By guest blogger Clara Pak

As of today, half a year has passed since tragedy struck in Newtown, Conn. In remembrance of this somber anniversary, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, and Tom Kuroski, president of the AFT affiliate in Newtown, co-wrote an op-ed piece for a local Connecticut paper, The News-Times. In honoring the fallen educators of Sandy Hook Elementary School, they also recognize all teachers and school staff across the country whose "first instinct is to love and protect their children." They write:

This is who teachers and school staff are. Not only do these women and men dedicate their lives to helping our children expand their minds and achieve their dreams, they also love, nurture and even give their lives in the service of our sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters, and nieces and nephews.

In the days following the Newtown shooting, we spoke to countless teachers whose first thought was not about themselves but about their students. How would they cope? What can we do to help them? How can we bring them some normalcy following this soul-shattering tragedy?

They point out that, since Dec. 14, there have been numerous other instances of educators risking their lives for their students—including those teachers in Oklahoma who "shielded their students with their bodies as the tornado ripped apart their school, telling them that they were loved and singing to calm them down."

The Newtown shootings forced the country to confront the need to create "safe, nurturing, welcoming and collaborative schools," they go on to say, where students and educators both can feel secure and protected.

Readers: Feel free to leave your own reflections on Newtown—and the incredible sacrifices so many teachers are willing to make for their students—in the comments section below.

Posted by Liana Heitin at 5:09 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

In a blog post for The Brown Center on Education Policy, Thomas Kane proposes a new definition for an "effective" teacher: one whose "predicted impact on students exceeds that of the average novice teacher."

The former director of the Gates Foundation's Measures of Effective Teaching project, Kane says that one of the advantages of his proposed definition is it clarifies the trade-offs involved in retaining or replacing staff members. He writes:

...it makes explicit the decision a principal implicitly makes every time he or she retains a non-probationary teacher—to forego the opportunity to recruit a novice teacher as a replacement. Would an NFL coach give up a future draft pick for an experienced player he expects to perform worse than the average rookie? Not if he were trying to win. Would a principal promote or retain a teacher with expected performance below that of the average novice? Not if he or she had the students interests at heart.

A commenter on the post makes another sports comparison: "Seems to be the educational equivalent of WAR (Wins Above Replacement)." For those not familiar with WAR (like me before a bit of Googling), it's a way to calculate a baseball player's worth by determining how many more wins he would contribute to a team than would a replacement-level player—someone just up from Triple-A. ESPN now includes the wonky calculation on its stat pages.

Comparing Kane's definition to WAR seems fair enough to me. However, as I read about WAR, I'm starting to wonder whether it's an even more apropos analogy for another part of the teacher-policy debate: value-added measures, which use student test scores to judge a teacher's impact.

According to Fansgraphs, WAR is "an attempt by the sabermetric baseball community to summarize a player's total contributions to their team in one statistic. You should always use more than one metric at a time when evaluating players, but WAR is pretty darn all-inclusive and provides a handy reference point." Likewise, in education, value-added measurement seeks to summarize a teacher's total contributions to a group of students in one metric. While there's now widespread agreement that teacher evaluations should include multiple measures, proponents of VAM tend to see it as "pretty darn all-inclusive."

Further, Baseball-Reference.com states, "There is no one way to determine WAR. There are hundreds of steps to make this calculation, and dozens of places where reasonable people can disagree on the best way to implement a particular part of the framework." Sound familiar? See previous coverage of the many VAM formulas and the inconsistencies between them here and here and here.

Now that I'm thinking about it, maybe I'll rewatch "Moneyball" this weekend to see what other education-policy analogies are lurking ...

Posted by Liana Heitin at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

In February, Teacher did a chat with Thomas Armstrong, author of Neurodiversity in the Classroom: Strength-Based Strategies to Help Students with Special Needs Succeed in School and Life. Armstrong advocates for changing the "disability discourse" by talking about students' strengths, capabilities, and interests rather than their deficits and dysfunctions. Teachers, he says, should celebrate neurological diversity in the classroom by using strategies that focus on students' positive attributes.

For many, his views seem too idealistic. But a photo feature on NBC News made me wonder if perhaps this idea is catching on—and outside the education realm. The piece profiles photographer Rick Guidotti, who after years of shooting high fashion in Milan and New York, began taking photos of people with genetic differences. Disturbed by the way these conditions were presented in medical textbooks, Guidotti aimed to present them in a more positive (what Armstrong might call "strengths-based") way. "It's about reinterpreting beauty," Guidotti told NBC. "It's about having an opportunity to see beyond what you're told and what we're forced to believe that that's beauty."

The images are striking—a visual representation of what it means to celebrate diversity. Guidotti also uses them as a call to the medical community to reframe their own discourse on disability. He explains:

I've spoken to so many genetic counselors who have a family in front of them and say "Ok, this is what your daughter is going to have. Read this." And they cover up the photograph because it will freak the family right out. There's gotta be something else we can do. There's gotta be another way to present that information to that family.

Guidotti now speaks to medical students about finding the humanity in medicine and focusing on not what, but who they're treating. See the NBC interview below (note that it's a little over seven minutes long).

Posted by Liana Heitin at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

By guest blogger Ellen Wexler

In a Chronicle of Higher Education opinion piece, an associate professor at a midwest university writes about disliking teaching—while also being good at it. Under the pseudonym Sydney Perth, the professor writes:

Effective teaching is, after all, a set of behaviors. What students need from us are clear presentations, careful selections of course material, engaging discussions—in short, the right behaviors. One of those is hiding your dislike. Students don't learn by peering into your mind to see if you are enjoying teaching.

Perth makes the comparison to cutting the grass or cooking risotto—other things people can dislike and still do well, as long as they care about the outcome. The professor goes on to argue that passion and skill should not be conflated. "Too often we look at whether a colleague or a prospective colleague seems to like teaching, and then use that as a proxy for whether they are good teachers," Perth writes. "We should look at whether they engage in the right behaviors."

A commenter "from a K-12 background" under the username Kronosaurus takes Perth's point a step further, writing that "reducing teaching to a passion de-professionalizes the field."

In all, Perth's advice to like-minded teachers is to "not feel guilty." The professor contends, "There is nothing wrong with not liking what we do. There does not have to be anything debilitating about it, either."

K-12 teachers: What do you think? Do you need to love—or even like—teaching to be good at it?

Posted by Liana Heitin at 5:09 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Because Mondays aren't depressing enough as is ...

A new study from Bankrate.com finds that, when it comes to return-on-investment for professional degrees, teachers are getting a raw deal.

In weighing the cost of a degree against the median annual salary for a career in that field, teaching ranked 17th out of 20 careers for "value." According to the analysis, teachers spend about $53,000 to get a degree and only make a median salary of $42,000. Under this breakdown, teachers who put 10 percent of their annual salary toward student loans need nearly 22 years to pay off their debt.

By comparison, those in advertising and marketing appear to be getting the best deal, paying $53,000 for a degree and earning $108,000 per year. According to the analysis, it takes those professionals about six years to pay off their debt. Economists, civil engineers, and political scientists can all pay off their loans in about eight years, while pharmacists, microbiologists, and family physicians can do so in less than 11.

The professions that ranked below teacher for ROI were veterinarian, journalist, and marriage and family therapist. (So for those of us with education degrees who went from teaching to journalism, it's really not looking good.)

The analysis used a fairly unsophisticated method of calculation, however. A Bankrate.com spokesperson explained that it was based on 2012 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and did not account for salary adjustments over time, possible changes in repayment rates, or other varying factors.

For a more in-depth look at the numbers (if you're interested in playing "should have," "could have" for the rest of the day), see the full list of careers below.

Also, to learn more about what teachers are and aren't getting with those degrees, check out this Commentary piece and the new OpEducation blog, both of which cover teacher-preparation issues.

Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Center for Education Statistics, FinAid.org. Compiled by Bankrate.com.

Posted by Liana Heitin at 3:33 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

I got an intriguing PR pitch today from a Dutch company about a font designed for people with dyslexia. The developer, Christian Boer, has dyslexia and came up with the idea while studying at The Utrecht Art Academy in 2008. According to the press release, Boer has been nominated for an international design award for the product.

The website explains that the font, Dyslexie, uses heavier lines on the bottoms of letters, puts more space between the letters, elongates their vertical lines, enlarges their openings, and slightly italicizes them. The changes are meant to differentiate the letters from one another and to prevent readers from mentally flipping, melding, turning, and switching letters.

Having worked with hundreds of students with reading difficulties, I remember well what it's like to be on the constant hunt for both low-tech and high-tech assistive-technology solutions. My mentors used to offer me tips for overcoming the most sticky decoding problems—print the reading selection on colored paper, handwrite it in larger letters, have the student follow along with an index card, put a colored overlay on the page. Each was helpful for a student here or there. But these were often tricks devised by trial and error, rather than research-backed strategies.

Dyslexie doesn't seem to have much research backing it either. A very small 2010 study of the program—a master's thesis using 43 test subjects—found that students with dyslexia did not read faster with Dyslexie, though some read with fewer errors. According to a 2012 survey, the majority of Dyslexie users indicate they read more quickly and with fewer errors when they use the font (though of course they wouldn't be using it if they didn't think there were benefits).

There are other fonts designed to combat dyslexia, including OpenDyslexic, which is free and now available on Instapaper. From what I can tell, the research behind them is lacking as well.

Teachers: What are your thoughts—is such a font worth a try? Do you care about the research base or do you simply want to use it with kids and see if it works? Have you tried such a font? If so, how did it go?

Here's a video to show how Dyslexie "works."

Posted by Liana Heitin at 3:19 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

This week, President Obama called on the Federal Communications Commission to increase funding to the federal E-rate program, as Education Week's Sean Cavanagh reports. The plan, called ConnectED, aims to give 99 percent of U.S. schools high-speed Internet access within five years. It also prioritizes training for teachers on the use of technology in the classroom and aims to provide them more technology resources.

A White House memo about the plan states that the U.S. Department of Education will work with states and school districts to fund PD that helps teachers "keep pace with changing technology." In addition, it says, ConnectEd will allow all teachers to:

... open their classrooms to interactive demonstrations, lessons from world-renowned experts, or the opportunity to build learning communities and to collaborate with other educators across the country or world. New digital education tools that allow for real-time assessments of student learning, provide more immediate feedback to drive professional development, and enable the creation of interactive online lessons can empower teachers to understand each student's strengths and weaknesses and design lessons and activities that better meet their needs.

Teachers' comfort with and use of technology has been the subject of much recent research. In December, the National Association of State Boards of Education released a report stating that teachers lack the familiarity with technology to use it effectively in their classrooms, and that ensuring they receive the PD and tools to needed to integrate digital tools into their teaching should be a policy focus.

A survey by PBS Learning Media earlier this year found that teachers are generally positive about the effects of technology on student learning, and that 60 percent of teachers—and 75 percent at low-income schools—would like to have more classroom technology at their disposal.

On the other hand, in the most recent MetLife Survey of the American Teacher, both principals and teachers ranked "understands how to use technology to improve instruction" at the bottom of a list of important skills for a school leader to have. (That said, about half in each group did still rank it as "very important"—and the survey did not delve into the importance of the skill for classroom teachers.)

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Many observers are focused on the how the federal initiative could help districts struggling to meet the broadband demands for upcoming online tests aligned to the Common Core State Standards. But the implications for classroom instruction could be more wide-ranging.

Posted by Liana Heitin at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Diane Ravitch, highlighting a recent article in the American Prospect, laments Teach for America's alleged plot "to groom" future education leaders. She explains:

James Cersonsky, the article's author, foresees "a massive proliferation" of Michelle Rhees, and wonders whether the political arm of TFA might actually be "the Trojan horse of the privatization of public education."

Slate blogger Matt Yglesias counters that the article—in addition to Ravitch's own post—serves as an important reminder that the reform movement includes teachers, too:

It's not just "reformers" against "teachers" but one set of teachers against another set of teachers. The people doing Teach for America and working in charter schools are educators just as much as the people working in the traditional public schools and going through the traditional certification route. And as Ravitch says, a large share of the people involved at a politics and policy level in reform are people who've experienced teaching in low-income schools and simply come to different policy conclusions from union people about that experience.

Thoughts?

Posted by Anthony Rebora at 3:33 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Having survived the horrific attack at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Conn., and been on the receiving end of enormous generosity afterward, 1st grade teacher Kaitlin Roig began thinking about ways to give back. In an essay in Good magazine, she explains feeling compelled to teach her students about—and give them a chance to express—kindness and empathy. One example of her approach:

I brought a large box a friend had mailed to my class and placed it in front of the room. "This box is filled with things for us to use during recess." I told my students. As I pulled out puzzles, games, coloring books, and markers their eyes grew wide.

I paused and asked, "Do you know why someone sent this to us?" Their hands shot up. "Because they wanted us to be happy." Or: "They wanted to be nice." Or: "They wanted us to have fun at recess," they replied.

"You're all exactly right!" I told them. "Someone did this for us for all of those reasons. In life, when someone does something nice for you, you have to do something nice for someone else, and that is what we are going to do! We are going to find a class somewhere in the United States and we are going to make them feel the way we do right now: Happy."

The project spurred the idea for Classes 4 Classes Inc., the nonprofit Roig has since founded. She explains:

Students in one K-5 classroom give a gift that fulfills a need or educational objective to another K-5 class, anywhere in the country. The receiving classroom is able to accept their gift only after they've selected yet another classroom to give to, thus teaching children to "pay it 4ward."

It's a bit like DonorsChoose, with classrooms being both donors and receivers. And with the added bonus of offering kids some social/emotional learning.

You can get involved with Classes 4 Classes here. More on Roig's heroic actions to protect her students during the Sandy Hook shootings is available here.

Posted by Liana Heitin at 2:48 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

While schools and districts now have a wealth of student data at their fingertips, due in part to longitudinal data systems that states have put in place to comply with federal and state reporting requirements, teachers are just now at the beginning of learning how to use that information effectively, says a new report.

"Promoting Data in the Classroom: Innovative State Models and Missed Opportunities," by the Washington-based think tank New America Foundation, looks at federally funded professional development programs in Oregon and Delaware that are training teachers on using data to improve their instruction. According to the report, the PD initiatives are "models for both the successes and challenges other states are likely to face when implementing such programs."

The report begins by stating that teachers do not get sufficient training on understanding and applying data through their preparation programs, citing a National Council on Teacher Quality study. The authors write that many of the data points available to teachers "are not the rich, informative metrics necessary to help educators design targeted student educational plans. Instead, [the data] come from end-of-year summative exams. By the time accountability assessments have been administered and teachers receive the scores, the students have usually moved on to the next grade."

Despite these challenges, PD programs in Oregon and Delaware "provide valuable models" for making data useful to teachers, the authors contend.

The Oregon DATA project, created by an elementary school principal and launched statewide in 2007-08, certifies teachers and administrators as trainers to work with small teams of teachers known as professional learning communities. The trainers assist PLC members in analyzing datasets and creating better lesson plans based on what they find. Participating districts are required to set aside time for teachers to meet during the school day. According to the authors, one Oregon superintendent even "appealed to the school board and won late start times every Monday so that staff could meet in small groups with their data coaches before classes began."

The report states that "the data project has resulted in statistically significant improvements in student test scores at participating schools," with students at ODP schools performing below those at non-ODP schools in reading initially and above them four years later. The program has not been able to consistently use formative assessment data—relying mainly on summative data from state testing—but is piloting in this area.

Bumps in the Road in Delaware

Delaware, one of the two winners from the first Race to the Top competition, has implemented an initiative called the Data Coach Program. All 2nd through 12th grade core-subject teachers in the state must participate in the program as a condition of the award. The program is similar to Oregon's in that it has data coaches work with PLCs, and that the meetings take place during the workday. Unlike Oregon, which used only in-school trainers, Delaware contracted with an outside organization—Wireless Generation—to provide the data coaching. However, in rolling the program out statewide in 2011, after three months of piloting, districts had the option to use in-school coaches who'd received Wireless Generation training.

The program is also aligned with the state's teacher evaluation system, meaning teachers' facility in using data is included in their evaluation score.

The report notes that implementation in Delaware hit some bumps in the road. Some of the in-school coaches were not effective. And school leaders indicated they had trouble building time for PLCs into teachers' workdays. The Delaware department of education has not published the results of an analysis of the program's impact on student achievement. However, the report states that a survey of 3,000 teachers "yielded generally positive assessments of the data coaches and of the project."

The lessons that come out of the report are some of the now-arguably-ubiquitous understandings about what makes good PD: It must be ongoing, job-embedded, collaborative, and supported by strong leadership. Ultimately, the report argues that none of this is possible without sufficient funding, and calls for Congress to redirect the Improving Teacher Quality State Grants program funds, currently used for "class-size reduction or isolated professional development activities," toward PD projects like those in Oregon and Delaware.

Posted by Liana Heitin at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

In a piece about local implementation of the Common Core State Standards, Nan Austin of the Modesto Bee opens with an education-jargon-free—yet potentially divisive—explanation of how instruction is changing:

Think of it as the difference between reading the recipe and baking the cake.

In classrooms across California, teachers have gotten amazingly good at helping children read what amounts to recipes, memorizing ingredients and mastering vocabulary.

Common core standards, however, expect everyone to get in there and cook.

Teachers: What are your thoughts on this characterization of the common standards? Is this a good way to explain what you're doing differently to parents? Or would you argue you've been "cooking" all along?

Posted by Liana Heitin at 1:15 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Today marks the end of an era for Education Week Teacher: Our diligent and steadfast intern, Francesca Duffy, is leaving our ranks for a new position.

Ever amenable, Francesca, who recently completed a master's degree in journalism, has written about a wide range of topics since she came on with us two years ago. Some her more popular pieces were on teacher career paths, cheating, assistive technology, and the importance of experiencing failure. (That last item was not a commentary on her own work!) She's also headed up our social media efforts and published Storify features on flipped classrooms and teacher appreciation.

Her most-read article—and one of our most-read articles of 2011—was about a Heritage Foundation study concluding that teachers make too much money (the co-author of which has since left his job in light of some questionable positions he holds on intelligence and race).

We'll miss Francesca's quiet determination and calming presence in the office. Luckily she won't be leaving the education field entirely—she's taking on a new position as a communications and advocacy specialist for the American Association of School Administrators. Thanks for a great run, Francesca!

Posted by Liana Heitin at 2:01 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Scary world out there for educators: According to a report in the Statesman Journal, a man was arrested in Salem, Ore., yesterday after carrying a pressure cooker into the offices of the Oregon Teacher Standards and Practices Commission and claiming he was trying to blow up the sign outside because it included a misspelling.

Actually it wasn't really even a misspelling. The sign is just missing the "d" at the end of "and," presumably because of wear and tear or petty vandalism. But this didn't stop the alleged perpetrator from apparently seeing the error as somehow emblematic of an unconscionable decline in educational standards.

He also complained about spelling errors in the instructions he downloaded on making a bomb—who woulda thought?—and suggested that these, too, should also be of concern to the employees of the Teacher Standards office.

Alas, police say the pressure cooker didn't actually contain a bomb, and the man was charged with disorderly conduct.

The Teacher Standards an(d) Practices Commission oversees teacher licensure in the state. "He did not look like one of the educators we serve," the commission's executive director said of the alleged perpetrator.

Posted by Anthony Rebora at 3:10 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

As part of its "Beating the Odds" series, WAMU 88.5 in Washington profiled a resilient recent graduate of D.C. public schools named Jennifer Hightower. The daughter of a drug addict, Hightower describes needing to become self-sufficient—teaching herself to tie her shoes and cook—during a tumultuous and unsafe upbringing.

And in a most memorable quote, she explains how she maintained a 3.9 grade point average despite her trying circumstances: "School was my way of escaping everything. I figured what my mother's doing doesn't have anything to do with my school work so I'm not going to use that as an excuse."

In effect, Hightower's words could be the slogan for the "reform" or "no excuses" side of the ongoing education-policy debate, which holds that effective teaching and schools can trump poverty and inequity. Recent opinion-piece author Casie Jones subscribes to that perspective, along with such well-known figures as former D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee and Teach For America founder Wendy Kopp.

On the other hand, those who adhere to the "anti-reform" or "pro-union" side—a la Diane Ravitch or Linda Darling-Hammond—might argue that Hightower's exceptional effort and determination were driving factors, not her school or teachers, and that fixing the systemic problem of poverty would make it easier for more students in her situation to succeed.

Whatever side you fall on, the piece is worth listening to—mostly because Hightower is so remarkably honest and upbeat. Spoiler alert: It has a nice ending, too. Hightower made peace with her mother—and will be attending American University in the fall.

Posted by Liana Heitin at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

A study released today by the polling firm Gallup Inc. finds that students' exposure to so-called 21st-century skills in school correlates positively with "perceived quality of work" later in life.

For the study, which was commissioned by Microsoft Partners in Learning and the Pearson Foundation, Gallup asked 1,014 individuals aged 18 to 35 how much experience they had with certain advanced learning skills during their last year of school, including college or graduate school, if applicable. (Cognitive testing conducted by Gallup prior to the survey determined that individuals at the upper end of the age range would have comparable recall of their last school year.)

The skills in question—often dubbed 21st-century skills because of their reputed connection to present-day workplace demands—included collaboration, knowledge construction, global awareness, use of technology for learning, real-world problem solving, and skilled communication. Some of them are also emphasized in the Common Core State Standards, now being implemented in schools across the country.

The analysis shows that respondents who had a comparatively high degree of exposure to such skills in their last year of school were twice as likely to strongly agree that they are successful and valued in their current jobs. The skill that computed as most closely connected to later work quality was real-world problem solving—though less than two-thirds of the respondents, and less than half of those with only high school degrees, reported being exposed to it in their last year of school.

Overall, the majority of the respondents (59 percent) said that the skills they use in their current jobs were developed outside of school entirely. That response was particularly prevalent among those with only high school degrees—a fact that the study's authors see as "a potential call for action to better prepare youth for work."

The study shows that, in general, the respondents who were high school graduates were far less likely to be exposed to 21st century skills in school than those with higher-level degrees. It also notes that, while the vast majority of all respondents reported having used technology in school, relatively few (14 percent) said they did so for purposes of collaboration, which Gallup calls a key aspect of "today's highly virtualized work environment."

Interestingly, younger participants (ages 18-22) were slightly less likely to say they used collaborative technology in school than older participants—a surprise given the growing prevalence of social media and online collaboration tools in recent years. On the whole, however, younger respondents had higher levels of 21st-century skills development than older survey participants. The study conjectures that this may be an indication that "teaching strategies are changing in the U.S."

In a separate set of questions, the study found that the respondents' level of "student aspiration" in the last year of school—characterized by support from teachers, a sense of belonging, and encouragement of student voice—correlated closely both with exposure to 21st-century skills and later work success. Support from teachers was seen to have a particularly strong association in both cases.

The study has an estimated margin of error of 3 percent. While both Microsoft Partners in Learning and the Pearson Foundation have an acknowledged interest in promoting 21s-century skills in schools, they were not involved in the survey analysis and by agreement had no influence over the reported findings, according to a Gallup representative.

Posted by Anthony Rebora at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

The Horace Mann School, an elite private school in the Bronx, N.Y., issued an apology Friday to former students who were sexually abused by school staff members between the 1960s and 1990s. In the apology, posted on its website, the school confirmed the abuses occurred—however, it said it would not conduct an independent investigation into the specific allegations.

The apology comes nearly a year after the New York Times published a damning piece about the school in which an alumnus detailed victims' accounts of being abused by teachers. The article indicated that school officials were advised about the abuse, but for the most part "chose not to act."

According to the school's apology, 31 students had come forward and "described in painful detail the inexcusable conduct of their teachers and administrators." The letter also states that "most of the abusers are either dead or mentally infirm; the remainder, we understand, are unwilling to respond to the allegations, and the School does not have the authority to compel these individuals to do so."

The Bronx district attorney's office told the Times that, while it had identified at least 12 possible abusers, the statute of limitations had passed so prosecution was not an option.

The school said it has revised its policies regarding abuse prevention and reporting, removed the board position of trustee emeritus (which according to the New York Daily News had been held by a member involved in "hushing up allegations"), and reached settlements with the majority of former students who have come forward.

The events sadly call to mind the sex-abuse scandals at Penn State and in the Catholic church, among other education institutions.

Posted by Liana Heitin at 4:03 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

This Huffington Post article examining a pretty typical-sounding 14-year-old girl's relationship with technology might make useful reading for middle and high school school teachers, not to mention parents, and (perhaps) education publishers and product developers. Key paragraph:

Casey's habits underscore a new reality for this networked generation: Social networks—and the gadgets they run on—aren't a distraction from real life, but a crucial extension of it.

What's most interesting (and troubling) about the piece, though, is its portrayal of how integrated some teens' tech habits have become with their always-acute sense of social status. For example:

Not having an iPhone can be social suicide, notes Casey. One of her friends found herself effectively exiled from their circle for six months because her parents dawdled in upgrading her to an iPhone. Without it, she had no access to the iMessage group chat, where it seemed all their shared plans were being made.

And then there's this:

The most important and stress-inducing statistic of all is the number of "likes" she gets when she posts a new Facebook profile picture—followed closely by how many "likes" her friends' photos receive. .. "If you don't get 100 'likes,' you make other people share it so you get 100," she explains. "Or else you just get upset. Everyone wants to get the most 'likes.' It's like a popularity contest."

Also intriguing is the girl's competing understanding that this has all gotten to be a little much for her:

For all the time Casey spends online, she predicts that soon she won't be using her smartphone or social networks as much as she has been. It's distracting, she says, as her iPhone chimes for perhaps the 12th time that hour. Her phone, be it Facebook, Instagram or iMessage, is constantly pulling her away from her homework, or her sleep, or her conversations with her family. ... "I think that in a few years, technology is going to go back and people won't use it anymore because it's getting to be a lot."

If teens see social networks as a "crucial extension" of real life, in other words, it could be that they are beginning to have some serious reservations about this state of affairs—to the point that they imagine a tech-free future.

Your thoughts? How does this profile influence (or not) your perspective on working with teenagers today or using technology in the classroom? What does the "networked generation" need from educators?

(HT: Kottke)

Posted by Anthony Rebora at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

On his blog, Daniel Willingham discusses a highly complicated but provocative new study on the effects of harsh punishments on children's behavior. (Even he says it's "convoluted" and he's one of the most prominent educational psychologists in the land.) Just to give you a taste, the study involved questionnaires on childhood disciplinary experiences, written reflections on moral precepts, contemplation of "emotionally ambiguous" paintings, and performance of color-coded attention-regulation tasks. Good times.

The researchers' conclusion after all that, in any case, is that harsh punishments can help students "internalize" moral norms, but that they do so at a dual cost. In Willingham's words:

If further data support the theory, the upshot for parents and teachers would be that harsh responses to moral transgressions won't work. They leave subjects feeling ashamed when they transgress, but paradoxically they make [it] harder to resist the temptation to transgress."

Meanwhile, English teacher Paul Barnwell seems to have reached a similar conclusion without making anyone look at emotionally ambigious paintings (as far as we know). In a post on the "The Great Discipline Conundrum," he notes that, "While teaching at various Kentucky public schools for nine years, I've rarely seen disciplinary action that deters or prevents repeat behavior." In his experience, suspensions and detentions are particularly fruitless.

Instead, for Barnwell, the most effective approach to discipline in the classroom is prevention, funneled largely through attentive, personalized instruction:

Working at a variety of schools, I've found that if I focus most of my energy on building relationships with students, crafting engaging lessons, and practicing class procedures, then I've usually avoided major class disruptions. I take great pride in trying to connect with students across races and socioeconomic groups.

He adds, touching on another hot topic:

All I know [is] if I sit back and pass out work packets and expect students to comply, I'm putting myself in a tenuous position.

Posted by Anthony Rebora at 3:30 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

For those of us lucky enough to have never experienced a tornado, it's nearly impossible to imagine what that event would feel like as it happened.

But a 5th grade teacher at Briarwood Elementary in Oklahoma, Okla., one of two schools ravaged by tornadoes this week, captured that moment of impact on video. According to ABC News, Robin Dziedzic was huddled with about 25 students in a dark bathroom when the twister hit the school. She recorded those terrifying seconds and afterward, when she and her students emerged into the daylight. The footage is a bit hard to see, but the audio is haunting. Dziedzic tells students, "It's almost over." A student yells, "I hate this!" The adult female voice responds, "Honey, it's OK."

The students and teachers at Briarwood all survived. Tragically, at Plaza Towers Elementary, another school in the Moore district, seven children did not.

The footage, from ABC, is below.

Posted by Liana Heitin at 3:05 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

A New York City 4th grader's documentary on his school's lunchroom menu caused a stir last week. According to The New York Times, Zachary Maxwell, who attends P.S. 130 Hernando De Soto in Little Italy, recorded six months of footage in the cafeteria, hidden-camera style. With his Father's help, he then edited and cut the footage into the 20-minute film, "Yuck: A 4th Grader's Short Documentary About School Lunch."

Zachary started filming as a way to prove to his parents that the cafeteria's free food items were not as nutritious or delicious as the online menus on the New York City Department of Education website proclaimed. As the Times reports, Zachary points out in the film that the school lunch is often missing several food items from the day's menu, such as vegetables. For example, instead of offering the marinated tomato salad devised by Food Network chef Rachael Ray that the online menu boasts, the cafeteria would give "a slice of pizza accompanied by a wisp of lettuce," according to the paper. (Last fall, Education Week reporter Nirvi Shah wrote about the new school lunch regulations under the federal Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which require more servings of fruits and vegetables than before). Additionally, Zachary says that 28 percent of the lunches consisted of either pizza or cheese sticks.

Marge Feinberg, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education, wrote in an email to the Times that vegetables and fruit are served daily and that Zachary must have chosen not to have them. "It would not be the first time a youngster would find a way to get out of eating vegetables," she wrote. Zachary responded that he had taken everything he was offered at each meal.

Meanwhile, the Department of Education's Office of School Food (apparently missing the memo from Feinberg) has personally complimented Zachary on the documentary and asked for his input on new menu choices. His film will also be shown this June at the Manhattan Film Festival.

Posted by Francesca Duffy at 2:28 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend