Got Evidence?
by Forum Convener Deborah Meier
As the Obama administration explores new ways to support a national culture of learning - as opposed to our current national culture of testing - it faces a central dilemma: How to satisfy all of our country's education stakeholders at once: our students, who need timely and instructive feedback that reflects what they really know and are able to do; our parents, who need accurate evidence about their children's progress; our teachers, who need information that helps them improve the quality of their professional practice and better meet the learning needs of their students; and the general public, which needs to know if schools and teachers are helping children learn how to use their minds well.
Before the conversation progresses any further, I have some unsolicited advice: Don't expect to satisfy all four needs with the same policy.
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Are We Ignoring the Lessons of the Last 50 Years?
by Forum Convener John Goodlad
In autumn 2008, I was at the end of a four-year George Woodmetamorphosis that embraced a life-threatening illness and the loss of my wife of sixty years. Coming out of it was akin to a teeter-totter ride, with a measure of hope when my end was going up and a measure of despair when it was on the way down.
During the last three years of this semi-spiritual turning, I read a lot and then began to write a little again, a process that yielded one page worth keeping for every four that went into my wastebasket.
As autumn advanced, I became increasingly aware that some of what I had been reading about-on the nation's cultural readiness for a long-overdue great turning-might come to pass.
To read the remainder of John Goodlad's article in the Washington Post, click here.
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Save the Date!
Constructing Modern Knowledge
A Summer Institute for Educators
July 12-15, 2010
Manchester, NH
Constructing Modern Knowledge is a minds-on institute for educators committed to creativity, collaboration and computing. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in intensive computer-rich project development with peers and a world-class faculty. Inspirational guest speakers and social events round out the fantastic event. Alfie Kohn, Deborah Meier, Dr. James Loewen and Peter Reynolds are guest speakers.
For more information, click here.