College Board president tests well on income | The Columbus Dispatch.
This should be the first and most important indicator that our obsession with testing has gone too far.
Category Archives: About Me
Praise for The Graham Family of Schools: Editorial in today’s paper
Editorial: Short takes
Wednesday, July 13, 2011 06:42 AM
The Columbus Dispatch
SINCE 2000, The Graham School and its successors have been proving what can go right with charter schools: When dedicated educational innovators are given the freedom to shape a school around a consistent concept, a receptive student body will find success.
In Graham’s case, the concept is experiential learning – applying classroom concepts to projects and activities in the real world. From ninth grade on, Graham students leave the school building two days per week to serve internships at public agencies, hospitals, schools, local businesses and elsewhere.
The Graham founders expanded in 2007 with The Charles School, which is partnered with Ohio Dominican University and focused on helping students, especially those who would be first-generation college students, earn early college credit.
A middle school opened last fall; now, congratulations are in order, as the the organization announces that an elementary will open in fall 2012. Offering a consistent K-12 program is rare among small, independent charter schools; it’s a sign of the Graham program’s success and stability.
But then, so is the fact that the original school and The Charles School have earned a B and an A, respectively, on the latest state report cards.
Ohio would benefit from more charter-school operators such as this.
Why Google+ Is an Education Game Changer – Education – GOOD
Why Google+ Is an Education Game Changer – Education – GOOD.
I normally think that we overuse the term ‘game changer’ but having a Google+ account myself, I see the potential that Ms. Dwyer is talking about. Google+ doesn’t completely eliminate inadvertent sharing of drunken party pictures with students, but it seriously makes it much more challenging. I guess if you’re posting the pictures and sharing them while intoxicated, anything can happen. At any rate, G+ could become a place where teachers and students share information about projects that the class is working on, collaboratively digest articles that are found on-line, and post videos to one another. The idea of the hangout study group/office hours is also fascinating. It’ll be something that I’ll be interested to see/read more about in the future. -Ed
Infographics
This is a super cool (and simple) idea for alternative means of assessment. The video music isn’t much to write home about, but the ideas presented (and the layout) is amazing!
Can Better Designed Classroom Furniture Help Students Who Can’t Sit Still? – Education – GOOD
Fluid Dynamics: See Spot Shaking His Coat Dry | Magazine
Unrelated to anything… I just like dogs and science. -Ed
More kids passing grad test on 1st try | The Columbus Dispatch
More kids passing grad test on 1st try | The Columbus Dispatch.
Here is some good news, I guess; more students passed all 5 sections of the Ohio Graduation Test (OGT) this year than in past years. This article by Jennifer Smith Richards, is worth a look through.
Statewide, 69.5 percent of
10th-graders passed all
five sections, up from
65.8 percent last year.
Are kids getting better at these tests, are the tests getting easier, are we doing a better job of educating students, or none of the above. I was pretty disappointed that the Dispatch didn’t ask these questions but just reported on the results. Our students were a bit below the average number of 69.5%, but overall they did very well. I never look to the tests as high bars of success. In fact, it is a lower bar of success compared to students achieving good grades in college courses. Don’t get me wrong, I am ALWAYS excited when students pass the tests. I want them to be able to get through these, but they are not an indication of life-readiness or college-readiness. We need to be cautious about what conclusions we draw when it comes to these tests and students success on them (again, not taking away a congratulatory pat on the back for the kiddos). -Ed
For-profit charter operators skirt law | The Columbus Dispatch
The Feedback Loop of Real Estate, Poverty, Crime, Education & Taxes | Steadfast Finances
Can Andre Agassi and a Team of Investment Bankers Improve Education (and Turn a Profit)? – Education – GOOD
Still not funded by a billionaire, but some new charter schools stand to make a sweet economic situation for some savvy investors. The plan is that an investment group, that is in the lime light because Andre Agassi is part of their team, is going to set aside nearly $1 billion to fund 75 new schools around the nation. The idea is that once these schools are fully enrolled that money will go back to the backers through repayment of loans (Liz Dwyer does a good job of explaining the finances in her piece).
As an individual who talks up charters, I am very much disappointed by this news and by these types of investors. These groups represent the seedy heart of greed that some charter organizations harbor and thwart any good gains the rest of us community schools make. I am in favor of small, accountable schools that have students’ interest at their heart. This is exactly who I work for and we are doing well for our students. You are reading this story because Andre Agassi is an investor. Think about all of the charters that start up all of the time with the same motives but no Wimbeldon titles to give them ink. If anything this news leads me to believe that we need to equitably fund charters to prevent such greed, close out for-profit entities, and set up better accountability measures so that all charters are operating with decent funding and can be held to high standards. -Ed
