ASCD Inservice

Public Comment Period Now Open for Healthy People 2020

Healthy People, a national initiative that provides health promotion and disease prevention objectives to improve the health of all Americans, has opened its proposed 2020 objectives for public comment. The national health objectives, updated every 10 years to reflect new research and trends, are intended to address a broad range of health needs, encourage collaboration across sectors, help individuals make informed health decisions, and measure prevention efforts.

The Healthy People 2020 objectives are open for public comment through December 31, 2009. ASCD plans to specifically comment on objectives that align with our mission to provide children with healthy learning environments that support their academic, physical, and emotional well being. Our comments will be available to the public by December 18. We encourage other interested individuals and organizations to also comment on the objectives. Together, we can help ensure the Healthy People 2020 objectives are relevant to public health needs and help prepare our young people for healthy and fulfilling lives.

Reading to Learn

ASCD Express is looking for short, 600–1,000-word essays on the theme "Reading to Learn." The theme description is below, and guidelines for submissions are here. Send us your submissions by January 6, 2010. 

Good readers can use their skills to gain knowledge of any subject. How can teachers help students learn to extract information and construct meaning from what they read, no matter what the subject? What new or expanded reading comprehension skills are necessary in the 21st century? What can educators do to enable all students to learn from any kind of text they encounter, whether it's poetry or prose, fiction or nonfiction, on paper or online? We welcome submissions on teaching English language learners to read as well as strategies for older students who read below grade level.

Meeting Students Where They Are

ASCD Express is looking for short, 600 to 1,000-word essays on the theme "Meeting Students Where They Are." The theme description is below, and guidelines for submissions are here. Send us your submissions by December 7, 2009. 

Kids come to school with varying abilities, interests, learning styles, background knowledge, and social and emotional needs. How can educators accurately assess students’ current instructional needs and differentiate instruction to meet those needs? How can we connect the curriculum to students' interests, goals, and passions? Topics in this issue will include identifying students' background knowledge, interests, strengths, and learning styles; understanding and building on students' diverse cultural backgrounds; and overcoming challenging school structures that make it difficult to get to know students.

Turning to National Standards

ASCD Express is looking for short, 600–1,000-word essays on the theme "Turning to National Standards." The theme description is below, and guidelines for submissions are here. Send us your submissions by November 23, 2009. 

The drumbeat for national standards has grown perceptibly stronger in recent years, with leadership coming from state governors. Some states have recently teamed up to define voluntary national standards in reading, math, and science. How can national standards aid school reform efforts and promote a common base of knowledge for all students? What are the challenges to implementing standards? Topics in this issue could also include analyses of how national standards have worked in other countries and the potential implications of their successes or challenges for the United States.

A New Curriculum for a New Century

ASCD Express is looking for short, 600–1,000-word essays on the theme "A New Curriculum for a New Century." The theme description is below, and guidelines for submissions are here. Send us your submissions by November 9, 2009.

Now a decade into the 21st century, it’s time to stop talking about a new curriculum and start developing and using one. Already under great pressure to educate for a highly technological, fast-changing global economy, schools need to consider how curriculum and its delivery should change to meet the needs of students living in a world undergoing revolutionary changes. Through current examples and provocative expert insights, this issue will offer ways to jumpstart the critical conversations about the school curricula and teaching formats necessary for a new century, including content; assessment; program structure and instruction; and the habits of mind students, teachers, and administrators need to get it all done.

Health and Learning

ASCD Express is looking for short, 600–1,000-word essays on the theme "Health and Learning." The theme description is below, and guidelines for submissions are here. Send us your submissions by October 26, 2009. 

Research shows that healthy children learn more, so how can schools forge a healthy environment? This issue will examine programs ranging from creating school-based community health clinics to keeping physical education part of the school day; from implementing discipline policies that make hallways and classrooms free of physical or emotional violence to teaching students about nutrition and fitness; from helping students maintain a healthy body image to helping them avoid self-destructive behaviors. We also welcome research on the links among physical and mental health, student motivation, and achievement.

Helping ELLs Acquire Academic Content

ASCD Express is looking for short, 600–1,000-word essays on the theme "Helping ELLs Acquire Academic Content." The theme description is below, and guidelines for submissions are here. Send us your submissions by October 14, 2009. 

Well-developed ESL programs don’t necessarily take care of the needs of English language learners (ELLs) who have transitioned into mainstream classrooms. Once out of nuts-and-bolts language programs, ELLs still need linguistic and academic support based on a detailed understanding of students’ language development. How can a teacher faced with students at different levels of language proficiency meet everyone’s needs? This issue will explore and explain strategies for content and academic language acquisition using instructional strategies aimed at language development and the broader personal engagement of ELLs.

H1N1 and Continuity of Learning

It’s clear the H1N1 flu pandemic will pose significant challenges for educators this school year. In this month’s “Is It Good for the Kids?” column, ASCD Executive Director Gene Carter emphasizes that in addition to prevention and monitoring efforts, schools must consider how they plan to support continuous learning, both for individual students who are home for extended periods of time with the flu and for the whole student body if the virus spreads widely and forces school closures.

“Some estimates indicate H1N1 could infect half the U.S. population this fall and winter, which translates into considerable classroom disruption and absenteeism,” Carter writes. “Students in the same class could end up in wildly different places in the curriculum. Meanwhile, entire classes could fall behind if their teachers are out sick for several days.”

He suggests educators form professional learning communities to help them work together to assess knowledge and skills when students return to school and develop plans for instructional next steps.

Along these lines, ASCD is conducting a live, one-hour Web seminar on H1N1 and continuity of learning. On Wednesday, September 30, at 4:00 p.m. EST, Ann Cunningham Morris, ASCD’s director of professional development, and John Brown, ASCD author and faculty member, will provide educators with tools and resources to address the varied learning needs and gaps students may have after their time away from school due to H1N1-related illnesses or school closures. Register for the seminar today.

The session is free and will address questions such as:

• What role does formative assessment play in determining returning students' learning needs?

• How will classroom instruction need to change to address varying student needs?

• How should teachers manage classroom instructional changes in a collaborative way so that they are supporting each other as professionals?

Do you have questions about H1N1 and continuity of learning that you'd like addressed during the Web seminar? Share them here.

Back-to-School Becomes Back-to-Students

This week, two special back-to-school editions of ASCD SmartBrief reflect on the big education stories of this busy summer, with the infusion of federal funding and proposed national standards dominating the headlines.

This fall, we'll continue watching how federal dollars flow, how U.S. education fares under new Senate leadership, and how schools respond to H1N1, among other issues.

The real stories though, are happening in your classrooms. ASCD President Linda Mariotti notes in today's special edition of SmartBrief,

"We cannot claim to be educators by virtue of our backgrounds or our teaching, but rather by our students and their learning."

Believing In and Motivating Every Student

ASCD Express is looking for short, 600–1,000-word essays on the theme "Believing In and Motivating Every Student." The theme description is below, and guidelines for submissions are here. Send us your submissions by October 2, 2009. 

Motivating students starts with believing that every student in your class can be successful. Even though acting on the high expectations teachers should have for students—in the academic arena as well as social and behavioral areas—presents challenges, it's a moral imperative that all schools must strive to fulfill. This issue shares strategies, innovative efforts, and sound advice for reaching students at both the academic and personal levels to help teachers and administrators better engage and encourage students to fulfill their potential to excel. Topics will include best practices for diverse classrooms and special populations.

Multiple Measures, but What Kinds?

ASCD Express is looking for short, 600–1,000-word essays on the theme "Multiple Measures, but What Kinds?" The theme description is below, and guidelines for submissions are here. Send us your submissions by September 18, 2009.

Teaching to tests rarely promotes good instruction and basing all decisions on a single test is unwise. But if many assessment measures are acceptable, how can we make sure that schools are accountable? What roles do teachers, principals, superintendents, and others have in designing and implementing balanced assessment systems? Topics in this issue will include the connection between formative and summative assessments, assessment that promotes learning as well as measures it, the value of national and international assessments, and training in assessment practice.

ASCD Comments on Race to the Top Criteria

In an open letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan last week, ASCD submitted comments on the proposed Race to the Top priorities, requirements, definitions, and selection criteria and offered several key recommendations.

Among them are several opportunities to use priorities and selection criteria to drive accountability for education that supports the whole child. For example, selection criteria calling for data systems that support instruction could go beyond reporting student performance data and include annual state assessments of the health, safety, and education of children and families.

And while ASCD is a big fan of the overall ambition of Race to the Top, we've also got a couple concerns about the requirements in the current proposal. In particular, ASCD asks the Education Department to rethink requiring states to adopt common core standards sight unseen and disagrees with prioritizing alternative certification programs over improving current teacher preparation programs and supports.

Our full comments on Race to the Top are available online and summarized as below.

What do you think of the Race to the Top priorities? What selection criteria pose the biggest challenge in your state?

Challenging the Whole Child E-Book Free for Limited Time

How do we motivate students to embrace challenge? How do we encourage students to rise to challenges of their own? What is the connection between a meaningful, challenging curriculum and lasting achievement? ASCD's newest e-book, Challenging the Whole Child: Reflections on Best Practices in Learning, Teaching, and Leadership, addresses many of these questions and is available for download free of charge starting today and running through August 16, 2009.

This addition to ASCD's e-book series on educating the whole child features articles from Educational Leadership magazine and other ASCD publications that focus on challenging every student, offering a rigorous curriculum, meeting 21st century learning challenges, using formative assessments, and preparing students for college and the world of work. Authors include Arthur L. Costa, Robert J. Sternberg, Linda Darling-Hammond, Howard Gardner, Susan Brookhart, and other leading authorities.

Complementing this free e-book is the $7.95 ($9.95 for nonmembers) Engaging the Whole Child e-book, as well as the always free, always updated Whole Child Blog, a community-generated resource for strategies, ideas, and news relevant to ensuring that all children are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.

"It Was a Privilege to Nominate Marc"

The clock is ticking toward the August 1 deadline to nominate a colleague for ASCD's 2010 Outstanding Young Educator Award. If you're seeking inspiration, check out this profile of one of last year's OYEA honorees, Principal Marc Cohen of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School (MLK) in Germantown, Md. Get acquainted with more OYEA alums, review application criteria, and access our nomination form online.

Connecting the Classroom to the Capitol

Educators, bring your message to Capitol Hill!

ASCD's annual advocacy event, the LEAP Legislative Institute, September 13–15, 2009, in Arlington, Va, will bring you up to speed on the status of stimulus funding, pending changes to the No Child Left Behind Act, and other federal initiatives that affect students and schools.

Engaging speakers, including White House education policy advisor Roberto Rodriguez and author and journalist Gwen Ifill will explain today's political scene and the opportunities you have to frame the debate on education issues. Then, ASCD staff will prepare you to take your message to lawmakers on Capitol Hill and continue your policy discussions at the local and state levels.

Don't miss this opportunity to speak out in support of the education policies that are best for kids. Register today!

Race to the Top Guidelines Announced

In a press conference today, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan made clear that if states and school districts want a slice of the $4.3 billion Race to the Top, they need to take four major grant criteria to heart.

Race to the Top applicants must demonstrate they're actively pursuing Duncan's "four assurances":

• Increase teacher effectiveness and address inequities in the distribution of highly qualified teachers.
• Establish and use preK-through-college and career data systems to track progress and foster continuous improvement.
• Make progress toward rigorous college- and career-ready standards and quality assessments.
• Support targeted, intensive support and effective interventions to turn around schools identified for corrective action and restructuring.   

To make these points clearer, Duncan brought out a group of speakers who laid the groundwork for the model Duncan wants schools to follow.

Bookmark This!: HBO Brings March of Time Online

The March of Time newsreel series, produced from 1935 to 1967 by Time Inc., is now online in its entirely, courtesy of the HBO Archives. All films are free, but registration is required. They were first  shown in movie theaters and on television and were more long-form than typical Hollywood-produced newsreels.

Educators should get a particular kick out of the November 1936 entry, "New Schools for Old," in which the advances of progressive education are shown sweeping the nation. As children stream into schools, taking care to place their stylish hats on the hat rack, they experience "innovations alarming to many an educator; strange and alarming plenty of present-day parents!" The reels date mostly from the '30s, and their great historical footage, dramatic announcing, and sweeping string arrangements should enliven classrooms as they cover topics such as women entering the workplace, the end of prohibition, and the entry of Hawaii to the union.

ASCD Express Calls for Submissions

ASCD Express is looking for short, 600–1,000-word essays on the theme "Designing Effective Homework." The theme description is below, and guidelines for submissions are here. Send us your submissions by July 20, 2009.

Impassioned arguments for and against homework started early in the 20th century and continue to the present. Yet research shows that homework that's well-structured to ensure completion positively correlates with academic achievement. How does one kind of homework work better than others? How should homework for primary students differ from homework for secondary students? This issue will look at the essential elements of well-designed homework and offer tips for varying homework to address different learning needs and objectives.

Graduation and Beyond

Education Week released its annual Diplomas Count report earlier this month, and as usual, it's chock full of interesting information. This year's publication includes updated state-by-state graduation rates, as well as a look at the rates over a 10-year period. It also has a special focus on college readiness.

Graduation Rate Highlights

• Grad rate trends: The nation's graduation rate increased by almost three percentage points from 1996 (when the rate was 66 percent) to 69 percent in 2006, the most recent year for which data are available.
• A recent dip: However, 2006 marked the first time in the past decade that the national graduation rate has significantly declined compared with the previous year. It fell more than one percentage point from the 2005 rate.
• Beating the odds: Some big-city school systems across the country have posted graduation rates or graduation rate improvements that surpassed expected levels based on a mix of district characteristics including student demographics.

ASCD Express Calls for Submissions

ASCD Express is looking for short, 600–1,000-word essays on the theme "Establishing and Managing a Differentiated Classroom." The theme description is below, and guidelines for submissions are here. Send us your submissions by July 9, 2009.

Teachers who match their instructional approaches to meet the needs and interests of every student are engaging in the practice of differentiation. It's challenging but possible, says University of Virginia professor Carol Ann Tomlinson, who has written extensively on differentiated instruction. What are the essential principles that support the differentiated classroom, and how can educators overcome the initial challenges? What strategies and tools do teachers use to make this theory a reality?