In this letter in today's Winter Haven News Chief, Florida Education Commissioner Eric J. Smith responds to concerns in this article that the state is too focused on college readiness, at the expense of career and technical tracks:
To be absolutely clear, the new (high school)Â grading system does [...]
Been kicking around the idea of jump-staring "think:lab" once again.
Been nearly a year since I had the site shut down for a couple of reasons (focusing more on my classroom, less on consulting; being a father of another new child; time; etc.). And while I had hoped to wait [...]
Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday was supposed to be on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 the other night.Anderson Cooper' [...]
With women earning 58 percent of bachelor’s degrees, some private liberal arts colleges are practicing affirmative action for male applicants to preserve a gender balance in enrollment. Private colleges have the legal right to discriminate against women, but don’t like to publicize it. Now the U.S. Commission on Civil [...]
Interestingly, each computer has something different on the screen. This is probably fine. Students should be free to use their machines as a thought extensions, utilizing the tools in ways that make sense to them, to help them make sense of what’s being taught.1
My week is over, with [...]
D’Arcy Norman poses the question, “How do you connect to people online?” This post is my response to that question.
It’s this blog that I value the most as a connection point with others. It’s where I started dabbling in this networked way, where I connected to my first edublogger [...]
FOR THE LOVE OF SCIENCE: Hillsborough elementary students build marble roller coasters and more in their Science Olympics. (Times photo, Skip O'Rourke)
GRANTED: Seventy Pinellas teacher win grants to help them pursue new, nontraditional methods in their classrooms.
GRADUATE: US Veterans Affairs secretary Eric Shinseki tells' [...]
Oh yeah, because of stuff like this. To be fair, they do issue refunds when you find dead frogs in your salad. [...] 
Texas will judge teacher-training programs based on graduates’ effectiveness in the classroom, reports the Houston Chronicle. Poor programs could lose state accreditation. Till now, programs have been judged only by the percentage of graduates who pass the teacher certification exam.
The biggest change to the accrediting rules — and potentially [...]
Amanda MacMillan’s article last month for CNN Health, “Internet addiction linked to ADHD, depression in teens” highlights a troubling study from Taiwan pointing to widespread Internet addiction problems faced by adults as well as youth. This paragraph really got my attention:
Our culture practically mandates time online, he (Dr. Dimitri [...]
Sylvia Martinez is spot on in her post today, “Students are not the enemy.” Shame on the vendor and vendor representative, Sophos and Chris Ridgway, for sharing an upcoming session at NYSCATE (The New York State Association for Computers and Technologies in Education) conference titled, “[...]
This happens a lot. Wine is the only type of alcohol that comes in a container that requires its own special tool to open. Other alcohols don't even have basic child-proofing. So, when you're smashed out of your mind and caught without a corkscrew, it [...]
Kevin Huffman’s first piece is up, voting starts tomorrow.  Keep him on the island!
Update:Â The polls are open, vote now!
[...]Of course, the web is not social. Just like technology isn’t social. Or media isn’t social. We use these resources for social means, but that’s a function of use, not of the characteristics inherent in the web or media. We compress “social uses of the web” to social web for [...]
A good name is often as good as (or better than) a good idea. The age of the informavore displays both provocative thinking and a memorable term. The video (about 30 min) is a loosely connected flow of thoughts on the impact of the web on humanity, information abundance, [...]
At Ed Money Watch, we discuss and analyze major issues affecting education funding. In our Friday News Roundup, we try to highlight interesting stories that might otherwise get overlooked. These stories emphasize how federal and state policy changes can affect local schools and districts.
As Enrollment Grows in Utah, Budget Shrinks[...]
Remember that one time you hit ‘reply all’ and the entire Undergraduate Assembly found out you were going to be 10 minutes late because of an emergency GYN appointment? Um, me neither.
Picture the worst email gaffe you ever made, and magnify that times a thousand, because a [...]
And I got this email directly, which (with permission granted) I will reproduce:
Hello Mr. WhItmire,
Thank you for your interesting article in today’s Wall Street Journal, “The Lost Boys”. Your new book could not be more important and I hope it’s a huge best seller! I’m a retired [...]
Bruised by the gubernatorial losses in New Jersey and Virginia, and embattled by the ongoing health care reform debate, President Obama turned his attentions to education reform this week. On Wednesday the POTUS highlighted reforms in 10 states—most notably, moves to allow student data to be tied to teacher [...]
IRRODL just released a special issue on Openness and the Future of Education. Future of education is not an explicit focus in the articles, but can be anticipated as a result of the focus of the articles. Topics include: openess and textbooks, peer-to-peer learning, impact of openness, disaggregated future [...]
New legislation introduced this week by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) and Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) would create a comprehensive literacy policy that encompasses early childhood, elementary, and middle level and high school education. The Literacy Education for All, Results for the Nation or “LEARN” Act (H.R. 4037 [...]
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