As many of you know, the HOPE Foundation provides world class conferences for educators featuring national leaders in education. Recently, my former colleagues from my time as a Superintendent of Schools returned from an exciting time in Atlanta at the latest HOPE conference.
Here is what Wendy had to say:
I have been an educator for 16 years. [...]
Tags: Alan Blankstein · assessment · conferences · education · educational leaderhsip · fun · HOPE Foundation · poverty and student achievement · professional development · school improvement · Shaping America's Future IV · teachers · training
The tension in the room was real. As a new professor to the university setting, my colleague had drug me along to a statewide task force meeting to discuss our statewide assessment problems. It was clear from the anxious faces around the room that people weren’t seeing eye-to-eye on how our statewide assessment system was [...]
Tags: accountability · assessment · national standards · school improvement · standardized testing · testing
Over at AASA’s blog “The Leading Edge” there is a blog post briefly describing the Gates Foundations “half a billion dollar” carrot dangling in front of a small handful of schools and districts trying to find the “silver bullet” in education.
When will we ever realize their is no “one best method” of educating all youngsters!
Or [...]
Tags: educational grants · Gates Foundation · school improvement · school reform
Ryan Allen sent me this amazing clip from the TED conference that unveils a small glimpse into the possible future of interactive technology. Technology that is integrated into our daily lives as opposed to something we do when we sit down at a computer.
And like I have a tendency to do…my mind went to the [...]
Tags: school improvement · school reform · technology · technology in schools
Report highlighting Illinois school district’s five-year improvement correlates with Key Findings in report published by the National Staff Development Council
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The results of an in-depth evaluation of Mattoon (IL) Community USD #2’s five-year improvement journey with the HOPE Foundation were released at a think tank session last week that included district leaders from [...]
Tags: Alan Blankstein · district improvement · HOPE · HOPE Foundation · professional development · school improvement · School Readiness · staff development
Standards based school reform has brought some good things, some bad things and some ugly things to education.
The good:
Teachers are more focused, more accountable and work together better than they ever have before. The structure may have helped teachers that were struggling. The overall accountability movement has brought a sense of urgency to most schools [...]
Tags: Pedagogy · school improvement · standards · standards based school reform
Flexbooks are open source textbooks that are online and allow registered users to add content and modify. The company that founded them CK-12 has started with Physics and Biology and will build content from there.
The state of Virginia is one of the first to embrace the new technology by piloting the Flexbooks for Physics.
While I am [...]
Tags: curriculum · Flex Books · internet age · open source software · political influence · school improvement · Skype. innovation · text books · textbooks
It’s supposed to snow like mad here in Sheridan, Wyoming today. That’s why our favorite websites in Wyoming are the travel advisory web cams on the highways! I am here to participate in the school district’s day-long workshops on assessment.
After lunch I will be the presenter to the district faculty and administrators. This is the culminating [...]
Tags: data · data displays · education · school assessment · school data · school improvement · student motivation · Students · teachers
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Tags: administrators · Alan Blankstein · courageous leadership · educational leaderhsip · Leadership · school improvement · Students · teachers
