   | | | Head of the Class |  | | |  | - Tech standards issued to help districts with common core testing
The Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, one of two consortia designing curricula and assessments for Common Core State Standards, released on Friday its "minimum specifications" and "recommended" technology guidelines for testing under common core. The guidelines address such areas as acceptable screen sizes and devices permissible for the testing, plus the types of security needed regarding Internet access, cameras and other device features. The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium earlier this month released its own list of technology requirements and recommendations. Education Week/Digital Education blog (12/21)        |  | Free Webinar: Help for struggling ELL readers
January 15, 2013, 2pm ET
All ELL students can master reading, but not if we continue doing what hasn't worked before. Learn how new techniques researched at the Universities of Iowa and Rochester have been implemented in Santa Fe, NM to have lasting impact. You won't want to miss this FREE webinar. |
 | | | eLearning | | | |  | - Are students logging too much screen time?
 Teachers should work together to ensure their lessons do not rely too heavily on digital media, suggests Maurice Elias, a professor at Rutgers University. In this blog post, Elias writes about research showing that students are spending too much time in front of screens -- a trend that can affect their social and emotional learning, as well as their health and sleeping habits. Edutopia.org/Maurice Elias' blog (12/21) |  |
When you walk into a successful math classroom, what should you see, hear, and feel? Math Sense helps teachers self-assess, distills the key components of a good lesson, and offers ideas for improving classroom spaces, discourse, and engagement. Preview the entire book! |
 | | - The next game-changer in education
Beginning in January, a Kansas school district will begin testing a shift to "open-source" learning materials, which would give students access to digital materials, while replacing traditional textbooks. The Web portal, "Canvas," is part of the district's implementation of the Common Core State Standards. Officials say a benefit is that the system is expected to reduce costs. Lawrence Journal-World (Kansas) (12/24) | | | - Furlough days lead to longer winter breaks in Calif.
Some California districts have issued furlough days for teachers, meaning that winter breaks have been lengthened in some districts. In one district, winter vacation has been extended from two weeks to three weeks, with a similar plan in place for spring break. It's a similar story in other districts, where a lack of funds have caused an extension of school breaks. In Rialto, Calif., officials said they lengthened the break after logging a decline in student attendance. San Jose Mercury News (Calif.) (free registration) (12/22) | | | - District seeks to make better use of social media
Officials in a Florida school district say they have learned a lesson from a recent incident in the district, which caused them to correct false rumors that spread rapidly over social media. Now, officials said, their focus will be on better using social media sites to spread information -- correcting false information before it spreads. The district also plans to use social media to publicize positive news about schools. The Tampa Tribune (Fla.) (12/23) - Teacher shares some secrets to success
In this blog post, teacher Diana Laufenberg offers some examples of successful schools that she has observed. Among them are Alpine Leadership Academy, a middle-school program in Arizona in which students are encouraged to explore, and San Marcos Unified School District in California, where "a shift in the teaching and learning was served by the technology, not the other way around." SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Education (12/24) - SmartBrief will not publish Tuesday
In observance of Christmas, SmartBrief will not publish Tuesday. Publication will resume Wednesday. Enjoy the holiday!  | In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy."
--William Blake,
British poet and painter |
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