Much sturm und drang over this week’s Stanford University study, which indicates charter schools nationwide are not performing as well as traditional public-schools. Among the bright spots, however, were charters in Colorado, which the study says ”demonstrated significantly higher learning gains for charter school students than would have occurred in traditional schools.”
What’s in Colorado’s special sauce?
The Colorado Charter School Blog considers several factors including this one: “Compared nationally, Colorado is atypical by having almost half of its charter schools using the Core Knowledge curriculum. Most states have more ‘home grown’ or experiential charter schools.”
You can never be too safe….or can you? Nearly half of teachers in the U.K. say school health and safety regulations have gone too far. Among the complaints: a five-page briefing on the safe handling of glue sticks and being told to wear goggles to put up posters.
In addition to reading and math testing, schools in Georgia may soon require all students to step on a scale twice a year–a move designed to combat childhood obesity. A bill introduced Thursday in the Georgia Senate would require schools to check and report students’ body mass index, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “If school districts don’t comply with the new rules, they’d be labeled as ‘unhealthy school zones’ on a state Web site that measures school performance,” the paper says.
Hey….wait a second….isn’t MeMe from Georgia?
American teenagers pound out an extraordinary number of text messages. We knew this. But a poll reported by USA Today indicates that one-fourth of their texts are sent during class, despite widespread cellphone bans.
The survey of 1,013 teens — 84% of whom have cellphones — also shows that a significant number have stored information on a cellphone to look at during a test or have texted friends about answers. More than half of all students say people at their school have done the same. Only about half of teens say either of the practices is a “serious offense,” suggesting that students may have developed different personal standards about handwritten information vs. material stored on cellphones, says pollster Joel Benenson.
Serious offense? Haven’t you heard? Using technology to get answers isn’t cheating. Dude, it’s a 21st-freakin’-century skill!
USA Today’s Greg Toppo notes the poll’s reported average of 440 text messages a week on average — 110 of them during class–works out to more than three texts per class period. “The findings also reveal a split in perception between teens and parents: Only 23% of parents whose children have cellphones think they are using them at school; 65% of students say they do,” he reports.
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