Category Archives: Reform

School Reformers Missing Crucial Ingredient

December 28, 2010 – 12:12 pm

Marc Prensky, originator of the terms digital native and digital immigrant, writes that today’s education reformers miss the most important ingredient for education change, namely the curriculum. He states, reformers speak of the importance of teachers and principals, methods of instruction, length of the day and year, teacher preparation and other factors but assume the conventional [...]

By Wayne Jennings | Also posted in Alternatives, Policy, Reports, Research, Technology | Comments (0)

Alternative Certification

October 27, 2010 – 2:11 pm

Attempts at circumventing conventional licensing have led to the availability of alternative certification, that is programs for becoming licensed to teach or administer without going through the traditional sequence. A valuable resource for examining this route is www.educationdegree.com and then clicking on Alternative Certification. This continually updated website of 1,700 colleges and school districts contains valuable time-saving information including B.A, M.A and [...]

By Wayne Jennings | Also posted in Policy, Reports, Uncategorized | Comments (0)

Charter School Funding: Bugaboo Factor

September 26, 2010 – 8:37 pm

100s of charter school studies have assessed the viability of the movement particularly on student achievement as measured by standardized tests. One study shows charter schools students do better than comparison groups, another shows they are about the same, another shows charter school students do poorer than comparison groups. Two major criticisms of these studies [...]

By Wayne Jennings | Also posted in Alternatives, Assessment, Charter schools, Policy, Reports, Research | Comments (0)

Alternatives, the National Scene

September 5, 2010 – 10:10 am

Dan Daly, executive director of IALA wrote recently of the organization’s efforts to impact state and national policy: This past June, IALA hosted the Tri-State Alternatives Leadership Summit in Bloomington and formed The IALA Coalition for Innovative Education. Leaders from the following ten organizations participated; IALA, MN Association of Alternative Programs, IA Association of Alternative [...]

By Wayne Jennings | Also posted in Alternatives, Choices, Education Evolving, EdVisions Cooperative, Policy | Comments (0)

Multiple Assessments: Hope Survey

August 9, 2010 – 5:41 pm

What effect is the current standards movement and teaching to the test having on our students? What do you know about how students at your school view the school environment? Now your school can find out by seeing the school from the eyes of your students based on their responses on the Hope Survey. This [...]

By Wayne Jennings | Also posted in Assessment, High schools, Part 21st Cent Skills, Personalized Educ, Policy, Research, Students, Survey, Uncategorized | Comments (0)

Prologue to Revolution: Exciting Approach

August 4, 2010 – 10:37 am

“Prologue to Revolution,” a seven page report by Francis Duffy, lists four “industrial-age” paradigms hampering school change, describes why they persist in the face of evidence to the contrary, and asks about the reader’s beliefs as a road to action. This readable piece provides a compelling argument for school transformation and suggests avenues for its [...]

By Wayne Jennings | Also posted in Policy, Reports, Research, Uncategorized | Comments (0)

Alternative Education Course

June 5, 2010 – 9:23 pm

Here is an opportunity for anyone interested in 3 semester hours of graduate credit on the topic of alternative education from an expert. For about a decade Roy Weaver served as editor of Changing Schools (national journal of alternative education for 20 years) and organized alternative education conferences during the late 1970s and 1980s. The course is offered entirely online and [...]

By Wayne Jennings | Also posted in Alternatives, At risk programs, Charter schools, Choices, IALA, Magnet schools, Uncategorized | Comments (0)

Blueprint School

April 19, 2010 – 12:00 pm

I’ve waited for years for this marvelous book, Lives of Passion, School of Hope: How One Public School Ignites a Lifelong Love of Learning. It tells a story of a K-12 progressive school (Jefferson County Open School, Colorado) that combined the best features from research and practice such as: strong advisory system, personal learning plan, [...]

By Wayne Jennings | Also posted in Alternatives, Choices, High schools, Personalized Educ, Students | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Graduation For All

January 13, 2010 – 4:11 pm

Here are a couple of very interesting and extensive articles on graduation rates and the need to promote graduation for all students.  The first article talks mostly about the graduation gap between the upper 2/3 of high school students and the lower 1/3, made up mostly of urban, low-income African American and Latino students.  The [...]

By admin | Also posted in Alternatives, Articles, At risk programs, Policy, Reports | Comments (0)

New Center for Research on Digital Media and Learning

November 9, 2009 – 6:44 pm

There’s little doubt that the Internet will transform schooling (read choices) and how students learn, play, socialize, and participate in civic life. A newly-created Digital Media and Learning Research Hub at the University of California-Irvine will explore the impact of digital media on learning and its potential for transforming education.  The Center is funded by a $2.97 million grant from [...]

By Wayne Jennings | Also posted in Alternatives, Choices, Education Revolution, Online learning, Personalized Educ, Reports, Research, Technology | Comments (0)

Constitutional Law Change Proposed

September 15, 2009 – 4:21 pm

David Bly, former President of the Minnesota Association of Alternative Programs and a co-founder of IALA has written a powerful booklet, The Middle Class Amendment, which you can read online. Bly, a Representative from Northfield, is a member of the Minnesota Legislature. While IALA does not make political endorsements, we think the topic of interest to alternative educators [...]

By Wayne Jennings | Also posted in Alternatives, Statutes | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Building a Better Test?

August 26, 2009 – 11:41 am

After school budgets, testing remains one of the most controversial and talked about subjects among administrators, teachers, parents and students.  Edutopia has an interesting article along with several links regarding the future of standardized testing.  The article Reinventing the BIG test  http://www.edutopia.org/reinventing-big-test-the-challenge-of-authentic-assessment  gives examples of several promising alternative assessments to the standardized multiple choice tests that [...]

By admin | Also posted in Alternatives, Articles, Survey | Comments (0)