Research on Obama/Duncan Turn Around Schools

A lot of attention is being given to the idea of school "turnarounds" lately — the concept of taking a poorly performing school and drastically changing the staff, curricula, or other elements in an effort to make it much better. But a study underlines just how hard it is to actually turn around a failing school. The study, Are Bad Schools Immortal?, examined more than 2,000 of the worst-performing district and charter schools in 10 states over five years. It found that very few of them closed, and even fewer — about 1 percent — truly "turned around." Link to Full Story

Videotaping for Evaluating and Training Teachers

With a push from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, other nonprofits, and the federal Race to the Top funding opportunities, 20 states are revamping their teacher evaluation systems. One tool they will likely include in developing better systems for evaluating teacher instruction is digital videotaping.

Videotaping is expected to be used to enhance the value-added assessment, a model used by many school districts to determine the contribution each teacher makes to a student's learning in a given year, which is then compared to other teachers' performance. Critics say that the assessment by itself, which is based on comparing students' grades, gives an incomplete picture of a teacher's overall performance.

The notion of videotaping is being explored through Gates-funded research, conducted by social scientists and teachers and headed by Harvard economist Thomas Kane. The videotaped classroom lessons would be scored by education experts and used not only to evaluate teachers, but also to train them on what works and what doesn't in terms of improving student performance. Such videotaping also could help administrators and teachers understand why some teachers are more successful than others. They can then use the successful teachers' videos as models for how to deliver better instruction. The researchers expect to have about 24,000 videotaped lessons by summer. Hundreds of educators will then be trained to score the lessons, a process headed by the Educational Testing Service. 

Source:www.nytimes.com/2010/12/04/education/04teacher.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=a23&pagewanted=print

Bedouin School in Israel

I was recently very fortunate to have the opportunity to visit a Bedouin school in Israel. 

Most Bedouins live on the desert in a nomadic lifestyle; however, Israel has established a Bedouin community where familities live in modern homes.  

This elementary school and a secondary school are located in the community.  Children who still live in tents in the traditional lifestyle are bussed to school under the Israeli requirement that all children ages six to sixteen receive free public education, similar to American children.    Beginning in grade four, Israeli children study three languages--Hebrew, Arabic, and English.

Cloud Computing Tri-Creek Strategy for 21st Century Learning Skills

Tech Director Bob Hopper is moving Tri-Creek toward cloud computing to support 21st Century Learning Skills in our classrooms.  Using cloud computing resources such as those provided by Google eliminates the need for storage space for files on a local server and saves money! 

In addition, our students can access email, productivity tools (word processing, data base, spreadsheet, presentation software), and their own documents stored at the remote site from anywhere at any time as long as they have computer and Internet access.  Such access supports activities which engage students in problem solving, communication, and collaboration skills across the classroom, district, state, nation, and world!

Network administrator John Toma has set up a Google domain for Tri-Creek which now  allows some students at the middle and high schools to access all of the tools free of charge.  The goal is access for all students in grades 4-12, and perhaps to younger children as determined by their teachers' instructional strategies. 

Illinois Teacher Sings Science Lessons to Students Using YouTube

A junior-high school teacher in Illinois is singing science lessons set to popular music and posting the recorded lessons on YouTube. Doug Edmonds rewrites the lyrics to popular songs such as ABBA's "Dancing Queen" with lessons on chemical bonds and other science concepts. He also holds diagrams and flash cards to accompany the songs.

"If I'm ever struggling on a quiz, I'll just sort of sing them to myself," one student said. "People are going around singing them in the hallways. They're actually really catchy."Link to Full Story.

Indiana Student Achievement Brighter than Daniels and Bennett Say

If you would like to read some positive information about the achievement level of Indiana students, please access the article below written by Stephanie Salter.  She points out that much of the negative press about public schools is selected to sway the general public toward the political agenda of charter schools and privatization. 

Please read and judge for yoursel!

Stephanie Salter Article