Children learn more quickly if the brightest are prevented from putting their hands up
9.6.10 – Schoolchildren learn more quickly if the brightest and most confident are prevented from putting up their hands, according to a teaching expert.
Those who are less willing to answer teachers’ questions rapidly switch off when a minority dominate, according to Professor Dylan Wiliam, deputy director of the Institute of Education at London University.
He is pioneering an alternative technique in which all children in a class are made to answer questions, by writing their answers on small white boards they are given. They then reveal their answers simultaneously to the teacher.
A variation is to ask all the children to answer a ‘yes or no’ question posed by a teacher, by holding their thumbs up or down.
7 Ways to Cut College Costs
Does anybody else out there think it’s obscene that dozens of schools now charge more than $50,000 a year?
These price tags are frightening, but they are also largely meaningless. That’s because most families will not pay anywhere close to $50,000 for a school.
[Read more about finding the real cost of college.]
When my two children were visiting schools, one of their main goals—beyond finding great colleges—was to locating schools where we wouldn’t have to pay full price.
Checking the generosity of a school is just one way to cut college costs. Here are some others:
1. Don’t just look in your backyard. About one out of every three college students attends a school that’s no more than 50 miles away. And most of these schools are public institutions.
For some students, however, distant private colleges will cost less than public universities after financial aid and scholarships. My son’s best friend in San Diego, for example, will be attending Carleton College in the fall after receiving a large financial aid package from the liberal arts college in Northfield, Minn.
The price tag for Carleton College’s tuition and room and board is more than $52,000, but it will cost my son’s friend just $7,000 or $8,000 a year. That’s some deal.
read moreSchool shopping no spree in slow economy
8.18.10 – Dread puts parents in delay. Big prices and small budgets have turned the once pleasant annual purchasing party into an allegory of a flagging economy, producing parental angst and industry cheerleaders who urge the moms and dads to at least “buy American.”
Shiny new shoes, pristine No. 2 pencils, a snappy lunchbox: Back-to-school shopping was once a welcomed ritual, an autumnal rite for parent and child.
No more. Big prices and small budgets have turned the once pleasant annual purchasing party into an allegory of a flagging economy, producing parental angst and industry cheerleaders who urge the moms and dads to at least “buy American.”
The days of shelling out a sensible or at least comfortable amount for junior’s school needs are gone. On average, American parents spend from $545 to $671 per child, according to the National Retail Federation. Costs for college-bound offspring are in the $900 range. The official “BTS” (back-to-school) industry annually tops $67 billion, the group said.
Meanwhile, “BTSD” (back-to-school dread) has ensued.
Even as the first day of school looms, parents are in delay mode. Almost two-thirds have not figured out how much they can spend this year, while 55 percent have not purchased a single item, says the Chase Slate-U.S. News Consumer Monitor, which has plumbed the parental psyche in a survey that reveals worry and, yes, denial.
Souce: www.educationnews.org
By: Jennifer Harper – The Washington Times
read moreScissors, Glue, Pencils? Check. Cleaning Spray?
When Emily Cooper headed off to first grade in Moody, Ala., last week, she was prepared with all the stuff on her elementary school’s must-bring list: two double rolls of paper towels, three packages of Clorox wipes, three boxes of baby wipes, two boxes of garbage bags, liquid soap, Kleenex and Ziplocs.
Gary Tramontina for The New York Times
Kristin Cooper had a long school supply list for Emily, 6.
“The first time I saw it, my mouth hit the floor,” Emily’s mother, Kristin Cooper, said of the list, which also included perennials like glue sticks, scissors and crayons.
Schools across the country are beginning the new school year with shrinking budgets and outsize demands for basic supplies. And while many parents are wincing at picking up the bill, retailers are rushing to cash in by expanding the back-to-school category like never before.
Now some back-to-school aisles are almost becoming janitorial-supply destinations as multipacks of paper towels, cleaning spray and hand sanitizer are crammed alongside pens, notepads and backpacks.
OfficeMax is featuring items like Clorox wipes in its school displays and is running two-for-one specials on cleaners like gum remover and disinfectant spray. Office Depot has added paper towels and hand sanitizer to its back-to-school aisles. Staples’ school fliers show reams of copy paper on sale, while Walgreens’ fliers are running back-to-school discounts on Kleenex.
State and local school financing, which make up almost all of public schools’ money, is falling because of budget-balancing efforts and lower property- and sales-tax revenue.
read more