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April 5, 2005 - Vol. 6, No. 14
TechLearning News
- SchoolMatters.com provides access to the largest searchable collection of education performance data ever assembled.
- On April 20, the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) is urging teachers, student and parents to participate in "The Imagine A Technology Blackout Day."
- On April 8, students will have the opportunity to participate in a NetDay Focus Chat with Susan Patrick, the Director of the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education.
- According to a new report from the Council of the Great City Schools, the academic achievement of students in urban school districts continue to improve.
SchoolMatters.com Launched
Created by Standard & Poor's School Evaluation Services and supported by the National Education Data Partnership, a collective of national education groups, the School Mattersı web site provides access to the largest searchable collection of education performance data ever assembled. The site includes student achievement information, financial data and demographic breakdowns. Visitors can use a variety of analytic tools to compare information on a state-by-state or national basis on several indicators, including national standardized tests, college entrance exams and teacher salaries. The Web site also includes analytical tools intended to quantify the student-performance return that schools and districts get for the dollars they spend and the demographics they serve. The data come from public sources, including state education departments, the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Education Statistics. Currently, about 30 states have volunteered enough data to fully populate the Web site. The Gates Foundation and The Broad Foundation have provided $45 million to fund the project for the next two years.
Source: Education Week
Technology Blackout Day
On April 20, the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) is urging teachers, student and parents to participate in "The Imagine A Technology Blackout Day." Designed to highlight the importance of technology today and its growing impact on students entering the 21st century workforce, the purpose of the event is to highlight the vast power, potential and necessity of effective technology use in Americaıs public schools. Teachers may decide to use Imagine a Technology Blackout Day as a class warm-up activity, as a complete lesson with writing prompts, or as several consecutive lessons focusing on the role of technology and the legislative process. SETDA is providing free lesson plans and activities for elementary, middle school, and high school and Sate Standards that provide the state and grade-specific curriculum standards addressed. Participating teachers are asked to initiate a discussion with their class about the role of technology in the world. Students submit the outcomes from these discussions and, if their teacher has signed up, become eligible for prizes. Parents who participate will be asked to answer two questions at The Imagine A Technology Blackout Day website and to e-mail their Congressional leaders and the White House sharing the outcomes of their family discussion about the relevance of technology in daily life.
Source: State Educational Technology Directors Association
NetDay Gives Students A Voice
On April 8, students will have the opportunity to participate in a NetDay Focus Chat with Susan Patrick, the Director of the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education. The Focus Chat activity is part of NetDayıs new Student Voices Resource Center (SVRC). SVRCıs aim is to connect student voices with teachers, community members, government representatives, businesses, and others involved with technology in K-12 schools. SVRC is a comprehensive project designed to empower and engage students in grades K-12 to be part of local decision-making at their schools on the use of technology in education and to use that local community activism to drive change at the local, state, and national level. NetDay hopes to use SVRC to stimulate and institutionalize a three-way dialogue around the importance of student input with students, parents, and educators. Future Focus Chats are scheduled with Ann Bryant and Joan Schmidt of the National School Board Association (April 28) and with Dr. Milton Chen of the George Lucas Education Foundation (May 13).
Source: NetDay
City Schools Beating the Odds
According to a new report from the Council of the Great City Schools, the academic achievement of students in urban school districts continue to improve. This despite the fact that students in the nation's 61 major urban public school systems are twice as likely as their peers nationwide to be eligible for a free or reduced priced lunch and to be English language learners. Further, nearly one-third of urban school student attend schools in a district whose average expenditure per pupil was below statewide averages. The Council's fifth annual report on Beating the Odds gives city-by-city analysis of how inner-city schools are performing on the academic goals and standards set by their respective states. Although urban schools show gains in math and reading performance, the big cities still lag behind state and national averages. Among the encouraging findings, however, is the fact that 68% of cities had improved math scores in at least half the grades tested faster than their states — up from 47% in 2001. In reading, 57% of cities had improved in at least half the grades tested faster than the state — up from 34% in 2001.
Source: Council of the Great City Schools
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