Meg Moulton is the force behind the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools. The Concord, Massachusetts-based organization was formed to document the value the single-gender education for girls, an increasing phenomenon in private and public education over the last 20 years.

As Director of the Cooper Learning Center, Richard Selznick oversees a program that assesses and treats a broad range of learning and school-based academic and behavioral problems. A nationally certified school psychologist with over 20 years experience in the field, he’s also a school consultant and author of  “The Shut Down Learner: Helping Your Academically Discouraged Child."

The NUA's mission is "to substantiate in the public schools of urban America an irrefutable belief in the capacity of all children to reach the highest levels of learning & thinking demanded by our ever-changing global community."

One possibility? Engaging families of at-risk youth. That could be done with a “recognition activity” for student achievement of short-term goals – passing certain tests or completing a number of assignments, said Teresa Egan, who works with Cleveland-area youth who are or have been incarcerated.  Egan is a program officer at Employment Opportunities for Youth, part of the Cuyahoga County Department of Justice Affairs in Cleveland.

The concept of virtual high school sits at the intersection of three major trends: Online learning awareness and increasing knowledge about how to deliver it; the national high school reform dialogue; and the school choice movement.

Situational groupings help support and focus students in key areas

Situational grouping is exactly what it sounds like: Students are grouped based on the frequent formative assessments that occur in the classroom, so the students in each group and the purpose of each small group differ and these groupings change frequently.

Can educators use a podcast rubric to evaluate student standards-based learning?

The actual student learning of the academic standard often counted for 1/6 or less of the rubric grade. Therefore, educators cannot use such a podcast rubric to evaluate student standards-based learning. A non-weighted or non-refocused podcast grade means very little (or nothing) in terms of content learning.

Media literacy has become critical as students spend more time reading print, watching online news, TVs and movies. Teachers can help students develop their media analysis skills.

The Center for Educational Outreach and Innovation
Columbia University Teachers College, New York, New York
One of the heaviest hitters nationwide, Columbia’s professional development menu is vast in scope and nature. The university offers online and on-site courses,  distance learning, overseas study tours, certificate programs and conferences. Upcoming offerings in the summer of 2009 include on-site institutes in the teaching of reading and writing, as well as online courses about using the Internet efficiently in the classroom, being an inspirational teacher and reading and writing in science curriculum.
Web site: http://continuingeducation.tc.columbia.edu/default.aspx?pageid=59

A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule The Future

By Daniel Pink
Riverhead Books, New York, 2005.
260 pages
$10.00 for softcover
2006 updated edition

As a die-hard left brainer, I found the title of Daniel Pink’s text, A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule The Future, some cause for concern. Questions arose for me, such as: “Am I now an endangered species?” and “Will no one want to hire me?” Pink’s premise is not one of extinction for hard-core left-brain analytical types such as myself, but, rather, a guide to the transformation of our culture and senses needed to thrive in his explanation of our right-brain needy society.

Many educators, over the past couple of years, have had the chance to participate in a number of online synchronous professional development sessions, commonly called Webinars. Vendors often give product walk-through presentations using the WebEx online conferencing program. The International Society for Technology in Education presents professional development sessions using Adobe Connect, another Web-based presentation software. Other districts and educational agencies choose Elluminate as their presentation platform. Each of these products has similar components—they allow the participants to view a presentation, chat in a chat window to ask questions or make a comment, create polls to collect data from the participants in real-time, and sometimes even allow the use of a microphone in addition to a chat window. Usually, the sessions are recorded and archived so participants can go back and review the presentation or share it with others in their professional learning community.

Coaching Matters is a rhymed verse including an important message to athletes big and small—and the coaches of them all—about the importance of positive coaching strategies.

Readers of all ages will surely relate to this story about insecurities associated with trying something new. Everyone remembers the excitement and the anxieties of learning a new sport. And we remember the coach. Coaches have a tremendous influence on children—more than they may realize.  

Schools want to improve student learning but often they do not have a vehicle for it.  The authors show how the use of SMART goals can help transform a district or a school into high student achievement.

Are your students reading their email but not the novels you've assigned them? Well, fret no more! Mix some great literature into their inbox with DailyLit and you'll have them "reading out of the palm of your hands!" The creators of DailyLit provided a solution for a world that constantly checks its email but "checks-in" with great literature less frequently. You now have the tools to get your students reading novels in serialized daily installments, helping them to tackle the great works in manageable pieces.

This week I bring you a stack of sites that can quickly add some fun and zest to your photos, great for dressing up websites, blogs, and even the walls of your classroom.

Part 1 of the Grant Writing Guide for the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation took you through Section #5: “Objectives and Plan of Action.”  This column picks up with Section #6: “Assessment and takes you through “Endorsements.” 

The heart of the process is the “Grant Writing Guide.”

My GrantSuccess process evolved from writing many technology integration grants on very short timelines. Over the course of a decade, I was asked to guide many teams of teachers as they applied for state funded computers. In these applications, many questions needed to answered. Are we eligible? What do we have to do? How will the writing get done? How will we find the time? It was out of this tension that GrantSuccess evolved. The heart of the process is the construction of the “Grant Writing Guide.” This column uses the Martha Holden Jennings’ Grant-to-Educators to show what a “Grant Writing Guide” looks like.

In my third column, I listed some guidelines for grant application text development. Remember, I recommended creating and using the Grant Writing Guide (GWG) of GrantSuccess. The GWG includes information from the Request for Funding Proposal (RFP) organized by sections of the narrative.