Gap Between Middle & Upper Income Families Widens

Reposted from the Pew Research Center:

The wealth gap between America’s high income group and everyone else has reached record high levels since the economic recovery from the Great Recession of 2007-09, with a clear trajectory of increasing wealth for the upper-income families and no wealth growth for the middle- and lower-income families.

A new Pew Research Center analysis of wealth finds the gap between America’s upper-income and middle-income families has reached its highest level on record. In 2013, the median wealth of the nation’s upper-income families ($639,400) was nearly seven times the median wealth of middle-income families ($96,500), the widest wealth gap seen in 30 years when the Federal Reserve began collecting these data.

It could help explain why, by other measures, the majority of Americans are not feeling the impact of the economic recovery, despite an improvement in the unemployment rate, stock market and housing prices. In October, just one-in-five Americans rated the country’s economic conditions as “excellent” or “good,” an improvement from the 8% who said that four years ago, but far from a cheery assessment. And a new poll released this week found higher-income adults are hearing about better economic news than lower-income adults, with 15 percentage point difference between the two groups on the “good news” they’re hearing about the job situation, for example.

Read More….

2014 Teacher Trendlines

Reposted from the NCTQ Digest:

As the year draws to a close, we look back on the most talked about Teacher Trendlines from 2014. We covered everything from teacher salaries to leave policies and in this edition, we highlight some of the most popular Teacher Trendlines from the past year.

Just as it was in 2013, our most popular Teacher Trendline in 2014 covered teacher salaries, highlighting those districts with the lowest and highest salaries for teachers with a BA and MA. But this year’s teacher salary coverage had a twist— we looked at the purchasing power of teacher salaries in the context of housing affordability.

In addition to teacher salaries, other 2014 trendlines covered include declines in student enrollment, teacher leave policies, teacher excessing and placement, teacher tenure and substitute teachers.

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Report: Deepest Funding Cuts in Virginia Hit Highest-Poverty Schools

Reposted from the Lynchburg News & Advance:

During the economic downturn, Virginia dealt its deepest education cuts to its highest-poverty school divisions, according to a new report from a Richmond-based policy group. “The state made a series of cuts to education during the recession to close the state budget shortfall, but the way they did it did not protect high-poverty communities in Virginia,” said Michael Cassidy, president and CEO of The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis. The Commonwealth Institute, a left-leaning think tank, said a review of Census figures and superintendents’ reports found the steepest cuts in state aid were sustained by communities with the highest poverty rates among children.

In Virginia’s poorest school divisions, nearly 30 percent of students live in households under the federal poverty line, it reported. Those same divisions saw their state aid drop by an average of $1,490 per student — or about 21 percent — during the four-year cycle between 2008-09 and 2012-13. In contrast, school divisions with the most affluent student bodies saw their state aid drop by $511 per student on average — or about 11 percent — during the same period, according to the Commonwealth Institute.

Lynchburg Superintendent Scott Brabrand is adamant all children can succeed in school, but said some may need more instruction time and one-on-one attention — which carries a cost. “As we ask schools to achieve higher standards with less support, we’re going to have to have these conversations if we want to see strong outcomes for all kids, regardless of economic background,” he said. “We’ve got to be sure we’re giving our kids the necessary supports … You can’t cut systems with large numbers of kids in poverty and expect them to do better.” Like many school divisions, Lynchburg’s state aid and overall operating budget still lags behind the pre-recession peaks reached in 2008-09.

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9 Features of Digital Citizenship [INFOGRAPHIC]

Here is a new visual from ISTE on the concept of digital citizenship. The visual outlines some of the features characterizing ‘good’ digital citizens based on attributes of good citizens. The elements of digital citizenship, according to ISTE, “ are not so different from the basic tenets of traditional citizenship: Be kind, respectful and responsible, and just do the right thing”. The ideas are pretty basic and will definitely give students a very good initiation into this huge concept of digital citizenship.

See the original post here.

 

The Neurology of Gaming [INFOGRAPHIC]

OnlineUniversities.com created this infographic breaking out the impact of gaming on the human nervous system ,both the pros and the cons, incorporating data from half a dozen other sources to present a more complete picture. What’s your take? How do you reap the benefits of gaming in your classroom, while also mindfully protecting children from the undesirable side effects?

Isaac Asimov, Harbormasters & Charter Sectors

Reposted from relinquishment:

Education Cities is an organization that supports New Schools for New Orleans type entities across the country. The describe their work as the following: “Our members serve as education “harbormasters” with deep ties to their communities. Like maritime harbormasters, who facilitate safe and cooperative navigation in a challenging space, education harbormasters build and coordinate the efforts to improve education in their city. Together, our members – nonprofits, foundations, and civic organizations – are improving opportunities for millions of children and their families.” Whether or not you like the phrase “harbormaster” – the goal is, I think, a sound one: supporting local organizations that can drive change based on local conditions.

Unfortunately, the charter sector does not have any psychohistorians amongst it ranks. As such, it’s difficult to predict how the next fifty years of high-quality charter school growth will (or will not) occur. This is why I view well run harbormasters to be of use. By fitting strategy to environment, they can come up with novel solutions to the most pressing local solutions – taking the best from what’s been tried nationally, but always with an eye toward local conditions. This is something that national foundations, national education organizations, and federal and state government entities will always struggle to do.

The goal of education reform should not be finding and adopting current best practices. The goal of education reform should be to build learning ecosystems that constantly evolve. Harbormasters can be a key part of these ecosystems.

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Which Flipped Classroom Tools are Right for You? [VIDEO 2:32]

The greatest benefit of flipped learning is the restructuring of class time, which is more of a pedagogical solution than a technological solution. However, the in-class benefit is dependent upon the utilization of technology tools. So what technologies are necessary in a flipped classroom? Jon Bergmann and Aaron Sams, Managing Director of FlippedClass.com and founding member of the Flipped Learning Network, provide a nice synopsis here.

Sackstein: 11 Tips to Upgrade Your Classroom to the 21st Century

Reposted from Starr Sackstein’s Blog:

Change should be the only tradition educators adhere to.

John Dewey said, “The self, is not something ready-made, but something continuously made through choice of action.”  And since education is not ready-made either, we need to continuously grow as educators to help our students develop as people.

Education, therefore must be in a constant state of maturation and growth completely contingent upon the time and place it is happening in. In this way, we can raise and nurture vitality in our students to help them become productive members of current society.

Maria Montessori said, “Education is a natural process carried out by the child and is not acquired by listening to words but by experiences in the environment.”

As educators, each of us must aspire to develop with the times we are teaching in. The 21st century is rich with new and exciting tools in technology that we can no longer ignore and why should we? Outlawing electronics is school is ridiculous when most students have them and need to learn to use them appropriately. We could harness these tools and use them the engage and teach students more effectively rather than use them as other reason for detention.

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2015: The Year of the Teacher

In 2010, I made the call for a Decade of Educational Transformation, framing the challenge facing educators in meeting the demands of the information age. Today, at the midpoint of the d.e.t., I invite colleagues everywhere to make 2015 the Year of the Teacher. Please read on…

To all my colleagues living the higher calling of a human potential professional:

WHEREAS, we stand on the precipice of deep societal and institutional changes, wherein every aspect of daily life is transformed, and the ways we learn, work and live are highly streamlined, automated and personalized; and

WHEREAS, education is the single most critical institution providing equitable access of opportunity to all children and their families, engaging each child through experiences and resources that support and challenge their curiosity, provide for their health and safety, and prepare them to be future-ready to inherit a new age; and

WHEREAS, teachers are the key component within the institution of education, knowing and working with each child, in each classroom, in each school, in each neighborhood, in each community, in each state, province and country around the world, preparing every child to contribute to a highly integrated, interdependent, collaborative, global knowledge economy; and

WHEREAS, the work that needs to be accomplished to transform education in this decade is already taking place in classrooms around the world, with educators at all levels modeling the values, attitudes, skills and habits required to be successful in the global knowledge economy; and

WHEREAS, this work continues in 2015, moving forward into the second half of this decade of educational transformation;

NOW THEREFORE, LET IT BE PROCLAIMED THAT THE YEAR 2015 IS THE YEAR OF THE TEACHER, with a focus on the work of transforming our profession, our classrooms and society, so that our children are fully prepared to embrace their fast-approaching and fast-changing future.

LET IT FURTHER BE RESOLVED THAT IN THIS YEAR OF THE TEACHER, all educators will work together to find common ground and common purpose in championing what is best for children and their future, putting it before all other causes, concerns and priorities, so that every child will embrace a lifetime love of learning, experiencing justice, equity and hope, so that they can address the true sources of pestilence in our world: war, poverty, disease and ecological extinction.

LET IT FINALLY BE RESOLVED THAT BY THE CONCLUSION OF THE YEAR OF THE TEACHER, the education profession reaches a critical mass in empowering teachers to complete the transformation of education, wherein all children are successful learning and growing to reach their full potential by meeting their personal needs and interests to make it so; where schools are centers of hope and each child’s education is embedded in authentic, meaningful work within personalized learning networks across the global community.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, let us hereunto bring our hands and hearts together this day of December, two thousand fourteen, to commemorate the YEAR OF THE TEACHER, commencing on the first of January, two thousand fifteen, not ceasing our efforts until the transformation of our profession is complete. So say I; so may say we all.

Please share this proclamation with colleagues and stakeholders everywhere. [PDF]

 

ICYMI: Friday December 12, 2014

On Ulysses, Yoda And The School of Hard Knocks – original content by Walter

The Existential Intelligence in the Knowledge Economy Workplace [INFOGRAPHIC]  – original content by Walter

The Future of Infographics [INFOGRAPHIC]

From Instructional Design to Collaborative Solution-Finding

Industry-Based College and Career Readiness

The Collaborative Economy Honeycomb [INFOGRAPHIC]

Is Free & Equitable “Public” Education a Myth?

It’s Time for Teaching to Reclaim its Rightful Place as a Profession

A Survey of Third Grade Reading Policies Across the US

Wearable Artificial Intelligence: What Is It & Where Is It Going?

What the Growth Mindset Is, and What It Isn’t

How Dissecting a Pencil Can Ignite Curiosity and Wonderment

Child’s Play: Tech in ECE

Coding: The New Superpower [VIDEO 5:44]

The Truth About Lifting One’s Self Out of Poverty

Why I Hate Going to My Students’ Games

Teens, Tech & Racism

Facebook Cheat Sheet: Posting Dimensions [INFOGRAPHIC]

Can Ed Tech Lift a Small Town Out of Poverty?

Why Do Students Choose to Engage and Persist? [VIDEO 3:01]