Robotic learning
WALL-E becomes a teacher? Robotics labs around the world are experimenting with a new role for robots: educator. The concept behind it is simple, namely that interactive teaching is much more effective than the passive kind.
WALL-E becomes a teacher? Robotics labs around the world are experimenting with a new role for robots: educator. The concept behind it is simple, namely that interactive teaching is much more effective than the passive kind.
To oppose “results-based accountability” in education is close to a taboo nowadays, a position so antithetical to the spirit of the age that few dare mention it. Let us, therefore, declare ourselves shocked and saddened that Harvard University, in so many ways a pacesetter in education, is embracing that very position.
Minnesota, birthplace of charter schools, may soon claim another frontier: becoming the first state to allow a teachers' union to be a charter authorizer. Antithetical, you say? One of the hallmarks of most charter schools is their lack of unionization, which allows more flexibility to hire, fire, and assign staff, and to structure the school day differently.
If we were to list the lessons learned from charter schools, it would probably look like this: By breaking down bureaucratic and procedural barriers, these schools have opened the education market to innovators, fresh thinking, and experimentation. But simply unlocking the gates didn’t necessarily produce quality—good rules are different from no rules.
?There are a lot of folks on both sides who are pretty committed to keeping the debate alive on these terms, but I think on the overall balance scale, this study adds weight to the side that is suggesting that simply talking about charters versus noncharters is a distraction. There needs to be much more nuance.?
In need of belt tightening
Anyone from Cleveland has definitely been feeling down in the dumps lately, but this recent article from the Los Angeles Times has me feeling particul
Today's Dayton Daily News lifts up Fordham's latest book, Ohio's Education Reform Challenges: Lessons from the Front Lines, which describes our history in the charter school movement in Dayton and what
?Calling this a ?burden? on the district is irresponsible and just distracts people from the true and large areas of waste burdening the school systems.? - Jay P. Greene, professor of education reform, Arkansas University
Yesterday Spain beat Netherlands to secure its first World Cup win in history. There is much to be said about the match, and the entire 2010 games, really ? like the fact that yesterday's?
Greg Richmond, president and CEO of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, penned a?thoughtful op-ed in Education Week about what constitutes ?quality? when it comes to charter school governing boards. Richmond's piece couldn't be more timely.
?We're excited about it because it's the same benchmarks for students regardless of where you live. The standards are so much more clear and understandable, more consistent, more rigorous and aligned a lot more with college and beyond when kids graduate.?
Back in February, I made this dire prediction about how the School Improvement Fund would play out.
I've been monumentally disappointed with the complete lack of nuance and in the education reform community's debate about the Obey amendment to HR 4899, aka Edujobs.
It seems the days when school children presented their teachers with apples are changing now that Steve Jobs is involved ?
?The debate unfolding on Capitol Hill isn't about facts.? It's about politics and the stranglehold the teachers unions have on the Democratic Party.? ?The Washington Post Editorial Board
Philip Gleason, Melissa Clark, Christina Clark Tuttle, and Emily DwoyerInstitute for Education SciencesJune 2010
Robin Lake, Brianna Dusseault, Melissa Brown, Allison Demeritt, and Paul HillCenter on Reinventing Public Education, University of Washington and Mathematica Policy ResearchJune 2010
It used to be that a bully would punch Johnny in the nose and steal his lunch money. Now, he or she’s more likely to write a nasty note on Johnny’s Facebook wall and send a withering rebuke to his cell phone via text message. And he or she is more likely to do it outside of school time. So what’s a school to do?
After many rounds of election-time Kumbaya, both of the nation’s big teacher unions seem to have had it with Change We Can Believe In. Nobody from the Obama administration will speak at either the American Federation of Teachers or National Education Association conventions this summer.
Is Savannah’s Alfred Ely Beach High a “failing school”? After hiring a new principal in 2005, its graduation rate rose from 49 to 66 percent. Most students now meet state standards. Its school choir was even invited to sing at President Obama’s inauguration. But after seven years on the state’s academic watch list, it’s now primed for state takeover.
How much does a track record matter? Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says a lot. That’s why he’s encouraging the LA Unified School District to hand over more schools to charter operators in this year’s round of school takeover bids.
Yesterday Netherlands knocked out Uruguay and became the first team to advance to the World Cup 2010 finals, making a lot of fans happy.
Arne Duncan is losing favor quickly with the NEA, but this teacher likes a lot of what he has to say.
?We passed [national standards] as what was best for Wyoming. It was not attached to any kind of federal reason at all.? ?Sandra Barton, Chair of the Wyoming State Board of Education
It was the 4th of July this weekend, and a blistering heat wave swept the east coast, but Congressman Obey's welcome might be cold enough for Arne Duncan.