was a key point that I disagreed with in Kennedy's book. She wrote so much about how distractions in the school setting take away from their learning time. That the time we have students should be focused completely on the academic content. Her stance doesn't take in account the valuable "teachable moment" times-sometimes the content instruction needs to stop in order to address an issue that just pops up. Our students are still learning from these moments, even though they are not tested over them.
  • Brian Murphy on 26 May 12
     
    "If you ever take the time to get on Twitter and see some of the comments going back and forth between educators, consultants and educational historians, you will notice that they are at their breaking point, which if done right can lead to a better place." In my most optimistic moments, I like to believe that all the chaos and change in education will eventually work out for the best. I like to believe that even though I disagree with most of the political discourse, there are too many good people in and around schools working too hard for us not to eventually be in "a better place".
  • Leah Burton on 26 May 12
     
    Brain, I wish I could "like" your comment! I have the same thought and hope for education as well. So many people want to make schools better for students and are working towards that goal; unfortunately, it seems like most of them are working against each other (reformers, government, teachers, administration, etc.). I just have to think that everyone will eventually figure out what is best for the students and start working together...
  • Joanna Miller on 26 May 12
     
    I thought the first section you highlighted about kids and their parents perceptions is valuable. It is a 2 way street between home and school and it has to be united for student success. If parents are not supportive and can not help their students, clearly there is going to be decrease in student performance. I think families are the most important relationship to establish. There are so many different groups that need to come together in order to fix this crisis...the thought seems difficult...almost impossible.
  • Kristen Fuson on 28 May 12
     
    One point that I thought Kennedy left out of her arguments was parent support. Oftentimes, students are coming to schools with their parents' view of school, both positive and negative. If parents had trouble in school or have negative feelings toward schooling, they are less likely to be positive about it with their kids. The amount of support at home can make or break a student. Furthermore, reforms can come and go, but parent support is often the determining factor of success. This trend may begin to exemplify that notion as both urban and suburban schools face the same issues. I will be interested to see if the parents of the students in suburban schools are much more supportive and the difference that will make when the playing field is evened.
Craig Willey

News from the NEPC: Bunkum Awards Spotlight Shoddy Education Research - 1 views

us4.campaign-archive1.com/?u=b4ad2ece093459cbf2afb759f&id=ad37a5f40b&e=5595bfbbfc

misleading education research debatable debunked

shared by Craig Willey on 31 May 12 - No Cached
  • Craig Willey on 31 May 12
     
    Grand Prize Winner Says Charter Schools Should be Like Cancer Contact: Boulder, CO (May 31, 2012) -- The National Education Policy Center (NEPC), housed at the University of Colorado Boulder, has announced via online video the winners of the 2011 Bunkum Awards -presented for the most compellingly lousy educational research for the past year.
  • Craig Willey on 31 May 12
     
    NEPC might be an organization you are interested in checking out. They provide a unique service to the education community: they arrange careful and timely reviews, by the nation's leading scholars, of foundations' and policy groups' (among other groups) research reports.As can be detected from this headline, they are strategically intervening in the faulty pipeline that puts shoddy "research" results in the hands of policy makers, who often times don't have the background to view these exceedingly complex issues with a nuanced perspective like that we are developing.
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