The CCSS bills itself as internationally benchmarked and based on current research. While it focuses on the content of the lesson, it says little about the actual teaching methods, wisely leaving the curriculum and lesson plans to teachers. However, a new monograph of psychological educational research reviews ten teaching practices and has some surprising conclusions [...]
January 21, 2013
Educational Apps
Need help in choosing apps for your iPad or other mobile devices? Here are three resources: APPitic is a directory of apps for education by Apple Distinguished Educators (ADEs) to help you transform teaching and learning. These apps have been tested in a variety of different grade levels, instructional strategies and classroom settings. iEar.org – [...]
January 17, 2013
Computer Upgrades by 2014: Unanswered Questions
A recent survey of US schools says that 56.1% of schools systems are Windows XP, which must be upgraded to at least Windows 7 before Common Core testing starts in 2014. I keep wondering about maintenance on those computers. Picture my 15-year-old son in a parenting class, one of the few electives available to freshmen [...]
January 4, 2013
Top 6 CCSS Questions of 2012
The Common Core State Standards evoked some questions in 2012. Here’s a recap of the year’s top 6 concerns. Where did the Standards come from? Who wrote the Standards? Fiction v. Nonfiction? Cursive Writing v. Keyboarding? What happened to the free curriculum maps? When will educators get a look at the high-stakes tests so they [...]
December 28, 2012
The Missing Database
As the education world braces for the coming computerized testing and the so-called P-20 database that contains records of every school child in the U.S., there is one database that is curiously missing. The Common Core Standards are provided by means of a pdf document, not a searchable, sortable database? Why? There is political will [...]
December 27, 2012
Common Core Overview in Multiple Languages
Do students and families in your school speak multiple languages? The NYC Department of Education has a Common Core Overview available in Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, French, Haitian, Creole, Korean, Russian, Spanish and Urdu. See these resources here.
December 7, 2012
Technology Requirements for Common Core Testing
The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium has just released a new document that details the current state of technology in schools and recommendations on systems for testing. They surveyed 56,268 schools which owned 5.9 million devices. About 60% of the devices were laptops, 10% netbooks, tablets or other mobile-type devices. Operating Systems. 56.1% of systems are [...]
November 6, 2012
Common Core Resources
Here’s an explanation and example of GLAD – Guided Language Acquisition Design using maps and artwork to help in teaching with the Common Core. Hundreds of Library of Congress lesson plans, primary source sets, presentations and more—all based on authentic primary sources from the Library’s online collections—are now aligned to the CCSS, to state content [...]
July 3, 2012
Technology Readiness Tool: Is Your District Ready to Test CCSS Online?
The web-based Technology Readiness Tool is a project that allows schools to survey their current state of technology. By 2014-25 school year, school who have adopted the Common Core must be ready to do online assessments. But do they have enough computers (laptops, netbooks, iPads) with the right operating system and right software? The first [...]
