California school finds success with critical-thinking focus
Successful Practices News
3/6/2010-3/26/2010
Before she began the lesson, Kerry Ferguson reminded her kindergarteners not to bother each other, not to interrupt -- and not to raise their hands before speaking. Some timid, some eager, the tiny students offered up their ideas about a story in which the mouse saves a lion by chewing through a... more info

College and Career Standards Catching On in States
Successful Practices News
3/5/2010-3/25/2010
With President Barack Obama having recently proposed to tie federal aid for disadvantaged students to states’ adoption of “college- and career-ready” standards, a new report finds that the number of states that have such standards has mushroomed since 2005, and now stands at 31. But the report,... more info

Race to Top Enters Home Stretch With 16 Finalists
Successful Practices News
3/5/2010-3/25/2010
When 16 finalists come to Washington later this month to make their final pitches in the $4 billion Race to the Top competition, most can expect to go home empty-handed. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, in announcing the finalists March 4, said that no more than $2 billion will be divided... more info

US survey finds sharp drop in children's bullying
Successful Practices News
3/5/2010-3/25/2010
There's been a sharp drop in the percentage of America's children being bullied or beaten up by their peers, according to a new national survey by experts who believe anti-bullying programs are having an impact. The study, funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, found that the percentage of... more info

15 States Plus D.C. Are Named Race to the Top Finalists
Successful Practices News
3/4/2010-3/24/2010
And the highly anticipated Round One finalists are... Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Tennessee. The Final 16 beat out 25 other states... more info

Race to the Top: When States Ask for Too Much Money
Successful Practices News
3/4/2010-3/24/2010
With a Race to the Top announcement of the finalists slated for tomorrow, it seems important to start looking ahead to what happens to the states that actually win. One thing many have been curious about is what happens if a state builds an ambitious plan, and assembles a working budget, but wins... more info

Scientists Worry Machines May Outsmart Man
Successful Practices News
2/26/2010-3/18/2010
A robot that can open doors and find electrical outlets to recharge itself. Computer viruses that no one can stop. Predator drones, which, though still controlled remotely by humans, come close to a machine that can kill autonomously. Impressed and alarmed by advances in artificial intelligence,... more info

In National First, Kentucky Adopts Common Standards
Successful Practices News
2/25/2010-3/17/2010
Kentucky has become the first state to adopt common academic standards that were drafted as part of a nationwide initiative to establish a widely shared and ambitious vision of student learning. With a unanimous vote this month, the Kentucky board of education approved the substitution of the... more info

'Algebra-for-All' Push Found to Yield Poor Results
Successful Practices News
2/25/2010-3/17/2010
Spurred by a succession of reports pointing to the importance of algebra as a gateway to college, educators and policymakers embraced “algebra for all” policies in the 1990s and began working to ensure that students take the subject by 9th grade or earlier. A trickle of studies suggests that in... more info

Indiana Rolls Out New Student Tracking Plan
Successful Practices News
2/25/2010-3/17/2010
The Indiana Department of Education will track each student's academic growth instead of focusing on standardized tests to measure their progress and that of their schools, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett said Wednesday. The Indiana Growth Model will help school districts to... more info

Best Practices in the Middle Grades Identified
Successful Practices News
2/25/2010-3/17/2010
Using students’ test scores as one part of evaluations for teachers, principals, and superintendents is associated with better academic performance at schools serving the middle grades, a report released this week has found. Linking students’ test scores with evaluations was one of the “best... more info

Educator Teamwork Seen as Key to School Gains
Successful Practices News
2/25/2010-3/17/2010
Most principals and teachers say they believe creating school environments that allow educators to work together more would have a “major impact” on improving the chances for student success, according to a new national survey by MetLife Inc. But the specific methods and amount of time currently... more info

In National First, Kentucky Adopts Common Standards
Successful Practices News
2/22/2010-3/14/2010
Kentucky has become the first state to adopt common academic standards that were drafted as part of a nationwide initiative to establish a widely shared and ambitious vision of student learning. With a unanimous vote this month, the Kentucky board of education approved the substitution of the... more info

Louisiana Educators to Be Tested in Race to the Top
Successful Practices News
2/22/2010-3/14/2010
Educators in Louisiana increasingly will have to prove their worth — quite literally — to advance in their careers, according to the nearly 200-page application submitted last month to President Barack Obama's Race to the Top grant program. Teachers will be evaluated partly on their students'... more info

Career-oriented curriculum at Texas schools gets with the times
Successful Practices News
2/22/2010-3/14/2010
Movies are in 3-D, accountants who track fraud are in demand and farmers use computers to measure moisture in the soil. While the times have changed, high school career classes remained much the same, sometimes emphasizing outdated skills. That was cause for Department of Labor revisions in... more info

High Schools to Offer Plan to Graduate 2 Years Early
Successful Practices News
2/22/2010-3/14/2010
Dozens of public high schools in eight states will introduce a program next year allowing 10th graders who pass a battery of tests to get a diploma two years early and immediately enroll in community college. Students who pass but aspire to attend a selective college may continue with college... more info

Florida schools make investment in new math curriculum
Successful Practices News
2/22/2010-3/14/2010
Tab for new approach to teaching math? $200 million Educators say paying to improve math education is essential, despite budget cuts Amid widespread budget cuts, the state plans to spend nearly $200 million to change the way it teaches math next school year in the hope that students will learn... more info

Obama to announce new effort to improve No Child Left Behind
Successful Practices News
2/22/2010-3/14/2010
The president is expected to encourage states to adopt a common set of college and career-ready standards. A main goal is to improve U.S. students' global competitiveness. President Obama will announce an effort to raise public school standards Monday as part of a plan to upgrade goals of the No... more info

Spoken word poetry key to unlock student potential
Successful Practices News
2/22/2010-3/14/2010
Teacher sees program’s potential for getting through to students, helping them improve their lives Many of the talented teenagers who join Peter Kahn's Spoken Word Club at Oak Park and River Forest High School do so because they have pressing needs — a need to be heard, to create, to express... more info

No Child Left Behind Could Get a Makeover
Successful Practices News
2/19/2010-3/11/2010
Senior House Republicans and Democrats plan to announce Thursday that they will team up to rewrite the No Child Left Behind education law, a rare show of bipartisanship in the polarized Congress. Last month, the Obama administration launched talks with lawmakers on an overhaul of the 2002 law,... more info

Gates Awards 15 Grants for Common-Standards Work
Successful Practices News
2/19/2010-3/11/2010
In a bid to help schools translate pages and pages of common academic standards into real classroom work, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has committed $19.5 million to the development and piloting of new instructional tools and assessments. The 15 grants, announced last week, are intended to... more info

Two New School Policies: Cell Phones, iPods Okay In Classroom
Successful Practices News
2/18/2010-3/10/2010
The new policy will allow students to use the devices as educational tools during class. Cell phones allow people to do all sorts of things these days. Need to find directions? Use the phone's internet web browser. Need to determine how much to tip your waitress? Use the phone's calculator. Want... more info

New lab excites intermediate students about science
Successful Practices News
2/18/2010-3/10/2010
When it comes to teaching science, it's all about the hands-on. Sure, you can read about kinetic energy in a textbook, but it's a lot more fun to see it in action by rolling marbles down a ramp or swirling a golf ball around a green plastic bowl. And maybe the lesson will stick. That's... more info

Students to Help Teachers Better Use Tech
Successful Practices News
2/18/2010-3/10/2010
The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) believes that when it comes to technology training, we should look no further than a terrific resource already in the classroom—students. That’s why Microsoft and the Corporation for National and Community Service has launched a new initiative that empowers... more info