Monday, June 28, 2010

1:1 Computing Study

Here's one that shouldn't surprise anyone. eSchool News managing director Laura Devaney writes in Study reveals factors in ed-tech success that "Schools with one-to-one computing programs have fewer discipline problems, lower dropout rates, and higher rates of college attendance than schools with a higher ratio of students to computers." And she continues with the really critical part, "But for one-to-one programs to boost student achievement as well, they must be properly implemented, the study found." The study from Project RED (Revolutionizing Education) noted that employing "electronic formative assessments on a regular basis and frequent collaboration of teachers in professional learning communities" could "boost student achievement" and "result in monetary savings for schools and local governments."

Studies such as the one above are welcome news to proponents of technology in the classroom. Unfortunately, tech purchases and implementation are often done without a lot of input from classroom teachers. Having implemented a 1:1 program in my special ed classroom years ago, I can say that it takes a lot of research to pick the right hardware/software products for purchase. Even then, there's a bit of trial and error and luck involved in achieving success with such a program.

Send Feedback to

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Stellarium Updated

My favorite, free planetarium and astronomy software, Stellarium, was updated to version 0.10.5 earlier this month. I noticed the new version now defaults to a west view rather than south. Once I got my installation aimed south, I saw a much cooler change. Stellarium now displays the Milky Way!

Stellarium is a great tool for classroom teachers who want or need to field questions about the night sky. It's available for Windows, Linux, and Macintosh, and in my experience, will work on some pretty old, clunky equipment.

Got a 2003-2005 Optiplex?

Ashlee Vance explores some incredibly damning "documents recently unsealed in a three-year-old lawsuit against Dell Computer" in a New York Times technology article yesterday. In Faulty-Computer Suit, Window to Dell Decline, Vance tells of Optiplex computers shipped "with faulty electrical components that were leaking chemicals and causing...malfunctions." Vance implies that Dell knew about the problems early on, but chose to try to suppress the information rather than issuing a recall. She writes, "A study by Dell found that OptiPlex computers affected by the bad capacitors were expected to cause problems up to 97 percent of the time over a three-year period, according to the lawsuit." Vance doesn't get into computers for K-12 education in the article, but Dell sold a lot of computers to K-12 over that time. While many of the school sales were laptops, it's quite likely that many schools also bought some Optiplex desktops as well.

On the Blogs

Michael Doyle's Keeping it real: biology hooks for sophomores on his Science Teacher blog is really funny. And of course, This Week's Education Humor from Learning Laffs is always a good read. Organized Chaos takes a look at More thoughts on professional development and specifically making behavioral plans work.

I generally handle Deborah Meier and Diane Ravitch's postings on their Bridging Differences blog as news columns. But today's posting carries the announcement that the blog will begin its summer break after Deborah Meier's post on Thursday, to return in September. In Diane's Parting Thoughts post today, she writes that she is heading for the beach and the garden. Sounds like a plan to me. But she also takes the time to address critics who say that she does not offer an alternative vision to the flawed, current education "reform: movement. She notes that she is a historian and not obligated to provide such a plan, noting, "When a train is headed for the edge of a cliff, Job One is to stop it." She continues:

If I could succeed in getting the powerful in D.C. and in the foundation world to rethink their commitment to high-stakes testing, closing schools, and firing teachers; if I could persuade them that poverty does impair school achievement and that schools alone can't close the many gaps that are rooted in income inequality; if I could get them to seek positive ways to help schools and strengthen the teaching profession, I would be happy indeed. Just to stop the beatings would be a great outcome.

She relents at the end of the posting a bit and adds some welcome words about our profession and its practitioners:

So, here is my alternate vision: Respect teachers as adults and professionals. Give them the time and opportunity to refresh their intellectual energy. Provide opportunities for professional development that promote their intellectual, spiritual, and professional renewal. Take concrete steps to strengthen the profession. Avoid policies and programs that imply quick fixes to serious problems.

A modest vision, to be sure. But unlike current federal policy, it is constructive, and it respects the men and women who staff our nation's classrooms.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Charter Studies

Reports on recent charter school studies are making the news this week. The Christian Science Monitor's Amanda Paulson writes in On average, charter schools do no better than public schools about a federally commissioned study (1.7 MB PDF document) released yesterday of 36 charter middle schools in 15 states:

Middle-school students who were selected by lottery to attend charter schools performed no better than their peers who lost out in the lottery and attended nearby public schools, according to a study funded by the federal government and released Tuesday.

This is the first large-scale randomized study to be conducted across multiple states, and it lends some fuel to those who say there is little evidence to back the drive for more charters.

But the study also found more nuanced evidence that the charters that work best are those serving lower-income students, especially in urban areas.

Education Week's Lesli A. Maxwell covers much of the same ground in Study Finds No Clear Edge for Charter Schools, but also references a June 22 study (1.0 MB PDF document) commissioned by the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) of 22 of their middle schools that found their students "outperformed their peers in regular public schools." The Washington Post's Bill Turque also writes about the earlier study in Report finds KIPP students outscore public school peers, "Middle school students in the Knowledge Is Power Program...significantly outperform their public school peers on reading and math tests." But for balance, a story not related to either study in yesterday's Indianapolis Star noted that "other charters such as KIPP and Indianapolis Lighthouse Charter School perform worse than the already low-performing schools their students are leaving."

Both studies were conducted by Mathematica Policy Research:

• June 29 press release: Charter School Study Shows No Significant Overall Impacts on Achievement
• June 22 press release: Mathematica Finds Positive Results in First Report on National Study of KIPP Schools

So the discussion continues...

Odds 'n' Ends

If I wasn't totally certain it was summer yet after all our recent heavy storms and 90^o+ temperatures, a find in our garden yesterday definitely confirmed it.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Rhee to Leave if Fenty Loses?

A Washington Post article today by Bill Turque and Nikita Stewart relates that DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee has come out in support for Mayor Adrian Fenty in the District mayoral primary race and pretty well said that she won't stay if challenger Vincent C. Gray wins. Turque and Stewart cover the political ins and outs of why Rhee has chosen to speak out now in Rhee hints that her job as D.C. schools chief hinges on Fenty's reelection. Valerie Strauss provides commentary on the issue in Why Rhee's mayoral comments are troubling:

What is more important, and of more concern, is that Rhee surely knows the importance of consistency in school leadership. She knows she was the seventh person to head the school system in a decade when she arrived in 2007, and that the constant turnover at the top was disastrous for the city’s schools.

Rhee states frequently that her concern is only for D.C. schoolchildren. If that is so, it seems odd that she would be so quick to suggest that she might abandon them without giving a new mayor a chance to do what she considers the right thing.

This election has been framed in the press as a referendum on Rhee's approach to school reform. It would appear that with Fenty slipping in the polls and having just this week dodged a scheduled debate with Gray on education, Rhee has come out to bolster Fenty's chances of reelection. From the comments to the Turque-Stewart article, Rhee's statements may prove to be a two edged sword for Fenty (to fall on?).

Odds 'n' Ends

Feds: Make eReaders accessible to all students on eSchool News relates that "the federal government will help schools and colleges using eReaders such as the Amazon Kindle to comply with laws giving students with disabilities equal access to emerging education technologies." Lawmaker wants to shift some 'Race to the Top' funds to prevent teacher layoffs tells of a House proposal to save some teacher jobs.

If I don't get back to the keyboard tomorrow, have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Ads shown on this site do not represent an endorsement or warranty of any kind of products or companies shown. Ads shown on archive pages may not represent the ads displayed in the original posting on Educators' News.