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Detracking math classrooms in San Francisco: A model for all?
Brian Stack EducationEducation Week’s Stephen Sawchuk recently highlighted an initiative now four years old in San Francisco schools where middle and high school students are heterogeneously grouped for math instruction. The city has leveled the playing field by enrolling all students in math courses of equal rigor in middle school all the way through Algebra 1 in high school. There are no "honors" classes. There are no accelerated programs where students can take Algebra 1 in 8th grade. This practice was not implemented without controversy.
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An undetachable burden
Debra Josephson Abrams EducationGames, small group work, puzzles, funny videos, my dancing, and goodies, lots and lots of goodies: candies of all sorts, cookies, minicakes. No matter how student-centered and engaging a class I prepare and present, there are always students who are disinterested, some to the point of slumber, with chins touching their chests and occasionally their heads bobbing. Some are disinterested to the point of doing absolutely nothing and feigning a search of their book bag for their text, materials, and homework when they and I know full well that they do not have them.
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K-12 schools should act as new net neutrality era arrives
Bambi Majumdar EducationIn May, the U.S. Senate voted to restore net neutrality rules, and school districts are hopeful that the bill will eventually become law, overturning the Federal Communication Commission’s December 2017 vote. The possibility of an open internet ensures access to high-quality educational resources. If the bill dies in the House, or on President Trump’s desk, then K-12 schools should brace themselves for the new era of no net neutrality, which officially began on June 11.
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Maintaining student progress in the ESL classroom
Douglas Magrath EducationESL programs should be more than just classes. Students need classes that are stimulating and relevant. Programs should include culture and sessions on adapting to life in the host country and interactions with regular students. In addition to classes and activities, the overall learning environment is a factor in retention and student progress. Students need to feel like participants in the program rather than just observers. Each student needs to be more than just a number.
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Why I started reading storybooks to my older students
Sheilamary Koch EducationWhen I was a preschool teacher, reading to my students daily was a requirement for the school’s ELL program — well-supported by a bin of illustrated storybooks in the classroom. But as I began teaching progressively higher grade levels, the amount I read to them progressively decreased. By the time I was teaching ninth-graders, the storybook bin had disappeared from the classroom and I’d stopped reading story books to my students all together — except for one time.
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The importance of career and tech education in today’s schools
Brian Stack EducationOn the afternoon of their certificate ceremony from the Seacoast School of Technology in Exeter, New Hampshire, a couple hundred soon-to-be Career and Technical Education (CTE) graduates from my high school as well as some of the surrounding high schools filed into the school cafeteria for what they thought was a pizza party and a raffle drawing for a new pair of workboots from the local Timberland corporate office. This was a follow-up to the survey that Timberland gave students a month earlier, asking for their shoe sizes. What happened next shocked not only the students, but also the teachers and administrators of the CTE school.
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The importance of self-reflection when teaching English learners
Erick Herrmann EducationSchools all over the United States have released students and teachers for the summer break, and teachers are beginning to decompress from the hectic schedule of the school year. Hopefully, they are also taking some time to relax and spend time with loved ones. During this break, it is critically important that teachers take some time to consider the school year that has just closed, and think about what worked in terms of educating English learners as well as what they might do differently next year to improve their instruction.
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Should the K-12 model be based on competency?
Bambi Majumdar EducationA new report released by iNACOL, "Levers and Logic Models: A Framework to Guide Research and Design of High-Quality Competency-Based Education Systems," shows an urgent need for a competency-based framework for K-12 ed. It presents logic models to help practitioners understand how competency-based education (CBE) can impact education. There is a rising awareness of CBE. Schools and district administrators are realizing that they need to equip students better for the digital business world.
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Strategies to plan for the school year ahead
Aileen Miracle EducationPlanning is a passion of mine. Through my Kodaly levels, I learned so much about long and short-range planning, and how to best develop plans that could meet all of my daily, monthly and yearly goals. When I begin my planning for the next school year, I first start with song lists, which for me is a grade-level list of songs, listening pieces and books cross-referenced by concepts, skills and extensions.
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Teachers share games that keep students moving — and learning
Sheilamary Koch EducationWhen I recently surveyed ESL and ELL teachers on their favorite games to play with students in class, most of the games recommended involved moving around the classroom or playground. One reason is these activities are most frequently requested by students — who unsurprisingly are attracted to what’s best for their well-being and learning. Among research that backs up what these children seem to know are multiple studies conducted by Terrence Dwyer that show exercise improves academic performance, classroom behavior and social skills.
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