Miami-Dade Superintendant, Alberto Carvalho, announces cut on EOC Exams
By Carlos Diaz
Alberto Carvalho, the Miami-Dade superintendent, announced that Florida's largest school district would be eliminating all elementary school end-of-course exams (EOCs). The remaining EOCs in middle school to be administered include Biology 1, U.S. History, Civics, Algebra 1 and Geometry. EOC results aim on determining a more accurate evaluation of Miami Dade teacher's performance. "Today's announcement should come as welcomed news to everyone who recognizes that too much testing deprives our students of valuable instruction time" said Carvalho . Orange County School Board Chairman, Bill Sublette says "I think it took a parent revolt to get them to wake up and smell the coffee and that's unfortunate."
Miami-Dade Slashes Elementary End-Of-Course Tests | Sunshine State News. (n.d.). Retrieved May 1, 2015, from http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/miami-dade-cuts-elementary-end-course-tests
Tips for parents from teachers
By: Ernesto Armas
Teachers have a great job but that job is hard. They also
need parents to help them. Below are some tips from teachers to parents.
1.Read
to your children.
2.Get
to know the teacher.
3.Have
friends inside and outside of school.
4.Get
involved with the school.
5.Take
part in school events.
6.Bring
learning home.
7.Tell
your child’s the value of education.
8.Be
patient with your children.
9.Teach
your child’s to clean up.
10.Do
step by step teaching at home.
With those
ten tips would help make a difference in their child’s life and also assist the
teachers, by possibly making their jobs easier.
What's The Purpose Of College: A Job Or An Education?
By Carlos Diaz
Once seen as a a place to explore courses and majors before making a pivotal decision, college students now say that getting a job is more of a priority than actually acquiring knowledge. In an annual UCLA survey, from 1968 to present, the number of traditional Bachelor degrees in Arts ad Science fields has dropped by almost half. The majority of degrees now awarded are in fields that didn't exist five years ago. It's worse for student's who's parents have unreasonable expectations for their children. The student, who might have a passion for music, might study to become a lawyer to please their parents. Sure, the number of graduates has risen in recent years, but is it because more people want to learn? Or is it because employers are looking for degrees?
What's the purpose of college: A job or an education? (n.d.). Retrieved February 13, 2015, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2015/02/02/whats-the-purpose-of-college-a-job-or-an-education/
Let Teens Sleep In
By: Nathali Chalita
Mornings are getting darker and teens are still sleepier, no matter how many hours they have slept. Sleep scientist, educations, parents, students, and other concerned citizens, believe better school hours could improve student health, safety, equity and learning. This group says starting classes at 9:30 a.m. would help students stay awake, improve memory consolidation and reduce absenteeism and tardies. Ongoing petitions in school districts around the country are availiable now. Changing school start times can impact bus transportation along the elementary, middle, and high school continuum. After school activity schedules would be pushed later as well.
But an informal KING 5 poll showed a majority of parents , 53 percent, support later start times. Yet 44 percent of the 943 respondents said kids should simply go to bed earlier. successfully, washington state PTA passed a resolution last year supporting healthy school start times.
<http://blogs.seattletimes.com/opinionnw/2013/09/17/a-smart-school-improvement-would-be-letting-teens-sleep-longer/>.
ACT and SAT Testing
By Alina Marin
Colleges and universities tend to use their scholarships to
reward talent. But there are endless scholarship opportunities for
left-handers; a good place to start the search is FastWeb.com or fastAid.com.
What is a good ACT or SAT scoring?
The ACT Is out of a possible 36points. The national average
on the ACT is between 20 and 21. However some of the top schools in the country
have applicants with scores over 30. On the SAT, 2400 is considered a perfect
score. The national average is 1500.More selective schools around the top 25
percent on their SAT, or closer to 2000.
Is our junior year really important?
It is often preached to high school students that their
junior year is the most important. Is this true? According to the Princeton
Review, yes it is true. For students who plan on going to college their grades
from 11th grade will be the most important one on their transcript.
One reason for this is because those are the last completed grades colleges
will see when they apply. Most students apply to college during the fall of
their senior year, meaning they are in the middle of their fall term and likely
won’t have final grades on their transcript yet.
“Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.”
"Importance of Education in One's Life."
<i>YouTube</i>. YouTube, 1 Jan. 2013. Web. 14 Jan. 2015.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc7heovgI48>.
The Significance of Internet Access At Home
By: Kevin Ordaz
The internet, a global communication network
that allows almost all computers worldwide to connect, is a crucial tool in the
life of every student. No matter the grade level, whether you’re in middle
school or finishing your master’s degree in college, the internet is a great
source for information, and we take this for granted.
It should be
reassuring that more and more students are using the computer. However, the
statistics of states that perform worst where education is concerned say
otherwise. According to recent statistics out of the state of Louisiana, which
ranks near the bottom in terms of education and graduation rates, between 32 to
40 percent of students do not have access to computers or internet at home.
This means that there has to be some sort of correlation.
Consider the
student who does have internet access at home. With a multiple page essay due,
that student sits in their own home, pulls up the internet on their computer,
and at their fingertip have thousands of sources from which to gather
information. After collecting their data, this student types up their report in
a jiffy with the help of word processing program. In comparison, the student
who does not have computer and internet access at home has to find a source to
gather information from. The library might be a good source to gather
information from. The library might be a good source for that but it comes
along with a lot of restrictions such as, having to find a ride there, and
having a library card. Obviously, this method is much more time consuming. In
addition, some of these students won’t have the privilege of typing their
reports, making them take up more time and not having the chance of using a
word processing program.
The contrast
between the times spent for each of these students to complete the same report
is startling. The depth of research won’t be the same for these two students,
nor will the grammatical and spelling accuracy. This puts the students without
computer and internet access at a decided disadvantage damages student’s future
for themselves.
"The
Importance of Computer and Internet Access at Home." The
Importance of Computer and Internet Access at Home. Web. 12 Jan. 2015. <http://www.edarticle.com/articles/22345/the-importance-of-computer-and-internet-access-at-home.php>;.
Why Students Don’t Want To Attend School
By: Julio Viera
One of the main issues we are facing is children not wanting to go to school. They don’t want to go for many reasons, but it is usually an escape for children dealing with negative, anxiety provoking situations. There are different types of anxieties such as separation anxiety and social anxiety. Student refusal is also a common thing. According to medical research up to 5 percent of children have school refusal, which can occur at any age. The main treatment for school refusal is exposure based therapy where the child will be repeatedly exposed to the feared situation. It is stressful to deal with a child that does not want to go to school, but by starting early on and getting the parents involved it can get better.
Citation: New America Media." New America Media. Web. 17 Nov. 2014. <http://newamericamedia.org/>.
Education and
Technology
By: Elisabet Carvajal
Technology (when used correctly) provides
an invaluable amount of help to students and teachers all over the world.
However, technology also hands over a couple of issues like unreliable sources
and false information.
The rapid and constant pace of change in
technology is creating both opportunities and challenges for schools. The
opportunities include greater access to rich multimedia content, class offers
not otherwise available, the wide spread availability of mobile computing
devices that can access the internet, the expanding role of social networking
tools for learning and professional development, and the growing interest in
the power of digital games for more personalized learning. One of the many
websites that rotates around education and technology is edweek.org, better
known as “Education week.” This website hosts good articles and gives a wide
range virtual learning experience.
“Education week” also informs us about the
challenges that schools are facing in regards to technology. Some of these are
that schools are trying to catch up as digital innovations emerge that require
upgrading schools technological infrastructure and building new professional
development programs. Some schools are adept at keeping up with the changes and
some are even falling behind, creating a digital devise based largely on the
quality of educational technology, rather than just simple access to the
internet.
Technology has been the cause of many
advances in education, some of which include: personal access to mobile devices
and access to internet in schools. The thing that would have been considered
banned in schools for students is now being used in a variety of productive
ways.
Citation: "Technology in
Education." - Education
Week Research Center. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/technology-in-education/>.
ACT Assistance!
1. login:
password: miamidade
username: miamidade
2. Click on Secondary on top
3. Go down and click on Gale
Cengage Learning
4. On the left under High
School click Testing Reference Education Center
5. Click proceed
6. Click College Prep Tool
7. Choose the test you want to
prep for
ACT Option
Sleep vs. Learning
By:
Alyssa Arguelles
A good night’s sleep
will always make you feel better. Whether you feel tired or not when you wake
up, you should always sleep no less than 8 hours. Believe it or not, sleep does
affect your learning abilities and your memory as well. Sleep affects learning
and memory in two ways. First, having lack of sleep impairs your ability to
focus. Second, sleep is necessary to have a good memory so in the future you
can recall events from the past. Studies have shown that after just one night
of good sleep, people perform better, whether it is at school, taking an exam,
at work or even on the athletic field playing sports. So you choose, would you
rather stay up all night with no sleep not being able to perform well or get a
good night’s sleep and be able to develop good learning and memory skills? A
healthy and alert brain is always the best choice.
Citation:"Sleep Deprivation and
Memory Loss." <i>WebMD</i>. WebMD, 3 Jan. 0000. Web. 6 May
2014.
<http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/sleep-deprivation-effects-on-memory>.
How Breakfast Improves Academic Achievement
Research shows
that starting the day with a healthy nutritious breakfast helps to support
academic achievement. Sadly, many students make the mistake of skipping
breakfast and losing the potential benefits breakfast can have on their
education. Another problem that seems to face students is that the breakfast
they eat sometimes is not the healthiest; lots of breakfast cereals contain an
enormous amount of sugar and at the end of the day are not healthy to eat on a
daily basis. A solution to this problem would be instead of eating breakfast at
home, students could take advantage and eat the free, healthy, and nutritious
breakfast that is offered to all students at school in the morning. The school
offers tasty and nutritious choices such as fruits, juices, milk, eggs, bread,
granola bars, and healthy cereals. Sophomore Luis Perez eats the school
breakfast every day and he said, “The school breakfast is my favorite way to
start the day, it makes me alert and ready to take on the day.” Students are
encouraged to take advantage and eat breakfast every day to help and maintain a
healthy lifestyle and academic achievement.
Citation: "Breakfast &
Brain Power." Breakfast first. California Food Policy Advocates, n.d. Web.
9 Apr 2014. <http://www.breakfastfirst.org/benefits/brainpower.shtml>.
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