Arne
Posted: November 29th, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | No Comments »
Michele McNeil of EdWeek:
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan continued to lay out his priorities for the next four years in a speech today, emphasizing that he thinks teacher preparation is broken and that the best educators need to be teaching the highest-need children….
Without getting specific, Duncan said there are a “number of things we plan to do,” and said the department is looking at some sort of competitive initiative to foster innovation in schools of education. He continued, “We need to push very, very hard in schools of education.”
“Deeper Learning” and Ed Tech
Posted: November 29th, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | 4 Comments »
When I get home from Match, my wife and I review our kids’ adventures and misadventures from that day. But in the old days, pre-kids, we compared notes from work. Since her work is treating cancer, I sometimes compare her field to K-12.
There are similarities.
For example, people want a “silver bullet” solution to cancer. Smart scientists often dream up such approaches. Often there is a surge of optimism. But the cures don’t pan out. Sometimes instead they can be a small part of a larger solution. Sometimes they’re actually no good at all.
Sound like K-12? Read the rest of this entry »
Camping Out
Posted: November 28th, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | 3 Comments »
Once upon a time, I camped out to watch basketball games at Cameron. (Reminds me: Big Duke game tonight against Ohio State. Obstacle: Team Umizoomi on Nick Junior, popular with other members of our household. Hmm.)
But I’ve never heard of this: camping out for a spot in a magnet school. Read the rest of this entry »
When Writers Write
Posted: November 28th, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | 3 Comments »
My friend Jal noticed this post on Brainpickings.org
The Daily Routines of Famous Writers
by Maria Popova
“A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without Read the rest of this entry »
Gym Search
Posted: November 27th, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | 2 Comments »
1. No Gym
Our high school doesn’t have a gym. It’s not that we wouldn’t love one. We would. We can’t Read the rest of this entry »
IES gets it 3/4 right
Posted: November 26th, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | No Comments »
Via Sarah Sparks at Edweek, I saw that IES — the U.S. Government’s education research division — has a new idea.
The new research program, Partnerships and Collaborations Focused on Problems of Practice or Policy, will incorporate two extant research programs, Evaluation of State and Local Programs and Policies (84.305E) and Researcher-Practitioner Partnerships in Education Research (84.305H) and it will add a third new topic, tentatively called Continuous Improvement Research in Education.
I know, I know. Let me translate. IES wants to give grants of $1.5 million for a new type of research.
Their idea is precisely 3/4 “good.”
1. Good idea: They have 3 topics they want investigated, and one of them is the single biggest issue facing Read the rest of this entry »
Neuro-Quiz
Posted: November 21st, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | 2 Comments »
From the Wall Street Journal:
Pop quiz: Which of these statements is false?
1. We use only 10% of our brain.
2. Environments rich in stimuli improve the brains of preschool children.
3. Individuals learn better when they receive information in their preferred learning style, whether auditory, visual or kinesthetic.
Read the rest of this entry »
Today’s Puzzle: See If You Can Pick The Literacy Intervention That Works
Posted: November 20th, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | 2 Comments »
There’s a wonderful study in the new issue of the Journal of Research on Education Effectiveness. What? You don’t subscribe? You read TMZ online instead? Well let me help you out.*
Oops. The study is behind a firewall. Luckily the US Government paid for this study. So an older version, from 2009, is here.
The study examines 4 reading interventions on 5th graders. They were similar. Each gave kids 30 to 45 minutes per day of extra reading instruction. Kids learned reading strategies…like how to summarize, how to identify text structure, etc.
The kids were mostly from high-poverty schools.
Which one do you think worked best?
1. Reading For Knowledge, which was derived from Success For All. It had more group work than the other 3.
2. ReadAbout. It alone used computers for part of the intervention.
3. CRISS and Read For Real. Only these two included the strategy of teaching kids to “activate prior knowledge.”
* * *
Read the rest of this entry »
Why They Give
Posted: November 16th, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | 5 Comments »
Walmart’s growth has made the Walton family quite wealthy. They created a charitable foundation. It has donated more than $1 billion to K-12 education.
Many charter schools, including ours, have gotten support from them. In fact, Read the rest of this entry »
Roundup
Posted: November 15th, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | No Comments »
1. The Todd.
Todd Rogers teaches at Harvard. He’s working with us at Match, examining Read the rest of this entry »