Parent Engagement in Education: Transforming Schools and our Communities. I recently returned from two back to back trips to Washington DC, where I was able to dialogue with parent engagement advocates and other community leaders from all across the nation about issues and concerns that are particular to our lives. While many of us work on creating better school environments by encouraging stronger parent/family school connections, that work is really not just about the quality of education, but about the quality of a community. At the core is the idea that in order to have a livable or sustainable city we must work together to create that environment. Certainly this is no small task, as a livable city has many different facets to what makes it, well, livable. And I am keenly aware that education is but one part of the strong solid foundation we need to build in order to create communities of care and connection.
For instance, recently both MIT and Harvard announced that they will be offering free on-line courses open to the public. 20 Online and App Resources to Help You Boost and Improve Productivity. You probably have a smartphone in your hand, or really close by, and somewhere near, your email client is open. You are constantly on the lookout for the newest email, tweet, like, invite or any other kind of notification that can give you the latest info on your current project.
Being this busy comes with its own drawbacks, as it can be pretty tiresome which all can lead to a big decrease in productivity. Because of this, true professionals are constantly trying to find the newest, most effective shortcut that will make their day a bit easier. There are so many different productivity apps that are already available on the market, both for Android, iOS and the still developing Windows Phone. It is important to know how to choose the app that is perfect for you and your needs, and that will suit your style the most. 1. 1Password (Android, iOS, Windows PC, Chrome Extension, Website) 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. Helping the Poor in Education: The Power of a Simple Nudge. Photo There are enormous inequalities in education in the United States. A child born into a poor family has only a 9 percent chance of getting a college degree, but the odds are 54 percent for a child in a high-income family.
These gaps open early, with poor children less prepared than their kindergarten classmates. How can we close these gaps? Contentious, ambitious reforms of the education system crowd the headlines: the Common Core, the elimination of teacher tenure, charter schools. The debate is heated and sometimes impolite (a recent book about education is called “The Teacher Wars”). Yet as these debates rage, researchers have been quietly finding small, effective ways to improve education. Let’s start with college. While they were graduate students at Harvard, two young professors designed and tested a program to help students stick to their college plans. The result? The same researchers also tested a texting program to keep students from dropping out of college. How Wireless Technology Is Empowering Parents, Teachers, And Students.
How Wireless Technology Is Empowering Parents, Teachers, And Students Technology is pushing the world forward at an accelerated rate. In the workplace, it’s a given that technology is essential for processing workflow, improving productivity, reducing overheads, and stimulating profits. However, in schools, it’s still considered something of a revolutionary concept. Critics, usually an older generation of educators who remember their own distant childhood, claim it’s a distraction and books and mobile devices don’t play well together. However, Mobile Future Chair Jonathan Spalter, has beautifully summarized the argument for wireless technology in the classroom: “Wireless technologies are offering students, along with their parents, caregivers and the teachers who instruct them, fresh, engaging and constantly evolving ways of learning about, and examining, the world around them.
A Teacher’s Perspective Teaching is a difficult profession. A Parent’s Perspective Parents too are busy.