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Joyful Learning Network

New research around K-8 schools

10/11/2012

5 Comments

 
"Do Middle Schools Make Sense?"
Mary Tamer, Ed. The Magazine of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Fall 2012

"New research finds that keeping students in K–8 schools has benefits.
...
"Not all students are so fortunate, as West discovered last spring when he released a study that explored the achievement and dropout rates of students enrolled in grades three through 10 in Florida’s public schools. The findings? In sum, students who left elementary schools for middle schools in grades six or seven “lose ground in both reading and math compared to their peers who attend K–8 schools,” he wrote in “The Middle School Plunge,” published in the spring 2012 issue of Education Next. Additionally, Florida students who entered middle school in sixth grade were 1.4 percentage points more likely than their K–8 peers to drop out of high school by 10th grade — a whopping increase of 18 percent.

"“Intuitively, I had not expected this to be an important policy lever, but there are a lot of indicators that things are not going well for students in the middle school grades in the United States,” says West, who serves as executive editor of Education Next. “If you look at international comparisons, kids in the United States perform better at elementary school than the later grades … so it made sense to look at whether grade configuration influenced this.”

"West decided to take a closer look after he read a 2010 study out of New York City by two Columbia University researchers that “produced compelling evidence that the transitions to middle schools were harmful for students in that setting.” That research found that students entering grades six through eight or seven to eight schools experience a “sharp drop” in achievement versus those attending K–8 schools. West wondered whether the same patterns would be evident elsewhere and, if so, whether the drop in achievement was temporary or persisted into high school.
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"Important, yes, but while West hopes that his research will open the door for districts to take a closer look at more K–8 models, the configuration alone is hardly a magic bullet or panacea for success.

"“I happen to agree with the idea that it’s good to have K–8 or seven through 12 schools, but this is not based on data,” Rogers says. “Small schools, with less than 400 kids, can make a difference, as can having children over a longer period of time. None of these things, alone, makes a difference. The question is, what are the practices that are occurring to make some schools successful?”
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"While some earlier studies questioned the role of grade configuration in school success and student achievement, including the 2008 National Forum “Policy Statement on Grade Configuration” and a 2010 study by EdSource, “Gaining Ground in the Middle Grades: Why Some Schools Do Better” in California, “the evidence on academic benefits has become much stronger in the past two years,” West says.

"“I’m generally sympathetic with this argument, especially to the extent that it points to a set of practices that middle schools could adopt to address their performance problems given that wholesale changes to grade configuration are unlikely to occur overnight,” he says. “That said, our evidence indicates that effective school practices are more common in K–8 schools than in middle schools and that the transition to middle school itself is detrimental for students and should be eliminated wherever possible.”

"Perhaps most importantly, Rogers says the one consistency she has found among K–8 schools is that “kids tend to say they feel safer, so there is less of a Lord of the Flies environment” at a critical stage when they are “navigating through social currents. For many kids, it’s distracting.”

"So whether the reasoning is leadership, safety, or the lessening of transitions that may affect academic achievement, West hopes policymakers will continue to review grade configurations for the benefit of all students.

"“The flip side of the point I’m making is that there is not one grade configuration for everyone,” says West, “but I think for policymakers, it is too easy to say we know there is a problem with middle schools and we can mitigate those problems. I don’t think my research or anyone else’s gives us the steps to take to mitigate them.”"

5 Comments

School Climate Index not so popular with public schools

10/8/2012

2 Comments

 
"Effort to survey Indianapolis teachers meets resistance"
Scott Elliott, Indystar.com, October 8, 2012

"A national education nonprofit has chosen Indianapolis to pilot a survey of local teachers that aims to go beyond test scores and offer information about such things as whether a school is clean and safe, whether it encourages creativity and independent thinking and how well its staff communicates with parents.

"The point, says GreatSchools.org, is to give parents valuable information to help them navigate the fast-growing public, private and charter school options.

"Sound like good news? Not to Marion County school superintendents, who have become increasingly suspicious that such efforts are nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to erode public schools and steer parents and students to private and charter schools.

"In fact, almost no Marion County school districts are cooperating with GreatSchools.org’s survey effort, which is backed by the Indiana Department of Education, Mayor Greg Ballard and the United Way.
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"Jacob Pactor, a Speedway High School English teacher who filled out the survey, was glad to have the opportunity to say great things about his school.

"“I was excited as a teacher to have somebody ask for my opinion about the school that I’m working at,” he said. “We brag about it internally, and we should brag externally.”

"The state’s A to F grading system for schools, Pactor said, simply can’t capture important dimensions such as whether a school is safe and nurturing. The climate survey can supplement the grades.

"“It’s hard to judge anything,” he said, “if you judge based just on test scores.”"


2 Comments

Schools should be more fun and happy!

9/6/2012

0 Comments

 
Why Can’t School Be More Like Summer?
BARBARA ROWLEY, New York Times, September 6, 2012

"From their perspective, the worst thing that happens to my two daughters at the conclusion of each summer is that they have to leave their friends and their joyous days of exploration at their mountain summer camp and come home. The next worst thing that happens to them is that they have to immediately start an experience — school — that feels almost exactly the opposite. The onset of camp-sickness is immediate.
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"Happiness is embedded in the summer camp business plan, and is central to what they do. If children  aren’t happy; they won’t come back. Many camps report annual return rates of 75 percent or more. Not every child is happy at camp, and it goes without saying that not every child’s family can afford camp, or wants to send them. But schools could learn a lot about student retention and achievement by taking a page from the summer camp happiness playbook.

"This is especially true right now. Driven by a culture, which, rightly or wrongly, too often fails to recognize teachers with respect and economic rewards, teacher unhappiness seems more prevalent than ever. Yet in all the talk about education reform, happiness rarely seems to make the list, even though there’s plenty of evidence out there about what an improved school environment might mean for learning and test scores, not to mention student attitudes and drop-out rates.

"Put simply, nobody likes working for an unhappy boss. Schools can’t be enjoyable for kids if teachers aren’t happy. For schools to be more like camp — to be more fun — our education establishment has to put emphasis on hiring positive-minded staff and preaching the importance of exuding happiness in the classroom as well as making the necessary changes in the work environment that will make their happiness genuine.
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"I realize that fun may sound like a frivolous goal in the face of the education crisis we face in our public schools, and happiness an extra we can’t afford given our middling rankings among global competitors. But as I grudgingly send my girls back to school this week, I can’t help wishing — just as they do — that school would learn just a little from summer."
0 Comments

September 05th, 2012

9/5/2012

0 Comments

 
"Making the Connection: Incorporate The Arts Into Every Subject"
Ann Whittemore, Lesson Planet, September 5, 2012

Why should you incorporate the arts into your curriculum? The arts are a fantastic vehicle for housing any subject, from literature to science. They provide an opportunity for learners to express or engage in what they know in a multi-sensory way. They fully engage multiple parts of the brain at one time and can also facilitate learning for a variety of intelligences. Art therapy or art mediums have been used in Special Education for years and are so versatile that they needn’t be isolated from everyday curriculum, but fully incorporated. "

Visual Arts ... 
Music and Movement ... 
Drama ... 

Read the full article to find a ton of great ideas!
0 Comments

How success is measured

9/4/2012

0 Comments

 
'Children Succeed' With Character, Not Test Scores
NPR Staff, NPR.org, September 4, 2012

"A child's success can't be measured in IQ scores, standardized tests or vocabulary quizzes, says author Paul Tough. Success, he argues, is about how young people build character. Tough explores this idea in his new book, How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of Character.

"On how schools are focused on scores rather than noncognitive skills

""Right now we've got an education system that really doesn't pay attention to [noncognitive] skills at all. ... I think schools just aren't set up right now to try to develop things like grit, and perseverance and curiosity. ... Especially in a world where we are more and more focused on standardized tests that measure a pretty narrow range of cognitive skills, teachers are less incentivized to think about how to develop those skills in kids. So it's a conversation that's really absent I think in a lot of schools, to the detriment of a lot of students.""



0 Comments

Over-Parenting vs. Letting Kids be Kids

8/10/2012

2 Comments

 
"Over-parenting's faulty logic"
Madeline Levine, SF Gate, August 10, 2012

"Counterintuitive as it seems, the very things we're doing to secure our children's futures can end up compromising them. Pushing and over-scheduling prevent them from becoming competent adults capable of the resilience, perseverance, motivation and grit that business leaders say they'll need to compete in tomorrow's workforce. Just as importantly, it interferes with the ability to cultivate healthy relationships and to feel that life is meaningful.

"Many parents have significant misunderstandings about how children learn and what circumstances are likely to drive success in them. Our (culturally sanctioned) faulty thinking is pushing us to do, in many cases, the exact opposite of what kids need to thrive.
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"Studies show that kids enrolled in academic-based preschools actually tend to fall behind their peers who attend play-based preschools by the fourth grade.
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"Self-directed play is the work of childhood. It's a classroom in which kids develop a whole set of skills that really matter in life. Consider what happens in a simple game of chase: Kids must agree on the game and cooperate with each other. They must determine who will be the leader, who will be the follower and when it's time to renegotiate. When we fill their days with classes, practices and games, there's just no time left for learning these critical lessons.

"Most experts agree that kids should have twice as much unstructured free time as structured playtime. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends at least 60 minutes a day. If they can get that 60 minutes outdoors - climbing trees, chasing fireflies or playing baseball in an empty lot - so much the better."
2 Comments

Parenting = Letting Go

8/4/2012

0 Comments

 
"Raising Successful Children"
Madeline Levine, New York Times, August 4, 2012

"HANGING back and allowing children to make mistakes is one of the greatest challenges of parenting. It’s easier when they’re young — tolerating a stumbling toddler is far different from allowing a preteenager to meet her friends at the mall. The potential mistakes carry greater risks, and part of being a parent is minimizing risk for our children.

"What kinds of risks should we tolerate? If there’s a predator loose in the neighborhood, your daughter doesn’t get to go to the mall. But under normal circumstances an 11-year-old girl is quite capable of taking care of herself for a few hours in the company of her friends. She may forget a package, overpay for an item or forget that she was supposed to call home at noon. Mastery of the world is an expanding geography for our kids, for toddlers, it’s the backyard; for preteens, the neighborhood, for teens the wider world. But it is in the small daily risks — the taller slide, the bike ride around the block, the invitation extended to a new classmate — that growth takes place. In this gray area of just beyond the comfortable is where resilience is born."

0 Comments

Study: Kids' Friends — Not Grades — Lead To Adult Well-Being

8/1/2012

0 Comments

 
"Study: Kids' Friends — Not Grades — Lead To Adult Well-Being"
Anna North, BuzzFeed, August 2012

"Stories of parents pushing kids to succeed in school above all else have been making headlines lately, but new research has found that social relationships are a much better predictor of adult well-being than a kid's grades.

"They found that social connectedness was highly correlated with adult well-being. Academic achievement, however, was not. The authors noted that they might have seen more of a connection if they'd included factors like job satisfaction in their measure of well-being, but they left these out on purpose. Their goal was to study not the traditional markers of success, but instead to look at peoples' "positive emotional functioning, sense of coherence, social engagement and character values." And as it turns out, kids' social lives seem to have a greater effect on the development of those qualities than their test scores do.

"This came as no surprise to John Stanrock, psychologist and author of the textbook Adolescence. He says there's a general feeling among some child development experts that in an age of No Child Left Behind and constant standardized testing, "the social world of adolescence has totally been neglected." He adds that schools don't spend enough money on counseling services, which can help kids with difficulties fit in better.


0 Comments

Experiencing the JOY of learning is good for teachers too!

7/30/2012

3 Comments

 
"Voices: Remember the joy of learning?"
Jessica Cuthbertson, EdNewsColorado.org, July 30, 2012

"Aurora teacher Jessica Cuthbertson has a joyful learning experience and it has nothing to do with filling in bubbles, getting graded or working quietly and alone. 
...
"We engaged in a collaborative, authentic learning experience.  And as a result, we left the second day committed to creating and constructing authentic learning experiences with our own students in August.
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"We didn’t take tests – though the facilitators frequently assessed and monitored our needs as learners.  We didn’t bubble anything in or respond to prompts or read passages written to meet the criteria of a certain “level” or to “measure” our comprehension.  We didn’t sit silently and passively.  We didn’t receive nor were we expected to arrive at the “right” answer.  We didn’t work in isolation.  We didn’t feel inadequate or invisible because we read a text differently or because we brought (or lacked) certain experiences or background knowledge.  We didn’t face interruptions or distractions.  We didn’t worry about receiving a grade or even if we would receive professional learning “credit.”

"Instead, we experienced the joy of learning. 

"Today’s teachers and students are part of a national culture that values quantifying the unquantifiable.  We are so busy “racing to the top” that it is easy to lose sight of the journey along the way. Authentic learning is the journey. It is hard to measure or quantify a chorus of “oh’s” and “a-ha’s” — the murmurings that fill a room after a rich discussion. It is difficult to measure the transformation of a furrowed brow that turns into a spark in a student’s eye when they see a text, a concept, a problem or an issue in a new way.  Learning is full of such moments — the internal and external dialogue that is at the heart of authentic learning."
3 Comments

No room for current events in the test-driven classroom

7/24/2012

0 Comments

 
"The Final Bell Rings for Weekly Reader, a Classroom Staple"
Noam Cohen, New York Times, July 24, 2012

"While it is tempting to see the close of Weekly Reader as another example of a shrinking print audience, Mr. Goff said that would be misleading. Rather, he pointed to the focus on teaching to the test that has made anything other than math and reading extraneous. “There has been a general loss of teaching kids about current events,” he said. “That is something that has been squeezed out of the classroom.” "
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