Extending Quality Technology for Effective Teaching and Learning
By Todd Roberts, Ed.D., Chancellor North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics
Faced with new standards and decreased access to professional development offerings, more and more teachers are taking a do-it-yourself approach to professional learning. They’re scouring the Web for quality content, often using Google to find materials.
Unfortunately for these proactive professionals, many initiatives designed to address the new standards have not yet produced the large collections of aligned materials needed to effectively implement a new curriculum. The quality of content found in a broad search of the Internet varies, and educators are spending much of their limited planning time slogging through content that hasn’t been evaluated or slick vendor sites designed to convince them that an out-of-the-box solution is just a $450 check away.
Read More →New Technology Bill Could Provide Assistance for CCSS Implementation
“Technology can be a tool to drive equity and to help transform how education is delivered, making learning more student-centered and recognizing teachers as education designers…”
This quote from Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) appears in recent coverage by Huffington Post education reporter Joy Resmovits of a new technology bill introduced by Miller that focuses on “tools that provide teachers with instantaneous feedback on their students’ progress.”
Read More →By Lisa Mount, Kevin Drinkard, and Alyson Mike
It used to be that only language arts teachers were expected to help students learn to read and write, as well as critically listen and persuasively speak. But Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have thankfully put that antiquated perception on final notice. Of course, all teachers should build their students’ literacy skills, including argumentation – defending a claim about any idea, process, or outcome – which is exactly what CCSS support.
The “What” and the “How” of Common Core
Literacy teacher and author, Jessica Cuthbertson, explains to educators that the Common Core liberates teachers and offers guidance in the EdNews Colorado article, “Voices: ‘And’ vs. ‘or’ in the Common Core.”
Read More →Tucson Business Community Rallies for Improved Skilled Workforce
In the Tucson Sentinel article, “Business Leaders: Common Core Standards Will Improve Workforce,” business leaders assembled before the joint session of the House committees on education and commerce on January 16, 2013, to tell state policymakers that the Common Core Standards will help advance the workforce and advocate for Standards funding.
Read More →Successful Common Core Implementation Starts with Teacher Collaboration
In a new Education Week commentary by Vicki Phillips, director of education, College Ready at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Robert L. Hughes, president of New Visions for Public Schools, the authors discuss the critical and “essential” role that teachers play to successfully implement the Common Core State Standards and new ways to foster greater teacher collaboration
Read More →The Thomas B. Fordham Institute’s Kathleen Porter-Magee shares three takeaways about curriculum and Common Core implementation from a recent report, “Large-Scale Evaluations of Curricular Effectiveness: The Case of Elementary Mathematics in Indiana,” appearing in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. The report examines district-level curriculum decisions and the relationship to student achievement.