Search results for: “NCLB”
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Legal Fight Over Publicly funded Charter Schools and Online Education in Oklahoma
Charter schools are controversial, as is the provision of publicly-funded online education options for K-12 students nationwide. In her outstanding book, “The Death and Life of the Great American School System,” Diane Ravitch explains how the charter school movement has become (for SOME individuals) a rallying cry and political objective replacing the call for educational…
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Public education is not failing, but political spin doctors want you to think so
Blog posts which begin like this one make me ill: As failing socialized education once more is cutting teachers and looking to pour federal tax paid money to save salaries of some of them, why not do something different: cut textbook costs by delivering learning content using mobiles. Roughly speaking, one teacher’s salary of $100,000…
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Education can empower us with skills to act upon the world
The purposes of education extend far beyond the narrow “achievement” which is measured on standardized assessments. Mike Rose reminds us of some of the most important purposes of education on pages 36-38 of his wonderful book, “Why School? Reclaiming Education for All of Us.” He writes: Reading and writing gave me skills to create with…
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Jim Askew on Individualized Online Curriculum and Transforming Learning #ok1to1
These are my notes from Jim Askew’s morning presentation at the Crescent Public Schools‘ 1:1 learning conference on 4 June 2010. MY THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS ARE IN ALL CAPS. MY ASIDE: THE STORYCHASERS MOBILE LEARNING TEAM BLOG IS A PLACE FOR EDUCATORS IN 1:1 SETTINGS TO SHARE IDEAS. I’ve been blessed to work for 2…
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Public Schools Are Not Businesses – Why Educational Sharing Matters
If you have access to a phone and can use it, you can readily publish audio online for FREE as a podcast using iPadio. Your students can as well. This process is called “phonecasting.” Tuesday I recorded a 23 minute phonecast using iPadio on my iPhone, continuing my review of Diane Ravitch’s new book, “The…
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Mandatory Reading for School Reformers and Transformers: Alvin Toffler’s 2007 Interview in EduTopia
James Daly’s 2007 interview with Alvin Toffler, “Reshaping Learning from the Ground Up,” should be considered mandatory reading for anyone seeking to reform and/or transform formal education in the 21st century. Toffler is clear on our need for charter schools. We MUST diversify our educational landscape. Charter schools offer one way forward when it comes…
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Podcast343: Reflections on Race to the Top, State Charter School Laws, and Linking Teacher Performance to Student Test Scores
This podcast is an excerpt of the April 1, 2010 Seedlings webcast on EdTechTalk, featuring commentary by Wesley Fryer focusing on Race to the Top and current “educational reform” efforts in the United States spearheaded by the Obama administration. Wesley discussed the apparent goals of Race to the Top, which appear to be public funding…
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Inspired by OLPC, Nicholas Negroponte and Seymour Papert
Despite numerous experiences which could persuade me otherwise, I remain an ardent idealist who wants to change the world for the better. Nicholas Negroponte and the OLPC project have been two extremely influential inspirations to me in the past few years. The March 2010 issue of “The Rotarian” magazine includes the article, “The Rotarian Conversation…
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Will Race to the Top Hurt Kids and Make Charter School Entrepreneurs Rich?
I am an outspoken advocate for thoughtful, constructive educational transformation. I am NOT, however, an advocate for opening the coffers of public education to private investors of all flavors at the expense of our children as well as our collective future. In May 2004, I wrote the post, “School refinance, vouchers, generational compact and class…
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KFC and McDonalds Reinvent Themselves – Why Not Our Schools?
In the past couple of years, have you noticed how many fast food chain restaurants have undergone a complete facelift? This is a photograph, taken with the Pano application on my iPhone, of our Oklahoma City KFC restaurant on 23rd street. Wow! What a change from the “typical” fast food restaurant! The physical environment has…