An extremely popular topic among the education community at present concerns new developments in technology and their implementation in American classrooms. Most media coverage on such topics cites computerized textbooks, electronic homework platforms and instructional video games as the teaching methods of the future. To this end, many public schools are beginning to embrace these new methods as their sole educational tools, even [...]
President Barack Obama is proposing a multibillion-dollar investment in the nation's community colleges, a $12 billion effort over ten years to help the two-year institutions reach, teach, and train more people for "the jobs of the future." Some of the money could be available by the 2010 budget year that begins Oct. 1. Half a billion, or $500 million, would go toward online education [...]
What is literary nonfiction? You may have seen it under different names; in addition to literary nonfiction, it has been called narrative nonfiction, creative nonfiction, narrative journalism, factual fiction, documentary narrative, and “the literature of actuality,” according to the University of Oregon’s definition. While we tend to equate “literary” with “fiction” and not truth, this genre of writing is all about the facts. [...]
It’s not news that advancements in technology have rapidly changed the way we read. Riding Boston’s subway during rush hour on a Monday morning is the only evidence I need. I see a wide variety of media: Kindles, iPads, Nooks, Androids. Oh, and the occasional hardcover and newspaper. Sometimes I feel terribly outdated balancing my coffee in the crook of my arm while [...]
For over 50 years, Advanced Placement (AP) testing has been a way for students to earn college credit while still in high school. The tests have been geared mainly toward the memorization of facts, and with thousands of pages of content that is all fair game on the exam, teachers rarely have time to cover any one topic in depth for fear that [...]
We’ve all had a class where we ask ourselves, “Why did this person become a teacher?” And as much as we’d like to believe every educator is another Jaime Escalante, the fact of the matter is that most aren’t. So what does it take to be a great educator? Are teaching skills innate, or can they be learned? Alas, the age-old question of [...]
A new trend in school leadership is emerging. School districts are beginning to hire nontraditional candidates--from leaders at non-profit organizations to top corporate executives to former government officials--to be their new superintendents. States such as New Jersey and Pennsylvania are taking measures to create a process whereby nontraditional candidates may be hired as school administrators. So what began this interest in choosing those [...]
The number of students taking Advanced Placement exams has been rising from year to year. In 2010, just under two million students took over three million AP exams, up about 10% from 2009. The College Board, which sponsors the AP exam, offers thirty-four courses that, if a student scores high enough on the exam, can transfer over to college credit. Fifty-eight percent of [...]
Back in tenth grade US history class, I was indoctrinated into the wonder of National History Day. This event was a celebration of world and American history, designed to encourage students to pursue what might not be taught in the textbooks. The two main components of this contest were a research paper and some sort of visual project. Prior to this exercise, I [...]
In 2009, legislatures in New York and California, among other states, enacted laws that limit, to one degree or another, the use of student achievement data in teacher performance evaluations. New York's legislature prohibited the use of student test scores in teacher tenure decisions. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was publicly opposed to these laws, saying, "Believe it or not, several states, including [...]