tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4037216763515814732024-03-13T19:07:03.957-05:00The Academic VillageA Place Where K-12 Education is More Than "Academic"Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16807369454813226657noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-403721676351581473.post-72351533904953291762011-07-20T15:50:00.002-05:002011-07-21T14:30:26.138-05:00Appeal to ReadersThroughout the last month, a very significant number of visits have been made via livebinders.com-- particularly for the post <i>Common Questions About the Common Core Standards.</i><br />
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Might someone do me the favor of providing the specific link that has created this traffic<i>? </i>I would like to know for the obvious reason of being able to shape content that would appeal to this readership. If so, please inform me with an email to j.hakes@comcast.net.<br />
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<i> </i><br />
Thank you for your cooperation.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16807369454813226657noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-403721676351581473.post-3142015005752256352011-06-11T15:33:00.110-05:002011-06-13T10:43:45.757-05:00Q & A with Charlie Kyte, MN School Administrators Executive Director<i>Introduction: MPR's Midday with Gary Eichten featured a 6/6/11 interview with Charlie Kyte, an 11-year Executive Director</i> <i>for the Minnesota Association of School Administrators-- and former superintendent, principal & teacher-- who is retiring at the end of the summer. Topic-by-topic, Kyte's answers are available for your review. Click <a href="http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/06/06/midday1/">here</a> for the full audio interview. </i><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PO91F09Iwhc/TfPKFQwdH8I/AAAAAAAAAFs/0cCHY9HQp-k/s1600/CharlieKyte.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PO91F09Iwhc/TfPKFQwdH8I/AAAAAAAAAFs/0cCHY9HQp-k/s1600/CharlieKyte.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charlie Kyte, MN Association of School Administrators</td></tr>
</tbody></table><i>Q: How good are the schools in Minnesota?</i><br />
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A: That deserves a more complex answer than "they're great or they're bad". On a national level, MN ranks right up among the top states in the country (with Massachusetts and North Carolina). MN schools are really pretty good. We have struggled mightily having our children living in poverty not doing as well as they should. This is an issue our schools have to address but also one our society has to address. We've been pretty good at concentrating our poorest people where there's not much opportunity.<br />
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On a global level, some of the emerging countries' students (e.g. United Kingdom, Finland & Scandinavian countries, Asia) are racing ahead of our students. China, for instance, has so many able children (China's top 10% of students number more than all U.S. students combined) and a system that invests heavily in them. They (China) don't do such a good job of educating their less able children. But we've got a real problem there ... on a global level, we need to keep ramping up and doing better. On a state level, we have to recognize, we don't really have all that many students, and we have to have our poorer students, as well as our best students, excelling. But don't listen to people who say, "it's all gone to heck in a handbasket," because that's just not true.<br />
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<i>Q: What about the achievement gap ... this has been a problem that has been talked about 'seemingly forever' ... why has so little progress been made on the achievement gap?</i><br />
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A: The progress cannot be made by one entity. The churches, the public schools, and the employers can't step in alone and do this. There needs to be a wider effort by everybody. Every once in awhile, we'll see a school overcome this problem for two or three years, but trying to overcome the achievement<i> </i>gap on a large scale is difficult. And I'll just say one other thing: I know of and have worked with a family of very poor means and upper class means ... The difference in opportunity (and messages) is that kids can get is huge ... but this is not an excuse for schools not to do the very best they can with students.<br />
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<i>Q: Do you think education policy is largely determined by education fad or research?</i><br />
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A:<i> </i> Some are and some aren't -- we moved from a time when every teacher in every classroom was creating their own curriculum. While everybody meant well, it was a hodge-podge. In the last 10 years, MN has become part of the standards movement ... what students should learn in math, reading and science at each age level. We're applying those widely so teachers know what to expect of students. That standards movement is a good thing ... Now we're talking about broadening the standards across the United States-- trying to equalize them a bit-- this a good thing so long as you are working the standards upward and not going to a common denominator.<br />
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On the other hand, there are a lot of things that do come and go. Some of it is experimentation ... one of the things I get a little frustrated about is I think that schools should be allowed to experiment & innovate more without having so much pressure to determine that thing is absolutely the long-term, right thing to do. I've watched teachers in my career trying to figure out how to educate kids ... when it works, we just do it and don't even tell anybody about. When it doesn't, we discard it and try something else. It seems now that everything we new do has a legislative action attached to it, and a media fro-foo-rah ... and the stakes become too large in terms of whether you're successful or not.<br />
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<i>Q: How do our best students do compared to the best students in other countries?</i><br />
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A: One of the concerns many educators have today is that we have put so much effort into trying to address the needs of our lagging learners & addressing the achievement gap, that we have moved resources & energy away from educating our very best kids. While we do a reasonable job of that, we think there is potential to have our very best students do significantly better.<br />
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We have had an explosion in the number of Advanced Placement courses and college credit in our high schools. There are some concerned that's not quite rigorous enough, but it's certainly more rigorous than I saw in my days as an educator. So we're moving towards more rigorous education for students, but there is more to be done here. We have young men and women, elementary age and middle school age, who could be doing significantly more than we're asking them to do. I think that is something, that .... as a nation, we've really got to address.<br />
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<i>Q: On the other hand, you hear that there is such intense pressure with tests, tests, and more tests, what about that aspect of the situation?</i><br />
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A. There is some stress and pressure, but I'm not so sure we don't over blow that a little bit. I look at it this way, when I was in school .... I thought it was my job to do the very best I could. My parents brought me up to work hard, and my expectation, if I were back running a school district, would be to say that it's every student's job to make the absolute best use of the resources that we as a society are pouring into those schools. I think teachers get frustrated when they're working hard and the students aren't with them.<br />
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<i>Q: </i> <i>Is more money part of the answer to (education's challenges)? Question arose after an extensive section on the woes of single parent living.</i><br />
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A. Yes it is. You have to make some ongoing investments to keep even, and secondly you need to make some strategic investments. This last legislative session was an opportunity squandered ... and maybe it will still (work out) ... if there's an agreement to put more money into education, I would just say "put the money where it makes a difference" and all the research says put more money so there's kindergarten for all children and preschool education, and frankly if you could back up so there's a little bit of education when they're in day care, you'd be money ahead.<br />
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<i>Q: Caller-- Schools are not designed to teach students to learn but they are designed to teach students what to learn (this is an inherent flaw in the school system)</i>. <i>If you want to see what a system's intention is, look at its output. The public schools are designed (or at least what you can see from the design) that children of color fail. Those two things</i> <i>need to be taken into consideration.</i><br />
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A: That's actually a good set of comments ... we agree there is some design flaw, and one of the things we (superintendents of schools all over the state) have been trying to do, and we've been saying that we need to be more innovative in how we design our schools, and we need to be more output driven. We need to be creating circumstances where children want to learn and to learn well. As a consequence to that, we pushed through a bill that said, let some small group of districts get together, have the rules waived, and let them innovate. But in the end, that scares people who want to preserve the status quo, and that was one of the things cited by the governor as a reason for vetoing one of the bills. We still think that's a pretty good idea, and we don't think our students are going to walk over the fallen bodies of our teachers, they're going to work with our teachers, and maybe, over time, we could bring some of that to scale and do a better job not only with our high potential learners but also with some of those kids who are struggling.<br />
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<i>Q: </i> <i>Government shutdown looms, and at what point will this really start hitting schools in Minnesota?</i><br />
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A: We've already advised our superintendents to have three sets of contingency plans. One, if this is settled by the end of June and there is an agreement, the plan is to keep operating the way you are. Second is if we get a mid-term shutdown (say July) and the third plan is if this thing drags on for 5 or 6 months. Three things come into play here: (1) state Dept of Education has to figure out how much money each school districts get each month in state payments. Last time we had a government shutdown, the top Dept of Finance people were declared as essential employees. This year there is question if those people will be considered essential, which could result in some payroll & cash flow issues for superintendents. (2) At MDE, Division of Licensing will not be an essential function of the state, so new licenses or renewals will not be fulfilled, and we might get to the start of the school year where we have unlicensed teachers come next fall. (3) MDE issues an annual report to each school midsummer on what they can levy to their local taxpayers. And the school (district) has to have hearings and they send back to MDE saying what they intend to levy. That might sound good for local taxpayers, but this process is quite complicated and once you close this down, you can't just have people come back and take care of 350 school districts over night. It takes time. Maybe it's going to take some pain to get the warring partners to work together.<i> </i><br />
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<i>Q: Caller: One of my big beefs is that kids don't know all that much about history (or civics). Examples provided about the lack of knowledge in knowing which nations fought to gain independence and young voter apathy. We could integrate history into all our classes through an integrated trial like Sandra Day O'Connor has suggested. Is history getting shortchanged?</i><br />
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A: When we started with the No Child Left Behind Act, we overplayed reading and math to the expense of other subjects. The schools have recognized that and are trying to equalize that back, so we aren't shorting the other subjects dramatically. But for every (subject) area, the schools are given a fairly limited amount of time to educate children, and there's a lot on our plate-- reference to the bullying initiative that MPR helped highlight recently.<br />
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The one comment I'd make about history (applicable at the collegiate and k-12 levels): Too often too many students are encouraged to MEMORIZE rather than to INTERNALIZE.<br />
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If you go through school and you just memorize all the facts about the Civil War, take the test, and then you forget about it, you're right you've forgotten your history. After Kyte responded to Eichten assertion that this has always been the case (fact learning & forgetting) ... Yes, it has always been the case, but we also see really creative teachers who really help students try to live it and help them understand more. <br />
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<i>Q: Caller-- How come there is so little consideration given to administratively merging districts (i.e. driving costs down to get more money to instructional level)?</i><br />
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A: Suburban districts really need to be their own "unit" administratively (like Lakeville and Farmington). In western MN where districts are smaller, they're doing quite a bit of that. More districts are sharing superintendents and HR Directors ... Fergus Falls, for instance, is doing the business functions for 4 or 5 districts. <br />
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<i>Q: Is local control still the gold standard for education in Minnesota? </i><br />
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A: My good friends at the School Boards Association will probably cringe as I say this, because they believe strongly in local control. I am having my doubts. Having been my whole career in this business, and while certainly there should be a local voice, I think local control gets in the way of progress fairly often.<i> </i>Too many communities & folks in the governing structure want their schools to be what they were, not what they should be becoming. We need to find some ways to help districts come together to innovate more and be more progressive. I'm not saying local control is terrible, I don't think we should be relying just on local control anymore.<br />
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<i>Q: Should we get the schools out of the business of providing extracurriculars-- specifically athletics like in other countries?</i><br />
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<i> </i>A: I'll probably have to slink out of here as I say this, but sometimes I think athletics is the tail wagging the dog, because sometimes it gets in the way of doing the right things for schools. That said, we have built over a 100 years this elaborate intertwining of our k-12 systems and our sports systems in our communities. The facilities are built and owned by the schools. In Canada, the sports facilities are owned by the city governments, and education belongs to the schools. But it's not as easy as just waving a magic wand and having all that tradition go away. (Sports) do offer opportunities to become team players, become competitive in a healthy way, and it helps to keep quite a few students who might otherwise say, forget this history and reading stuff.<br />
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<i>Q: Re: teacher evaluation. Does the education system know how to accurately evaluate teachers? </i><br />
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A: I think our record is very chequered. I can bring you out to school districts like Austin, Albert Lea, and Orono-- where they have people, in a very sophisticated fashion, evaluating their teachers. I can also bring you to schools I won't mention, where almost no evaluation occurs whatsoever. It's our opinion as an association, and it's my personal opinion, that says there needs to be a law on the books saying there needs to be a reasonable way of evaluating our people .... This has been a big argument over at the Legislature this year with two competing bills .... one came out of the Chamber of Commerce, and that bill was an overreach, in my opinion, that ultimately would not be legally defensible. On the other hand, there was a bill that likely came out of the Unions, and to me, seemed like it had a lot of unnecessary negotiation & a lot of cost, and frankly not really one to get the job done when you have poor performing folks. There needs to be a middle ground, and I'm still hoping the Governor and Legislature can adopt some language that makes good sense.<br />
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Now another issue is: should you tie teacher evaluations to teacher performance? One bill said 50% of an evaluation should be tied to it, while the other said nothing. While we need to build in some level of student performance, you don't want to define it as a set thing, because it's different for certain subjects and at different ages ... You also don't want to squeeze the creative teacher out of the system and just get rote type teachers who are just about helping students get good test scores.<br />
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<i>Q: Too much testing?</i><br />
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A: Minnesota duplicates a lot of testing. Many schools use what's called the NWEA test. This helps know where kids are at, and to correct their learning.<i> </i> Then we have a one-time state test, which costs about $25 million per year to administer, and helps rank the schools. I actually said to Gov. Pawlenty when he was in office, "Governor, why don't you take the testing data we already have, pull it uphill to the Dept of Education and analyze it ... get out of the testing business and get into the analysis business ... you can do that for about $5 million a year, still figure out who is doing well and doing poor, and you freed up about 1/2 dozen days so we can educate the kids again.<br />
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<i>Kyte's final comment: The great majority of educators (superintendents, principals, teachers, and custodians) they're working hard doing they best they can, and sometimes under real difficult conditions. If you have children in school, this a time to say to a teacher Thanks-- we appreciate your work .... they would absolutely like a positive reinforcement.</i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16807369454813226657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-403721676351581473.post-57122283623283126802011-06-04T09:07:00.328-05:002011-06-08T14:33:27.915-05:00"Eich" Turns the Page on Her Mounds View Schools Music Career<i>"Music, for me, has always been a place where anything is possible-- a refuge, a magical world where anyone can go, where all kinds of people can come together, and anything can happen. We are limited only by our imaginations." </i><br />
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<i>Watch & listen to an </i><a href="http://www.vimeo.com/album/1615807">Eicher-led kindergarten graduation</a>. <br />
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Buffie Eicher's education career for Mounds View Public Schools is testament to the idea that mottos matter.<i> </i>Over 35 years since joining the Bel Air Elementary staff in 1976, Eicher has expanded the musical horizons of students, colleagues and community members in her employed and in her spare time-- be it by helping elementary schoolers advance through a series of 17 belts on the Recorder Karate or by recruiting tenors to round out a local community choir.<br />
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This 2010-11 school year will be her last working for <i>Independent School District 621 </i>as she transitions to retirement.<br />
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Students & staff <i>first</i> describe her teaching style as one involving crystal clear expectations, and <i>second,</i> as "fun and awesome." Eicher also masterfully uses music instruction as a vehicle for teaching concert etiquette, everyday communication skills, and you might say--- helping students not develop the Midwestern malady of being "all work and no facial or physical expression" through music instruction.<br />
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In a society that features more than its share of professionally-produced & digitally-delivered sound, people can either forget, or be intimidated by, the notion of creating their own song. Buffie Eicher's classroom, however, is one where everyone participates.<br />
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"Whether I am walking into her room, or just walking by her class, I am immediately pulled into any activity she has planned," said Todd Durand, Island Lake Elementary principal regarding the approach of the school's music specialist. "I have hopped, skipped, sung, and danced with students from Kindergarten to fifth grade due to Buffie's insistence that music is a participatory process." <br />
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The musical activities of Eicher's classroom include singing, dancing, playing assorted percussion instruments, studying the art forms of <i>The Nutcracker, </i>and the student-motivating Recorder Karate competition. Influencing that instruction is a set of musical preferences ranging from the serious & classical to the playful a capella of <i>Tonic Sol-fato</i> ... artists as comfortably old as <i>Elvis</i> and as contemporary as the multi-genred <i>Grant Dawson</i>. <br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Veterans Day Concert Tradition</span></b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Exwd2FX-RoU/Td0q-ly59OI/AAAAAAAAAFg/Ij8EZnPQ908/s1600/Mail+Attachment.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Exwd2FX-RoU/Td0q-ly59OI/AAAAAAAAAFg/Ij8EZnPQ908/s320/Mail+Attachment.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Eicher will support future Veterans Day Concerts in a new role.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span data-jsid="text">Eicher's shining example of viewing music as a participatory process is the annual Veterans Day concert she organizes and leads for 4th and 5th graders. </span>In a tradition that grew from her service as the Mounds View High School choir director, this <a href="http://www.startribune.com/local/north/70160907.html?page=1&c=y">signature effort</a> accomplishes various things: recognizing the unheralded work of veterans from the six military branches (Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Marines, and Merchant Marines), giving students performance opportunities in singing and speaking, and supplying edifying history lessons to students, families, and friends. <br />
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The 2010 edition of the program, for instance, provided a set of speakers who took time to explain the story behind <i>Yankee Doodle, </i>which originated as a British song written to ridicule Americans for the quality of their dress when compared to the finery of the Brits.<br />
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During this section, concert attendees learned the answer to the song's entirely explainable question: "Why <i>did</i> Yankee Doodle stick a feather in his hat and call it macaroni?" Turns out, macaroni is not "what you thought it was." Rather than being the culinary variety, <i>macaroni </i>was a dandy style of British fashion the song lyrics pooh-poohed the Colonials for not having. The frontier folk did get the last laugh when they co-opted the song to celebrate their country-bumpkin look after finally turning back the British forces. <br />
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Above all else, the Eicher-led Veterans Day productions have been about 'seeing the sacrifice' of the 24 million veterans of the United States Armed Forces, 1.7 million of whom are living. To that end, the effort involves a research project for <i>Island Lake </i>students who survey their familial connections for veterans, 500 of which were identified in the last concert.<br />
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"She believes strongly in making sure students understand the responsibilities they have as citizens of The United States of America," said fellow teacher Mike Lundberg, who is on the <i>Island Lake </i>specialist team with Eicher.<br />
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"Her Veterans Day concert was phenomenal ... and though we were touched by how much it affected our Veterans, I was always struck more by how much our students learned about our country, history, patriotism, service, and gratitude," added Anne Nelson, whose information technology instruction crosscut with Eicher's work.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Eich's Teaching Stops</span></b><br />
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After graduating from Mounds View High School in 1972, Buffie Eicher, known by "Eich" to some colleagues, obtained a music education license from the University of Minnesota- Twin Cities in 1976. From there, her career journey wound closely around the place she had always called home. In addition to the Masters Degree she also earned from the University of Minnesota in 1984, stops along the way included: <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">Bel Air Elementary 1976-1981</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">Chippewa Middle School 1981 -1982</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">Island Lake Elementary 1982 -1983</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">Pike Lake Elementary 1984-1992 </span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">Chippewa/Highview Middle School 1993<br />
Highview Middle School 1993-1996<br />
Mounds View High School 1996 - 2001<br />
Valentine Hills Elementary 2001- 2002<br />
Mounds View High School 2002 -2004<br />
Island Lake Elementary 2005 - 2011</span></b></span><br />
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Of these, her final stint was perhaps most meaningful. Buffie herself attended Island Lake in grades K-3, and her two kids were students there as well. Just in case you don't believe it can get any more heartwarming than that, consider this reflection from Island Lake teacher, Jacki Harren, a current colleague of Eicher's who sends her fourth graders to Buffie's music class every week:<br />
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"I was one of her fortunate students back in 1976 at Bel Air Elementary. During her first year there, she encouraged me to join her choir. This encouragement sparked a love for music and I have enjoyed singing in choirs ever since! Later on, I began MY teaching career with her at Pike Lake and now it has come full-circle." <br />
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Careers of 35 years can sure contain amazing private stories ... Here are Eicher's public sentiments on her time at Island Lake:<br />
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"Some of my favorite memories of Island Lake include our all school holiday sing alongs, the World’s Largest Concerts-- which included having our 2005 school year fifth graders included in the national broadcast-- the excitement of Recorder Karate, and of course, the Veterans Day programs." <br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">What's Next?</span></b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-py2Ds8-4K80/Tek7o4-S_xI/AAAAAAAAAFo/rgI9hjPHW04/s1600/Eicher%2527s+Osprey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-py2Ds8-4K80/Tek7o4-S_xI/AAAAAAAAAFo/rgI9hjPHW04/s320/Eicher%2527s+Osprey.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">While out birding, Eicher framed an Osprey during a recent trip to Duluth.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Retirement should bring no crying for Buffie Eicher :-) She plans to continue her involvement in musical endeavors par excellence, as she is already at work planning a joint production of <i>Island Lake </i>musicians and the adult <a href="http://www.tworiverschorale.org/">Two Rivers Chorale </a>for the 11/11/11 Veterans Day production this November.<br />
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The next phase should supply plenty of time to don the maroon & gold (her second favorite set of school colors to Mounds View's) as she is a staunch Minnesota Gophers fan, particularly women's volleyball and tennis. New to her set of favored institutions are <i>DePaul University</i> and the <i>University of St. Thomas</i>, where her daughter & son attend.<br />
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Her post-employment years may also provide more opportunity to practice her great sense of humor, and to move from the music hall into nature's sanctuary, where she enjoys spending time as a "birder." Last fall, she adopted a peregrine falcon at Hawk Ridge in Duluth, which enabled her to tag, release and receive feedback about the bird afterwards, shared one of her new retirees-in-arms, Brenda Washburn, who worked alongside Eicher as a paraprofessional at Island Lake School.<br />
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And when not birding or playing her own game of tennis, Buffie <i>just might</i> be able to carve out some time for <i>snowbirding</i> at a Texas golf course community with her husband Gordie.<br />
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A <i>Hearty Congratulations</i> goes to Mrs. Eicher for an outstanding Mounds View music career!<br />
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<i>"I hope that you will continue to keep music in your lives, because music really IS good for you! Play an instrument, go to concerts, sing along in the car, dance and revel in the beauty that music brings to our lives." --Buffie Eicher's parting note to Island Lake families.<br />
</i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16807369454813226657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-403721676351581473.post-64275684631483432402011-05-21T16:08:00.739-05:002011-07-05T10:33:35.559-05:00The Twists & Turns of In-School Technology<i>7/5/11 Turn: <a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/mimssbits/26960/">All of Korea's Textbooks to Go Online by 2015</a></i><br />
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<i>6/9/11 Twist: Steve Nelson, Head of the Calhoun School in Manhattan, shares his digital reservations in this <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-nelson/kill-the-computers-and-sa_b_846759.html">Huffington Post piece.</a></i><br />
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<i>5/26/11 Twist: Check out <a href="http://chronicle.com/article/Why-Are-So-Many-Students-Still/127584/">Chronicle of Higher Education's 'Why Are So Many Students Still Failing Online'?</a> for more fodder on the subject of appropriately matching courses to online learning offerings.</i><br />
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Judging from a recent <a href="http://mvsb.nsacwebcasts.com/viewer.php?id=3104">Superintendent's Report</a> provided by Mounds View Schools' Dan Hoverman about a twin city-wide <i>Superintendent Technology Leadership Academy</i>, Minnesota educators & students are living in "interesting times" with respect to the advance of technology in the state's public school classrooms.<br />
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According to the <i>Association of Metropolitan School Districts </i>leader consortia efforts Hoverman referred to, the day may soon arrive when online textbooks are common, hybrid classes are prolific, and handheld devices like iPADs and smartphones are encouraged-- not disallowed-- in schools' student codes of conduct.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_TDB3fxJeFM/TdkYxC53WPI/AAAAAAAAAFU/6XNgsqUzkMY/s1600/TechnologyLearning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="78" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_TDB3fxJeFM/TdkYxC53WPI/AAAAAAAAAFU/6XNgsqUzkMY/s200/TechnologyLearning.jpg" width="200" /></a>In case you've been out of school for awhile, it's only taken about one generation for most classrooms to go from being technology-free to the juncture where superintendents are considering whether technology should be omnipresent in our schools. The first round of instructional monitors mounted in the classroom corner is long gone (deemed a failure by most) and have been wonderfully supplanted by a family of projection & interactive devices known as LCD monitors, DOC cameras, and Smartboards. In addition, the "computer lab" has evolved from being hard-wired and location specific-- to a mobile set of laptops-- to one with WiFi zones that may soon allow student, staff and guests alike specially-authorized access into a school district's various data systems.<br />
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Interesting times, indeed, and based on educational leadership sessions like those of the <i><a href="http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/55977154?access_key=key-2di9gywddtjv4g2zcmsi">Association of Metropolitan School District's Education in an Online World,</a></i> the proverbial train is being thoughtfully guided from the instructional station of online learning. But given the financial realities schools face and a system everyone at least complicitly agrees is "stuck" in an agrarian model with a school year shorter than those of most countries, might the times be a bit too interesting for our school communities' own good?<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>A "Wait a Minute" from Mr. Postman</b></span><br />
<br />
<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=theacadvill-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0679750312&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>Neil Postman hit the nail on the head in his 1995 book <i>The End of Education.</i> In a treatise all the more prophetic since most people had barely constructed their first email message at the time of its publication, he wrote: <br />
<br />
<i>The role that new technology should play in schools or anywhere else is something that needs to be discussed ... In particular, the computer and its associated technologies are awesome additions to culture ... But like all important technologies of the past, they are Faustian bargains, giving and taking away, sometimes in equal measure, sometimes more in one way than the other. It is strange-- indeed shocking-- that we can still talk of new technologies as if they were unmixed blessings, gifts, as it were, from the gods.</i><i> Don't we all know what the combustion engine has done for us and against us? What television is doing for us and against us?</i><br />
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<i>At the very least, we need to discuss what we will lose if computer technology becomes a sole source of motivation, authority and psychological sustenance. Will we become more impressed by calculation than human judgment? Will speed of response become a defining quality of intelligence? If the idea of school will be dramatically altered, what kinds of learning will be neglected?</i><br />
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<i>These are serious matters ... and they need to be discussed by those whose vision of children's needs, and the needs of society, go beyond thinking of a school mainly as a place for the convenient distribution of information. Schools are not now, and never have been chiefly about getting information to children. </i><br />
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<i>(End of Postman excerpt)</i><br />
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There are those who would rightfully "counter" Postman by asserting schools are not chiefly about creating more information access for students, although that is unquestionably a major product of the technological change schools may soon be endorsing. In the estimation of many, schools are primarily about providing the constructs & inspiration for students to take charge of their own learning. Programmes like <i>International Baccalaureate </i>are founded on this very precept, although principals, teachers, counselors, librarians and parents already know the huge challenge of transferring the responsibility for academic progress to students.<br />
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To the credit of educational developers behind <i><a href="http://thejournal.com/Articles/2011/05/17/6-Technologies-That-Will-Change-Education.aspx?Page=1">Six Technologies Expected to Change Education</a></i>, some of its near, mid, and long-term technologies are designed with the self-guided learner in mind-- particularly the <i>learning analytics </i>and <i>personal learning environment </i>tools.<i> </i>But since educators and parents alike have been challenged enough in creating passion for learning with old-fashioned person to person communication, this question is worth asking: will all the time & expense that goes into the sophisticated <i>learning analytics </i>systems be well spent?<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Wendy Kopp's Tale of Two Philadelphia Schools</b></span><i> </i><br />
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<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=theacadvill-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=158648740X&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>As the founder of the <i>Teach for America </i>program that began in 1983, Wendy Kopp knows a thing or two about hoeing hard rows in the field of education. In a book titled <i>A Chance to Make History</i>, Kopp chronicles the journey that the "Teach for America" corps has led in turning around urban schools across America. Among her most telling anecdotes are two Philadelphia schools that are at opposite ends of the technology spectrum-- and the student performance index-- with the successful school being the one that is most technologically primitive.<br />
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Philadelphia's <i>School of the Future--</i> Upon opening in 2006, a team of founding experts trumpeted this school as a revolution in education, with an approach that included laptops for every student, innovative scheduling, "21st century" course design, and online courses and resources. But as Kopp asserts, at least one important thing was forgotten<i>-- </i>the failure to prioritize human capital that accounts for high-performing schools in low-income communities. For when the school's 2009 Pennsylvania assessment results came out, the school's students registered dramatically lower scores in math, reading and science. Kopp believes this state-of-the-art facility failed to outperform the schools it was meant to replace due to the absence of a transformative mission & the leadership, culture, effective management, and student supports to act on that mission. To this state of deficiency, technology made matters worse by diverting the school's leaders from the core work that is responsible for creating strong schools. And rather than moving the school environment in a direction more focused on learning, technology ended up increasing the chaos in an already under performing institution.<br />
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In a similar high-poverty location during the same time period, however, Kopp tells of an alternate educational enterprise:<br />
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Philadelphia's <i>Mastery Network</i> has transformed previously low-performing, impoverished districts by dramatically outperforming districtwide averages & producing college-ready graduates-- and with little attention paid to technology. In 2006, it's Shoemaker campus was a failing institution with abysmally low standardized scores in math and reading. But soon <i>Mastery</i> remade its mission, recruited new leadership & staff, created a system of roles & responsibilities for students, and built a network of support services into the school.<br />
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With these efforts, test scores increased 50 points in every subject, closed the school's achievement gap in reading, and resulted in 100% of its graduating class gaining acceptance to college. Hear Scott Gordon, the network's founder: "Why are so many schools NOT focusing on talent development, great management, and clear goals? ... we have such a hard time doing what we know works."<br />
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In the view of <i>Mastery's </i>leaders and others, what works are the basics, and not an emphasis on technology. Since they achieved such success in an environment similar to <i>School of the Future's</i> during the same time span, their example shows-- at a minimum-- that massive infusions of technology may not be for everyone.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>A Conclusion</b></span><br />
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Do the Philadelphia examples mean that schools everywhere should abandon all forms of technology? Of course not. What they do illustrate, however, is that the incorporation of technological devices is one can easily turn a do-able mission into a managerial minefield-- first in the day-to-day function of the school in the form of fragmented attention spans, student equity and teacher training issues, and-- second in the difficult-to-maintain horizontal and vertical curricular designs that-- like it or not-- will always require a buffer to accommodate the latest idea De jure from "higher" educational authorities.<br />
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Add to these the complexities of how best to include families (who will likely be paying for the devices schools will be taking advantage of) as partners in opening up the widest learning horizon possible for their students. Decision making accompanies ownership, do you copy?<br />
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On top of the age-old "he who has the gold makes the rules" issue, these devices will be used to help create more student-driven, beyond-the-classroom learning. As educators everywhere legitimately cry foul of the forces attempting to create more narrow curriculum, the argument that students & their families are increasingly being left to advance student learning in the social & natural sciences, arts, home economics, and vocational subject areas grows stronger by the day. It remains to be seen whether students will dedicate their technological devices to these ends during out-of-school time.<br />
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Yes, these are interesting and important times for technology. And considering the level of technological shift schools are poised to embark on, the swing between potential educational gain and loss has never been greater.<br />
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Let's just hope that enough people can shape the right policy to prevent our schools from hurtling headlong into a technological abyss.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16807369454813226657noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-403721676351581473.post-11622677503071687602011-05-13T16:39:00.009-05:002011-05-14T06:59:00.119-05:00He Fought the British But Couldn't Claim Freedom Until He Could Read<div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.thefirstgrader-themovie.com/news/the-first-grader-us-release-may-13-2011.html">National Geographic & Capella U Join Up for 'The First Grader'</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.thefirstgrader-themovie.com/news/the-first-grader-us-release-may-13-2011.html">Click here for a theater and date near you</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/ns030fCDorE?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16807369454813226657noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-403721676351581473.post-59518336765646614632011-05-11T11:02:00.060-05:002011-05-20T16:08:56.355-05:00Assessments 2.0<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>As Minnesota students complete their year-end <i>Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments</i> and <i>Northwest Evaluation Assessments (</i>aka<i> MAP </i>diagnostic exams), it is important to celebrate the success of the 2011-12 school year.<br />
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But since endings often leave voids as to "what's next", readers of this blog would likely appreciate hearing of what the future of educational assessments holds.<br />
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A good synopsis of that direction is:<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9_nk0pCEnFU/Tc2YnE5e9nI/AAAAAAAAAFA/yAhI5DvzThU/s1600/LearningTriangle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="120" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9_nk0pCEnFU/Tc2YnE5e9nI/AAAAAAAAAFA/yAhI5DvzThU/s200/LearningTriangle.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="http://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/beyond-bubble-tests-next-generation-assessments-secretary-arne-duncans-remarks-state-l">Beyond the Bubble Tests: The Next Generation of Assessments -- Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks </a><br />
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Should you lack the time to go there, here are the main points of the linked US Department of Education page above. <br />
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A. US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan cited September 2, 2010 as the day marking the beginning of the development of a new and much-improved generation of assessments for America's schoolchildren-- Assessments 2.0. <br />
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B. There are two primary educational consortia-- the PARCC consortium, or <i>Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers</i>, and the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium, that have been working with states to develop more comprehensive sets of student assessments.<br />
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C. By the 2014-2015 school year, the assessments developed by these two winning state consortia will be in use in any state that chooses to use them-- EVEN STATES NOT PARTICIPATING IN A CONSORTIUM ARE FREE TO USE THE ASSESSMENTS. These are not pilot projects. These are not discrete tests, cobbled together. The winning consortia will be designing and implementing comprehensive assessment systems in math and English language arts.<br />
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D. This new generation of mathematics and English language arts assessments will cover all students in grades 3-8 and be used at least once in high school in every state that chooses to use them.<br />
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E. All English language learners and students with disabilities will take the new assessments, with the exception of the one percent of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities.<br />
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F. In Secretary Duncan's view, these assessments will:<br />
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(1) help millions of schoolchildren, parents, and teachers will know if students are on-track for colleges and careers--and if they are ready to enter college without the need for remedial instruction. <br />
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(2) give teachers the state assessments they have longed for-- tests of critical thinking skills and complex student learning that are not just fill-in-the-bubble tests of basic skills but support good teaching in the classroom.<br />
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(3) help set a consistent , high bar for success nationwide-- instead of misleading students, parents, and school leaders into thinking students are ready for college, when they are not even close.<br />
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(4) provide teachers with timely, high-quality formative assessments that are instructionally useful and document student growth—rather than just relying on after-the-fact, year-end tests used for accountability purposes.<br />
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(5) make widespread use of smart technology, and provide students with realistic, complex performance tasks, immediate feedback, computer adaptive testing.<br />
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(6) better measure the higher-order thinking skills so vital to success in the global economy of the 21st century and the future of American prosperity. To be on track today for college and careers, students need to show that they can analyze and solve complex problems, communicate clearly, synthesize information, apply knowledge, and generalize learning to other settings. <br />
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Secretary Duncan called the transformation occurring in assessments a "sea-change" from where things are today, and he noted that the "quiet revolution" known as the <i>Common Core State Standards Initiative </i>is largely responsible for ushering the testing transition in.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16807369454813226657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-403721676351581473.post-14712321260649427332011-05-01T21:28:00.054-05:002011-07-05T06:03:26.655-05:00Scenes from 'National History Day in Minnesota'<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/wEIzHVCuU5s?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br />
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-781wWQiob-4/TckjzcegHGI/AAAAAAAAAE0/Nueb71EINQ0/s1600/DSCN1892.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-781wWQiob-4/TckjzcegHGI/AAAAAAAAAE0/Nueb71EINQ0/s200/DSCN1892.JPG" width="160" /></a></div><i>7/4/11 Piece: </i>See <a href="http://www.startribune.com/local/124987449.html">History Classes Might Be Taking a Back Seat in Minnesota</a> by the Star Tribune's Norman Draper.<br />
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<i>6/14/11</i> <i>Addition: A just issued NAEP (National Association for Education Progress) <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/14/us-history-naep-test-scores-arne-duncan_n_876413.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000008">Report</a></i><br />
<i>suggests students might benefit were National History Day participation to be required.</i><br />
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Students from around the state shared their renditions of stories past as part of <i>National History Day in Minnesota </i>at the University of Minnesota's Coffman Memorial Union on May 1st. In an atmosphere with all the triumph and dejection of an athletic contest, a dance competition, or a chess tournament-- scores of students wrote papers, built exhibits, created websites, and gave performances about a chosen theme.<br />
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The embedded video represents my attempt to recognize and make known some of the amazing work done by Minnesota students. It really only scratches the surface of all that is part of the experience. Suffice it to say that the learning curve associated with just the taking in of <i>History Day</i> is gloriously steep. But if one person gains an insight or has his or her imagination fired by this work, it will have been worth the effort.<br />
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For more information on what the event entails, visit <a href="http://www.mnhs.org/school/historyday/events/StateHD/stateinfo.htm">MHS State History Day </a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16807369454813226657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-403721676351581473.post-66900020917667880662011-04-30T22:53:01.130-05:002011-05-03T20:31:53.890-05:00A 'United State Standards of Education' for America<i>Readers: This piece is based on a referral from public school principal Todd Durand, who highly regards the work on Common Core Standards done by The Leadership and Learning Center. </i><i>If you aren't familiar with what these standards are, please see the entry "</i><i>Common Questions About the Common Core Standards" (under Popular Posts). </i><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rMD_KFfGdEU/Tb8FI64Q4GI/AAAAAAAAAEs/dbDA8TufvSU/s1600/Douglas+Reeves.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rMD_KFfGdEU/Tb8FI64Q4GI/AAAAAAAAAEs/dbDA8TufvSU/s1600/Douglas+Reeves.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dr. Douglas Reeves</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The U.S. Constitution may leave <i>education</i> to the states by omission, but judging from a <a href="http://www.leadandlearn.com/about-us/biography/douglas-b-reeves">Dr. Douglas Reeves</a> presentation on <i>common core state standards</i>, the country is on a path to uniting educationally given all but 6 states have joined the <i>Common Core State Standards Initiative, </i>or<i> CCSSI.</i><br />
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As a global educational authority on leadership and effectiveness, Dr. Reeves-- one of just five experts to review the 490-page document prior to its public debut-- begins his <a href="http://www.leadandlearn.com/common-core-state-standards-resource-center/videos">Common Core State Standards</a> presentation by explaining the origin of standards: <br />
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"The genesis extends back before the <i>No Child Left Behind Act</i> <i>of 2001," </i>said Dr. Reeves. "States started adopting their own standards because the use of standards is a better way to evaluate children than the 'bell curve' and the norm reference tests that compared kids to each other." <br />
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As a result of NCLB-- in 2002, each state's getting its own standards was a worthy accomplishment, were it not for the wild inconsistencies it created between states and their 50 different tests.<br />
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"Here we are ten years later .... now saying there are some things in literacy and math that really hold us together as a society," said Reeves. It's just a way to be more efficient-- in a more highly mobile society, as kids move not only from district to district but state to state, it makes a lot of sense that we have some common understanding about what kids should know and be able to do."<br />
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To help understand what these standards represent, Dr. Reeves explains they are not meant to work in tandem with the <i>No Child Left Behind Act</i>. Different from the <i>Adequate Yearly Progress </i>measures of NCLB, new core standards assessments won't be just another "misused" reading or math test. Rather, <i>CCSSI</i> is to involve an entirely new "assessment learning system" encompassing classroom activities, things that teachers and local schools can collaboratively score, and performance assessments over the course of several days. <br />
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"If they can in fact create that vision, then there isn't any doubt we will have something better than what we have right now," Reeves asserts. "If by contrast, all we do is have one national reading and writing test used for high stakes replacing the old reading and math tests, then we will not have made a whole lot of progress."<br />
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<b><i>Strengths</i></b><br />
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Dr. Reeves also praised <i>the CCSSI</i> for its: <br />
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<i>1. Rigor and Clarity </i>that<i> </i>is "outstanding" and significantly better than most sets of state standards. Expectations for success and connections between grade levels are very clear, and the standards err on the side of specificity. Reeves stated that the proposed standards initiative is dramatically better than what he sees being taught in most 6th, 7th, and 8th grade classrooms in the country right now.<br />
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<i>2. Refreshing emphasis on non-fiction writing</i>: which helps students in literacy, math and science. The standards writers explicity indicated that nonfiction writing is a part of science, a part of social studies, which Reeves called a 'home run win.' The standards also say that informative writing begins in kindergarten, and the standards document settles the issue that literacy starts in kindergarten.<br />
<ul></ul>In addition to interdisciplinary emphasis on reading and writing, the new standards include examples of what good writing looks like. Reeves said the examples differ from the formulaic writing that's considered proficient under most current state standards, which he said often includes: "the same thing, the same intro, the same transitions, and they (students) can't write coherently to save their soul."<br />
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<i>3. The List</i> that endorses the classics of children's literature, doesn't dumb things down, or permit verbal expectations to decline through too much reliance on graphics. Reeves noted "there are some fine things that otherwise would have been lost in American literature (both fiction and nonfiction) that this document will preserve":<br />
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In case you do not care to wait for the <i>CCSSI </i>to see this wonderful set of books: <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/10/AR2010031000025.html?hpid%3Dtopnews">The List: Nonfiction and Fiction from K to 12</a>. Officially, this is considered neither a required nor a comprehensive list.<br />
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4. <i>Math Standards </i>include illustrations of what complete problem-solving looks like. <br />
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<b><i>A Big Weakness</i></b><br />
<b><i> </i></b><i> </i><br />
On the critical side of things, Reeves did say the developers of the initiative, as Herculean as their project is, tap danced too much by saying in a 3-page preamble that "nothing in this document shall be construed as telling people how to teach":<br />
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"Balderdash, baloney," says Reeves. "You can't talk about standards and what to teach, you can't talk about the value of non fiction writing, you can't talk about high expectations of (students), without also saying that teaching is not a matter of personal taste ... We know that some teaching practices including non fiction writing, including effective feedback ... including good relationships with kids ... are more effective than others."<br />
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<i> <b>But </b></i><b><i>As Massachusetts & Iowa Go ...</i></b><br />
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The other 48 would be wise to go as well. Reeves reminds listeners that the standards movement was not the product of the federal government or officials from any particular political party telling them it had to be done. Instead, the standards movement is the best way to "teach, assess, and to lead," and it began during the 1990s because it was the right thing to do. For those states concerned that accepting the common core standards would have them settling for less, consider the Massachusetts and Iowa examples:<br />
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Massachusetts' students posted nation-leading scores in <i>NAEP </i>(National Assessment of Educational Progress) in reading & math for 3 consecutive trials-- even as its ELL and poverty levels increased-- yet it still saw fit to adopt the components of the <i>CCSSI</i>. Though Reeves believes the state will have to resolve which set of standards (state or CCSSI) it will eventually follow, the Massachusetts example illustrates how adopting core standards is not the same as giving up your own.<br />
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As written of in the companion blog entry "<i>Common Questions About the Common Core Standards," </i>Iowa is taking the same approach as Massachusetts, about which Reeves remarked: <br />
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"A lot of people thought this day for common standards would never come," explains Reeves. "Heck in Iowa, they never thought they would have state standards, because every county thought they had a different number of letters in the alphabet presumably," Reeves said. "There is lot of local territorialism that comes from the 10th amendment that all powers not specifically enumerated in the Constitution belong to the states."<br />
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<i><b>Summary Responses</b></i><br />
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Reeves realizes one of the biggest issues with a state putting in common core standards will be how to implement them while its state officials continue with its own set of standards and assessments. He acknowledged that teachers will initially be faced with an expanded amount of content needing coverage in the same amount of instructional time.<br />
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He said that until old state tests are replaced with the new ones, educators will "have to power standards that have leverage, application to multiple disciplines, that have got endurance & will last through a number of years, and that are most essential to the next level of learning."<br />
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For those interested in whether standards are used in other countries: <br />
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"We notice furthermore that other industrialized countries are able to have common standards among there entire country without any violation being done to their constitution, to their human rights," says Reeves. "No Black Hawk helicopters are swooping down to drop tests on the heads of children. It's just a way to try to become more efficient."<i> </i><br />
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In his conclusion, Reeves contended that educational standards development is a worldwide phenomenon that has worldwide challenges.<br />
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Hopefully, Minnesota policymakers will see their value and not make getting the strongest ones possible in place harder than it has to be. <br />
<a href="http://www.leadandlearn.com/common-core-state-standards-resource-center/videos"></a><br />
<a href="http://www.leadandlearn.com/common-core-state-standards-resource-center/videos"></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16807369454813226657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-403721676351581473.post-8385756781552955062011-04-28T08:28:00.127-05:002011-07-20T13:11:08.930-05:00Common Questions About the Common Core Standards<i>June 13, 2011 Update: <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2011/06/common-standards_watch_north_d.html">North Dakota's adoption of the math and reading standards makes '46 states' that have fully adopted the CCSSI. </a></i><br />
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<i>May 11, 2011 Update: A key question surrounding the Common Core initiative is whether it truly represents the aspirations of states or stands to be another heavy-handed approach from above that will damage education. For one answer to this question, please consider this </i><a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rick_hess_straight_up/2011/05/parcc_chair_chester_on_the_anti-common_core_manifesto.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Walt+Gardner+Reality+Check">statement from Mitch Chester, who is the Massachusetts Commissioner of Education.</a><br />
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<i>Note: See companion piece to this post titled "A United State Standards of Education for America" linkable in Popular Posts at left.</i><br />
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<a href="http://www.ascd.org/public-policy/common-core-standards.aspx">Forty-four and counting-- </a> that is the number of states whose education policy leaders have fully adopted the <i>Common Core State Standards Initiative</i>, which may just be the most widespread education effort yet to garner little media attention for its lack of sensationalism.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--XOCW4BamQk/TbnTMPT1baI/AAAAAAAAAEU/zlpLntygM4I/s1600/CommonCore1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--XOCW4BamQk/TbnTMPT1baI/AAAAAAAAAEU/zlpLntygM4I/s1600/CommonCore1.jpg" /></a></div>Maine, Massachusetts, Washington, Colorado, and Illinois-- each deserving of its own "Educational Lighthouse" label-- have all signed on to a "bottom up" effort to create quality standards for our nation's schoolchildren. Assuming you, too, have been affected by this news embargo on<i> </i>political cooperation<i>, </i>here is a Q & A on the <i>CCSSI</i>, for you to learn more about the grassroots educational undertaking that is sweeping the country.<br />
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1. What is the initiative about?<br />
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The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a state-led effort to establish a voluntary set of shared standards for English language arts and mathematics. They were designed by a diverse group of teachers, experts, parents, and school administrators to reflect both the aspirations and the realities of students. The standards were informed using evidence and experts from across the country and around the globe, and they will ensure graduating seniors are prepared for college, the workforce, and to compete in the emerging global marketplace.<br />
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2. Why is having common standards important?<br />
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Common standards breed consistency from school to school and state to state. Common standards allow for sharing experiences, meaningful student performance comparisons, and the better serving of needs for all students.<br />
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Standards do not tell teachers how to teach, but they do provide teachers and families a road map of knowledge and skills their students should have, from which teachers can build the best lessons and environments for their classrooms.<br />
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3. What has been and will be the Federal Government's role in the <i>CCSSI</i>?<br />
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The federal government was not involved in the development of the standards. Since individual states choose whether to adopt these standards, <i>CCSSI</i> is in no way, shape or form a part of the current, or any potentially reauthorized, <i>No Child Left Behind </i>law. In fact, as can be seen from the material in question 6 below, Education Secretary Arne Duncan has been outspoken about the punitive nature of NCLB as it stands, but he is ebullient about the prospects for innovation that <i>CCSSI </i>provides.<br />
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Even though the federal government had nothing to do with the <i>CCSSI </i>development, and cannot use them to enforce compliance or do school interventions as in the case of the current rendition of <i>NCLB</i>, it does appear the USDE will assign weight to an individual state's participation in <i>CCSSI</i> through the second round of recently authorized <i>Race to the Top </i>grants and the biennial <i>Title 1 </i>monies it appropriates.<br />
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Naturally, this intent to withhold financial support concerns many policymakers, Minnesota's included.<br />
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4. One undesirable consequence of the NCLB Act has been its pushing of educators to "teach to the test". Won't <i>CCSSI </i>just encourage more of the same?<br />
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No-- <i>CCSSI </i>is meant to build, align and support good curriculum, and yes, quality assessments will be a part of that equation, but a given district or school's performance will not be held against them as in the case of <i>NCLB</i>.<br />
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Remember: <i>CCSSI </i>is about rewarding for innovation, not punishing for failure to comply. As you read this, hundreds of professional development teams, curriculum groups, foundations, and private companies are busily constructing instructional packages they hope a given district or state will adopt under <i>CCSSI.</i> Such an expansive effort could not possibly result in students having to pass through the narrow straits of a standardized test.<br />
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5. What is Minnesota' position on the <i>Common Core State Standards Initiative?</i><br />
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In June 2009, the <i>Minnesota Dept of Education </i>took an "active role" in the state-led initiative, on the belief that it could help other states create "consistent academic standards as rigorous as Minnesota's."<br />
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A September 2010 action by then MDE Commissioner Alice Seagren saw Minnesota signing on to the English Language Arts standards while refraining from Math on the basis that the state’s existing math standards were far superior to those in <i>CCSSI</i>. In 2007 the state had revamped its own math standards by preparing students to take algebra in 8th grade. In support of its decision to opt out of the <i>CCSSI</i>, MDE claimed the number of students scoring proficient in the math had increased 11 percent in the previoius three years.<br />
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The Thomas B. Fordham Institute-- a nationally recognized adjudicator for 10 years on states' educational rigor & assessments-- gave <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/07/21/37fordham.h29.html">Minnesota a "clearly inferior to the common core" in mathematics rating.</a><br />
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While key Minnesota officials supported the decision to stay out of the math standards of <i>CCSSI</i> for the time being, others cautioned that doing so might keep Minnesota out of an important national discussion.<br />
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An even more important dynamic in Minnesota's standards deliberations has nothing whatsoever to do with <i>CCSSI </i>and everything to do with a teacher evaluation bill currently making its way through the legislature. While key legislators and education officials have vowed to base new school report cards and related teacher evaluations on the best available research about "student growth," the reality is that such a bill may only calcify the much disliked standardized state tests used for NCLB in math and reading.<br />
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On top of that, MN Senate File 1030 contains language expressly prohibiting the Commissioner of Education from adopting the <i>CCSSI </i>math standards and those likely to be developed in "science, social studies, technology and information literacy, the arts, and language arts" in the years to come.<br />
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6. What does US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan think of the Common Core initiative?<br />
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The Secretary likes it a lot. You've probably caught excerpts of comments he has made since assuming the top education post. Not one to mince words, his previous actions on alternative licensure & teacher evaluation have ruffled union representatives and his efforts to lift prescriptive NCLB requirements for schools has likely brought headaches to the number crunchers of his own department. <br />
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In Congressional testimony before the <i>House Education Workforce Committee </i>on 3/9/11, Duncan vigorously criticized the current <i>NCLB </i>law as one having "arbitrary state bars" that has created dozens of ways to fail and very few ways to succeed, before declaring:<br />
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"We need a common sense law that strikes the right balance between accountability and flexibility ... but NCLB got that backwards. Instead of being tight on goals and loose on the means of achieving them, the law is loose on goals, but tight on the means ... We need to flip that, and states are already leading us in the right direction," the Secretary said.<br />
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With this viewpoint from the Secretary as context, listen to the 11-second clip in which the Secretary glows with admiration for the work states are doing in the <i>Common Core </i>initiative.<br />
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7. What is Iowa's position, a state with as much productivity from its field of education as from its globe-feeding cornfields?<br />
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Iowa ranks with MN in terms of reputation with <a href="http://www.ohe.state.mn.us/mPg.cfm?pageID=1439">student performance on the ACT exam</a> and is arguably the home of academic assessment nationwide with ACT, Inc. and its Iowa Basic Skills Tests. Curiously, it has also adopted the Common Core, but by assimilating them into a broader set of state standards.<br />
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Through a kind of <i>tapestry</i> approach to its standard development, Iowa may have just found the perfect way to maintain its own standards and stay "in the game" for the procurement of federal funds. <a href="http://www.iowa.gov/educate/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2025">According to this Iowa State Board of Education report,</a> Iowa approved the new <i>Common Core </i>standards as part of its <i>Iowa Core </i>standards. After a comparison of the two was performed by <i>Achieve,</i> an independent non-profit organization based in Washington D.C., the Iowa Core and the Common Core were found to have a high degree of alignment. As a result, the Iowa Public School System was able to embed the <i>Common Core</i> standards into its state standards plan going forward.<br />
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Using the Hawkeye state as an example, it might behoove Minnesota policy makers to say "we're in" for the purposes of maintaining federal funding support, and then augment its own state-developed standards with those of the <i>CCSSI</i>.<br />
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8. Could the <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hubris"><i>hubris</i></a> that goes with Minnesota's being the "Education State" and the "Do it Our Way" Legislative Republicans be the perfect political combination that keeps Minnesota from taking a major educational step that 44 other states' officials have already taken?<br />
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Quite possibly.<br />
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For a flavor of the next generation of assessments to align with the <i>Common Core </i>standards, check out <a href="http://www.ctb.com/ctb.com/control/ctbLandingPageViewAction?landngPageId=15279">these 9 amazing Webinars. </a><br />
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<i>You may also appreciate "A United State Standards of Education for America"-- a companion piece on this blog that conveys the Common Core perspective of Dr. Douglas Reeves, a leading expert on the initiative. To locate, go to "Dr. Douglas Reeves" in the "Labels" column.</i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16807369454813226657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-403721676351581473.post-6803039176668032632011-04-26T09:03:00.432-05:002011-05-27T11:28:54.482-05:00The "ACT Plus Writing Exam" as a College-Ready Proficiency Standard<i>Preface: "Nicely said! Yes, we need to ramp up our efforts in writing. It is a quest of mine...and a predictor of college completion."</i>--<i>Minnesota Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius' reaction to this piece. </i><br />
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<i>Minnpost's</i> recent <a href="http://www.minnpost.com/learningcurve/2011/04/25/27735/mounds_view_schools_add_a_test_thats_worth_the_extra_bother">Mounds View Schools Add a Test That's Worth the Extra Bother</a> provides a bold example of a district helping all its students prepare for a post-secondary education or career using a reliable academic measure. Given ISD 621 will have 100% of its juniors take the writing portion of the exam, the district could also serve as an important model for phasing out a graduation proficiency assessment administered in the 9th grade.<br />
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The basis: No one pretends the currently administered GRAD written composition, as it's known, sufficiently measures the writing skill of a graduating Minnesota senior. Not writing instructors, or administrative officials-- neither college admissions folks, nor Minnesota's Commissioner of Education Dr. Brenda Cassellius is willing to defend the academic level of the this writing metric.<br />
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For a detailed exposition of this point, clear 15 minutes off the calendar, grab a cup of coffee, and sit down to read an <a href="http://tinyurl.com/3zwq7e6">ACT Writing Proposal.</a> Just in case that 5-page journey gets painful, here's the shorthand: discarding the GRAD written assessment for the ACT Plus Writing would reduce unproductive testing, save money, free valuable instructional time, and raise the quality of writing instruction in our public schools.<br />
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As <i>MDE</i> <i>Director of Research and Assessment Division's</i> Dr. Dirk Mattson explained: "The GRAD written exam was never meant to be an indicator of college and career readiness." The main reason for this is because it originally served as a Basic Skills test administered to students attempting to get their GED (Graduation Equivalency Diploma). Somewhere in the evolution of the state's education policy, the assessment was promoted to being a requirement for all graduating students. <br />
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<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=theacadvill-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=1582975213&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>Thankfully the educational jury is not out on the need to strengthen the state's writing requirement. Like immediate predecessor Republican Alice Seagren before her, MDE Commissioner Brenda Cassellius is in agreement with the need for increased writing rigor: <br />
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"Writing is a key to future life success and college success," the Commissioner wrote. "Our current writing assessment, in my opinion, is well below the standard necessary for on-going success." As a result, Cassellius plans to place writing under the purview of a new <i>Test Reduction Task Force</i>, make writing "more relevant to teaching and learning," and "ensure the testing we do gets students ready for college and career."<br />
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To this high-level of support for emphasis on writing, fans of the written word can add an opening supplied by the Minnesota Legislature for a rewritten graduation standard. Article 2, Line 25 of House File 934 (also known as the Omnibus Education bill), which is currently winding its way through the Legislative process "directs an Assessment Advisory Committee to develop recommendations for alternative methods to meet the reading and writing exam requirement, and to consider the CLEP, ACT and SAT."<br />
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<i>A Football Metaphor</i><br />
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The best way to depict the situation surrounding the state's graduation writing requirement may be to apply the game of football:<br />
<ul><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uvcIDb5DFx4/TbcAnGCp8rI/AAAAAAAAAEI/jsb3pI7hC40/s1600/FG3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uvcIDb5DFx4/TbcAnGCp8rI/AAAAAAAAAEI/jsb3pI7hC40/s200/FG3.jpg" width="200" /></a>
<li>Teachers, administrators, policy makers and education officials are very aware of the need for a new writing metric that legitimizes student claims to being "college and career ready." Essentially, they have issued a "Game On" call to enhance writing quality.</li>
</ul><ul><li>In response to this need, the MN Legislature has gone to the effort of creating a field of play complete with goal posts for interested parties to begin making their points.</li>
</ul><ul><li>The Mounds View School District is the first team on the field, and with the state's first-ever 100% administration of the ACT Plus Writing exam set to be administered tomorrow, April 27th, it is poised to begin kicking the ball through the "Up-Writes." </li>
</ul><ul><li>Now all the rest of us fans of more writing rigor need to do is cheer these good efforts on.<i> </i></li>
</ul><i>Note: The Little Red Writing Book is noted for being strong in teaching writing to ELL students.</i> <br />
<ul></ul><ul></ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16807369454813226657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-403721676351581473.post-49734845092410279392011-04-20T20:10:00.433-05:002011-04-25T13:15:50.727-05:00Integration Revenue is Focus of Legislative Town Hall on EducationOpposition to integration funding cuts dominated an Omnibus Education Bill input session sponsored by the <i>MN House DFL Caucus</i> at Arlington High School in St. Paul on Wednesday, April 20th.<br />
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As policy observers know, omnibus bills are crafted by the Legislature, currently led by the Republican party, while the Governor's priorities are established in a budget bill brought forth by the Democratic party.<br />
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"This is my 19th year in the Legislature, but the first time I have ever carried the budget bill for the Governor," noted Rep. Mindy Greiling, District 54A, who has served under all non-Democratic governors prior to this year. "There isn't one thing in it that I oppose."<br />
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Greiling could not say the same for HF 934, the Omnibus Education bill currently under consideration at the Legislature, a bill she cited as one that is moving opposite the equitable direction set by <i>PS Minnesota. </i>This organization has advocated for an entirely new state education funding formula-- one that assigns additional formula weight to "at-risk students"<i>-- </i>since the release of its first report in November 2006.<br />
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Following Greiling (and event-convening Rep. Debra Hilstrom's) lead, many of the approximate 300 district officials, school board members, and educational advocates in attendance voiced concerns on the tack being taken by the current MN House leadership.<br />
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Several speakers saw the notion of eliminating integration funding to fly in the face of closing the student achievement gap between white students and students of color.<br />
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"All Minnesotans can agree that what attracts & builds the economy is an incredibly strong workforce," said a St. Paul school board member. "But today is much different from 1960, as some districts have as many as 70% students of color, with 50% who speak a different language at home .... We have to have all people live and work together, and it's incredibly foolish to cut the integration funding," the board member added. <br />
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Beyond just the infusion of dollars for existing districts to use for integration-related activities like after school language programs, home-school liaisons, and teacher diversity training, there are a few districts in the metropolitan area that were voluntarily created for the sole purpose of integrating-- with the <i>East Metropolitan Integration District </i>(or EMID) being one.<br />
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Based on input provided by two EMID students who praised their educational arrangement as "providing a second home for students who find it too stressful at their first home," the elimination of integration funding in favor of statewide innovation programs (as key Republicans have proposed) may put such districts in jeopardy of discontinuation.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St. Paul & Mpls. Schools Superintendents </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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Yet another reality of integration funding involves the most sizable student constituency that it serves-- English Language Learners (ELL), which consists of students for whom English is not the primary language spoken at home. "In working with ELL students, we're not just talking about new arrivals, but refugees, and integration funding helps these people in a proper way," said Minneapolis Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson.<br />
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Bruce Hentges, a St. Cloud Area School District school board member, remarked that "some have tried to divide us" on the issue of integration aid, before adding his district "identifies with Minneapolis and St. Paul" on the potential that integration will be removed from the education bill under consideration. According to Hentges, greater than 50% of St. Cloud's student population qualifies for the Free & Reduced Lunch program, and the district also has a significant number of of <i>English Language Learners</i>.<br />
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Hentges then encouraged the Dayton Administration to "hang tough" and asked: "What things will the Governor hang do to ensure equitable education funding across the state of Minnesota?"<br />
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"We will not compromise by pitting one group, school, or city against another," replied Minnesota Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius.<br />
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"In 1971, Governor Wendell Anderson held out until November, and we got the <i>Minnesota Miracle </i>that funded our schools," Rep. Greiling reminded the assembled group.<br />
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<i>A Brief History of Integration Revenue</i><br />
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While broad efforts to integrate school systems have been going on since the landmark <i>Brown v. Board of Education </i>case in 1957, Minnesota's integration revenue program specifically funded just the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth districts between 1987 and 2000-- to the tune of $56 million in the final year of this stretch. <br />
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Beginning in 2001, additional districts were added into the program based on new eligibility criteria set by the <i>Minnesota Department of Education. </i>For the 2010-11 school year, about 110 school districts required to file integration plans received $93 million, with 70% (or $65 million) of it coming from state sources and 30% (or $28 million) from local property tax levies.<br />
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In 2005, the <i>Office of the Legislative Auditor </i>was tasked with the responsibility of evaluating MN's Integration Revenue program. In its review, the OLA found the purpose of the integration was not clear, that school districts varied widely in how it used its integration monies, that the Minnesota Department of Education had not provided consistent oversight of the program, and that the integration revenue funding formula has had some unintended consequences.<br />
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Principal OLA recommendations included revising the integration formula, and also giving the Department of Education the authority to approve the integration budgets of the Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Duluth school districts, who together, received over 40% of the $93 million integration dollars spent statewide in the 2010-11 school year. The <i>Department of Education</i>, which was led by Republican Commissioner Alice Seagren at the time, supported every recommendation the report contained-- a level of departmental acceptance almost unheard of in the realm of state government auditing.<br />
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In January 2011, the <i>Minnesota School Integration Council </i>performed a comprehensive review of the current Minnesota desegregation rule and Minnesota Statute Section 124D.86, which governs the use and allocation of integration revenue. The Council's recommendations included:<br />
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1. Clarifying the purpose of integration policy<br />
2. Establishing and enforcing accountability measures<br />
3. Identifying and supporting effective practices tied to results<br />
4. Seeking partnerships and supporting collaboration & <br />
5. Distributing resources to meet outcomes<br />
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Now it is up to the Legislature and the Governor's administration to see where the program will go from there. <br />
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<i>Primary sources for this integration report: </i><br />
<i><a href="http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hrd/pubs/mnschfin.pdf">September 2010: Minnesota School Finance, A Guide for Legislators</a> </i><br />
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<i><a href="http://www.parentsunited.org/sites/af9a45da-3380-4140-ad90-e2f6e67572e6/uploads/PSMinnesotaFundingFramework.pdf">A Framework for a New Minnesota Education Funding Formula</a> </i><br />
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<a href="http://www.auditor.leg.state.mn.us/ped/2005/integrev.htm">OLA School District Integration Revenue Evaluation Report</a><br />
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<a href="https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0BxeF4vqQU3dTYmUyMGM4NTgtYzE4ZC00ODNjLTgyNmQtMGJjYmNmOGY1Mjkz&sort=name&layout=list&pid=0BxeF4vqQU3dTNmQyZTkzNzUtMTM5Zi00NDg4LWE0MjYtZjdhOWEwNmEyMDhj">Statewide Taskforce on School Integration Report</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16807369454813226657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-403721676351581473.post-74269474592059820362011-04-17T22:06:00.073-05:002011-05-01T07:18:22.396-05:00MN's Top High School Orators Inspire Faith for the Future<i> </i><br />
<i> </i><br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N6AQOy0AZ8Y/Ta239Iz-zmI/AAAAAAAAADs/NfBiAGByPu0/s1600/SpeechTourney1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N6AQOy0AZ8Y/Ta239Iz-zmI/AAAAAAAAADs/NfBiAGByPu0/s200/SpeechTourney1.JPG" width="150" /></a>Sharply-dressed contestants in hallways stand, gesture and rehearse their presentation before no one in particular. Chanhassen High School's central commons is filled with the energy of people who have completed a round of presentations three months in the making. A special kind of spring is in the air--- it's the <i>Minnesota State High School League's </i>Class A High School Speech Tournament.<br />
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Speakers talented and skilled enough to make it to state have given their particular presentation up to 100 times, with 40 to 50 of them occurring in ten, 3-round regular season meets, a sub-sectional and a sectional competitions. A participant generally selects and prepares a speech from just one of 13 different categories, each with its own set of ground rules:<br />
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<table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0"><tbody>
<tr><td><small><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>1. Creative Expression: W</b></span></small></td> <td><small><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b> 8. Informative Speaking: W</b></span></small></td> </tr>
<tr> <td><small><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>2. Discussion: NW</b></span></small></td> <td><small><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b> 9. Original Oratory: W</b></span></small></td> </tr>
<tr> <td><span style="font-family: Arial;"><small><b>3. Duo Interpretation: NW</b></small></span></td> <td><small><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b> 10. Serious Drama Interpretation: NW</b></span></small></td> </tr>
<tr> <td><small><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>4. Extemporaneous Reading :NW</b></span></small></td> <td><small><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b> 11. Serious Poetry Interpretation: NW</b></span></small></td> </tr>
<tr> <td><small><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>5. Extemporaneous Speaking :NW</b></span></small></td> <td><small><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b> 12. Serious Prose Interpretation: NW</b></span></small></td> </tr>
<tr> <td><small><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>6. Great Speeches: W</b></span></small></td> <td><span style="font-family: Arial;"><small><b> 13. Storytelling: NW</b></small></span></td> </tr>
<tr> <td><small><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>7. Humorous Interpretation: NW</b></span></small></td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
For the Class A State Tournament, 24 different speakers begin in each of the categories. A third of those will make the finals, with places being determined from a Finals round. Just like the students who give the speeches, judges, too, have their favorite categories. As noted in the 13 types of speeches listed above, each category is further expressed as a "writing" or a "non-writing" category, which factors into whether a particular subject is "cut out" for her or him. Ultimately, speakers need craft a piece that not only speaks to them, but to an audience as well.<br />
<br />
After all the shaping & evaluating applied to the presentations of these state tournament speakers during the season, you can be assured their work will resonate. Listening to them will be its own reward.<br />
<br />
In fact, the "slate of eight" in the <i>Original Oratory </i>category was so persuasive, a content recap of them is included here for you. Presentational deliveries by the students were crisp, clear, and commanding.<br />
<br />
Here are the rules of Original Oratory: A speaker delivers his or her own persuasive composition, the makeup of which can only be 10% quoted material. Not concerned with solving the great problems of the day, this presentational form is meant to supply an insight or guidance. <br />
<br />
1. <i>Digital Devices & Effects on Sleep</i>: Angela leads off with this statistical whopper: 90% of teens have cellphones, and an astonishing 60% of them frequently stay up late to text. This practice has many harmful effects, most of which relate to a lack of sleep. The lighting display of the message is bright enough to effect circadian rhythm, by impacting the retina for 1 hour after exposure. Checking email is equal to taking a double shot of espresso. Obesity increases due to drop in appetite-regulating hormone, and concentration is a challenge.<br />
<br />
2. <i>Vaccine War: America's Fight Against Science: </i>Brendan framed his work around this salient statistic-- 25% of Americans believe thymerosol creates autism, despite this being disproven by science. This is the primary cause behind an "anti-vaccination" movement in the U.S.-- which is also bolstered by the view that people have seen no outbreaks from diseases like polio since the 1950s, so why worry? Disease rates in some areas are reaching 1800s level proportions, as many people disregard scientific fact, and misread the concept of risk. Currently, there are only 10 different vaccinations required, while many medical experts believe that any one person could handle up to 10,000, if they had to.<br />
<br />
3<i>. Our Sister's Keeper: </i>Despite the courageous work of a Human Rights team and folks like Mozdah Jamalzadah-- the Oprah of Kabul, Afghanistan-- Nicole points out that women are still not equal in that country. The speaker lays out the situation-dependent relationships the US has had with the Afghans. After the Soviet Union invaded the country in 1979, the U.S. provided the <i>Stinger </i>to insurgent forces in 1988. In the vacuum that ensued, the Taliban took control in 1998, creating turmoil and a set of continuing abuses. Even today, only 18% of women in the country can read or write.<br />
<br />
Concluding admonitions: to "look upon Afghanistan's women as a reflection of our past selves" and to serve as our brothers' and our sisters' keepers.<i> </i><br />
<br />
4. <i>Echo Chambers: </i>Carl provided a much-needed lecture for any increasingly modernized culture: Be careful that media technology is not something that keeps you in a like-minded bubble and away from situations that allow for spontaneous interaction. While technology is meant to open up the world, too often it intensifies a barrier against being exposed to different ideologies, news, people and ideas. Through things like <i>Amazon, Facebook, and Tivo</i>, unexpected topics are often filtered away.<br />
<br />
Many practice little to no critical thinking. This social malady breeds overconfidence, extremism, and contempt for others.<br />
<i> </i><br />
We insulate ourselves from opinions that might wobble our soapboxes<i>. </i>Our opinions should not be immovable objects.<br />
<br />
5. <i>Nursery University: </i>Begun in Manhattan, there's a concerning education movement afoot in Shelby's view : Parents are feeling the need to getting kids into premiere educational institutions in their preschool years, paying the equivalent of a year's college tuition to get them into the <i>preschool </i>of their choice. Speaker questions whether these placements are truly critical for future success, as trends toward earlier competitiveness intensify. The pattern is exacerbating educational inequalities.<br />
<br />
Such parents might reexamine their educational priorities and let kids be kids.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QTpYRhPFWm4/TatE0kvUz7I/AAAAAAAAADg/TKFIvuJWZcA/s1600/P4216668.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QTpYRhPFWm4/TatE0kvUz7I/AAAAAAAAADg/TKFIvuJWZcA/s320/P4216668.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The commons is abuzz between rounds of the MSHSL State Speech Tournament. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>6. <i>Geographic Illiteracy</i>: Maile asserts "Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic are where education reform efforts end<i>." </i> In her view, Americans have grown tragically ignorant of the country & world at large. Among the basket of telling statistics: only 1/2 of U.S. Citizens can find Washington DC on a map. Creating geographically proficient people is useful to understanding federal policy. In an increasingly interconnected planet, it is also useful for appreciating a raft of physical & cultural aspects of the world, including weather patterns, climate change, erosion, demographics, migration, language, and resources. <br />
<br />
A definitive conclusion:<br />
"If we are to keep our position as a world leader, we need to take the time to get a deeper understanding of that world."<br />
<br />
7. <i>Direct Election Dreams: </i>Isaiah would like to see a one person, one vote voting system in America. Our electoral system, the result of a political compromise over a 200 years ago, has had devastating effects on politics and is detrimental to our election process. Five Presidents from Jefferson to Bush have taken office without a majority of the popular vote.<br />
<br />
Through it's "winner take all" effect, it distances too many people from the voting process. The electoral college doesn't allow third-party candidates to compete. As support, Isaiah provides the statistic that nationally in 1908, voter participation stood at 60%, while in 2008, that figure was just 41%.<br />
<br />
Big backers of the notion include 1962 US Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren and John B Anderson who wrote <i>"The Electoral College Should be Abolished."</i><br />
<i> </i><br />
8. <i>I Kinda Maybe Sorta Like You</i><br />
<i> </i><br />
We aren't committing ourselves to quality, direct, or sincere communication posited Priyanka. Instead of expressing our thoughts and feelings, we are repressing them. We are not always honest, for fear of being insensitive to others. Being too nice/too caring can be counterproductive, and the thought of rejection keeps us imprisoned from addressing important situations.<br />
<br />
A galvanizing 2009 statistic suggests that 67% of us either don't express what's on our mind or we "change" our minds to agree with everyone else.<br />
<br />
There are worse feelings out there than "rejection" and "regret" is one of them.<br />
<br />
<br />
So polished and so convincing are each of the Class A's Great 8 Original Orators in the final round of the tournament.<br />
A person can't help but believe the future will be brighter when these people are in positions of leadership.<br />
<br />
<i>Read about the State's First 4-time champion in the informative speech category and the overall <a href="http://www.mshsl.org/mshsl/index.asp">2011 State Speech Tournament Recap.</a> The first is under the "John's Journal" tab at the linked page.</i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16807369454813226657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-403721676351581473.post-10102843167140364312011-04-13T13:31:00.062-05:002011-08-12T07:59:22.131-05:00Bush Foundation to Provide Unprecedented Support Through Teacher Effectiveness Initiative<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-u21zd6MtAI0/TaXPwH2Ql6I/AAAAAAAAADM/ofV4ZfaQOyo/s1600/HutchinsonPU.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="189" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-u21zd6MtAI0/TaXPwH2Ql6I/AAAAAAAAADM/ofV4ZfaQOyo/s200/HutchinsonPU.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> <i>April 11th Parents United Summit</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Attendees of a <i>Parents United for Public Schools </i>conference were reminded Bush Foundation President Peter Hutchinson is not one to "tiptoe through the tulips" where public education is concerned. <br />
<br />
Hutchinson's path-breaking style surfaced when he became the first "private" superintendent of Minneapolis Public Schools while heading <i>Public Strategies Group </i>in 1993, and his new leadership on a $40 million, 10-year <a href="http://www.nextprogram.org/">Network for Excellence in Teaching</a> initiative designed to buttress a beleaguered teaching profession illustrates he still strides long for schools.<br />
<br />
<i>Parents United </i>Executive Director Mary Cecconi invited the Bush Foundation president, <i>Minnesota Board of Teaching's </i>Karen Balmer, and <i>St. Paul Federation of Teachers' </i>Mary Cathryn Ricker to its annual summit-- held April 11-- with the intent of providing "a much deeper look at effective teaching than what has been provided in the newspaper."<br />
<br />
In his part, Hutchinson kicked off the trio of presenters with a bold spiel citing a "Big 3 problems" in education:<br />
<br />
1. Overall student attainment is mediocre and not getting better.<br />
2. The education system is becoming a drag on the economy (a view he's been reluctant to share publicly).<br />
3. There is an almost unmentionable set of disparities between the students of different races in Minnesota.<br />
<br />
Add in the statistical projection that 70% of jobs will require a post-secondary degree or certification over the next decade (while only 27% of current high school graduates are doing so). You now have the basis for why the Bush Foundation is investing considerable resources in <i>teacher effectiveness</i>-- the single most important factor in creating academically successful students.<br />
<br />
Along with the 3 educational beliefs above and the increased need for graduates goes this fitting "demographic": 25,000 teachers (half the teaching corps of the three participating states) are expected to retire during the next 10 years. As a result, the 14 institutions of higher education* participating in the Bush initiative have committed to producing those 25,000 teachers.<br />
<br />
Unlike most other teacher quality initiatives that assist teachers once in their professional environments, the Bush initiative will be helping the collaborating institutions prepare teachers by recruiting candidates, giving them earlier student teaching experiences, and supporting them professionally after becoming full-time educators.<br />
<br />
If the initiative develops as intended, partnering institutions will not only cultivate good teachers by targeting scholarships and preparing their candidates, they will also maintain relationships with graduates after they are placed in the teaching field.<br />
<br />
"Instead of the 2nd semester of a student's senior year being the first time she works alongside a classroom teacher, these programs will have students co-teaching in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, & 4th years of their undergraduate programs," Hutchinson said in emphasizing a distinction that will help people determine whether teaching is for them at an earlier stage of their teaching track. <br />
<br />
Once a candidate from the consortium becomes employed, his performance will be "guaranteed" for the first 4 years of his career by the college granting the diploma. Any professional development needs during that time period will be the degree-granting institution-- not the employing school district's--- responsibility to provide. To build that bridge between the teaching institution and employer, longitudinal data links will be developed to strengthen the status of the teaching degree programs.<br />
<br />
Lonni Skrentner--a 39-year Edina Public Schools educator and current Edina school board member-- likes the initiative's earlier focus on student teaching and the post-graduation support components. Although she did not embrace all of Hutchinson's claims & statistics and has a hard time understanding how any recruitment approach will work given the vast amount of <i>teacher bashing</i> out there, she appreciated Hutchinson's "guts, perseverance, and willingness to get into the weeds" on the subject of teacher effectiveness.<br />
<br />
The Bush Foundation's Teacher Effectiveness Initiative is "huge undertaking" that concerns the "futurity" of kids, said Hutchinson.<br />
<br />
Let's hope it adds value to the education system going forward. <br />
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ <br />
<i>*The 14 higher education institutions in the NExT Teacher Partnership are: Minnesota State University @ Moorhead and Mankato, St. Cloud State University, University of MN Twin Cities, Winona State University, Augsburg College, Bethel, Concordia, Hamline, St. Catherine, & St. Thomas Universities, North Dakota State University, Valley City State University (ND), and the </i>University of South Dakota.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16807369454813226657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-403721676351581473.post-3863385030183690532011-04-02T22:55:00.524-05:002011-08-12T10:48:45.326-05:00Solving Mr. Johnson's Dilemma with the Tools of a Writing Renaissance<i>April 21st Update: <a href="http://www.edweek.org/tsb/articles/2011/04/04/02digital.h04.html">Teacher Magazine</a> features a wonderful collaborative writing piece and nice set of digital composing tools (e.g. Wikispaces, Google Docs, Glogster.) </i><br />
<br />
Mr. Johnson, a retired English instructor, spoke of the instructional dilemma he had during his teaching days: <br />
<br />
"If I did it right and gave students the assignments they needed to increase their writing proficiency, I was overwhelmed as an instructor and ultimately unfair to myself. But if I did it wrong by not giving enough assignments, I would be shortchanging the students. Either way I felt guilty."<br />
<br />
Over the long course of academia, the discipline of writing has stood alone where student assessment is concerned. While some writers aspired to have their work read by large numbers of people 'one day,' nearly all needed to endure having their work read by a few readers at time-- their current English teacher, Mom, & maybe a standardized test essay reader more recently-- up through their undergraduate years.<br />
<br />
Thankfully developments in the last quarter century have produced some fine ways for addressing "Mr. Johnson's dilemma:"<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YwEX2PK52R0/TZ0qdc8tUOI/AAAAAAAAAC8/Mk8drmjyFuU/s1600/Typewriter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YwEX2PK52R0/TZ0qdc8tUOI/AAAAAAAAAC8/Mk8drmjyFuU/s1600/Typewriter.jpg" /></a></div><a href="http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/approaches-process-writing">Process Writing</a> is perhaps the most significant among them. If you happen to be a parent of school-aged children, you may have never heard of <i>process writing</i>. Mounds View High School<i> </i>writing instructor Liv Rosin, who is a curriculum contact person for a program called <i>College Writing Lab,</i> explained it is a formative type of instruction in which a writer's work-in-progress is subject to interventions by both an instructor and a student's writing peer group. This approach, which is now the norm in many high schools, differs from the traditional writing approach where a writer works alone before submitting the final product for an instructor's judgment.<br />
<br />
Most educators prefer formative assessments to summative ones due to their capacity to diagnose, then allow students to improve upon their work before moving on to the next class or grade level.<br />
<br />
For those school districts who still find the labors of <i>process writing</i> instruction too heavy a curricular burden, long-time writing proponent Paul Carney has just the "online shop" for them. A no-nonsense educator who saw far too many graduates receiving diplomas who didn't have the second "R" of "readin', writin' & 'rithmetic" mastered, Carney developed <a href="https://www.centerforcollegereadiness.org/stepwriteup/">Step Write Up</a> for 8th graders and <a href="https://www.centerforcollegereadiness.org/readyornotwriting/">Ready or Not Writing</a> for high school students. Under both programs, students whose schools enroll in the free program can submit either school-assigned pieces or independently-crafted ones for a <i>college ready</i> assessment from a Minnesota college English instructor.<br />
<br />
Nowhere does the virtual world of the internet become so practical as in the case of Carney's supplementary creations, which are recognized by both Democratic and Republican leaders at the <i>Minnesota Department of Education</i> who realize there has been a decline in the writing of many graduating seniors.<br />
<br />
By now, you could be asking what type of feedback is available for addressing Mr. Johnson's dilemma at the elementary level. After all, the group interactivity of <i>process writing</i> might fly a little high for K-5 kids, and students aren't eligible for the services of <i>Step Write Up</i> until the 8th grade.<br />
<br />
A Minnesota-based website called <a href="http://kidblog.org/home.php">Kidblog</a> provides budding grade school writers the opportunity to have their work absorbed by the most intriguing audience type of all-- similar-aged students of other countries!<i> Kidblog </i>was recently the subject of this front-page, above-the-fold, Sunday<i> </i>feature:<a href="http://www.twincities.com/dakota/ci_17704014">Pioneer Press Kidblog Piece</a>. Begun by Matt Hardy-- an Eden Prairie, MN, elementary teacher in 2007-- the site not only makes keyboarding miraculously fun, it has also sufficiently allayed safety concerns enough for 500,000 elementary-aged writers & readers to be sharing their thoughts and life experiences with new friends across the planet.<br />
<br />
Taken together, these new programs, processes, and platforms have combined to truly make the days we live in an unparalleled period for the art of writing. Add in the technological changes allowing for the rapid, digital "deconstruction" of a piece and near-instant publishing capabilities-- and calling this period a <i>Renaissance for Writing</i> is not too strong a description.<br />
<br />
At the very least, our educational culture now has what it takes to solve "Mr. Johnson's dilemma."Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16807369454813226657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-403721676351581473.post-17626883637474377012011-03-30T14:20:00.058-05:002011-04-28T09:58:19.181-05:00Does MN's Teacher Evaluation Bill Mesh with Secretary Duncan's NCLB Reauthorization Efforts?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EAKPxl620rQ/TauiAeDt8LI/AAAAAAAAADo/3Qji6eFFnfo/s1600/ArneDuncan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EAKPxl620rQ/TauiAeDt8LI/AAAAAAAAADo/3Qji6eFFnfo/s320/ArneDuncan.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><i>April 3rd Item Update: </i> Gov. Dayton and MDE Commissioner Cassellius share a desire to go where research findings lead them to improve teacher effectiveness and close the achievement gap.--- Attributed to Rep. Pat Garofalo in <i>Star Tribune's </i><a href="http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/119094444.html">This year, may this state witness the art of compromise</a> by Lori Sturdevant.<br />
<br />
<i>Original Entry of March 30:</i><br />
<br />
<i>Memo to MN Education Policy Makers:</i> Before approving the groundbreaking new teacher evaluation bill that cleared its first hurdle in the House of Representatives, please consider U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's ongoing campaign to reauthorize the <i>No Child Left Behind Act.</i><br />
<br />
"I've said repeatedly our department must continue to support and encourage innovation, not force compliance," Secretary Duncan testified to the <i>House Education and Workforce Committee</i> on March 9.<br />
<br />
In the currently available version of <i>Minnesota's HF 945, Article 1, Sec. 1, Subd. 1</i>: teacher effectiveness would be linked to student performance with this language: <br />
<br />
<i>"When determining a school's effect, the data must include both statewide measures of student achievement and, to the extent annual tests are administered, indicators of achievement growth that take into account a student's prior achievement. Indicators of achievement and prior achievement must be based on highly reliable statewide or <span class="SpellE">districtwide</span> assessments."</i><br />
<br />
<i>Sect. 5, Subd. 1 of HF 945 </i>then constructs a <i>teacher evaluation structure </i>by establishing a <i>"mechanism for translating the performance data into a five-part teacher effectiveness rating scale."</i><br />
<br />
Big Question #1: Should we take MN's "effectiveness" language to be the <i>innovation </i>that Secretary Duncan encourages or the <i>compliance </i>that he warns against?<br />
<br />
We've often heard the phrase "hold harmless" where education policy is concerned. On the topic of reauthorizing the now 10 year-old NCLB law, Secretary Duncan specifically holds the NCLB Act <i>responsible</i> for the challenges districts and states face:<br />
<br />
"Almost everywhere I go, I hear people express concern that the curriculum has narrowed," the Secretary has said. "I think the law is too punitive, too prescriptive, and it's led to a dumbing down of standards, and a narrowing of curriculum," Secretary Duncan stated regarding a "must-make" policy change at the federal level.<br />
<br />
Duncan asserts that 80% of the nation's schools will be labeled as failures this year, and by law, all of them will be subject to an identical set of interventions, regardless of a given school's individual student needs. If that happens, the schools with the widest gaps in achievement are most at risk of continued failure, which worries him deeply since the whole point of the law is to ensure that the schools with students most at risk are served. Duncan also contends the current law "created dozens of ways for schools to fail and very few ways to help them succeed."<br />
<br />
In its place, Secretary Duncan does support a system of accountability based on individual student growth, one that "recognizes success" and "holds all of us accountable for the quality of education we provide to every student in the nation." This shift in policy direction would represent a "sea change" from the current law, which simply allows every state to set an arbitrary bar for proficiency, and measures only whether students are above or below that bar.<br />
<br />
Duncan also advocates a common sense law that is "tight on goals and loose on the means of achieving them", instead of the reverse as it is now. Towards that end, many states are are already developing robust student data systems so they can measure student growth, so the academic bar can be truly be raised.<br />
<br />
Big Question #2: Will the passage of HF 945 properly leverage the longitudinal data systems being built in Minnesota school systems? <br />
<br />
By mandating and prescribing "one size fits all" solutions, Duncan says: "NCLB took away the ability of local and state educators to tailor solutions to meet the unique needs of their students, and that is fundamentally flawed. This law is fundamentally broken, we need to fix it, and we need to fix it this year."<br />
<br />
Secretary Duncan himself is not averse to the idea of teacher evaluations: <br />
<br />
<i>"At the end of the day, the best way to make a difference is with effective, well-supported teachers. The best way to achieve that is with stronger teacher recruiting and training programs linked to rigorous teacher & principal evaluation systems. That work is underway all across America, and if we do our part by fixing the law, we can accelerate that progress." </i><br />
<br />
Calls for meaningful teacher evaluation have been issued by everyone from Minnesota Education Commissioner Brenda Casellius to the<i> Minnesota Education Association </i>to the <i>American Federation of Teachers</i> to the <i>Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. </i><br />
<br />
Big Question #3: Would the teacher evaluation methodology set out in <i>HF 945</i> accelerate progress toward a rigorous educator evaluation process-- or will it decelerate it?<br />
<br />
Given the landmark nature of this teacher evaluation legislation, let's all hope & pray that any such efforts adequately address some important questions before the bill becomes a full-fledged law.<br />
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />
You can listen to Duncan's entire 13-minute set of remarks to the <i>House Education Workforce Committee </i>(the primary source for this analysis) between the 10:40 and 23:40 points of the following C-Span video:<br />
<br />
<object align="middle" classid="clsid:d27cdb6eae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" height="500" id="cspan-video-player" width="410"><param name='allowScriptAccess' value='true'/><param name='movie' value='http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/assets/swf/CSPANPlayer.swf?pid=298397-1&start=0&end=1410'/><param name='quality' value='high'/><param name='bgcolor' value='#ffffff'/><param name='allowFullScreen' value='true'/><param name='flashvars' value='system=http://www.c-spanvideo.org/common/services/flashXml.php?programid=246691&style=full&start=0&end=1410'/><embed name='cspan-video-player' src='http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/assets/swf/CSPANPlayer.swf?pid=298397-1&start=0&end=1410' allowScriptAccess='always' bgcolor='#ffffff' quality='high' allowFullScreen='true' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' pluginspage='http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer' flashvars='system=http://www.c-spanvideo.org/common/services/flashXml.php?programid=246691&style=full&start=0&end=1410' align='middle' height='500' width='410'></embed></object>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16807369454813226657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-403721676351581473.post-45281197687418167462011-03-24T20:58:00.121-05:002011-03-25T20:16:52.790-05:00Commit it to Memory<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-_Q1v-T7oWLE/TYvdJd4AjtI/AAAAAAAAAC4/v08bX2vZYf0/s1600/The+Thinker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-_Q1v-T7oWLE/TYvdJd4AjtI/AAAAAAAAAC4/v08bX2vZYf0/s200/The+Thinker.jpg" width="196" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>What k-12 student couldn't benefit from practicing a good memory technique? According to <a href="http://joshuafoer.com/">Joshua Foer</a>, having a powerful memory was once equated with genius. Today, with the "outsourcing" of information to digital technology, that is not so much the case, and people with other aptitudes are better able to excel. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://tinyurl.com/4p5zzuo">MPR Kerri Miller Discussion with Joshua Foer</a><br />
<br />
But make no mistake. Tapping into one's memory is critical to being a successful student.<br />
<br />
On the <i>practical side</i> of memory skills, Foer says the general principle is to "pay attention." People are also naturally better at remembering things that have significance to them, and the more senses you can engage and emotions you can associate to something you've seen or heard, the better. <br />
<br />
<ul><li>Want to remember someone's name? Bounce it back to them as they tell you what it is.</li>
</ul><ul><li>Need a good language acquisition resource? Try <a href="http://www.memrise.com/welcome/">Memrise</a> -- a website in progress designed for language learning .</li>
</ul><ul><li>Need to give a speech? Don't remember it word for word. Instead, create an image 'topic by topic.'</li>
</ul><br />
Memory techniques can be difficult to develop for structured information. Mnemonics, creating musical rhymes and branching are possibilities here. As for the student who's hitting the books for the test, we are indebted to everyone from Gutenberg to 3M: <br />
<br />
The simple act of being able to tab a book section with a "one or two word jotting" --is a gift, Miller and Foer agreed.<br />
<br />
Before the printing press, people obviously didn't own many books, nor were there libraries. There was a premium on remembering what you read. After Gutenberg, it became possible-- through page numbers, tables of contents, indexes-- to access information externally. Add the variable of book ownership and tabbing, and you have a remarkable informational retrieval device, even before the invention of Google :)<br />
<br />
The <i>primary focus</i> of this discussion on memory, however, concerned Foer's preparation advice for the annual U.S. Memory Championship in New York City, which he won in 2006. Contrary to popular opinion that certain people possess "photographic memories," Foer said his success depended on the adoption a year-long regimen that involved taking unmemorable things ( random numbers, poems, decks of cards, names of strangers) and making them 'super duper memorable' in his mind's eye.<br />
<br />
"The art of this is in taking those unmemorable numbers and transforming them in your mind's eye through some sort of a process into a scene that is so bizarre, so beautiful, so strange, so unlike anything you've ever seen before that you can't forget it," Foer explained. <br />
<br />
This effort is so serious that 'blinders beneath memory goggles' and 'earplugs under earmuffs' are required to block out as much sensory information as possible to get about the business of remembering. <br />
<br />
Foer explained most memory champions employ the technique of a <i>Memory Palace </i>(derived from the Roman Cicero and the Greek Simonides before him) to create visual associations with particular objects in their quest to become quality rememberers. Cicero believed this technique was so well-known that it needed no explanation to his countrymen. Because of the decline of the oral tradition and the advent of many storage devices besides people's minds for retaining things, ironically the ancient technique has been largely forgotten.<br />
<br />
After trying it, Foer was surprised to find how well the technique worked. Surprisingly, Foer asserts that memory training is not an innate natural talent, and that many such people are also accomplished ATHLETES, as development in this area is about "discipline", "will" & "grit." <br />
<br />
Maybe there is hope for us average folks.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16807369454813226657noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-403721676351581473.post-34145102231327666982011-03-20T16:54:00.038-05:002011-03-21T21:10:53.268-05:00'First of Spring' Marks Turning Point in Legislative Session for Education<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-wRo4mhHIEic/TYZ4fOGoV-I/AAAAAAAAACw/m76Dj81HRto/s1600/am_robin_JFK03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="124" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-wRo4mhHIEic/TYZ4fOGoV-I/AAAAAAAAACw/m76Dj81HRto/s200/am_robin_JFK03.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>While the first day of Spring finally here, the season's first Robin sighting is not :) But signals from the Legislature show things are growing unseasonably warm early this Legislative Session.<br />
<br />
As evidence, Minnesota's House Education Finance Committee will conduct a marathon 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 midnight walk through of the 2011 Omnibus Education bill (HF934) on Monday, March 21st. Public testimony will be taken early in the day, and expert observers believe Omnibus Bills from both the House and Senate could be completed this week-- which would be record speed for the Legislature. <br />
<br />
According to the educationally-earnest folks at <a href="http://www.parentsunited.org/">Parents United for Public Schools</a>, other bills to watch this session include these, some of which may find their way into the Omnibus bill. Each set of companion bills is followed by a few sentences on what I gleaned from the Revisor-provided draft of the House version. (Please don't blame me for trying :) <br />
<br />
<i><b>HF1187</b> Greiling (DFL-Roseville) | <b>SF902</b> Stumpf (DFL-Thief River Falls) Governor’s Education Finance Bill</i><br />
<br />
Deals variously with all-day kindergarten revenue (still optional for districts) , a new Governor's award for educational excellence, achievement gap innovation fund, lease aid for charter schools, and state levy accounting, among other matters.<br />
<br />
<i><b>HF273</b> (Woodard-R-Belle Plaine) | <b>SF388</b> Nienow (R-Cambridge) Students at low-performing schools enrollment options established</i><br />
<br />
Allows students of families at 175% of poverty or lower whose school does not meet certain performance criteria to enroll at nonpublic schools, and carry per pupil and transportation funding with them. Effectively Minnesota's "school voucher" bill<i> </i>(Would take effect for the 2011-12 school year).<br />
<br />
<i><b>HF945</b> (Petersen-R-Andover) | <b>SF636</b> Olson (R-Minnetrista) Teacher licensure, evaluations, and tenure modified</i><br />
<br />
<b>Article I: Teacher Evaluation & Professional Development</b>- a 10-section article concerning:<br />
<br />
Select Sections:<br />
1. Commissioner reporting of school & student growth based on highly reliable statewide or districtwide assessments. (Not mentioned, but possibly applicable, is the <i>Common Core Assessments</i> push being made at the national level.) (Would apply in 2012-13.)<br />
2-5. Directs school boards to develop a professional development model, mentoring, & peer review for both probationary and continuing contract teachers for improving teaching & learning. (Applicable 2013-14.)<br />
6. Proposes a teacher evaluation structure including: <br />
<br />
A. teacher appraisal framework that identifies performance measures for determining teacher effectiveness<br />
B. a mechanism for translating the performance data into a five-part teacher effectiveness rating scale<br />
C. a four-tier status designation that identifies teachers as standard, advanced, distinguished, or exemplary based on a teacher's effectiveness rating over time.<br />
(Section would be applicable the day following enactment.)<br />
<br />
7. Requires school boards to establish staff development advisory committees & site professional development teams-- the majority of whom must be teachers representing various grade levels, subject areas, and special education. The advisory committee must also include nonteaching staff, parents, and administrators. (Section would take effect in 2013-14 school year.)<br />
<br />
9. A school board and the school administrators in a district must collaboratively establish a professional development model for school administrators designed to:<br />
provide professional development to effectively evaluate teachers and identify systemic strengths and weaknesses within a school, among other things. (Section effective 7/1/2012)<br />
<br />
<b>Article II: Teacher Employment</b><br />
<br />
Select Sections:<br />
1. Requires annual school performance report card that includes teacher effectiveness ratings established in Article I. (Would be effective July 1, 2014)<br />
2. Annual contracts and evaluation plan for probationary teachers (under 3 yrs. service)<br />
3-4. Concerns 5-year contracts awarded at end of probationary term & each successive 5 year period based on growth plans and teacher effectiveness system. (Effective 2014-15 and beyond.)<br />
12. Teacher effectiveness based bonuses: Teachers with "distinguished" rating would receive annual bonus equal to 10% of base salary and those with "exemplary" rating could receive bonus equal to 20% of base salary. (Section w/b effective July 1, 2019.)<br />
16. Establishes <i>Advisory Task Force </i>for implementing teacher evaluation structure. (Would be effective the day following enactment.)<br />
<br />
<i><b>HF947</b> (Erickson-R-Princeton) Alternative teacher pay system modified</i><br />
<br />
Refines alternative teacher pay systems (like Q Comp) that <i> </i>reform the traditional "steps and lanes" salary schedules.<br />
For those with existing plans, requires reapplication by June 1, 2013.<i> </i><br />
<br />
<i><b>HF329</b> (Bills-R-Rosemount) | <b>SF577</b> (Thompson-R-Lakeville) Public school employees prohibited from using public funds and resources to advocate to pass, elect, or defeat a political candidate, ballot question, or pending legislation. </i><br />
<br />
No additional comments necessary.<br />
<br />
<i><b>HF638</b> (Myhra-R-Burnsville) School grading system created, school recognition program created, school report cards modified, rulemaking authorized, and report required.</i><br />
<br />
Seeks to establish an "A to F" school and district grading system for identifying schools and districts where students are achieving low, medium, or high growth on statewide assessments. <br />
Under this plan:<br />
<ul><li>50% of a school's grade is based on disaggregated student data for those achieving proficiency in reading and mathematics the previous year</li>
<li>25% of the grade is based on whether students achieved low, medium or high growth on the previous year's reading and mathematics assessments</li>
<li>15% of the grade is based on students who did not achieve proficiency in the previous year's reading assessments</li>
<li>10% of the school's grade is based on students who did not achieve proficiency in the previous year's math assessments</li>
</ul>(For HF 638, data could be collected on 2011-12 for rewards to be distributed in 2012-13.)<br />
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />
It is common for legislators to say they often hear more from constituents on stadium bills than on education matters. For those who think their input will be insignificant: <br />
<br />
Rep. Margaret Anderson Kelliher (D) and Rep. Paul Kohls (R) reinforced the value of constituent-initiated communication during a <i>Midday with Gary Eichten </i>discussion last December: <br />
<br />
"The most powerful thing that a legislator receives today is a handwritten note from anyone," explained Kelliher, who shared the distinction with Kohls of being an outgoing legislator who had recently run for Governor. "The personal story ... the invitation to come out and visit, those sorts of things, do change legislators minds, even if you disagree with that person," Kelliher added.<br />
<br />
In "broad bipartisan agreement," Rep. Kohls said constituent input clearly impacted "how he thought about the issues" before stating: "It's a pretty rare event for legislators to get more than a handful of comments on any one particular issue .... If I got 10 emails on any particular subject, that was a lot of noise made by my constituents ... so I hope people know that."Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16807369454813226657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-403721676351581473.post-86968702733136262472011-03-14T14:49:00.015-05:002011-08-17T11:39:26.910-05:00Take the US Dept of Education's Financial Literacy Challenge<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-X0Q2bvfnwg8/TX598TVswjI/AAAAAAAAACs/OwVjb6ozRT8/s1600/Financial+Literacy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-X0Q2bvfnwg8/TX598TVswjI/AAAAAAAAACs/OwVjb6ozRT8/s200/Financial+Literacy.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><i>8/17/11</i> <i>Resource Addition: See <a href="http://financialentertainment.org/">this</a> for gaming fun that enhances financial literacy skills. </i><br />
<br />
The US Department of Education proved it is about more than mandates & testing by reaching out to high school students with a voluntary 2011 financial literacy challenge from March 7 to April 8.<br />
<br />
Designed to enhance the financial capability of student understanding in saving, budgeting, and investing-- the Challenge is open to any student (age 13-19) whose educator successfully registers, prepares students, and administers the online exam: <a href="http://challenge.treas.gov/">Financial Literacy Challenge Registration</a><br />
<br />
From saving for college and retirement to managing expenses like cell phones, the exam tests a wide array of topics that together constitute a basic understanding of personal finance.<br />
<br />
This joint Dept. of Education and Treasury Dept. outreach effort is consistent with current NCLB reauthorization efforts whose design is to make competitive grants to states & districts that provide a well-rounded curriculum in financial literacy, as well as environmental education, the arts, world languages, and history & civics.<br />
<br />
Later this spring, high-scoring students will be recognized in a national awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. The educators and students who place in the top 20 percent nationwide will receive official award certificates.<br />
<br />
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan offers remarks about the Challenge in this video: <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/uPyQ1u8WqVA?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16807369454813226657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-403721676351581473.post-30986348649282419822011-03-10T21:31:00.009-06:002011-03-11T10:38:55.464-06:00Spring Break Rx: Find Your Student's MCA 'Learning Locator'<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-_rDsJzcUaW0/TXmUpAU_oLI/AAAAAAAAACo/gvs-Mfv2jHc/s1600/AlgebraImage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="118" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-_rDsJzcUaW0/TXmUpAU_oLI/AAAAAAAAACo/gvs-Mfv2jHc/s200/AlgebraImage.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Minnesota public school parents interested in helping support their child's standardized test performance in math need to think 'spring' a bit earlier this year, given the earlier opening of the testing window for the new online MCA III mathematics examination.<br />
<br />
The state's education department is allowing districts to offer their math exams anywhere between 3/28 and 5/20-- two to three weeks earlier than normal-- for the 2010-11 school year. Depending on their given district's individual timing decision, families may want to work on weaknesses identified in the previous administration of the exam, which Minnesota's Department of Education simplified by issuing a "learning locator" number for each student taking the math and reading exams in 2009-10.<br />
<br />
"Learning locators" are contained on the paper copy of the previous year's exam, and some school districts have placed them in their electronically accessible student data systems (District 621 among them). The number can then be entered on the linked Department of Education page to generate practice exercises in areas a student needs to strengthen: <br />
<br />
<a href="http://perspective.pearsonaccess.com/perspective/appmanager/mn/family">'Learning Locator' MCA Practice in Math & Reading </a><br />
<br />
In addition to the earlier administration window of the MCA III math, it is also a brand new version of the exam believed to be more rigorous in terms of the algebra required at the 7th and 8th grade levels. <br />
<br />
As<b> <i>the</i></b> test instrument used to compute <i>Adequate Yearly Progress</i>, or AYP, Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments are<i> the </i>assessment tool of choice for staying in compliance with the federal <i>No Child Left Behind Act.</i> The testing window for administering the paper and pencil <b><i>reading</i></b> MCA II exam is April 11- 29 this year. (Scheduled rollout of the online version of the MCA III reading exam is Spring of 2013).<br />
<br />
<b>MCA Tests Administered in 2010-11 School Year</b><br />
<br />
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: medium none;"><tbody>
<tr> <td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 119.7pt;" valign="top" width="160"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> Subject/Grade</div></td> <td style="border-color: windowtext windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: solid solid solid none; border-width: 1pt 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 119.7pt;" valign="top" width="160"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> 3-8</div></td> <td style="border-color: windowtext windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: solid solid solid none; border-width: 1pt 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 119.7pt;" valign="top" width="160"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> 10 </div></td> <td style="border-color: windowtext windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: solid solid solid none; border-width: 1pt 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 119.7pt;" valign="top" width="160"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> 11</div></td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 119.7pt;" valign="top" width="160"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> Mathematics</div></td> <td style="border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 119.7pt;" valign="top" width="160"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> MCA III</div></td> <td style="border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 119.7pt;" valign="top" width="160"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> --</div></td> <td style="border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 119.7pt;" valign="top" width="160"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> MCA II</div></td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 119.7pt;" valign="top" width="160"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> Reading </div></td> <td style="border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 119.7pt;" valign="top" width="160"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> MCA II</div></td> <td style="border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 119.7pt;" valign="top" width="160"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> MCA II</div></td> <td style="border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 119.7pt;" valign="top" width="160"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> --</div></td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 119.7pt;" valign="top" width="160"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> Science </div></td> <td style="border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 119.7pt;" valign="top" width="160"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> 5<sup>th</sup> & 8<sup>th </sup> </div></td> <td style="border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 119.7pt;" valign="top" width="160"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> (Note 1)</div></td> <td style="border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 119.7pt;" valign="top" width="160"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> (Note 1)</div></td> </tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Note 1: Minnesota students also take an MCA Science exam in the year they have a Life Science course.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Note 2: The 10<sup>th</sup> and 11<sup>th</sup> grade reading and math exams are also <b><i>graduation-standard</i></b> exams each student must pass to receive a diploma. It is possible to pass the MCA exam without passing the GRAD portion of the exam, and vice versa. The new MCA III for 11th grade math is scheduled to be out in Spring 2014.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Note 3: The MCA IIIs for science will be out in Spring 2012. The 2011 test window for the Science MCA IIs is the same as math (March 28th to May 20th).</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">Note 4: A majority of MN public school students take a series of NWEA (MAP) tests from grades 3 to 8, as well as a series known as the EXPLORE, PLAN, and ACT exams in the 8<sup>th</sup>, 10<sup>th</sup>, and 11<sup>th</sup> grades.</div><b> </b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16807369454813226657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-403721676351581473.post-74256013057231631282011-03-07T15:45:00.056-06:002011-06-08T08:50:02.507-05:00Will "Sophia" Be a Game Changer for Educators?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Yo5j_hu7700/TXVfGlNps-I/AAAAAAAAACI/TZlKK2gED8E/s1600/Sophia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Yo5j_hu7700/TXVfGlNps-I/AAAAAAAAACI/TZlKK2gED8E/s1600/Sophia.jpg" /></a></div><i> </i><br />
<i>Sophia uses instructor-recommended lessons at home</i>-- & <i>more effective community learning in class.</i><br />
<i>It's a win-win-win, for students, teachers, and parents alike.</i><br />
<i> </i><br />
Learning lovers, take note! Today is "public rollout" day for Sophia, a brand-new online social teaching platform.<br />
<br />
Judging from the reaction of educators at a January Minnesota Public Radio Forum in St. Paul, "Sophia"-- which is Greek for wisdom-- could be the perfect support structure for unleashing student learning in ways impossible just a few years ago. Sophia, at its core, harnesses Facebook, You Tube, and Twitter by having people voluntarily share what they know through the creation of "learning packets" for others to benefit from.<br />
<br />
Given the connective power recently supplied by those very same platforms in the democratic renewals going on the Middle East, Sophia's being a 'game changer' is a possibility to take seriously.<br />
<br />
How?<br />
<br />
Primarily by allowing educators to "flip" the relationship between work done in class and at home.<br />
<br />
Fred Hennen, a middle school math teacher at Benilde-St. Margaret's in St. Louis Park, uses Sophia to do just that. Employing an instructional approach he calls "backwards math," Hennen requests his students review video lectures at home, expecting them to come to class with the base knowledge gained. Once at school, students have engaging community experiences around the material to be learned.<br />
<br />
Says Hennen on the approach that also allows teachers to build better relationships with class members: "Students are getting the concepts behind the math (not just looking for the quickest route to answers); they are asking better questions; they aren't afraid to ask for help when they get stuck; and they're enjoying math while working harder on it."<br />
<br />
Hennen's success validates this assurance from Sophia Founder & CEO Don Smithmier: "We're not trying to replace the traditional courseroom in any way. We're trying to augment the traditional classroom with some of the social media capabilities that could make that traditional classroom experience even better."<br />
<br />
More instructional freedom sounds encouraging, but does the academic world really need another technological tool? There are more new "things" than education can handle right now goes one rebuttal to the case for Sophia.<br />
<br />
CEO Smithmier: "Whether Sophia exists or not, we already have the same problem. We've done the research , and there are over 3 million searches per month (on academic subjects) by students using the University of Google," he continued. "Sophia is simply trying to get ahead of that by putting a fence around the Internet for an academic site only."<br />
<br />
Sophia then takes additional steps to organize, sort, tag, & filter, before letting students evaluate and self-identified experts analyze-- to provide additional "seals of approval."<br />
<br />
Sophia is totally FREE to any educator, student or person, and it also won't feature any commercial ad within the platform itself. (Smithmier did add the site will feature soft "Made Possible By" messaging of corporate and foundation sponsors-- similar to that aired on public radio.)<br />
<br />
The commercial side of Sophia will enter in when an entire institution or school district decides to take "administrative control, create private licenses, create firewall privacy, and customize what they are doing," according to Smithmier.<br />
<br />
Still a Sophia skeptic?<br />
<br />
Many traditional educators were on hand for the forum, which can be replayed in it's entirety here:<a href="http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/01/31/midmorning1/"> UBS Forum on "Sophia"</a><br />
<br />
Here is some of what they said:<br />
<br />
"Sophia challenges teachers to think about how they are presenting by turning the concept that we're always teaching in the same direction on it's head."--- <i>Mark Garrison, Instructional Technology Coordinator, White Bear Lake.</i><br />
<br />
<i>"</i>It's a great resource for people to be more self-directed, responsible, and capable throughout life."-- <i>David Ally, Director of Cyber Village Charter School.</i><br />
<br />
"Sophia" meets kids where they are at, as it's simply not going to work to sit in front of the room and talk for 20 minutes." The tool is "geared to to providing manageable bits of information kids can access quickly" .... "The internet is a huge world for students and Sophia really tries to narrow that to one source that's important."--- <i>Rebecca Oberg, 10th grade Digital Media English Teacher at Roosevelt High School.</i><br />
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"We don't need 10,000 teachers in this country teaching each concept their own way every day. (Sophia) shows content can be alive and provided in video and other engaging ways."-- <i>Superintendent of West St. Paul Schools.</i><br />
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<i>"</i>Sophia helps alleviate a conundrum in education (by permitting students to learn lessons at different speeds). The problem then becomes what you do with the five fast kids for organizing instruction. It's an exciting set of questions to have to wrestle with."--- <i>Assistant Superintendent from Burnsville district. </i> <br />
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"I have a reservation when anyone thinks they've got the new perfect "thing" in education. What I like about Sophia is the attempt to blend many of the different tools and platforms together, to effectively provide it all."-- <i>Keith Lester, Superintendent Brooklyn Center.</i><br />
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"The answer to education is NOT technology, it's people. <i> </i>By enabling innovation, it allows more people to get involved and engaged."-- <i>Don Smithmier, Sophia Founder & CEO</i>.<br />
<br />
Check out <a href="http://www.sophia.org/">Sophia</a>. Here is an <a href="http://blog.sophia.org/2011/03/site-taps-the-teacher-in-everyone-to-provide-credible-academic-content-for-all/">Official Press Release</a> by the company.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16807369454813226657noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-403721676351581473.post-79825836411772611372011-02-28T22:05:00.026-06:002011-05-18T18:41:24.871-05:00MN's Revised Social Studies Standards Need Buy-In, Relevance & Modernization<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ZCcNHE4P-fM/TWx7B0d7vII/AAAAAAAAACA/xH0yBX39seQ/s1600/SocialStudies.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ZCcNHE4P-fM/TWx7B0d7vII/AAAAAAAAACA/xH0yBX39seQ/s320/SocialStudies.gif" width="320" /></a></div><i>5/18/11 Update: See </i><a href="http://www.startribune.com/local/minneapolis/121870344.html">Minneapolis Middle School's 2011-12 Testing of I Civics to Provide Head Start on Newly Revised MN Social Studies Standards. </a><br />
<i> </i><br />
As a proponent of quality social studies instruction, a proposal for the reissuance of related k-12 standards in Minnesota schools should have folks like me jumping for joy. Unfortunately, that's not the case.<br />
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With the global economic collapse of 2008 and the accelerating democratization of Middle Eastern nations changing the economic and political landscape right before our very eyes, many experts have correctly recognized the entirely new world in which we live, yet the first draft of MN's revised social studies standards could've easily been written in 1961-- not 2011.<br />
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No one should fault education officials for wanting students to know it all, in their proposal for standards in geography, government & civics, economics, and U.S. and World History. But it's the very fact that these subjects have all but fallen off the course offerings of elementary schools that make the draft proposal-- heavy laden in typical "standards speak"-- so unrealistic.<br />
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Most of Minnesota's primary schools are so crunched for course time they can hardly work in one academic quarter of one class period of instruction, so how do state officials expect schools to carve out time to meet new <i>instructional strands</i> in world history, geography, economics, and government & civics in the third grade, much less kindergarten? And maybe you'll agree it might be a little out of order to ask a fourth grader to spend time pondering the merits of the <i>opportunity costs</i> associated with<i> government tradeoffs</i>.<br />
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<a href="http://education.state.mn.us/mde/index.html">View the Draft Document</a> under the <i>Minnesota Revised Social Studies Standards First Draft</i> section on the linked page. <br />
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Besides the fact that events of the last few years have moved students an <b>entire era</b> away from much of what they would be expected to study under the revised standards, there are additional reasons to question the relevance of the standards draft. <br />
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Nowhere in the revised draft are anything close to the two-word phrases <i>environmental education</i> or <i>financial literacy</i> mentioned, although the U.S. Department of Education did see fit to include these subjects as ones to reward states & districts by in its proposed reauthorization of the <i>No Child Left Behind Act.</i> Quite possibly, our highest ranking education officials realize that without <i>civilization critical</i> education in these two areas, future citizens really will be reading about ancient history when looking back to the current time.<br />
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A final critique has to do with that all-important concept of keeping students engaged in academic fields that people generally appreciate more as they age, & not as much during their invincible, and often purposefully ignorant period of youth. In history's case, it's about bringing life to a subject long-known for the rote memorization of dates. <br />
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Given the wide array of modern media delivery methods (e.g. C-Span, History Channel, podcasting, & websites from <i>iCivics </i>to <i>Animated Atlas</i>), maybe it's time for Minnesota's Education Department to recommend, if not expressly define, alternate methods for meeting standards in a given area. For at the end of a student's k-12 career, perhaps the most important aptitude a graduating senior will take away is how to be a selective & wise public affairs consumer living in a sea of choice, as well as in a <i>just-in-time</i> (vs. <i>just in case</i>) <i>learning society.</i><br />
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And until then .... to reemphasize an earlier point .... has anyone asked the affected instructors at our primary and secondary schools what standards might work?<br />
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The draft document referred to above offers a <i>Submit Your Comments on the Draft</i> section for teachers and laypersons to do just that. You should also feel free to leave them at the end of this post, or by sending them to me directly.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16807369454813226657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-403721676351581473.post-16582912440892814582011-02-23T16:37:00.016-06:002011-11-05T07:43:33.866-05:00Mounds View To Lead State With 100% ACT Exam ParticipationFor strong District 621 communications, Please vote <a href="http://hakesfordistrict621.com/">'John Hakes for Mounds View School Board'</a> on November 8th !!<br />
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<i>Dear Reader: You might also enjoy <a href="http://theacademicvillage.blogspot.com/search/label/ACT%20Writing%20Proposal">The ACT-Plus Writing Exam as a College-Ready Proficiency Standard</a>. </i><br />
<br />
Feb. 22--The Mounds View School Board heard plans from personnel regarding District 621's intent to have 100% of its juniors taking the ACT exam this April.<br />
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Calling it a "unique Mounds View experience" (i.e. no other district in the state is doing this), Curriculum Director RoAnne Elliott said the exam's administration will ready students for a "wide range of choices" when they graduate. Elliott said the move will also send a "ripple effect across the system" that the path to post secondary experiences doesn't start in high school, but a lot earlier than that.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xRipleQ5vXE/TWWGRB2oGKI/AAAAAAAAAB8/N2kgdA1G7yU/s1600/test.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xRipleQ5vXE/TWWGRB2oGKI/AAAAAAAAAB8/N2kgdA1G7yU/s320/test.jpg" width="320" /></a>To help make students & families aware, Elliott and Mary Roden, Director of Assessments & Evaluation, shared a comprehensive plan being for optimizing student success. <br />
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First, the District's <i>Naviance Access System</i> (available to all students at home or from school) has been beefed up to include diagnostic exams in core subject areas, test-taking strategies, and full-length tests on line. Additionally, sophomores whose results on the 10th grade PLAN test illustrate a need for assistance will receive special support from 621.<br />
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On Saturday, March 5, ISD 621 will provide a full-length, timed, practice administration of the ACT. March 26th students will be given feedback on that performance. These tools, along with the "home field advantage" of administering the exam at its two high schools and area learning center, should increase opportunity for success.<br />
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Board member Bob Helgeson raised the concern that 100% of students being tested will likely cause Mounds View's average ACT score--a perennial strong suit of the district-- to drop.<br />
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"If the number does drop, it doesn't mean we have less rigorous courses at our schools," said Mary Roden, "and it will provide a new baseline for attacking curriculum and instruction in our schools." <br />
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April 27th, the Wednesday of the administration, will also have 9th and 10th graders practicing timed tests (although not ACT exams) with the 11th graders. High school principals Wikelius and Gengler are gearing up for an atypical day. ACT, Inc.'s testing "constructs" will require the test sites to follow prescribed schedules with no lunch period for students, with students working on through an approximate 1:30 release time for the day. Seniors will be given the 27th off, in hopes they will use the time to finalize their college plans for the subsequent year.<br />
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If you would like to hear the official ACT prep. report for yourself, see agenda item "5.3 ACT- Test Prep" at the following link:<br />
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<a href="http://mvsb.nsacwebcasts.com/viewer.php?id=2971">621 "ACT Test Prep" Video Clip</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16807369454813226657noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-403721676351581473.post-54719367842842751772011-02-22T22:27:00.004-06:002011-02-24T10:13:17.962-06:00Cure Insomnia With Analyses of "Student Performance Spending"Recently, I completed this "brief" for a public policy course I am enrolled in at UMD.<br />
In case you just cannot bring yourself to read it, the shorthand is this--<br />
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National leaders both in and out of the Education Department are trending toward district control through granting and accountability measures.<br />
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The <i>Center for American Progress</i> and <i>Comptroller of Public Accounts </i>(TX) have both produced studies for measuring "student performance indexes for the dollar" in the country and state of Texas.<br />
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<a href="http://www.scribd.com/full/49369140?access_key=key-2otxmyohjns7orsg5lu9">Summary: Education Spending & Student Performance </a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NiajJ28uqlA/TWSKbExJG7I/AAAAAAAAAB4/_ZPHE-pSWs8/s1600/education-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NiajJ28uqlA/TWSKbExJG7I/AAAAAAAAAB4/_ZPHE-pSWs8/s320/education-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16807369454813226657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-403721676351581473.post-36289720644552327042011-02-20T15:52:00.130-06:002011-02-23T12:56:02.417-06:00Lift Popular Culture's Curtain to Help Students Find Their America<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Recently, my wife and I tuned into a broadcast of the Grammy Awards that are given to top musical artists. While not expecting it to feature my favorite music, staying socially literate does have its value, and you never know when there might be a new song to like.<br />
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"This is the Grammy Awards?" my wife asked in an astonished voice, at the visual of the stage performers dodging flames in costumes that concealed their humanity. <br />
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"Yep, this is America-- important to know what's out there," I replied.<br />
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"It may be your America," she responded. "But it's not my America." <br />
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A person's country can be a lot of things. Without getting too philosophical here, that is especially true of free countries. Thank God ours is the most free of 'em all. But it is also plausible that we often allow culture to be defined by a celebrity-based media having little relationship to value in our country.<br />
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Okay, enough from the pulpit-- the opening entry of this blog promised resources, so resources you will get. How might a person help a student acquire a set of "Only in America" knowledge, experience and skills?<br />
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One approach is to turn off all the household boxes once in awhile & get out in the field.<br />
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If you know an adult student interested in a blend of historical mystery, natural wonder, and a learning experience second to none, you might consider an archaeological expedition at the estate of one of America's founding families: <br />
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<a href="http://www.montpelier.org/explore/archaeology/fieldschools.php">Montpelier's Archaeology Field School</a> (For Seniors or College-Aged)<br />
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<a href="http://www.montpelier.org/archaeologyprograms/">Montpelier Expedition Programs</a> (For Adults of Any Age)<br />
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Perhaps you heard about the discovery of chess pieces possibly used by two founding fathers. This archaeological program of 15 years is where that occurred. Now, not every expedition yields pieces so interesting. But even the discovery of horseshoes with people trained to interpret them, is amazing, as I learned during a 2010 school ... <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/education/local_schools/article_e3cfe584-3953-11e0-9284-001cc4c03286.html"><br />
</a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/education/local_schools/article_e3cfe584-3953-11e0-9284-001cc4c03286.html"><br />
</a> <object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/UMK0YCal_dg/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UMK0YCal_dg?f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UMK0YCal_dg?f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gNv24pooQiA/TWGeNPyWIaI/AAAAAAAAAB0/wW0UVoKtOis/s1600/036_36.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gNv24pooQiA/TWGeNPyWIaI/AAAAAAAAAB0/wW0UVoKtOis/s320/036_36.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Montpelier (the home) was reopened to visitors in 2008, after a major project restored it to the "Madison era"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">of our fourth U.S. president.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_4RGJEY_bAc/TVrDxRPrVGI/AAAAAAAAABM/0CUYfDJ-Tq0/s1600/044_44.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_4RGJEY_bAc/TVrDxRPrVGI/AAAAAAAAABM/0CUYfDJ-Tq0/s320/044_44.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The Montpelier Estate is near Camp McGowan, a Civil War encampment used in the winter of 1863.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">What's really fantastic about this travel experience is getting to sleep in camps like this one--- wink wink! Volunteers</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">stay instead at a nearby house that had a new addition put on to it for this year's programs. Let me know if you would like additional information about this alternative cultural experience :)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16807369454813226657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-403721676351581473.post-54100365009322742892011-02-17T19:12:00.021-06:002011-02-23T12:57:11.605-06:00"Must See": Center for American Progress Map on School District EfficiencyReturn on investment, or ROI, is a concept familiar to the private sector. But as government budgets tighten, there have been renewed calls to quantify a very old debate-- how much money is enough in public education? <br />
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Unlikely as it is this question can ever be answered to everyone's satisfaction, The <i>Center for American Progress </i>has taken a crack at it, in conducting yearlong effort to study the efficiency of the nation’s public education system. This study represents the first-ever attempt to evaluate the productivity of almost every major school district in the country.<br />
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Productivity is defined as the academic achievement of a school district relative to its educational spending, while controlling for factors outside a district’s influence, such as cost of living and students in poverty. This link provides very ready-to-read and color-coded tables, maps, summaries & related links to the full report compiled: <br />
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<a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/01/educational_productivity/">Adobe Flash District Efficiency Graphic</a><br />
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State Highlights: Operating on what is a 1 to 6 scale (using color graphics) each district with more than 250 students is evaluated in this report. Achievement index and per pupil spending were factored into the <i>Center for American Progress' </i>methodology, with the distribution for Minnesota's 291 qualifying districts being (according to a quick perusal):<br />
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<b><u>Rating</u> </b> <u><b># Districts</b></u> <u><b>%</b></u><br />
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High 40 14<br />
Above Avg 67 23<br />
Good 53 18<br />
Fair 26 9<br />
Below Avg 64 22<br />
Poor <u> 41</u> <u> 14</u><br />
Total 291 100<br />
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Interestingly in Minnesota, the High & Low categories, as well as the Above Average and Below Average groupings, are almost mirror images of each other. In looking at the state's regions from a high level, it appears that most metropolitan districts (save Minneapolis and St. Paul) are above average, while many in the north central corridor of greater Minnesota have a lower retrurn on their academic investment. Check out the link above to see how your district or region of the state is faring!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16807369454813226657noreply@blogger.com0