March 26, 2015 | Sign up to receive THE TEACHERS EDITION.
 VIDEO WORTH WATCHING
A View from King/Drew
The teachers at ED are celebrating this video about the incredible work being done at King/Drew Magnet High School for Medicine and Science, where every student is on track for college and careers.
In every class we visited, students were engaged and their teachers were masters of the craft. Two are profiled in this video: chemistry teacher Tatiana Hatchett and English teacher Latosha Guy, along with many of their students.
Ms. Hatchett runs a program called Urban Fitness, where she helps students keep their grades and their bodies in shape. (Look for her in the yoga scenes of the video.) "She expects a lot from us," 10th grader Frederick Ford said. "It's because she sees us as all as very bright."
Ms. Guy teaches to the head and the heart and keeps learning real for her students with heavy doses of humor. "She helped me to understand that The Scarlet Letter is really all about baby mama drama," Brooke Moore White told us.
Learn more. Check out other videos about progress in education being made in America's schools.
 WHITE HOUSE SCIENCE FAIR
Extraordinary Exhibitors
Innovative projects, designs, and experiments from
students all across America were on display at the 2015 White House
Science Fair.
Hosted by President Obama, the fair featured a
broad range of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) competitions. The event also included a specific focus on girls and women who are excelling
in STEM and inspiring the next generation with their work.
Check out the fabulous story of the Girl Scouts who impressed the president with their Lego page turner (Friedman, NY Times). During their time with him, they reminded the President that it's "just a prototype."
Learn more about the amazing students and their exhibits.
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 TEAR JERKER
Ellen Show Surprises Kindergarten Teacher
Sonya Romero,
a kindergarten teacher at Lew Wallace
Elementary school (Albuquerque,
N.M.) has spent years helping
students. This week Ellen DeGeneres
gave her a big gift in return.
Romero was surprised by Ellen and Target
with two $10,000 checks. Romero uses her own money ($2400 last year) to
make sure all her kids – 75% who are on free and reduced lunch - have food
and clothing. Recently, when Child Protective Services came to her school to put two students into foster care, she added them to her family. Now she is their legal foster mother.
Folks at Lew Wallace pointed out that their situation is not unique; teachers everywhere "spend countless dollars of their own on their students, children arrive
at school without supplies or having been adequately fed, and school clothing
banks struggle to meet demand.”
Find out more and watch a clip about Ms. Romero from the episode that brought Ellen to tears (and will have you crying as well)!
 Cage Busters Defy Convention
Do teachers inhabit a cage of their own? That's the question Frederick M. Hess addresses in his new book, The
Cage-Busting Teacher, by highlighting stories of teachers who pushed beyond those four
walls.
Among those who have broken barriers are TAFs Emily Davis (2013, 2014 Washington Fellow), Lisa Clarke (2012, 2013 Washington Fellow), Joiselle Cunningham (2013 Washington Fellow), Jonathan McIntosh (2013 Classroom
Fellow) and Maddie Fennell (2014
Classroom Fellow). Hess' book is filled
with practical ideas on how teachers can fulfill their own ambitions inside and
outside the classroom.
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 ED's brackets show each team’s Academic Progress Rate as reported by the NCAA. See all the results for men's and women's teams on our blog.
THE ACADEMIC DANCE
Athletes Are
Students First
Looking for more than just a win at the final four, a new ED blog
takes aim at just that (Homeroom). What would it look like if your bracket reflected how well an
institution is equipping its student-athletes to be successful in the classroom
– and ultimately, to be successful after the final game? Find out how well these NCAA schools do.
 TEST PREP
What Doesn't Work
“The idea of having students practice answering
test questions is ubiquitous and ineffective in raising test scores,” says
Timothy Shanahan (University of Illinois/ Chicago) in an article in The Reading Teacher.
Find out what Shanahan recommends in Kim Marshall's Marshall Memo.
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EDUCATION FUNDING
A Bad Time to Spend Less
More graduation caps are being thrown into
the air, but will the budget proposed by the Republican Congress be enough to
sustain the gains our students are making? Speaking at the White House to superintendents
and other school officials from all across
the country, President Obama said, “If the budget maintains sequester-level
funding, then we would actually be spending less on pre-K to 12th grade in
America’s schools in terms of federal support than we were back in 2000. And
that’s adjusting for inflation. The notion that we would be going backwards
instead of forwards in how we’re devoting resources to educating our kids makes
absolutely no sense.”
Many
school leaders agreed, describing vital programs in
their districts that Title I helps fund, and what it would mean to lose that
funding. Listen to sound clouds in the blog,
10 Reasons Why We Can't Afford to Cut
Education Funding, as they talk about a "Parent Academy" that has
helped more than 3,000 parents prepare their kids to apply for college, extended
school days that result in double-digit gains in math and reading scores, development
classes that have reduced truancy issues among young black students and more.
States need to step up and fund education, too. That’s the
message Secretary Duncan brought to Edwin M. Stanton Elementary (Philadelphia, Pa.) where he joined
U.S. Representative Chaka Fattah
(D-PA), Superintendent of Philadelphia schools Dr. William Hite, and acting Pennsylvania Education Secretary Pedro Rivera for a community roundtable
discussion. Recent data shows that students from
low-income families in 23 states are being shortchanged when it comes to state
and local education funding. Read more.
 DENISE KHAALID
Celebrating African American Educators
Editor's note: The following is part
of a series reporting on excellent African American educators. Educators were
selected by the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for
African Americans.
Denise Khaalid is
the Principal at Oakdale
Elementary School, a STEM Magnet
School in Rock Hill, South Carolina. In 2012, she won the National Assistant
Principal of the Year Award.
What is the one thing you most celebrate
about your students?
One
of my favorite quotes is “Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your
altitude” by Zig Ziglar. I do my best to celebrate my students’ positive
thinking. Many of my students experience challenging situations every day. I try to share stories of other people’s
resilience, so they know that anything is possible for them.
In what ways do you encourage parents,
family members, and other caring adults to support the learning and development
of African American students?
We encourage
parental involvement and have a number of activities that allow families and
community members to support our students. Last year we began our Watch DOGS
Program, which encourages fathers and father figures to volunteer at our
school. The experience means a great deal to the children when their fathers
spend the day at school, and other students also connect with these dads and look
forward to the visits.
The other program is Parenting Partners. I have
discovered that parents really do want to help their children, but many are not
sure how. This fall we will have our first graduating class of parents who have
participated in the Parenting Partners’ eight-week workshop series to help them
with positive parenting. The parents in this cohort have learned together,
shared experiences, and created a support group for one another. They have
learned some valuable strategies that will help them better support all of the children. I
am very excited about the power of this workshop series. We now have a cohort
that can serve as leaders in our school, and we will have another cohort in the
spring.
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 DOES THE COMMON CORE PROMOTE MORAL RELATIVISM? Not according to this analysis by Fordham's Kathleen Porter-Magee. "Rather than reinforcing the prevailing moral relativism in our schools, Common Core actually provides a path forward for students themselves to find their way back to moral facts," she writes.
THE EMPATHY IMPERATIVE
"You show me a kid who
does not care about his own future, and I will show you a kid who doesn't
care about your future either. And that is a very dangerous situation. So even
if you don't want to be selfless, at least be selfish."
(Education author Wes Moore at the Teaching and Learning Conference.)
ROOM FOR ONE MORE
Special Education Students in Charters
“Unlike lifeboats, schools should have strong incentives
to admit every child,” writes Robin Lake,
in her blog, Time for Charters to Lead on Special Education. Lake points out
that charters are well positioned to serve special needs students yet retain their
distinctive cultures, and they should make a serious effort to serve every
child, even the challenging ones.
 High School Highs
Earlier this year we learned that America’s high school
graduation rate is at a record high, dropout rates are down, and 1.1 million
more Black and Hispanic students are attending college since 2008. And,
according to new NCES data, between 2010-11 and
2012-13, high school graduation rates for:
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All
students increased over two percentage
points from 79 percent to 81.4 percent;
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Native American students increased by nearly five percentage
points;
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Hispanic students increased by over
four percentage points;
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Black students increased by
nearly four percentage points;
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Low-income
learners increased by over three
percentage points;
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English learners increased by just
over four percentage points;
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Students with disabilities increased by nearly three percentage points;
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Asian students increased by
nearly two percentage points; and
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White students increased by over
two percentage points.
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PRINCIPAL CHAT
Coaches Help Principals Get Evaluation Right
ED’s PROGRESS blog reports on the support Tennessee provides principals to help them use the state’s teaching rubric to make their observations of teaching more accurate and helpful.
The Tennessee Department of Education uses the Tennessee Educator Acceleration Model (TEAM), which combines test scores, observations, student surveys and other elements to identify teachers’ strengths and areas needing improvement. At first, TEAM revealed mismatches between teachers’ observation scores and student achievement. The fix: the state hired eight coaches over the next two years to work with principals at 116 schools. After the coaching, principals were able to give teachers better feedback, teachers’ performance improved and student learning accelerated. Read more.
 WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH
Female Power
Women have always played an important role in the progress of
our nation. From fighting for civil rights to advancing the field of science,
the contributions of women are recognized every March during Women’s
History Month. The Teachers Edition will feature
teaching resources to support this year's Women’s History Month throughout
March.
HER STORY. Many resources
on the FREE website recognize the important role women have played in our
nation’s history. The link includes activities about the contributions and accomplishments of
women that will help you celebrate this month.
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 NATIONAL
POETRY MONTH
Rhyme with Reason
ONE A DAY. Adding
to his daily routine of integrating
a poem into the opening routine of his class, ninth grade English teacher
Brett
Vogelsinger (Doylestown, Pa.) lays out a strategy for “keeping
poetry-reading activities brisk and bright.” These activities
keep students engaged by not treating poetry as something they must slog
through each day.
MORE ONE A DAY. Another advocate for the poem-a-day approach
is Peter Armenti, literature
specialist for the Digital Reference Section at the Library of Congress, who
blogs about resources that make it easy to locate and read (or
listen to) a poem each day. The resources include the Poetry 180 Project, created
by former Poet
Laureate Billy Collins in 2001, as a way to introduce American high school
students to poetry.
FINE RHYME. Teachers may also want to investigate the analysis
tools and activity ideas to help you and your students get excited about poetry
on the Library of Congress’s website. The March/April issue of the Library
of Congress Magazine,
released online, shines a spotlight on the Library’s poetry-related activities,
services, and collections.
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 GO MUSTANGS
Launching Better Readers
In Portland, Ore., pairing
George Middle School
students with Sitton Elementary School
emerging readers has proven to be wildly successful. Known as Mustang Readers, the
program is helping the district ensure that all
students read at benchmark by the end of third grade. They're also building
strong bonds between Sitton and George, practicing public speaking, improving
their own literacy skills and serving as excellent role models. Go, Mustang
Readers!
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 Teachers' Notes
• NEA OPPORTUNITY DASHBOARD. The NEA is calling for the next version of ESEA to include an “Opportunity Dashboard” that holds states accountable
for providing the resources and opportunities fundamental to student success. It's worth checking out and might be even more valuable if states included evidence of student growth
or achievement.
• MONKEY SEE, MONKEY DO. Teachers can use resources from DisneyNature
to help students learn about monkeys. Listen to real
monkey sounds recorded from the documentarians who made the recent Monkey
Kingdom movie and get information about the mysterious settings they inhabit, food they eat and more in the Educator's Guide
that includes nearly 100 pages of lessons and activities targeted to grades 2
through 6.
• NEED A PROJECT?
Get lots of ideas from Buck Institute which has free resources for teachers around project-based
learning... sample units and curriculum
for all subjects and grades, articles, planning forms and rubrics for designing
project-based learning.
• GROWTH IS NOT OPTIONAL. Education Consultant Jessica Hockett shares her journey
toward a differentiated classroom. She talks about early career challenges
and how she overcame them, as well as her learning from continuous improvement. She and coauthor of their forthcoming ASCD book, Differentiation in Middle and High School: Strategies that Engage All
Learners, Kristina Doubet, reflect on lessons we can learn from failure.
Learn more.
• FACE UP TO FAILURE. For Scholastic’s edupulse blog,
Robyn Jackson, a professional
development specialist, wrote about the importance of failure – three strategies
to help students learn from mistakes, instead of shielding them from errors.
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 Grading State Standards
A key objective of the CCSS consortium—the raising of
state proficiency standards—has begun to happen, according to the sixth
in a series of reports that grade state proficiency standards on the
traditional A-to-F scale used to evaluate students.
Find out more about the
results from Education Next, including that twenty states
strengthened their state proficiency standards since 2011, while just 8
loosened them (Peterson and Ackerman, Education Next).
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 Recommended Reading
IN IT FOR THE LONG
HAUL. In a blog
by Teach For America teacher Craig Brandenburg (Houston,TX), he recounts another reason he is
staying in the classroom.
The opportunity to “Teach for the Cycle,” to teach a family of student siblings who come through his school, is especially rewarding.
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 Top 5 Quotes
Wisdom from educators heard by ED
5. “There is not a one size fits all solution. The challenge is
to allow us to have autonomy.” (Principal)
4. "You need the right people to assume teacher leadership
roles. You also need a school climate that is conducive to taking leadership
from more than just the principal.” (Teacher, Arizona)
3. "There are so many good teacher leadership ideas. They sit in folders on shelves. What Teach to Lead did was draw attention to our idea so we could get it moving." (Teacher, Connecticut)
2. "Teaching is my passion. Learning is my job." (Teacher, Maine)
1. “I am the most resourceful grant beggar in the West.” (Principal)
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