Monday, March 26, 2012

Learn global education into Principal and Teacher Preparation

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan joined education leaders from twenty-three high-performing, rapidly-improving countries in New York City last week. Over the course of two days, each country shared ideas and successful, innovative practices for teacher preparation and school leader development during the second-ever International Summit on the Teaching Profession.

Just last year, the Department held the first Summit, bringing together not just national education ministers, but also union leaders in partnership with teachers, and education experts to help to shape the conversation. Through a public discourse, participants identified common challenges in education across different countries and cultures while also laying out the need for systematic reform.

The lessons learned from the practices of high-performing systems during last year had a big impact in the United States. It helped lay the groundwork for a new Obama Administration project called RESPECT, which stands for Recognizing Educational Success, Professional Excellence, and Collaborative Teaching.

Certain practices and policies were repeated throughout the Summit like the need to attract talent to education through competitive pay scales and career-ladders; the benefits of providing support through school-to-school, principal-to-principal, and teacher-to-teacher networks; and the large-scale value of identifying high-level, common standards that are consistent from pre-K through high school in order to prepare students for college and careers.

With these great challenges come great opportunities. Engaging with international education leaders has contributed valuable insight and input that will help the U.S. continue our work to elevate our nation’s education system. Accomplishing this broad, imperative goal will depend on our ability to attract and retain great talent over the short term so the U.S. can effectively shape public education for generations to come.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Students find Success in Metro Academy Programs

Metro Academy is a structured two-year program, supported in part with a Fund from the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) grant from ED’s Office of Postsecondary Education, that helps lead students directly to an associate’s degree and then into a bachelor’s degree program. The Academy programs cover all the general education requirements of the bachelor’s and are designed around career themes.

The problem-based curriculum keeps students engaged, and the lockstep sequence of courses shortens completion time and raises completion rates. So far, the SFSU-CCSF partnership has Academy programs in health and early childhood education, with another program focused on STEM careers starting in the fall. 

As reported by Savita Malik, the Metro Academies’ curriculum and faculty affairs director, the program adopts many of the best practices in higher education, such as the learning outcomes recommended by the American Association of Colleges and Universities, and high-impact educational practices such as learning communities, writing-intensive courses, integrated student support services, and others.

The results have been remarkable: higher persistence rates, higher GPAs, and faster progress to degree. And best of all, these practices are cost-effective. While they require a small additional investment per student, it actually lowers the cost per completed degree, as Jane Wellman—a higher education cost expert—informed the briefing attendees.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

New Tool assists High Schools improves FAFSA Completions

As the cost of college continues to increase, financial aid becomes ever more important. While many factors are involved in the decision to attend college, there is a strong correlation between FAFSA completion and college enrollment.

In earlier days, high schools relied on self-reported surveys to estimate their FAFSA completion rate and that data can be inaccurate. For this reason, Federal Student Aid is providing high schools with current data about their FAFSA submissions and completions so that high schools can track their progress and help to ensure that their students complete a FAFSA. A completed FAFSA allows the Department to determine a potential student’s eligibility for federal student aid – a key factor in families’ college decisions.

The data included in the attached charts reflect the number of submitted and completed FAFSAs among applicants no older than 18 who will have received their high school diploma education by the start of the 2012-2013 school years. The data is displayed in spreadsheets broken down by state that include the school name and city of the high school.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

US Education Department Awards $24.6 million to support Staff and Principal Development

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan today announced the award of nearly $24.6 million for three grants to improve student achievement by increasing the effectiveness of teachers and principals. Funded under the Supporting Effective Educators Development (SEED) program, projects are awarded to the National Writing Project, New Teacher Center, and Teach for America.

Effective teachers and principals are so central to boosting student achievement and producing better outcomes for children,” Duncan said. “These grants are excellent examples of ways to support teachers and school leaders and develop the next generation of world-class educators.”

The National Writing Project, based in Berkeley, Calif., will use its $11.3 million grant to train 3,000 K-12 teacher-leaders in the teaching of writing, who will then conduct professional development for teachers in local schools and districts in all 50 states. They are expected to reach some 12,000 students during the 2012-13 school year. The training will be conducted at intensive summer institutes for teachers on university campuses as well as through online programs. Another focus of the National Writing Project grant is to provide at least 30 hours of professional development in writing instruction throughout the school year for teachers serving high-need students in 100 schools and districts across the country.

The New Teacher Center in Santa Cruz, Calif., will use its award of nearly $4.98 million to support novice teachers and principals in the Hillsborough County Public Schools in Florida. The grant will fund teacher mentor and principal coaches to provide intensive support for each beginning teacher and new principal to ensure that they are having a positive impact on student learning right from the start of their careers. The program will reach 1,200 new teachers in elementary, middle, and senior high schools throughout the county.

Teach for America (TFA), based in New York City, will use its $8.3 million award to support more than 9,000 teachers in high-need schools during the current school year, and recruit, select, train and place up to 5,800 new teachers for the 2012-13 school year. The funds will support summer training institutes for its teachers in eight cities--Atlanta, Chicago, Delta, Miss., Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, and Tulsa—as well as recruitment efforts on college campuses. The project’s overarching goal is to improve academic growth for students reached by TFA teachers.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

3 important techniques to improve your classroom management

By looking for an efficient classroom managing plan is tough. Student behavior and education is getting poorer owing to a selection of special features, so it is not surprise that people universally are appearing for a successful classroom management plan. 

Hence what should be part of your classroom organization plan in your effort to get better student behavior? Fine, an efficient classroom management plan has several basics, but there are three things that every teacher can do tomorrow to guarantee better student performance.

Stay Optimistic :

 It is so simple when you are fixed in a channel in the center of January to become quiet and negative. If you are harmful, then your students will be pessimistic and that can simply be a bad thing for your classroom management.

What be inclined to take place in these conditions is that you get manually into a brutal circle, the more harmful that you become, the more deficiency acted your students become. Take physically out of the fizz and try and keep in mind why you develop into a teacher in the first place. If you can stroll into your classroom with a smile on your face you will obtain a much more positive response from your students.

 Praise, praise and more praise :

 If you wish for good classroom organization from your students then congratulate them at whatever time you have the chance. You want to train your students precisely how you would like them to act, and the use of honor is an outstanding way to do this.

Among the bad students in your class aggressively seem for them being well performed. After you get this (even the worst students behave for brief moments!) confirm that you pile praise on them. This is very hard to do when you are fed up, and the child in query has ended you life torture for weeks, but if you do this you will observe a big development in their potential behavior.

 Use the talking of choice :

 I can't exaggerate this adequate. As an alternative of telling children to do a little, clarify to them that you would like to them to decide to do some work. This slight change in language is extremely influential and is sure to make positive results.