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By Dr. Harry Tennant
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by Dan S. Martin
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Monday, January 31, 2011 In The News: New AP Biology Release Tomorrow; U.S. History Delayed Several of the Advanced Placement courses are being re-written and the "College Board" has set a 90% teacher 'approval rating' as a measure of when they are ready for implementation. The measure is based upon whether surveyed teachers indicated that the test was on "the right path"...indicating significant improvement over the prior test. Biology passed, with 95% of sampled biology teachers indicating an improvement over the prior test. History is not ready for prime-time. Only 70% of history teachers indicated the proposed test would be "a change for the better." Accordingly, its release has been delayed a year. Some key text from the article is quoted below. The much more lengthy and detailed article can be accessed by clicking the web page image of the article. "While the College Board plans to unveil a sweeping revision to Advanced Placement biology courses on Tuesday, it is delaying similar changes in United States history by a year to address concerns from high school teachers. The changes in both subjects are part of a broad revamping of A.P. courses and exams to reduce memorization and to foster analytic thinking. But while the new biology curriculum is specific about what material needs to be covered, some teachers complained that parts of the history course seemed vague, and the board said it needed more time to clarify what should be studied. Board officials said they expected to publish the new United States history curriculum next fall. That curriculum will now take effect in the 2013-14 school year, they said, rather than in 2012-13, when the new biology program is to begin." "...the new biology curriculum (will) be posted Tuesday on the board’s Web site. He said the board planned to make similar changes in its world, European and art history courses, as well as in chemistry and physics." Posted at 1:29 PM (permalink)
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Sunday, January 30, 2011 In The News: Hiring Freeze Will Likely Not Be Enough In Many Texas School DistrictsA district very close to my heart--->Denton ISD could face a 20% budget cut. That will come with a side order of more students and increased testing accountability. Posted at 1:00 AM (permalink)
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Saturday, January 29, 2011 Pass It On Education Tools: Response To Intervention? Might As Well Go To The Source!Many schools and districts have developed and implemented Response To Intervention (RTI) plans. Others have that task ahead of them. Regardless of where your school or district is at on this time line, chances are that many professionals on your staff do not know enough about RTI. The resources below can help! The American Institutes for Research, supported by the U.S. Department of Education, developed RTI. They have an excellent web site that describes it as follows: "Response to intervention integrates assessment and intervention within a multi-level prevention system to maximize student achievement and to reduce behavior problems. With RTI, schools identify students at risk for poor learning outcomes, monitor student progress, provide evidence-based interventions and adjust the intensity and nature of those interventions depending on a student’s responsiveness, and identify students with learning disabilities or other disabilities. To learn more about RTI, see the Essential Components of RTI – A Closer Look at Response to Intervention."  Check It Out! Pass It On! Posted at 7:21 PM (permalink)
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Friday, January 28, 2011 Parent Involvement: Epstein's Six Types Of Parent Involvement“Joyce Epstein of Johns Hopkins University has developed a framework for defining six different types of parent involvement. The framework assists educators in developing school and family partnership programs…. Epstein’s framework defines the six types of involvement and lists sample practices or activities to describe the involvement more fully. Her work also describes the challenges inherent in fostering each type of parent involvement as well as the expected results of implementing them for students, parents, and teachers.” Epstein's framework pictured below, as well as other parent involvement facts & references can be found in: "What Research Says About Parent Involvement In Children's Education: In Relation To Academic Achievement," Michigan Department of Education, March 2002. (Download a copy by clicking the title above)  Posted at 4:47 PM (permalink)
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Thursday, January 27, 2011 Pass It On Education Tools: Flash Card ExchangeThis web tool seems rather cool. I would have loved this resource when I was a student!  Their flash card library can be searched using the terms above, or by typing in a custom search. I clicked "History" above and got the following...  It is free to access cards and study them. Full membership is $19.95. Other pricing details can be found here.
I have no affiliation with this company. I just think it is a neat idea! Check It Out! Pass It On! Posted at 1:44 PM (permalink)
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Thursday, January 27, 2011 Trends: Texas School Finance Reform Long On Proponents, Short On SolutionsThe bill below is a fairly succinct statement of dissatisfaction with the means of public school financing in Texas--->property taxation. Like most such statements it is incomplete (in that it lacks any proposed solution), but it does express the strong sentiment that something different must be done. It seems to me like the bill, introduced by Texas State Representative Phil King, is but one more push towards fundamental reform. Having said that, Texas seems quite a long way from sharing public school resources equally. Boy, this school finance reform is contentious business. Is it Robin Hood....or are we in this together? Where are the boundaries of "our" territory? Global, national, state, regional, local, or a 1000-piece puzzle (districts) within our diverse state? Does it take a village to raise a child...or a state...or a nation...or a world?  This seems like more of a call to action than anything. Notice that "repeal" of the Texas Education Code January 1, 2016 would only occur if an amendment is passed in the 2011 legislative session that would create an alternate plan by that time. Not likely. Posted at 9:48 AM (permalink)
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Wednesday, January 26, 2011 Accountability: Parents In Florida May Receive Grades From The Teachers Of Their ChildrenThis is something most of us educators have dreamed of...holding parents accountable...but what if you actually had to assign grades? Consider the implications of that! I doubt this gets much traction---and at any rate it is proposed only through third grade---but it is an intriguing topic many of us would like more attention paid to---->the need for active, informed, and constructive parental involvement in the education of young people. The CNN.com video story below is entitled, "Florida Lawmaker Wants Teachers To Grade Parents." I'm guessing pure pragmatism would result in a bit of grade inflation! Posted at 4:36 PM (permalink)
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Wednesday, January 26, 2011 Trends: Lyrics Can Be So Hard To Get Out Of Your HeadWhatever your take on 'learning styles' research (a topic that will be the subject of posts coming soon), it is clear that teachers are trying most anything and everything to get information across to students. Many are trying to teach through music...which is a trend I favor! Having said that, there is stuff out there worthy of nothing but the effort...while there is other stuff (like my post "History For Music Lovers") that is darn near professionally produced. While many such resources are free (thus the wide variance in quality), today I was introduced to a company that markets hip-hop music video-based lessons on various subjects/topics. I've only seen one example of their work. It is a tribute to the MLK "I Have A Dream" theme and is embedded below. I thought it was a bit edgy, but worth consideration as an instructional supplement. I'd be interested to review their other offerings. What are your thoughts? Can greater integration of music into instruction across the curriculum result in greater student achievement? Why have we under-utilized this powerful tool to-date? Have we? Should our entire curriculum (at least the knowledge base) be put to song?! I guess the question then remains the same: to whose song?! The video above is part of a lesson marketed by "Flocabulary: Hip-Hop In The Classroom." Click here to see their offerings.  Just for the record: I have absolutely no affiliation with this company. Posted at 2:10 PM (permalink)
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Tuesday, January 25, 2011 In The News: Is Texas Preparing To Rob The Cradle?Is this the sort of symptom the Romans were experiencing a couple of thousand years ago? Is this yet another symptom of the decline of one of the greatest "powers" the world has ever known? Can there be a healthy, dynamic democracy and market system without having a healthy education system? It seems like we are in a cycle of demanding more from schools...but providing less to accomplish that end. It hasn't just started with this financial crisis...nor this budget. The "growth" in public education spending over the past decades was due primarily to the growth of special programs (particularly, special education). Bottom line, we are asking fewer people to do much more with less time. It seems that the cuts could start to reach the depth of major arteries this go-around in Texas. Am I wrong? Are we willing to invest in young people to keep our country from growing "old?" Do we already invest too much? And so on...and so on. Here is a video story from last night on WFAA.com. You can also find the story in print here. Posted at 9:13 AM (permalink)
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Monday, January 24, 2011 Accountability: The California School GuideA couple of months ago I posted about the availability of individual teacher accountability data on the Los Angeles Times web site. Users can access any teacher's data, at any time...simply by visiting the site. Well, the same exists for California schools. "The California School Guide is the Los Angeles Times' database of test scores, demographics and reader comments about California's public, charter and private schools."  Click here to access the LA Times "California School Guide" web page Posted at 8:19 AM (permalink)
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Saturday, January 22, 2011 In The News: Texas District Sued After Student Suicide On CampusOne of my former districts is in the news. Lewisville ISD is being sued by the parents of a nine-year old boy who hung himself in the bathroom of the nurse's office at Stewart Creek Elementary. Among those being sued by the boy's parents----->the principal and the school nurse. His parents attribute the boy's suicide to a pattern of persistent bullying that was not recognized or acted upon by school personnel. My experience working in LISD for nine years (three as an administrator) was that we administrators, nurses, teachers, and counselors were not only well-trained to address discipline matters such as bullying...but we were very aggressive and thorough about creating a safe, secure learning environment for each child. Granted, there are about 60 campuses in LISD, but what I do know is that anti-social behavior of any type was addressed proactively and rather successfully on all three campuses I served on. We took pride in that. We genuinely cared about our young people. Watch the WFAA.com news story below
The written story and this embedded video may be accessed at WFAA.com here! Posted at 4:13 PM (permalink)
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Friday, January 21, 2011 Pass It On Education Content: A Brighter Day Could Be Just Around The CornerIn the dumps? Wish you could have more sunshine in your life? It may happen in 2012...or within the next million years or so at least. If you know a Science teacher...or just an inquiring mind... Posted at 4:40 PM (permalink)
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Friday, January 21, 2011 Discipline: Tips From American Academy Of Child & Adolescent PsychiatryParents and educators can afford to constantly reevaluate the fundamentals of how they discipline young people. Here is some general guidance from the AACAP: There are different styles and approaches to parenting. Research shows that effective parents raise well-adjusted children who are more self-reliant, self-controlled, and positively curious than children raised by parents who are punitive, overly strict (authoritarian), or permissive. Effective parents operate on the belief that both the child and the parent have certain rights and that the needs of both are important. Effective parents don't need to use physical force to discipline the child, but are more likely to set clear rules and explain why these rules are important. Effective parents reason with their children and consider the youngsters' points of views even though they may not agree with them. The following are tips for effective parental discipline:
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Friday, January 21, 2011 Trends: Values In An Age Of RelativismValues---where do they come from? Who should teach them? Is this a major function of the home? School? Community? Check out this video of a football play below. Is this an o.k. lesson for young people at this age? Notice the web site featured below the short football video. It is worth checking out. In contradiction to the video above, what do you think about the video on the web site below called "sportsmanship?" I wish that I could just embed the "Sportsmanship" video from Values.com...but they ask that we not do that. You can see the link for it at the bottom right portion of the screen shot below. Their site really does have a ton of great video on the topic of values.  Is this video on Sportsmanship realistic? In an ideal world, but...? Posted at 10:08 AM (permalink)
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Thursday, January 20, 2011 In The News: SOME Of Our Public Schools (Communities) Are Failing; Not All...As Some Documentaries & The Media Can Lead You To BelieveOn December 30th, I posted a triumphant message: "Teenage Birth Rate Continues To Decline...At Record Rate." In fact, as the article notes, teenage birth rates nationwide are the lowest they have been since the 1940s. So, what does that say about a school (community) where one high school, Frayser High in Memphis TN, has 800 students of which 90 are either pregnant or already have a baby? That suggests that about 20% of the female student population has a baby or is pregnant. Time for action. The CNN story below: Posted at 3:30 PM (permalink)
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Thursday, January 20, 2011 Photo Of The Day: Closer Look At A Hat We Could All Wear From Time To Time!Photo Of The Day--- The Dunce Cap in the preceding photo provoked a reaction worthy of a closer look! Leave a comment below if you'd like! Posted at 2:14 PM (permalink)
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Thursday, January 20, 2011 Photo Of The Day: Yes, That Is A Genuine Dunce Cap In The CornerPhoto Of The Day--- One Room Schoolhouse in Arizona (1885). This is the oldest standing schoolhouse in Arizona.  The photo is on Flickr here, and it includes a very interesting history of the building of this facility. From the choice of the spot the school sits on, to the materials used for building it, the photographer provides a detailed description. Credit: The photographer is Al_HikesAZ. The photo was taken on August 21, 2010. Posted at 10:12 AM (permalink)
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Wednesday, January 19, 2011 Pass It On Education Tools: TetraxisThis is a hot new educational toy! So hot...it is currently back-ordered. Once you see it, the back-order list will probably grow at least one more unit! A very basic promotional video is above.  Check It Out! Pass It On! Posted at 1:15 PM (permalink)
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Wednesday, January 19, 2011 In The News: Less To Do More--- Except In The Governor's OfficeTexas education will not be sparred in the intense belt-tightening to come. Here are some quotes from WFAA.com coverage...and the entire article link and embedded video can be found below that: "Public education in Texas is facing billions in proposed budget cuts that would include slashing arts education, pre-kindergarten programs and teacher incentive pay as lawmakers take on a massive deficit with the promise of no new taxes. School board members in the Plano Independent School District have already foreseen problems and have begun to take action. Wednesday night, the board voted to go ahead with layoffs of clerical and administrative workers to help shave $10 million off the budget. So far, there are no plans for teacher layoffs. Lawmakers got their first glimpse of what the next state budget might look like late Tuesday, including the $5 billion cut to public schools, as Republican Gov. Rick Perry and his supporters were dancing at an inaugural celebration.""....Some analysts say the true shortfall could be much higher than $15 billion — closer to $27 billion — to account for enrollment growth in public schools and on Medicaid rolls, cost increases and other variables. That figure amounts to almost a third of discretionary state spending in the current budget. The proposal would make public school finance reform legislation almost inevitable. It also would mean about 100,000 children would no longer have access to pre-kindergarten, schools won't get help building new science labs and would end a program that helps students earn promotion to the next grade. "...The state's contributions to the state employee retirement fund would be reduced from 6.95 percent to 6 percent, less than what is needed to maintain the fund, according the Legislative Budget Board. The base budget proposes a similar cut in contributions to the Teacher Retirement Fund. While almost every other state agency would see a reduction in employees, the average number of full-time employees in Perry's office over the next two fiscal years would go to 132 from an average of 120." Posted at 12:00 PM (permalink)
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Tuesday, January 18, 2011 In The News: Gender-Specific Schools In Fort Worth ISDIn a recent post, I briefly introduced Fort Worth ISD's Gold Seal Programs of Choice & Schools of Choice. One form of choice they currently have is a girls-only school. It opened in August and the article below documents how top-notch their attendance and other performance indicators have been. One particularly interesting quote from the story: "A U.S. Department of Education survey determined that 67 percent of studies found single-gender schools had a positive effect on achievement scores." Plans to establish FWISD's first boys-only school are meeting with a bit of resistance, however. Click to the WFAA.com article below for more details on both schools. Or, simply watch the embedded video below that!  Posted at 6:55 PM (permalink)
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Tuesday, January 18, 2011 Pass It On Education Tools: NASA for Educators & StudentsNASA has a spectacular web presence, including this page for educators and students. It is packed with resources, including teaching materials, interactives, and other government-funded goodies!  I bet you know a Science teacher who would appreciate this link! Check It Out! Pass It On! Posted at 5:24 PM (permalink)
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Tuesday, January 18, 2011 Trends: Education Can Take Us In All Kinds Of DirectionsA few days ago I posted a couple of neat videos from a series entitled, "Doodling In Math Class." The creator is a young lady named Vi Hart who is featured in this rather interesting New York Times article. A few quotes from the article to further introduce you: "....She calls herself a full-time recreational mathemusician, an off-the-beaten-path choice with seemingly limited prospects. And for most of the two years since she graduated from Stony Brook University, life as a recreational mathemusician has indeed been a meager niche pursuit.
Then, in November, she posted on YouTube a video about doodling in math class, which married a distaste for the way math is taught in school with an exuberant exploration of math as art." At second glance, the intertwining of art and math seems to be the family business. Her father, George W. Hart, builds sculptures based on geometric forms. His day job until last year was as a computer science professor at Stony Brook; he is now chief of content for the Museum of Mathematics, which is looking to open in Manhattan next year. The summer Ms. Hart was 13, she tagged along with her father to a computational geometry conference. “And I was hooked, immediately,” she said. “It was so different from school, where you are surrounded by this drudgery and no one is excited about it. Any gathering of passionate people is fun, really no matter what they’re doing. And in this case, it was mathematics.”  Posted at 10:11 AM (permalink)
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Monday, January 17, 2011 Photo Of The Day: New Life Magazine Photos Of The 1961 Freedom RidesCNN presents six never-before published Life Magazine photos from the Freedom Rides of spring, 1961.  Check It Out! Pass It On!
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Monday, January 17, 2011 Pass It On Education Content: Muppet Names Venn Diagrammed!This would be a cute piece to use during an introduction to Venn Diagrams. I thought it was quite clever! I bet you know another educator who might like this. Pass It On!  Click here to download a larger copy of the image! credit: www.collegehumor.com Check It Out! Pass It On! Posted at 1:52 PM (permalink)
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Monday, January 17, 2011 Pass It On Education Content: MLK Day Information And ResourcesTwenty-five years in observance. From Wikipedia: "Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a United States federal holiday marking the birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is observed on the third Monday of January each year, which is around the time of King's birthday, January 15. The floating holiday is similar to holidays set under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, though the act predated the establishment of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day by fifteen years. King was the chief spokesman for nonviolent activism in the civil rights movement, which successfully protested racial discrimination in federal and state law. The campaign for a federal holiday in King's honor began soon after his assassination in 1968. Ronald Reagan signed the holiday into law in 1983, and it was first observed on January 20, 1986. At first, some states resisted observing the holiday as such, giving it alternative names or combining it with other holidays. It was officially observed in all 50 states for the first time in 2000." View the entire Wikipedia entry here. Beyond that simple Wikipedia reference, the website below is sponsored by The Corporation For National And Community Service. It is loaded with information and action plans for those who want to make MLK Day more than just another date on their calendar.
Check It Out! Pass It On!
Posted at 10:10 AM (permalink)
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