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Can ‘buying local’ for K-12 testing improve assessment standards?
Bambi Majumdar EducationThe Iowa House of Representatives recently voted, 94-3, to bring their K-12 testing services in-house or, rather, in-state. Last year, the contract was awarded to Washington, D.C.-based American Institutes of Research (AIR) instead of the University of Iowa testing services, but the bill seeks to bypass this process by using state-run programs.
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Time is running out to turn unproductive students into successful learners
Susan Winebrenner EducationIs this a trick? A joke? Wishful thinking? No, I am completely serious about this. My decades in education have taught me this one inescapable truth: If a student is not learning the way we are teaching her, we must try other strategies.
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Exploring 529 plans and K-12 tuition
Bambi Majumdar EducationThe latest tax overhaul now allows parents to pay for K-12 private school tuition using the money saved in a 529 plan. They can withdraw $10,000 per student per year, starting from the 2018 tax year.
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Strategies for student success and retention
Douglas Magrath EducationAs I've written previously, the concern among those serving international students is shifting from recruiting to retention. Student retention is especially critical at the college level, because there are many programs from which students can choose.
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Concealed carry in the classroom: An expert trainer’s view on arming…
R.V. Scheide EducationIn the wake of the Feb. 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, President Donald Trump has proposed arming teachers in the classroom to deter and defend against such attacks in the future. Trump's proposal was almost instantly panned, and detractors have been quick to point out that nearly three-quarters of the nation's teachers oppose the idea, according to a recent Gallup poll.
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Cooperative learning strategies to support reading comprehension
Savanna Flakes EducationStudies have documented the effectiveness of using cooperative learning to increase academic achievement for students with and without disabilities. Results of these studies show that students who regularly participate in meaningful and structured reading groups have higher reading comprehension and greater retention.
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Embedding community service into schools
Brian Stack EducationAt my New Hampshire high school, we have a community service tradition that all of our seniors participate in called the Senior Day of Caring. During this one day in early fall, our seniors sign up in groups or as individuals to engage in any number of community service activities that have been identified in our community.
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Focus on sentence-building activities
Erick Herrmann EducationLast month's article focused on developing students' word-building skills by analyzing and adding affixes to words. Now, we will focus on building sentences using similar concepts — the idea being that students can begin by building simple sentences, then work to create more complex sentences.
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5 tips for centers in the music room
Aileen Miracle EducationCenters in the music room can be a great way to have students practice concepts and skills while engaging in a student-centered environment. Even though I've been doing centers for several years, I am still learning how most effectively to run a centers lesson in my music room.
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ESY programs: The summer slide, eligibility and instruction
Howard Margolis EducationIt's anxiety time. Summer is around the corner, and the crunch of Individualized Education Plan (IEP) season has started. You, like untold thousands of parents of struggling learners, might be antagonizing over another summer slide: "This summer, will Harold again forget so much of what he learned that he'll struggle for months to relearn it? Will this cement his resistance to learning?"
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