Movement Against Standardized Testing Grows As Parents Opt Out Teaching Strategies Flickr: dcJohn With the arrival of spring comes the inevitable wave of standardized tests, as public school students across the country break out their number two pencils and spend hours of class time taking math and literacy assessments. But a growing movement of principals, parents, and teachers is rising up against these exams. This vocal group is raising its voice at least partially in response to ten years of No Child Left Behind, the federal law that requires all public schools to administer standardized tests. “Our schools are faced with contradictory and incomplete directives regarding high-stakes testing and evaluation.” Each school, district, and state follows different policies for testing requirements, and it’s not necessarily common knowledge to parents that they can choose to opt their children out of taking these tests. But awareness of opting out is growing in pockets around the country. -With additional reporting by Katrina Schwartz Related
מבחן: איזה צד של המוח שלכם דומיננטי יותר, הימני או השמאלי? | הפטריה הביטו היטב על סרטון הרקדנית המסתובבת הבא. האם הרקדנית מסתובבת בכיוון השעות או שמא מסתובבת נגד כיוון השעון? תתפלאו, אבל מספר בני אדם שונים שיסתכלו על התמונה הזאת, יענו תשובות שונות. מבחן אינטרנטי קצר ופשוט שיקח לכם שלושים שניות מהחיים, מתיימר לקבוע אלו מבין חלקי המוח שלכם, הימני או השמאלי הוא זה ששולט אצלכם. את האשליה האופטית הנהדרת "מבחן הרקדנית", אשליה מאוד מוכרת ברשת, יצר האמן היפני נובויוקי קאיאהרה, והיא מצליחה לתעתע במוח שלנו בזכות העובדה שהצללית בה אנחנו צופים מכילה מידע דו מימדי בלבד ולא מאפשרת למוח לקבוע בוודאות באיזה כיוון מסתובבת הרקדנית. בשורה התחתונה, אנחנו לא מבינים גדולים במדעי המוח, אבל אנחנו יכולים לשער כי גם המבחן אותו ביצעתם למעלה הוא למעשה קשקוש מוחלט, ונוצר רק בשביל הכיף, ובשביל שכותבים כמוני ייאלצו לבזבז דקות ארוכות מסמנם ברשת בחיפוש אחר מחקרים ותשובות מעמיקות בהקשר הזה. אז המטרה הושגה, החכמתי מעט, ואני מניח שגם אתם (ממש מעט), ובכל זאת, רק בשביל הכיף, גם אתם מוזמנים לבצע את המבחן, ולבחון את אשליית הרקדנית על אנשים אחרים. הרשמו לקבלת עדכון יומי על הסיפורים החדשים שלנו
Case Western Reserve University THE SEMINAR by Michael Kahn (Unpublished paper, 1974, reprinted with the author's permission. See also Kahn, M., "The Seminar: An Experiment in Humanistic Education." Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 21(2), 119-127, Spring 1981.) Why do you come to college? Hutchins was a good student of Plato, and as such, believed that the professors didn’t have anything to teach anyway, he believed that it’s all in you already and only requires a nurturant environment to emerge into your consciousness. It’s a decidedly interpersonal theory of learning. And so long ago, I suppose in most civilizations, the seminar was born. I don’t know how it was in all the other civilizations that invented the seminar, but in our own culture there are difficulties. We do other things all right. But if we could ever learn to seminar . . . If we ever could . . . If we could learn to seminar -- just learn it, the way you would learn to play the guitar or speak French . . . We think there are four kinds of seminars.
Testing, Testing Uncategorized Flickr:Casey Serin Speaking of test prep. A reader responded to me by email today about Debbie Stier’s quest to ace the SAT and to motivate her son to do well so he’s accepted to the best college. The reader wrote: “For any student considering college, the key is not the right test prep or cramming for the SAT/ACT but just applying oneself throughout school… There’s a very pronounced ‘something for nothing’ culture in the United States and my concern is that efforts like this only serve to further promote that. ‘How I do in grades 9-12 doesn’t matter so much if I can just get the right test prep tutor.’” At his TEDxNYED talk recently, Will Richardson, a longtime educator and now a professional development consultant, brings up a similar point — but takes it much further. Here, we’ve reached a cross-section of perspectives about testing, some of which overlap: Watch Will Richardson’s TEDxNYED talk: Related Explore: assessment
Project Shapeshifter Canadian teens put a (Lego) man into space for just $400 It was probably a rather small step for Lego but it was certainly one giant leap for a Lego man when he was launched into space by a couple of Canadian teens recently. The mission was the result of the hard work and ingenuity of friends Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad, who worked on their project during free time on weekends. It took them four months to complete and cost just $400. The space-bound contraption the two 17-year-olds came up with comprised an $85 weather balloon, a homemade parachute, a Styrofoam box, three point-and-shoot cameras, a wide-angle video camera, and a cell phone loaded with a GPS app so they’d be able to find the thing when it (hopefully) returned to Earth. The finishing touch came in the form of a Lego man holding the Canadian flag strapped to a gangplank attached to their creation. Now that it was built, the question was: would it get off the ground? At an altitude of just over four miles the GPS signal was, as expected, lost. [Source: Toronto Star]
Assessment Statement High stakes- Important stakeholders Improving teaching and learning is in the national interest. For individuals and for our nation, higher education opens doors to economic prosperity and civic engagement. It provides the tools to make new discoveries and improve the quality of life. It is understandable that students, parents and others want to be sure that the educations we provide are meeting the highest possible standards. Our Students, Our Graduates It may surprise some to know how much our colleges and universities have changed over their long histories and how much they continue to change, especially in reaching out to students from diverse backgrounds. cofhe-support@mit.edu Sharing responsibility for learning Any assessment of student learning must take into account the responsibilities of students and of faculty. Accountability or Assessment? We come together as universities and colleges committed to educating undergraduates in the liberal arts and sciences. Conclusion
Siv-food סיו-פוד: עוגת קפה טבעונית אחת מההתמכרויות הכי גרועות שלי - קפה. אני לא יודעת אם אצליח להיגמל אי פעם, אז בינתיים אני חיה עם זה... נס קפה עם חלב סויה זה אחד מהדברים המנחמים ביותר שיש, השלוק הראשון הוא כמו טיפול פסיכולוגי של שעה מכווץ לתוך כמה שניות. רכיבים: (ל-2 תבניות אינגליש קייק) חומרים יבשים: 1.5 כוסות קמח 10 גרם (שקית) אבקת אפיה קורט מלח 0.5 כוס צימוקים רטובים: 3/4 כוס סוכר 1 כוס חלב סויה (או חלב צמחי אחר) 3 כפות אבקת נס קפה מגורען מאיכות טובה 1 שקית סוכר וניל 1 בננה מעוכה היטב 0.5 כוס שמן לציפוי: 100 גרם שוקולד מריר 0.5 כוס חלב סויה הכנה: מחממים תנור לחום בינוני (180 מעלות) מערבבים בקערה את החומרים היבשים. בתאבון!
The World Is My School: Welcome to the Era of Personalized Learning By Maria H. Andersen Future learning will become both more social and more personal, says an educational technology expert. Humans have always been learning, but how we learn has changed over time. Certainly, personalized learning is the more effective method. Mass education is adequate, as long as students are highly motivated to learn and get ahead of their peers. The vision of a modern education built around personalized learning is not new, but it is definitely tantalizing. Learning Technologies Today Let’s start by taking stock of the personalized technologies for information that we already have. This is a problem; for deep learning to occur, we need to have repeated exposure to the information, along with some time in between for reflection. While it seems outrageous that we could find any more time in our busy lives, consider some of the disruptive changes we’ve seen quite recently that affect how we spend our free time. A Simple Idea: Learn This Learn This! Author Maria H.
New York Teachers Discuss Accountability, Pros and Cons of Assessments | PBS NewsHour | June 6, 2012 JUDY WOODRUFF: Finally tonight, our series on teachers, testing and accountability. On Monday and Tuesday, we heard from philanthropist Melinda Gates of the Gates Foundation, and Diane Ravitch, a historian and former assistant secretary of education. Tonight, we listen to teachers. Ray Suarez recently moderated a conversation, one of a dozen events in the past year held with teachers around the country. This one was organized by WNET in New York City, featuring educators from each of the city’s five boroughs. It’s part of our American Graduate project sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. RAY SUAREZ: Earlier this spring, we invited a group of New York City public schoolteachers to talk about the dropout crisis. Is it a worthwhile question to be asking, and can it lead us somewhere that’s useful for our kids? The problem is the implementation of it. And so it’s not just about being rated or ranked. KHALILAH BRANN: Yes. Now, why is that?
Chewbacca Actor Shares Vintage Photos From 'Star Wars' Set A long time ago on a movie set far, far away, people gathered to make the original Star Wars trilogy. Our memories of these films usually revolve around their iconic scenes, but one actor is giving a sneak peek at dozens of behind-the-scenes photos.
Why Education Without Creativity Isn't Enough Phaneesh Murthy, CEO of Indian outsourcing company iGate Patni. | Photo by Ritam Banerjee Last April, when sharing a stage at Facebook with CEO Mark Zuckerberg, President Obama summed up the conventional wisdom on what's needed to shape American minds for the global marketplace. "We've got to do such a better job when it comes to STEM education," he said. "That's how we're going to stay competitive for the future." If we could just tighten standards and lean harder on the STEM disciplines--science, technology, engineering, mathematics--we'd better our rigorous rivals in India and China, and get our economy firing on all cylinders. If you want the truth, talk to the competition. "In India, it takes engineers two to three years to recover from the damage of the education system." Murthy will tell you that the outsourcing industry is not some unstoppable force: It's hitting real limits. Yet this kind of corporate training can only move the needle so far. Or don't.