Reform

edCircuit Opinion
The Scientific American article For Children With Autism, Multiple Languages May Be A Boon raises an important point about the impacts of language education on children with autism.  In the United States, bilingual families with children on the autism spectrum have traditionally been advised to raise those children speaking only English.  But according to new research, this advice “only intensifies the alienation experienced by these children” by isolating them from their families, who may not speak English at home.

As July comes to a close, thousands of families swarm to the nearest stores and begin to cross items off of their college checklist. For those who need reminding, no one college dorm room is alike. But, according to CENGAGE Learning’s 2015 Student Engagement Insights survey, many of these students have more in common than you think. When asked, “what are your goals after college?” 80% of college students responded that they want a “good job/better job”. Is this attainable for recent college grads?
Forbes warns that it may not be.

John McLaughlin joined me for coffee, or should I say tea, to discuss his slightly emphatic reaction to recent studies looking at the role socioeconomic status has on students ability to achieve in U.S. schools. For additional perspective on this hot topic you might like to hear McLaughlin’s co-author Mark Claypool on this episode of CoffeED.

Fred Ende is the assistant director of curriculum and instructional services for Putnam Northern Westchester BOCES, one of New York’s 37 regional education service agencies. Ende joined Dr. Berger at ASCD’s Annual Conference to discuss the evolution of professional development and his ASCD book, Professional Development That Sticks: How do I create meaningful learning experiences for educators?

John McLaughlin, Ph.D. joined me for coffee to discuss how some of us look at the history of education reform and the realities of where we are and the paths we are currently taking. McLaughlin had previously commented on an op-ed from Dick Yarbrough  Here are some of McLaughlin’s previous thoughts on the topic:

In this episode, John McLaughlin, Ph.D. discusses the timing of education as a recent talking point in the presidential race.

David Greene discusses how lifelong teachers must be allowed to continue to use our God-given abilities to think, reason, and create.

Photo Credit: The World Councilby Fredreka SchoutenA nonprofit education group founded by Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush disclosed a full list of its donors Wednesday, a day after Bush released more than three decades of tax returns.Read the rest of the story at USA Today.

MOOCs: A Revolutionary PerspectiveJoin us for an online Town Hall with Gordon Rogers on Wednesday May 6th from 10:00am – 11:00am ESTA number of parallels exist between the new frontier of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and their recognition as “academic currency” and the fate of the doomed Continental, the currency of the American colonies. Just as the revolutionary banknotes lacked credibility, the assessment instruments used by students to prove knowledge and mastery of MOOCs continue to face an uphill battle for authenticity. Until these issues are overcome, online education will be, in the eyes of many, “not worth a Continental”.But efforts are underway to achieve wider recognition and acceptance of alternative forms of credentialing. They are taking place in universities, community colleges and coding “boot-camps.” They generally fall into a framework known as “Competency Based Education” (CBE), representing the first significant step in the unbundling of American higher education. Reinventing a credentialing system that has remain largely unchanged for a century is not going to happen in a semester, but cracks are beginning to appear in the ivory tower’s foundation. Gordon Rogers, a 25-year veteran in the field of digital education and learning management, will talk about the “unbundling” trend in education and what it means for students, business and the academic world.