Archive for April 2nd, 2008

A Warm Welcome to a New Core Knowledge School

Faced with shrinking enrollments and consolidation pressure, the principal of a small Vermont central school has opted to become that state’s first public Core Knowledge school.  Barnard Central School Principal Anne Koop has won approval for a plan to turn her school into a magnet that she hopes will attract tuition-paying students from outside her district, in addition to local kids.  She’s also adding a Pre-K program, a rarity in Vermont.

“It will be like a private school education, but at an equal-access, public school price,” she tells her local paper.  Koop, who noted that the Core Knowledge program has been “close to my heart for years,” has only one question for herself: “Why didn’t I think of this before?”

Good luck and keep in touch.

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Running Records

Caught Being Good

Margaret Spellings
Madame Secretary demands all states use the same federal formula to calculate graduation and dropout rates.

John Stossel
The “20/20″ anchor stands up for homeschoolers in the NY Sun.

Machiavelli
Who knew The Prince was a classroom management manual for teachers?

Names on the Blackboard

The Toronto School Board
Canada’s largest school board is considering banishing homework during holidays and long weekends.

Will Okun
The Times edblogger is leaving his classroom. Will, we hardly knew ye.

Name on the Blackboard with Checkmarks

Teachers College
Major TC study discovers that effective teaching — er, I mean “proximal assessment for learner diagnosis” — helps kids learn.

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Maybe There’s Something to Child-Centered Pedagogy After All!

A fabulous example of kids working in self-directed groups and using cooperative learning strategies to solve an authentic, real-world problem right in their classroom.

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