December - 2014

Dec 23, 2014
4 min

Race, Courage, and Teaching Tolerance

By Christine Mason, CEI Executive Director All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. ~ (Article 1, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948) The symptoms of discrimination and prejudice exist in conversations, books, music, jokes, movies, blogs, tweets, sermons, politics, home, schools and in our institutions. Prejudice and discrimination are har

Save the Date: February 5, 2015, CEI STEAM Learning Showcase

Center for Educational Improvement

Dec 22, 2014
1 min

Save the Date: February 5, 2015, CEI STEAM Learning Showcase

Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math (STEAM) Leaning Showcase Explore, Learn, Share and Collaborate Time: 4:30 pm ‘“ 6:30 pm Location: Potomac Preparatory Public Charter School, Washington, D.C. Join us for a unique Q&A session designed to offer school leaders “hands-on” learning opportunities with the newest STEAM applications. Just as science and technology transformed our economy in the last century, the move from STEM to STEAM will transform the 21st century. As

Innumeracy and Integrating Math across the Curriculum

Center for Educational Improvement

Dec 18, 2014
3 min

Innumeracy and Integrating Math across the Curriculum

By Lindsay Reeves, CEI Intern, and Christine Mason The old patterns of isolating math instruction, over a gradual period of time, have produced students who have not learned to connect math with other subject areas. Children who are not taught to think about numbers in complex, abstract or even practical ways show deficits in math, literacy, life sciences, and business-related areas in the later years What, is the impact of an isolated, nonintegrated math curriculum? Innumera

In Ferguson People Are Walking the Walk, But Are They Talking the Talk?

Center for Educational Improvement

Dec 17, 2014
3 min

In Ferguson People Are Walking the Walk, But Are They Talking the Talk?

By Elijah Mercer, Education Policy and Communication Intern ‘Hands up, don’t shoot’ is the rallying chant behind protests, riots, and recent school shut downs ignited by the fatal shooting of unarmed black teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. The incident transpired into a historical national and international movement. Because of the Michael Brown and related grand jury decisions of similar magnitude, police have come under increased scrutiny for the use of excessive fo

Ebola, 5 Million Out-of-School Children, and Instability

Center for Educational Improvement

Dec 16, 2014
5 min

Ebola, 5 Million Out-of-School Children, and Instability

By Danait Berhe, CEI Intern A ten year-old, Amos Johnson, who is in second grade, at James. E. Green Elementary School in Logan Town, Liberia is one of the children who are frustrated by school closures due to the Ebola outbreak. Amos misses school and his friends; and he wants to go back to school immediately (Kennah, 2014). Schools are closed to prevent the spread of the disease and are currently used as patient holding centers. According to the 2014 Global Business Coaliti

Ebola, Courage, and Social Responsibility

Center for Educational Improvement

Dec 11, 2014
3 min

Ebola, Courage, and Social Responsibility

‘What keeps me coming to work every day is encouragement and motivation from my staff. We share jokes and we laugh. And the patients, because I feel like that could be me or my relatives inside there. If I don’t come to tend to that person, who will? If everybody is afraid to enter the Ebola unit, who will go? Nobody. And our Liberian sisters and brothers will die.’ ~ Louise Gaye, a nurse in Liberia (ONE, n.d.) Occasionally, nature and manmade disasters test humanity’s compa

CEI “Guidelines for 21st Century Technology Use” Competition

Center for Educational Improvement

Dec 9, 2014
1 min

CEI “Guidelines for 21st Century Technology Use” Competition

By Christine Mason Runners up: 2nd Place: $50 gift card; 3rd place: $25 gift card. Early in 2014 we introduced CEI ‘s 21st Century Technology Use in Schools: Guidelines for Principals Directions: Directions 21st Technology Guidelines: CEI Technology Guidelines Who can enter: Principals, teachers, school technology specialists, CEI Subscribers. If your revisions are accepted, you will be acknowledged in the final guidelines. Steps and Criteria to win: 1. Review the above

Pedagogical Shifts in Common Core Mathematics

Center for Educational Improvement

Dec 8, 2014
3 min

Pedagogical Shifts in Common Core Mathematics

By Lindsay Reeves, CEI Intern In the past, the general emphasis in math has been on the breadth of the content, not the depth. Common Core seeks to remedy this issue by introducing fewer topics with a variety of conceptual challenges appropriate for each student in every grade level. The new shifts include a greater demand on(Common Core Standards, 2014): Focus Coherence Fluency Deep Understanding Application Dual Intensity How do these play out? “Plug and chug.’ This kind of

Curiously Common: A Blog Series Keeping You Curious about the Common Nature of Education

Center for Educational Improvement

Dec 6, 2014
4 min

Curiously Common: A Blog Series Keeping You Curious about the Common Nature of Education

By Elijah Mercer, CEI Education Policy and Communications Intern Up and Down Battle. While Arizona has adopted the Common Core Standards, the state’s battle to implement the standards has been rocky. Arizona adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in June 2010. Similar to Alabama, Arizona has made modifications to the standards. Yet in March 2014, the Arizona Senate struck down a bill that would prevent the state from implementing Common Core Standards. Opposition argu

Center for Educational Improvement

Dec 4, 2014
1 min

2015 Tax Deductible Donations to CEI

December 2015. CEI needs your help to continue our work. For the next month, CEI will be able to match donations up to $2,000’”dollar for dollar. Please consider an end of the year donation to CEI to continue our enewsletter, blog, research, and grant development as we advance 21st Century leading and learning. In the past few months we developed: a 55 page 21st Century Learning Rubric, a series of Preschool STEM workshops, and a national research propopsal to implement neu