Articles In The Education Reform Category
-
Successful Schools: Great teachers (Part 2 of 2)
image from iStock
It is very clear that great teachers make a difference, as discussed in Part 1. What is unclear, however, is how to truly measure a teacher’s greatness.
One interesting model comes from Teach for America, a nonprofit that recruits college graduates to spend two years teaching in low-income schools. Through the 2-year duration, student test-score data is linked to each teacher. Starting in 2002, Teach for America began using student test-score progress data to put teachers into one of three categories: those who move their students one and … -
Common Core State Standards Initiative
With the new school year, many teachers find themselves implementing or hearing about the Common Core State Standards Initiative. Being that this is a topic that greatly influences education, we’ve decided to highlight one of our older posts about the Common Core State Standards Initiative!
Over the past couple months, many recent high school graduates picked up their belongings and moved away from home. Some of these graduates moved across town, while others moved to a neighboring state or across the country. These young men and young women … -
Ken O’Connor: Is Your School Standards-Based?
Earlier this week, Ken O’Connor wrote an article about standards-based instruction for the Pearson FWD blog. This informative article highlights that despite the shift of 43 states to the common core standards, most schools and districts are not standards-based. So what is standards-based instruction? Standards-based education calls for clear, published, and measurable academic standards for all school students. “When teachers plan and deliver standards-based instruction, they make the learning goals clear to students, and the clearer the learning goals the more likely the students will be successful.” With …
-
Instructional Improvement Systems: An Overview
For years, eyes and ears have been focused on how students in the United States measure up to students in other countries. Unfortunately, recent studies by the National Center for Education Statistics found that U.S. students placed below average in math and science. According to the report, “U.S. math scores were not measurably different in 2006 from the previous scores in 2003. But while other countries have improved, the United States has remained stagnant” (CNN.com). Arne Duncan’s response to these startling results was, “We are lagging [compared] to the rest …
-
Innovation In The Classroom
Imagine innovators Leonardo Da Vinci, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, and Bill Gates as young children; their young minds intrigued by a complex mathematical equation or absorbed in a compelling book. Imagine what would have become of these brilliant minds if classroom curriculum stifled their creativity and teachers refused to encourage their questions and inquisitiveness.
Now imagine that the next Bill Gates (or Betty Gates) was a student in your classroom…. Would you change your classroom practices? Would you be more likely to encourage inventiveness and inquiry?President Obama’s recent remarks on nationwide …
-
Blended Learning
Blended learning is an innovative teaching approach that is on the rise. A 2009 report showed that blended learning “grew from 50,000 enrollments in 2000 to an estimated one million-plus enrollments in 2009”. That means this instructional model is growing at a rate of 30% annually. (Promising Practices in Online Learning)
Why is this teaching approach growing so rapidly? Because this instructional model combines the best elements of face-to-face and online instruction.In a traditional classroom setting, students are at the mercy of their teacher and often times, have to learn the …
-
Changing Education Paradigms
The RSA recently published an animated video based on a talk given by Sir Ken Robinson on Changing Education Paradigms. We thought this video was very intriguing, so we had to share.
About the RSA’s Purpose, Vision & Strategy.
“In the light of new challenges and opportunities for the human race, the RSA seeks to develop and promote new ways of thinking about human fulfilment and social progress. We do this by providing a platform for ideas and debate, a programme of innovative research and development, and through …