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Education-Related Predictions For 2012
I recently posted The Best (and Worst) Education News of 2011, and thought I’d take a stab at some prognostication for 2012.
I think I batted close to 50% in last year’s predictions — that can’t be that much worse than those made by professional pundits.
Feel free to add your own predictions in the comments section — and don’t hesitate to include “wishful thinking!”
Here are my Education-Related Predictions For 2012:
1. Proponents of what is typically called “school reform” — expansion of charter schools and teacher merit pay, primarily evaluating teachers by student test scores, erosion of seniority rights — will emphasize expanding their agenda through three major avenues: Teach For America will use their new $50 million grant from the federal government to enter multiple new districts, KIPP Charter Schools will do the same with their new $25.5 million grant from The Walton Family Foundation, and, in California at least, charter operators will build on their recent push to have county Boards of Education’s approve charter applications over school district objections.
2. Notwithstanding recent court decisions in New York City, efforts to publish teacher ratings by test scores in local newspapers will “peter out.” Newspapers will shy away from publicizing this misleading data after seeing the backlash received by The Los Angeles Times after they pioneered this ethically questionable practice. In addition, since more districts are unfortunately including student test scores in teacher evaluations, the practice of making “job reviews” public will becoming increasingly questionable legally.
3. There will be a surge of interest in the concept of Social Emotional Learning (SEL), the idea of explicitly helping students learn about and develop character traits like self-control and perseverance. Unfortunately, that interest will be combined with a strong desire to test and grade, and much of its potential effectiveness will be lost.
4. Here in California, Governor Brown and his allies will be successful in convincing proponents of other tax initiatives to focus on supporting his ballot drive. His plan to increase taxes would result in billions more for schools, and will pass handily. That success will inspire similar efforts in other states during following years.
5. As the 2012 President election nears, and the polls show a Romney/Obama contest as a nail-biter, the Obama Administration will offer a “fall surprise” to teachers by offering states waivers to No Child Left Behind requirements that don’t have the “poison pills” of rules and costs that their present waiver hold. The tactic will work, and larger numbers of educators will actively campaign for the President in the election’s final months.
6. The awful and inaccurate teacher evaluations in New York, Tennessee and Florida will force states to go much more slowly in implementing ones that include student test scores as a sizable percentage of the ranking. Unfortunately, the momentum for these types of evaluations will only be slowed, not stopped.
7. At the same time the momentum for awful teacher evaluations is slowed, there will be a renewed interest in using Peer Assistance and Review (PAR) as an evaluation and professional development strategy. Districts that expand the use of this process, which treats educators as professionals, will find increasing success for students, their families, and educators alike.
8. Michelle Rhee will continue her decline in public credibility and relevance. Her work with some of the most conservative, and anti-teacher, Republicans has made her a contagion among many Democrats. And, as her Republican allies falter in their own success and popularity across the country, she is incredibly trying to build a base here in California — unsuccessfully.
9. Strategies to use technology as a transformative tool in education will take a backseat as for-profit online learning charlatans and the Khan Academy take up the tech money and the media space.
10. As I did last year, I’m borrowing this last one from Bill Ivey, a colleague in the Teacher Leaders Network. He predicts that “Each and every school day will bring tens of thousands of reasons to celebrate in schools across the country.” That sure sounds good to me…
Please share your reactions, and your own predictions!
Also, check out predictions from these other bloggers:
How Teachers Will Rock the News in 2012 by Barnett Berry
Ten Edu-Stories We’ll Be Reading in 2012 by Rick Hess
Rules Would Boost Pay For In-Home Health Aides
Nearly two million home health care aides help seniors and people with disabilities to live independently. These caregivers often work long hours doing difficult work without overtime pay. The Labor Department has proposed rules to bring home care aides under federal minimum wage and overtime protections.
Learning 'Sri Lankan Home Cooking' A Family Affair
A child of Sri Lankan immigrants, music journalist S.H. "Skiz" Fernando, Jr. grew up eating Sri Lankan food. But he didn't master the art of the cuisine until he moved to Sri Lanka and enlisted his aunts to help him learn. Fernando shares the results in Rice and Curry: Sri Lankan Home Cooking.
Resisting Hitler's Rise In 1930s Berlin
When William Dodd became of U.S. Ambassador to Germany in 1933, then-Chancellor Adolf Hitler was not considered a threat. In The Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin, Erik Larson chronicles Dodd's growing realizations about the Nazis and his attempts to sound the alarm back home.
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The Logic - Or Lack Thereof - Behind Top 10 Lists
Year's end always means a slew of top ten lists, the ubiquitous arbiter of the year's best films, books, albums and political stories. But Dallas Morning News film critic Chris Vognar has a confession: Those lists are not just subjective — they're often completely arbitrary.
What Would Your Suggestions Be For A Very Beginning iPad User?
I’d like to prepare a “The Best…” list for beginning iPad users — educator and non-educator alike.
What are your suggestions for apps and guides for newbies? I will, of course, credit you for suggestions in the post I write.
Four Questions that Will Help You to Stay on Track in 2012
Image by Atli Harðarson (license).
Share || “New Year’s eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights”
Hamilton Wright Mabie
The year is coming to an end. Just two days to go. But before we head into 2012 I want to share four questions that you can use so that you don’t lose your way next year.
Have a happy, awesome and meaningful New Year!
Is this useful?
This is a good way to for example weed out thought habits that may not be so useful. Your mind may for instance fool you into believing that it’s the right thing to go around being angry at someone because, well, you’re right. Or that it’s right to dwell on a problem because you had such bad luck or was singled out.
Both thought patterns are quite seductive because they can fool you into believing that you are doing the “right” or “normal” thing. But are dwelling on such thoughts useful to you? Probably not. That will just create suffering in your life, waste your time and do little to solve a practical situation. By asking if something is useful you can stop yourself while heading down a negative path and turn around towards the light again.
What is the most important thing I can do right now?
If you are lost in what to do next in your day, week or life, ask yourself this question. The answer might not always be what you want to hear because the most important thing is often one of the harder things you want to do too. But it can help you to check your priorities and stop you from getting lost in busy work and instead start tackling the really big stuff.
Am I keeping things extremely simple?
It’s very easy to start to overcomplicating things to, for example, find excuses for not doing something or simply because is a regular thought habit of yours.
Overcomplicating things can bring anything to halt. Or make it much harder to get something done.
So I like to ask myself this question a lot. By questioning how I am going about things or how I am planning to go about things with a project or a situation I can declutter my plans and thoughts. And this makes the process of working towards and reaching my goal a whole lot simpler.
I may not always find an extremely simple solution or path towards what I want. But I can pretty much always make things simpler and easier by asking myself this question.
Is there anyone on the planet having it worse than me right now?
When I am stuck on focusing on the negatives, when I feel like a victim and like things are going against me I ask myself this question.
The answer may not result in positive thoughts, but it can sure snap you of a somewhat childish “poor, poor me…” attitude pretty quickly. I understand that I have much to be grateful for in my life.
This question changes my perspective from a narrow, self-centred one into a much wider one. It helps me to lighten up about my situation. After I have changed my perspective I usually ask another question like:
What is the hidden opportunity within this situation?
That follow-up question is very helpful to keep your focus on how to solve a problem or get something good out a current situation. Rather than asking yourself “why?” over and over and thereby focusing on the negatives and making yourself feel worse and worse.
If you found this article helpful, then please share it with someone else by using the buttons below. Thank you! =)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Want to learn much more about living a simpler, happier and less stressful life where you dare to follow and achieve your dreams in 2012? Then have a look at my four premium courses and guides:
The Self-Esteem Course - Stop feeling lousy about yourself and start living a life of self-happiness where you live up to your potential and dare to follow your dreams today.
Simplicity - My monthly membership course on how to simplify six of the most important areas in your life.
The Art of Relaxed Productivity - How I tripled my own productivity and effectiveness and decreased stress greatly.
The Power of Positivity - How to become a more mindful, motivated, action-taking optimist.
Copyright 2006-2011 Henrik Edberg.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another Special Edition Of “Links I Should Have Posted About, But Didn’t”
I have a huge backlog of resources that I’ve been planning to post about in this blog but, just because of time constraints, have not gotten around to doing so. Instead of letting that backlog grow bigger, I regularly grab a few and list them here with a minimal description. It forces me to look through these older links, and help me organize them for my own use. I hope others will find them helpful, too. These are resources that I didn’t include in my “Best Tweets” feature because I had planned to post about them, or because I didn’t even get around to sending a tweet sharing them.
Generally, I publish a post in this series once a week, but sometimes I post one twice in a week.
Here is Another Special Edition Of “Links I Should Have Posted About, But Didn’t”:
Debt By Degrees is a short New Yorker column that describes the economic advantages of having a college degree. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Showing Students Why They Should Continue Their Academic Career.
Research Desk: Just How Good Have College Grads Got It? comes from The Washington Post. I’m adding it to the same “academic career” The Best list.
Blood Ties: A Photographer Captures Gang Culture In Her Family is a photo gallery from TIME. I’m adding it to The Best Sites To Learn About Street Gangs.
Bob Marley’s daughter has just published a children’s book and created this new music video of one of her father’s songs. I’m adding it to The Best Websites For Learning About Bob Marley.
Kids Health For Kids has lots of health-related resources that are accessible to English Language Learners. I’m adding it to The Best Health Sites For English Language Learners.
How to make fantastic screencasts using Screenr is a tutorial from Jason Renshaw. I’m adding it to The Best Tools For Making Screencasts.
Error Correction Preferences in Written Work of Higher Secondary Students: an Evaluation is a good summary of some ESL/EFL/ELL research. I’m adding it to The Best Resources On ESL/EFL/ELL Error Correction.
Taking great travel pictures is from The BBC. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning Beginning Photography Tips.
Magic in Education! has nice tutorials on Web 2.0 applications. I’m adding it to The Best Places To Learn Web 2.0 Basics.
Choose Your Own Adventure Videos: Tutorial looks very helpful (thanks to Richard Byrne for the tip). I’m adding it to The Best Places To Read & Write “Choose Your Own Adventure” Stories.
Proposed Child Labor Rules Could Alter Farm Life
The Department of Labor has proposed regulations that would limit the kinds of work children can do on farms. Opponents feel the rules would hurt family farms and fundamentally alter farming life, while proponents say the changes would help keep kids safe.
HIV Status Disclosure Laws Under Scrutiny
Failing to disclose positive HIV status to sexual partners is a crime in more than 30 states. In Iowa, it can carry a 25-year jail term. Advocates say the rules are discriminatory, and are urging state governments to reword laws that solely target HIV, but not other transmittable diseases.
GOP Candidates Jockey Ahead Of Iowa Caucuses
The Iowa caucuses will be critical for Rep. Michelle Bachmann and former Sen. Rick Santorum, or a chance for Rep. Ron Paul to steal the national spotlight from Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Get Royalty-Free Images From Kozzi
Kozzi has thousands of royalty-free images that can be used for anything — at no charge — without even having to give them attribution. You have sign-up for the site, but registration is free.
I’m adding it to The Best Online Sources For Images.
Movie Scenes For English Language Learners
I use movie clips in a number of ways to help my students develop language skills, and have previously written an extensive related list — The Best Movie Scenes To Use For English-Language Development.
Some of the videos on that list — though not all — have since been removed from YouTube, and I thought it would be useful to readers and to me to provide some updated additions:
10 Best Car Chases in Movie History comes from Popular Mechanics.
Greatest Movie Car Chases comes from Rotten Tomatoes.
10 Best Car Chase Scenes is from Best Oti.
10 Best Hollywood Movie Car Chases! is from What Culture!
20 Greatest Movie Car Chases is from Chris On Cars.
I love using Pink Panther scenes. Here are links to two of my favorites.
The blog Film English has lot of great clips and ideas on how to use them in class.
Standardized Testing & Creative Thinking
An interesting piece in the Huffington Post titled The Education Reform Paradox and the Extinction of Higher Level Thinking Skills led me to another article in The Week, which included this section:
While IQ scores are indisputably on the rise, American creativity levels are bottoming out. Analysis of the results of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking suggests that the creative abilities of American children have been spiraling downward for almost 20 years. The Torrance tests analyze young children’s ability to come up with original ideas and put them into practice. Kyung Hee Kim, an assistant professor at the College of William & Mary School of Education, found that scores on Torrance tests taken by children up to 6th grade between 1968 and 2008 showed a steady decline after 1990.
That’s a serious issue at a time when creative thinking is among the most desperately needed skills in the American workplace. A recent study found that 85 percent of employers concerned with hiring creative people say they can’t find the right applicants. Kim blamed America’s standards-obsessed schools for creating an environment in which creative thinking was not nurtured. “Creative students cannot breathe, they are suffocated in school,” she said. “Then they become underachievers.
That passage gave me an idea.
I went to the Google Ngram Viewer (see The Best Posts To Help Understand Google’s New “Books Ngram Viewer”) and compared “standardized tests” with “creative thinking” to see how often they had been mentioned.
Here’s what it came up with:
The Ngram Viewer is obviously not a precise scientific tool, but it is interesting to see that it seems to reflects a somewhat similar comparison over the past 25 years….
As Nuclear Plants Age, No Easy Energy Solutions
Nuclear power generates 20 percent of electricity in the U.S., but the nation's reactors are aging — and new plants are expensive and take years to build. Gas, coal, wind and solar are potential alternatives, but all have environmental or logistical drawbacks.
NPR's Long-Running 'Piano Jazz' Gets A Makeover
Marian McPartland has shared duets and conversations with piano jazz luminaries for decades as host of NPR's Piano Jazz program. In January, the show gets a new host — and a new focus. Pianist Jon Weber will feature new young talents on the program, Piano Jazz Rising Stars.
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A Violent Abolitionist's 'Midnight Rising'
John Brown, the man who led the 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry, Va., may be among the most polarizing figures in American history. To some, he's a traitor and terrorist; to others, he's a hero. Tony Horwitz discusses his book Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War.
Can Arab League Monitors Quell Violence In Syria?
Arab League observers arrived in Syria Monday, prompting a tentative calm between anti-government protestors and security forces. But many Syrians are skeptical that the monitors can permanently quell the unrest.
December’s Best Tweets
Every month I make a short list highlighting my choices of the best resources I shared through (and learned from) Twitter, but didn’t necessarily include them in posts here on my blog. Now and then, in order to make it a bit easier for me, I may try to break it up into mid-month and end-of-month lists (and sometimes I’m a bit late).
I’ve already shared in earlier posts several new resources I found on Twitter — and where I gave credit to those from whom I learned about them. Those are not included again in this post.
If you don’t use Twitter, you can also check-out all of my “tweets” on Twitter profile page or subscribe to their RSS feed.
This month, I’m trying the embed feature the “new” Twitter offers. We’ll see how it looks…
Here are my picks for December’s Best Tweets (not listed in any order):
Graphic Organizers & Relationships, funny comic bit.ly/vdwBLB
— Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) December 27, 2011
I think this is an excellent New Yorker piece on mortgage crisis, Living by Default nyr.kr/sfT3K4
— Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) December 26, 2011
Pretty neat interactive on Galileobit.ly/tTlNwD
— Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) December 27, 2011
“#occupychristmas
Throughout much of history, the holiday was a celebration of rebellion against authority” Salon bit.ly/uo2WAr
— Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) December 25, 2011
RT @nancyflanagan: Worst. Christmas Tree. Ever. bit.ly/tr53lo Stand back, Charlie Brown.
— Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) December 24, 2011
“Dream Act students live in limbo” Sacramento Beebit.ly/uiOVST
— Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) December 26, 2011
RT @shighley: 3 reasons for numbered listsDoug Johnson’s Blue Skunk Blog bit.ly/rWZHjG
— Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) December 23, 2011
“Robert Geller was a teacher to the end.” NY TImesnyti.ms/w1SJiu
— Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) December 23, 2011
“‘Trampling Out the Vintage,’ by Frank Bardacke looks like it’s THE book on Cesar Chavez bit.ly/szqucu
— Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) December 23, 2011
RT @sbeleznay: Social media in the 16th Century: How Luther went viralecon.st/v71yOH
— Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) December 21, 2011
RT @DanielPink: Neil deGrasse Tyson Lists 7 Books Every Intelligent Person on Earth Should Readbit.ly/uBQ4QX via @galleycat
— Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) December 20, 2011
RT @TPM: Wis Dems announce over half a million signatures to recall Walker. tpm.ly/s33Edf ^@erickleefeld
— Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) December 22, 2011
The Science of Why We Don’t Believe Science bit.ly/suyX96
— Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) December 19, 2011
“10 Years of Assessing Students With Scientific Exactitude” NY TImesnyti.ms/tGIBE9
— Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) December 19, 2011
RT @kikybot: BBC News – Food firms ‘market to children online’ bbc.in/rLpOxW
— Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) December 18, 2011
RT @educationweek: Blog: California to Offer ‘Seal of Biliteracy’ to High School Graduates bit.ly/tteKlw #ELLs
— Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) December 22, 2011
RT @criener: This is actually good, from college humor RT @DaveMosher: History of Earth, as retold on… Facebook? bit.ly/s8UtnR
— Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) December 13, 2011
RT @alexanderrusso: The famous yellow school crossing sign was invented in 1971 NYTimes.com ow.ly/7VcFx
— Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) December 10, 2011
The Eye On Education blog also regularly lists their favorite tweets.
“Wanna Live Forever? Become A Noun”
Just for fun — from NPR via Open Culture:
Disclosure
We provide resources we consider useful to English Teachers and Learners. We do have a business relationship with the websites we link to. We do receive compensation for purchases made as a result of following links and ads on this site. No comments on this site should be interpreted as a warranty or guarantee.
