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An Accountability Lesson from Michelle Obama |
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Education Week (subscription only) |
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Education can learn something from Michelle Obama's campaign to combat childhood obesity, according to an op-ed piece appearing in the August 25 issue of Education Week, written by McREL President and CEO Tim Waters and Douglas B. Reeves, chairman of the Leadership and Learning Center. Waters and Reeves contrast education's superficial focus on test scores with Obama's more nuanced approach, including not just a focus on pounds but also on nutrition, exercise, and frequent monitoring of health indicators.
State and federal policymakers would do well, they write, to revisit the accountability equation. "If we want to avoid the educational equivalent of anorexia and pill-popping--teaching focused only on test content and test-taking strategy--then the accountability equation must include causes, not merely effects." |
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Choice is a matter of degree |
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Educational Leadership |
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Does more choice make better, happier students? McREL's vice president of communications and marketing, Bryan Goodwin, tackles this issue in his new column for Educational Leadership, appearing in the September issue. By examining current research on the topic, Goodwin concludes that, like in other areas of life, giving some choice can help motivate but that too many choices can backfire. |
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Battling the Boys: Educators Grapple with Violent Play |
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LiveScience.com |
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Should boys be allowed to pretend to fight, capture, rescue, or even kill when "playing" in the classroom? This article examines the debate, citing an article by McREL early childhood education researcher Elena Bodrova and her colleague Deborah Leong, which states that sophisticated play (including games like cops and robbers) are critical to teaching children how to "delay gratification, prioritize, consider the perspective of others, represent things symbolically, and control impulses." |
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Vision plan aims for better schools |
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Columbia Daily Tribune (Mo.) |
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The Vision for Missouri Public Education Project, led by the Missouri School Boards' Association and the Missouri Association of School Administrators, aims to develop a new vision for the state's public school system. The project's goals, which will focus on the key areas of early learning, governance, teaching and learning, and physical and financial resources, can be met with better use of resources and without additional funding, said Tim Waters, president and CEO of McREL, another participant in the project. |
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Local view: Teachers' labors key to society's future successes |
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Duluth News Tribune (Minn.) |
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This Labor Day column extols the difficult, meaningful work of teachers and cites several recent studies that provide evidence of the impact teachers make in the lives of their students--including McREL's meta-analysis on five things that matter most for student achievement (Changing the Odds for Student Success: What Matters Most). |
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Using Leadership Teams to Elevate English Learning |
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Education.com |
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What happens after the workshop? To ensure that McREL's research-based instructional strategies for English language learners are implemented with quality and fidelity back in the classroom, McREL offers English Language Learner Leadership Academies, which combine the best in instructional practice with the best in leadership practice. This article, written by consultants Jane Hill and Anne Lundquist, details the five key elements of the academies.
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Adapt ELL Lessons in 3 Simple Steps |
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TeachHub.com |
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McREL's Jane Hill and Cynthia Björk share a three-step process for mainstream teachers on how to differentiate instruction for ELLs: First, understand thoroughly the stages of language acquisition and the level of each of your students; use Bloom's Taxonomy and "levels of thinking" in aligning students' acquisition levels with classroom assignments and homework; and set expectations in the classrooms according to the "remember" level of thinking. |
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12 educators get distinguished leadership awards |
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Saipan Tribune |
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McREL consultants Greg Cameron and David Rease, Jr., traveled to Saipan to deliver a four-day leadership institute to 65 principals, vice principals, program managers, and board of education members, with a focus on establishing strategic priorities that are "clear, concise, coherent, and realistic," said Education Commissioner Dr. Rita Sablan. |
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Using McREL's Knowledge Taxonomy for Ed Tech Professional Development |
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Learning and Leading with Technology |
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In this article, which appears in the June/July issue, McREL Lead Consultant Elizabeth Ross Hubbell shares ideas for helping teachers embrace technology by applying McREL's Knowledge Taxonomy to technology integration in the classroom. The taxonomy is based on the assertion that teachers need to know not only what to do to improve student achievement (declarative knowledge) but also why (experiential knowledge), how (procedural knowledge), and when (contextual knowledge) to do it. For example, Hubbell helps teachers understand why technology is important with articles or videos that illustrate the stark contrast between a student's digital life outside and inside the classroom. Or she may use a logic model to help teachers think about their student "clients," identify their needs, and determine the best resources to meet those needs. |
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Playing games makes your child clever |
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Times Online (London) |
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McREL early childhood education researcher Elena Bodrova was interviewed for this article on the resurging popularity of the ideas of pioneering Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky, which appeared in the online version of the London Times. Bodrova, who is leading the charge in the U.S. for using more play in the classroom to teach children self-control, focus, and self-motivation, explains that children are arriving at school less able to focus because "they don't know how to play." When children spend more time participating in structured make-believe and social games, they are "a head above themselves," practicing for the next level of learning, Vygotsky wrote back in the 1920s. |
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