What's a School Report Card?

It's that time if year those colorful reports arrive in the mail letting you know how your child did on New York State Math and English Language Arts (ELA) Assessments last spring. The bar charts let you know where your child stands in a range scale from one to four. Actually, the state does a pretty good job explaining what the numbers mean in terms parents can understand. More than likely your child's school included a cover letter breaking it down a little more and indicating what their criteria is for academic intervention services (AIS) for students that fall below the grade level threshold.

Sounds pretty simple, right? Where does all of the data come from and how do schools stack up against each other?  The state provides this information for the assessment results on data.nysed.gov known as School Report Cards. The site is fairly easy to understand but there is a lot of data to find if you just poke around a bit. You can take a look at specific groups by filtering the data by male/female, ethnicity,  grade, etc. when you click on the links to 3-8 ELA or math assessment data. There are archives to previous year's data as well.

State-wide information is great but you want to know about data closer to home. Navigating through the website pages you can find information broken down by county, BOCES,  districts and schools.  Once you are viewing data for math or ELA statewide or broken down to one of these groups, you can easily download the information as a PDF or compare the data with other specific groups by using their My Comparisons tool. This is also a great way to get a background on school districts out of your area if you are relocating to make informed decisions on where to make your new home.

There continues to be a lot of controversy on whether parents should refuse to have their child take state assessments.  (Also known as Opt-out.) Parents will campaign to get other parents to keep their kids from being tested, and even some teachers have been known to encourage test refusal. It's not the only criteria schools normally use to see if your child needs extra help. It does help gather data so districts can see trends and thresholds by comparing to state-wide data and within their own buildings and grade levels. What do they do with this data? They make informed decisions on curriculum to improve your child's education. While state assessments are just a piece of the puzzle, without the information school districts would not have guidelines to know where to target instruction.  You can see your child taking an assessment is more than just to see where your child stands in a range, the information provides a report card for your school district as compared to the state as a whole. This also helps the state decide what schools need improvement to intervene with resources to improve education.

What are your kids doing in the Digital World? Common Sense Media can help you out.

It is Saturday night and I thought I would share something outside the classroom. Common Sense Media is a "nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in the 21st century." Their goal is to provide information to families to help them make decisions, stay safe and how to talk about difficult situations.

On this website you will find book, video game and movie reviews with age appropriate targets. The reviews list what to expect so parents can make an educated decision on letting their children see a movie or play a video game. There are articles on keeping children safe online and dealing with real-life situations. Articles provide scenarios and provide suggestions how to handle the situation. As found in this article on cyberbullying, you may even learn what some jargon kids are saying today. For example, ghosting is when you cut off online contact with a friend. I only recently heard of this term. Griefing is a term I have never heard but it refers to online gaming when a co-player intentionally kills you off or steals your loot. As a parent it is good to know the new jargon kids talk about. This site will definitely help.

Common Sense Media also has several videos that you may find interesting. I found the review on the newly released Halloween movie to be very informative. It lets you know what to expect and offers a violence scale. On the more pleasant side, There was also a video showing recommendations for the five best Halloween books for kids. You will also find videos on digital citizenship, different apps kids use, what they are watching and more. Visit their YouTube Channel to check them out.

I think you will find what they share very informative. Perhaps in future posts I will share more of their articles and videos to start a discussion.

Blended Learning and the Flipped Classroom

If you have heard the term blended learning you may have wondered why things were getting mixed up in the classroom. What does that mean to student learning? As with personalized learning students can learn at their own pace. Blended learning combines traditional classroom methods with digital media to enhance learning. Teachers will provide a lesson, but the student can work on the tasks required on their own, with the teacher available to provide assistance when needed.

You may have heard the term flipped classroom and thought that meant the students take over the teaching. They don't take over teaching, but do take learning into their own hands. Teachers will assign a lesson to watch online, outside of the classroom. Students then can do work assigned on that topic during the class when the teacher is present to assist.  I have heard some parents concerned about this format since their child does not have "homework" to work on daily. But in a sense they still are, it is just being done in the classroom.

Since I seem to like providing videos to explain these terms, here is one about blended learning and the flipped classroom.

Four Core of Personalized Learning

Personalized Learing is an approach to learning that is not "one size fits all." Instruction is personalized to the student's needs and interests. We all have been in school and have probably felt a different approach or teacher would have helped us learn better. Personalized Learning is the term used that teachers are approaching instruction that way to reach every student based on their academics at their pace.

Education Elements is an organization that works with school districts to build personalized learning into their curriculum. They have provided information to parents that explains the different approaches. Read through the Core Four of Personalized Learning: Overview for Parents to gain a better understanding of how your child may be learning in school. I will touch base on each of the areas for you.

Flexible Content and Tools

This core states instructional materials allow for differentiated path, pace and performance tasks. This means the student may use different platforms for collaboration with other students and to demonstrate knowledge. Materials used consist of online content, textbooks or worksheets and are flexible which allows each student to learn at their own pace.

Targeted Instruction

This core states that instruction is aligned to specific student needs and learning goals. Teachers will identify needs and provide instuction based on those needs. The students may work in small groups, one on one or on their own at their pace. This type of instruction ensures the student will get the instruction as they need it rather than moving ahead on a skillset they have not mastered.

Student Reflection and Ownership

This core states Ongoing student reflection promotes ownership of learning. The student will think about what they have learned and what they still need to. They will set their own goals and take ownership of their learning. This core helps prepare them for future growth both personally and professionally.

Data Driven Instruction

This core states frequent data collection informs instructional decisions and groupings. Data is collected from various sources such as assessments, performance on computer based instruction, exit tickets, surveys, individualized tracking and more. This data is used to help the teacher decide what, how and in what manner the student will learn next.

I hope this article helps parents understand personalized learning a little bit more. It is not a traditional way of learning we knew when we went to school and might wonder how come the student gets to make so many decisions or how come a friend is working on different homework. It all has to do with starting to take ownership of thier learning and finding the best way they can reach their goals. In the long run it is hoped they become better decision makers and collaborators, skillsets they need in their personal and professional life because it is not "one size fits all."

Source:

Elements, E. (n.d.). Core Four of Personalized Learning: Overview for Parents. Retrieved October 18, 2018, from https://www.edelements.com/core-four-overview-for-parents-html?hsCtaTracking=cf3a2ff0-49fc-4a2b-8394-f37abbbd4e8a|7e2c6737-221a-4397-819b-c61bfd3b5411

What is Personalized Learning?

Personalized learning is a form of instruction where teacher's curriculum is flexible and designed for each student. Opportunities are given to students to learn in a variety of ways and at their own pace. When curriculum is designed to move forward whether the student learned the skill or not, students can fall behind. I found this to be the case with my own daughter in elementary school. She struggled in math as she had a learning disability. Since the curriculum was based on benchmarks, the teacher moved on to the next skillset even though she did not fully understand the content. Understand she needed to know how to do that skill in order to be successful on the next skill. This frustrated her and me as you can imagine. Through the years I felt like she kept falling farther and farther behind. I think back wishing they offered personalized learning when she was in school.

I wanted to share this video from EDUCAUSE that explains what personalized learning is.  The visuals help to explain it and how it can benefit student learning. (Rather than write a long post you will get tired of reading!)

I also found this video that explains the difference between individualized learning and differentiated instruction and how they work together with personalized learning. You may have heard these terms and thought they all were the same, yet each is unique in its own way. Working these instruction models into the classroom will help the student will succeed.

Verizon Innovative Learning Initiative

Verizon is currently running public service announcements (PSA) about their Innovative Learning Initiative. The goal is to bring technology into schools that cannot afford it so students have the same learning opportunities as students in richer districts. It seems they have put tablets or other technology into the hands of over a million students and they are not stopping. According to their website, they plan to reach millions more.

Students talk on the PSA about not having technology available to them like other schools and teachers feel their students would be left behind without having the technology resources available to them.

Every time I hear the PSA, I think back to when our school district moved toward technology by implementing a one-to-one device program. Chromebooks were available to students in the classroom for elementary and middle school students. High school students were assigned Chromebooks that they would keep each year until graduation they could take home to do school work. No student would be without the resources available that parents could not afford. This is a great thing, however teachers need to adapt their curriculm to work this new technology into the classroom. What good is just handing a computer or tablet to a student if they are just going to write a paper that can be typed on any device? That is another struggle in itself, will teachers jump into the idea of technology in the classroom? Will they work on individulizing the curriculum to reach every student or continue with their current teaching strategies? The idea is, once the student and teacher has these new technology resources available, the curriculum needs to be adjusted as it changes the way students learn. Teaching technology becomes the solution.

Welcome to my Blog!

Hello and welcome to Ed Tech Power Up! The purpose of this blog is to explore education and technology in the classroom and beyond. I am not a teacher but have worked in a school district for over 15 years and have seen technology come and go while parents struggle to understand what their children are doing in school. My hope is to provide information that will help parents, students and teachers gain new insight into technology and maybe understand some of the jargon!

What is Educational Technology? Wikipedia defines it per The Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) as "the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using and managing appropriate technological processes and resources.” If you go to the Wikipedia page there are several other terms used as examples to define it that may not be clear to the average person such as learning theories, learning management systems (LMS), m-learning, technological tools and media, Learning Record Store (LRS), and information and communications technology (ICT). My head spins just thinking about what any of this means. Through my research finding information in print, online and from teachers or administrators, I will share information that makes a little more sense or at least try to explain it!

This blog is a work in progress and I am open to any suggestions, just let me know. I am not restricting posts to just ed tech in the classroom, that is just where I decided to start. Watch for other tech tips and stories too. The possibilities are endless!

Thanks for stopping by!
Tammy