Donald Burkins's List: Education Reform

"The Pennsylvania School Performance Profile offers a web-based resource for districts/schools to communicate performance results to various constituencies and assist districts and schools in aligning and focusing resources for continuous improvement. "

"The legislature is expected to act soon - perhaps in the next few weeks - on Senate Bill 1085, which would embody the first major changes since the once-experimental schools began expanding rapidly across Pennsylvania in the late 1990s."

"Bruce Baker here tells the story of New Jersey’s most awesome charter school. This is the one that beats the odds. This is the one where everyone passes the tests. This school is driven by data, and the teachers teach like champions. This is the one with a 100% graduation rate.

The school–North Star Academy–is so awesome that it will soon open its own teacher training institution, to create more awesome teachers."

A quick summary of the chapters of the book in a blog post: New models of education; personalized learning; blogs, wikis, and social media; video games and augmented reality; real-time student assessment; Evaluating teachers; Distance learning; Nontraditional students; Dewey's Exhortation.

Resources re: Promise Neighborhoods at the CoalitionForCommunitySchools website

"AUGUST TO JUNE is an 88 minute documentary celebrating values we are on the brink of losing in the single-minded pursuit of higher test scores! Come inside a public school happily and purposefully going against current trends and join 26 8-10 year olds, their teacher, and their parents for a year bursting with opportunities for curiosity, creativity and compassion."

"An exciting 10-part video series chronicling the rhythms and relationships of a year in the life of one of America’s most successful public schools.

See firsthand what goes into creating a powerful learning environment for children (and adults). Meet the school’s teachers, families and children as they experience the highs and lows of a year of self-discovery, exploration, and frustration. Each episode will serve as a jumping-off point for national conversations about the state of public education as it is – and as it ought to be."

The TA Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports has been established by the Office of Special Education Programs, US Department of Education to give schools capacity-building information and technical assistance for identifying, adapting, and sustaining effective school-wide disciplinary practices.

"A Minnesota teacher took initiative to reimagine what "school" could be. His students seem engaged, and are performing highly. But can his innovation spread in our current education system? Will it even survive? (13 minutes)
A Split Screen Strategy
Creating the Capacity for Teachers to Innovate"

"When students are engaged and interested in the work they are completing, the final product will be much better than when they feel forced to complete a task.

…but how can you make sure that the project you assign is engaging to as many students as possible – if not to all of them?

Here are some great tips to keep in mind when putting together your next project."

"The Ball Foundation and the National Center for Literacy Education both advocate for a capacity building approach to improving our schools. We've found this article, "Choosing the wrong drivers for whole system reform," by Michael Fullan, to be thought-provoking and inspiring to our work. Fullan contrasts the "right drivers--capacity building, group work, instruction, and systemic solutions" with the "wrong drivers" that are "badly placed as lead drivers":

accountability: using test results, and teacher appraisal, to reward or punish teachers and schools vs capacity building;
individual teacher and leadership quality: promoting individual vs group solutions;
technology: investing in and assuing that the wonders of the digital world will carry the day vs instruction;
fragmented strategies vs integrated or systemic strategies.

from Fullan, M. (2011). Choosing the wrong drivers for whole system reform. Seminar Series Paper No. 204. East Melbourne, Australia: Center for Strategic Education."

"I simply am a classroom teacher in an at-risk public high school in Las Vegas."

"Learn almost anything for free."

"The Urban School System of the Future: Can Chartering Replace the Urban District?" Andy Smarick, author, and panel discussion about chartering, school portfolio management vs. district management.

"Mount Desert Elementary School is a small, K-8 public school in Northeast Harbor, Maine, that has successfully created a strong learning community that is the basis of the school's academic success. Since 2006, this elementary school has consistently outperformed the state of Maine in the percentage of students at "Proficient with Distinction" or above on state tests, and has been awarded National Blue Ribbon Schools Program status for academic excellence in 2008. While the teachers and principal of Mount Desert are hesitant to attribute their school's success to any particular recipe or approach, several key practices seem crucial to the school's success:

Responsive Classroom
Tailoring instruction to student's learning needs and interests
A community-based learning atmosphere"