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Learning Without Tests

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Some teachers are now choosing to provide a different educational experience for their students – a test free environment. Since there are many children and teenagers who suffer from anxiety related to tests, it makes sense to provide another way to learn for these special circumstances. Teachers can choose from a variety of ways to present the information.

By choosing to ask the students to give a presentation of the information learned, instead of having to answer multiple choice questions or write several essays on the spot, many students feel that the pressure is alleviated so they are able to focus and better understand. If the class is longer, students might be able to complete a project during school hours, instead of going home to work. Some teachers might worry that the assignments will be completed with the assistance of parents, siblings, or even the internet. Having the assignment be completed during the school day will take away any chance for this problem. There was a lot of talk in the news about the “No Child Left Behind Act” and how ineffective standardized testing can be to determine progress and learning.

The curriculum can still be presented effectively, so school administration won’t need to worry about these students not being ready for the next year of school. There are now even some colleges that are offering test-free courses, so removing testing from the classroom won’t take away preparation from the students. Teachers who choose this method might have a bigger job ahead of them, when ensuring all information is presented and understood. For those who test poorly, this is a great option to succeed in school.

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Nuturing and Challenging Gifted Children

Parents of a gifted child may find themselves unprepared for the challenges it represents when it comes to their education.  When looking for the best educational resources there are steps parents can take in order to ensure their child fully develops their talents and abilities.
There are some basic characteristics that define children who are considered gifted.  These children will show an acute and constant need for mental stimulation and will not be able to concentrate on tasks that don’t interest them or stimulated them intellectually.  They are able to quickly learn complex information and have an unquenchable curiosity which leads to the need to question everything and dig deeper to find out more.  If a subject is of interest to them, the gifted child will focus on it for long periods of time, and explore it in depth.
Experts on gifted children recommend testing to determine intellectual ability.  Most children are tested when they are old enough to attend school.  Depending on the test, a child is considered gifted with an I.Q. of 120 or greater.  These children need a challenging educational program that is appropriate to their special needs.
Parents who provide a nurturing environment and support their gifted child can help in the child’s education by making it more creative and meaningful.  When their child shows a passion for a particular subject of interest, parents can help them explore and learn as the enthusiasm for the subject grows and changes.  Parents can also develop a rich learning environment by exposing them to a variety of reading materials, music, and other creative activities.
It is important to keep gifted children challenged in order to prevent frustration and underachievement by providing educational opportunities to learn at a pace equal to their abilities and subject matter that is of interest to them.

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Finding Apartments to Rent in Atlanta and Other Things You Must Do Before Your College Moving Day

Moving to Atlanta for college can be fun, exciting and difficult all at the same time when you aren’t from the area. There are several things you will need to do before you are ready to embark on this new journey. If you come to Atlanta for college, but have forgotten a small, yet critical, detail it can ruin the entire experience for you. Below are the essential things you need to do before you are officially ready to move to Atlanta for college.

The first thing you must do before you are ready to make the big “college move” is to look through and find available apartments to rent in Atlanta. You have to have a place to stay while you attend college in Atlanta before you can actually move in. When you begin hunting for a place to stay, you need to take a hard and objective look at your finances. Determine what you can really afford in rent each month while still having enough money left over to pay the bills, buy groceries, etc. You also need to consider what type of transportation you will need to get to and from classes. If you will need a car, then you will also have to allow extra money to pay for the gas, insurance and upkeep for the vehicle as well.

Once you have your living situation, finances and transportation figured out and in order, you are ready to begin the moving process. If you need a moving truck to move your things, this will also need to be arranged in advance. Of course, you can always save your money and purchase the necessary furniture for your new apartment once you get to Atlanta. Moving off to college is fun, but make sure all the critical details are in order before moving day!

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Let’s Start Building our Education Foundation: Teachers

Stop and think, just for a minute, about all the factors the experts say impact our education system. No Child Left Behind, standardized tests, funding all play a role in the environment in which we teach our children, but perhaps the biggest factor isn’t what we are teaching them or where, but who is teaching them.

Teacher education should be at the forefront of any discussion about the quality of the education system in the United States. Perhaps it is time to change not only the way we teach our educators but also the way in which we reward them.

Teacher accreditation is fairly standard across the country, although there are a few notable exceptions. There are a few states, most notably Tennessee, who have revolutionized the way the hire and reward teachers. Their system, the value added assessment, has little to do with college credit hours or teaching assistant time and more to do with what an individual teacher can bring to the classroom. In short, a teacher value should be measured in terms of more than their GPA.

What would a change like this mean for our education system at large? Most likely teachers hired under this concept would be more desirable and better educators. Teachers that are more likely to go the extra mile. Teachers who see the point in teaching at an inner city school in a poor neighborhood. Teachers who can see past economic, racial and geographic barriers. Teachers who recognize that teaching children is more important than helping them become productive and socially acceptable adults.

Maybe we simply have too many laws, too many regulations. We have, perhaps, lost sight of the bigger picture. We should be educating our children about real life situations and teaching them the tools they need to navigate the world. We shouldn’t be focusing on standardized tests and federal funding. We need to start building better teachers.

Filed Under: Administration, Education, General, Teachers Tagged With: ,

Giving Our Students a Real Choice

For centuries, parents had little choice as to where their children went to school. Those families without economic means to place their children in private schools had no options. Children were placed in schools solely based on their geographic location. Unfortunately, some parents were left feeling that their children were not receiving the best education they could. One answer to this problem was school of choice.

School of choice offers parents and students the opportunity to pic from a wide variety of programs for education. Examples include open enrolment, charter schools, private schools, deductions and credits for school related expenses, home schooling and vouchers. In theory, none of these options is better than the rest; however, practically speaking, in many instances simply changing to a different public school will offer a student educational opportunities not previously available to them.

It should come as no surprise that, like most educational issues, schools of choice are a hotly contested topic. Supporters of the concept believe that it is beneficial in several ways. First, by allowing parents to choose which public school their children attend, competition will be fostered, leading to better schools. Second, several studies conclude that privately run institutions are more cost effective than traditional options while providing students with a better education.

There is a down side as well, with many opponents believing that only families with substantial financial means or those living in healthy environments can effectively make school of choice work for them. They remind us that public and private schools all rely on the same guidelines and that switching the student body from one format to the other will have little effect.

We all want the best for our children and perhaps allowing us to choose who educates our students is the best. But consider this: wouldn’t our children be better off if we had better options for them?

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Chartering A School

Parents, educators, administrators and even students wanted a different educational forum for students. Public educational institutions are often found to be lacking, leaving those involved with the school feeling that their students are not receiving the best education. The answer, in some areas, is charter schools.

Charter schools are public schools. They receive state funding and are not allowed to charge tuition fees to their students. Students opt in to a charter school. In cases were there are more students than available seats in a particular school, a lottery system is often used to award the seats.

What makes charter schools different and more appealing is the fact that they are not held to the same rules and guidelines as other public schools. Instead, their goals are set forth in their charter in the form of measurable goals for which their students, teachers and administrators are held responsible. This often leads to an educational environment that is more strident then other schools and better educates students.

Charter schools are often founded by administrators, teachers or parent groups particularly in economically depressed areas. These areas, such as inner cities, often have public schools that are lacking. Many believe there is a direct correlation between the affluence of a neighborhood and how well its schools serve the community. Charter schools aim to bridge this gap and often do so admirable.

It seems that instead of addressing the growing problem in our public school system, we have turned to alternative educationally methods to provide our students with better opportunities. This should elevate the debate between standard based education and objective based education to a new level. As we move forward, perhaps we should question whether we want to move our children or address the growing problems in our current public system.

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Pros and Cons of Going Back to School

Several close friends and family members of mine have recently taken a big step and decided to go back to school to finish their degrees (or start new, advanced degrees). This has made me wonder whether or not I should do the same.

In order to help me decide, I made a list of the pros and cons of going back to school as an adult. Hopefully this will help you if you are considering the same thing:

Pros:
- More opportunities for jobs. It’s no secret that the job market is tough and competition for a good job is fierce. Going back to school for a degree puts you a step ahead of the competition and makes you stand out as a potential candidate.

- Lots of ways to get your degree. You can go to night classes, attend a traditional campus-based school, or get your degree completely online at your own schedule while working full time or taking care of a family.

Cons:
- Expensive. School is expensive. However, you can get a variety of student loans and grants to help you pay for school. If you qualify for grants, you don’t have to pay them back.

- Time consuming. Getting a degree is time consuming and takes discipline and dedication. If your energy is already going towards a job or a family, it could be hard to find the motivation to work on your classes in your spare time.

In my opinion, the benefits of heading back to school outweigh the cons! If you do decide to go back to school, make sure you choose a good program. The Internet can be a good place to research; for example, onlinembarankings.com helps you search for MBA programs that fit exactly what you’re looking for.
Filed Under: Education, General, School Board Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Understanding Standards

We all know what standardized achievement tests are they are the test are students must pass in order for our school to qualify for federal funding under No Child Left Behind. right? That may be true, but standardized achievement tests are used for a variety of other purposes as well. Understanding the purpose behind standardized testing may help take some of the rub out of the current belief that standardized testing has done nothing more than force our schools to teach the test, effectively dumbing down both our curriculum and our students.

Standardized test are use to assess and quantify students in written language, reading and math. In some cases, they may also be used to assess social studies or science. The tests are available to students in a variety of grades, allowing for a students improvement to be tracked over the course of their school career. They can also be used to assess student’s learning disabilities and are used to test students who have taken advanced placement classes.

The test vary from state to state, with each state deciding which format the test should take, what content it should cover and other factors. The tests are analyzed by guidelines created by the company who created the specific test. The raw score is then converted to a more standardized format using tables that take into account the students grade and age. The standardized grading format typically uses the following terms: below average, above average and average.

These scores can be used to determine what a particular students strengths and weaknesses are as well as the school’s ability to educate them. Standardized achievement tests are not intelligence tests and should not be used as such. Schools can use the information to create more effective classes and curriculum. Standardized test should be used as a roadmap, not the final analysis of an institutions ability to educate students.

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Putting The Advanced In Testing

Today’s students are used to standardized testing in fact they take them every few years as part of the NCLB program. It helps schools and administrators determine how successful a particular program is and determines the amount of funding the school will receive based on the NCLB standards. Standardized tests are not just part of the NCLB program, in fact there are test designed to help determine if a student has learning disabilities and others given to advanced students. The advanced placement tests are special standardized test that help students get college credit.

Many high schools offer their students advanced placement classes. These classes are high school level classes that cover college level material. They typically require more work from the students and are far more challenging. Home-schooled students can participate in these classes through self-study or via a virtual classroom. AT the end of the school year, testing takes place. Students who score well on the advanced placemat test are given college credit for the course.

Advanced placement classes are available in over 20 subjects. Students who place into these classes can end up with over a years worth of college credit, while still in high school. Scoring high on the AP standardized test is important. The class prep work must be approved by the AP board as well.

Standardized test are not just for getting additional funding for a classroom. Today, students take tests for a wide variety of reasons. Advanced placement standardized testing is a unique way to allow advanced students access to college level material and credits all while still in high school. If your local public school does not offer AP classes, look into classes on line or check with local private schools. Advanced placement is a great way to get a head start on the world of college.

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SAT Prep With The PSAT

While many students are already familiar with the concept of standardized testing for the purpose of tracking achievement, the PSAT may be the first test they take that has a direct impact on their future. It is an important test for students and schools alike as it gives a good indication of how well students are prepared for college. Understanding what the PSAT is and how it is scored is the first step towards successfully completing the test.

The PSAT is very similar to the SAT, only it is shorter in format. It is typically given to 11th graders and is often mandatory for the entire class. It consists of several different timed sections, each counting for a portion of the students overall score. There are two verbal sections and two math sections, which last 25 minute each. There is also a 30-minute writing section. In this aspect it is similar to the SAT. Many educators believe it is excellent practice for the SAT which students take later in their education career.

The test is scored in two ways. The first is the raw score. This score is a reflection of how many questions were answered correctly versus how many questions were answered incorrectly. The test is also scored via a scale in which the student is given an easier to understand grade.

PSAT scores are not reported to colleges although they are reported to the foundation that determines which students are eligible for national merit scholarships. Taking the test is often most useful for students hoping to understand where their strengths and weaknesses lie in preparation for the SAT.

The PSAT is more than simply another standardized test for students to take. It is an important part of the process for college bound students. Taking PSAT prep courses is a good idea for those hoping to do exceptionally well on the test.

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