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Category Archives: Schools and Assessment
BP Teachers of Excellence
One of the highlights of my year is taking part in the BP Teacher of Excellence Award Ceremony where we honor several of our teachers for their outstanding job educating their students. When the teachers approach the stage to accept their award I see faces full of pride but also recognize a strong sense of […]
Posted in Schools and Assessment Tagged BP Teachers of Excellence, education, teacher, teaching Leave a comment
Avoiding the storm
In the 1980s I spent my summers on Unimak Island living at a fish camp as a part of a commercial fishing operation. During this time I learned to read the water and the weather and by the end of the decade had a pretty good grasp for when we would have good fishing and […]
Facebook is for old people
One of the more challenging sides to my job is finding time to spend with our students. As a way to meet this challenge I’ve arranged to have lunch with some of them during the final weeks of school. I was at Tustumena Elementary and Soldotna Middle School this week and will be in Homer […]
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Student Performance and Poverty
In the past couple of months I‘ve seen conflicting reports on how American students who do not live in poverty perform on the Programme for International Student Assessment. One report (What do international tests really show about U.S. student performance?) indicated that when compared to all students, American students in this category compare favorably to […]
Posted in Schools and Assessment 2 Comments
Final Exams
For the past couple of days I have been in an email dialogue with my son who is away at college. We have been exchanging ideas on how best to assess learning. He is strongly opposed to the end of semester cumulative final exam and feels that periodic end of unit tests, if written well, […]
Posted in Schools and Assessment 4 Comments
Soaring Eagles
Last week I had the good fortune to attend Mountain View Elementary School’s Soaring Eagles Luncheon. This is a monthly event that recognizes students who have exemplified the following character traits: hard working, respectful, helpful and kind. The students eat pizza, receive a certificate, get their picture taken and then return to class with a […]
Posted in Schools and Assessment 1 Comment
Broken schools
Last week our legislature’s House Education Committee heard testimony on HJR 1 that proposes to amend our state’s constitution to allow public money (vouchers) to be spent on private and religious schools. While I do not want to use this space to comment on the merit of vouchers, I do want to respond to former […]
Posted in Schools and Assessment 2 Comments
Preschool
One of the ongoing debates in Alaska’s legislature is whether our state government should be responsible for the education of its 4-year olds. Until now, Alaska has toyed with this responsibility by issuing grants to both the home and a few school districts, but it has not had the will to fully open this door. […]
Posted in Schools and Assessment 1 Comment
Mandate or Persuade
One of the challenges that school leaders face is finding the right balance between that which is mandated and that which is supported through persuasion. Push too hard on the mandate side and the staff will likely resist. An initiative promoted with a persuasive approach can slow the rate of change and may lead toward […]
Posted in Schools and Assessment 2 Comments
Welcoming schools