Education Programs

Posts Tagged ‘school’

The middle school model was conceived in the 70s and implemented throughout the 70s and 80s across the nation. It was thought that middle schools would provide a nurturing bridge between the early elementary school experience and high school. Unfortunately, many education experts now consider the experiment a failure with their poor performance and uprooting children twice during their turbulent and challenging adolescent years. Middle schools now are being viewed as the weak link in the educational chain by many.

Prior to the implementation of middle schools, these grades were either part of the elementary school experience or an expanded high school environment. Now, education leaders across the nation (including the Boston schools) are looking to return to those earlier models.

Kindergarten through Eighth Grade Model

With this model, the Boston schools would expand their elementary schools to include kindergarten through eighth grade. Many Boston schools educators believe this would deliver a supportive structure that would foster longer-term relationships between the teachers and their students. The thought is to use the earlier school experience to extend the nurturing that the middle school model was suppose to provide but hasn’t.

The push to integrate the middle schools with the elementary Boston schools is gaining momentum. Parents are especially in favor of the K-8 model for the Boston schools, wary of sending their children to the current middle school environment – especially within the urban areas.

Many Boston schools leaders and educators are familiar with the middle school struggle to raise achievement levels. They believe the K-8 model will keep the students and their families not only involved with their Boston schools but also connected on a more positive level.

Upper Grades Model

Others support the upper grades model of integrating the middle schools with the secondary Boston schools. The largest proponents of this model are the high school teachers, especially those teaching ninth graders. These Boston schools teachers currently must hustle to get new ninth graders, who are not prepared, up to par for the high school experience. They would like to have these students earlier.

Many educators believe the upper grades model creates a consistent environment from seventh through twelfth grade and more accountability for student outcomes. This potential model for the Boston schools emulates some of the elite private and public schools, offering the best opportunity for students from lower income families where college is not generally presumed. With a rigorous six-year curriculum and encouragement, more of these students are hoped to continue their education at a college or university.

The upper grades model is currently gaining more traction than the K-8 for the Boston schools, since some schools are expressing interest in expanding their schools to include both middle and high school grades. Two high schools that are considered to be better achieving Boston schools would like to include middle school grades under their roof and control. Additionally, a Boston schools middle school also has expressed interest in expanding its curriculum to include high school students.

The upper grades model is not new to the Boston schools, which has two such schools in operation for several years and are quite successful. Also, there are three competitive admission exam Boston schools that use the model, offering college preparatory curriculum for Boston’s top scoring students. One is the renowned Boston Latin School, whose students have the expectation that they will continue on to college or another higher form of education after graduation.

This only reinforces proponents’ belief that if it is good to focus on academic achievement from sixth through twelfth grades for the elite students within the Boston schools, then educators and parents should have the same high expectations for all students.

Whatever model is chosen by the Boston schools, the city is ready for the discussion. Last fall, the Boston schools named a 17 member Middle Grades Task Force. Their recommendations are expected to be delivered to the Boston schools leaders in the spring.

The middle school years are very difficult for Boston schools students at such sensitive ages of adjustment from children to young adults. Regardless of which model educators, leaders and parents back for the Boston schools’ students, they all agree that any transition should take place either before or after these years – not both.

The Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS) has recognized Florida’s Orange County Schools for significant improvement in raising student test scores in math and reading. The CGCS is the only national organization dedicated to the advancement of large, urban public schools. It comprises 66 separate districts. Orange County Schools were one of only 9 big school districts to surpass state averages in math, and one of ten to do so in reading.

Orange County Schools view this as evidence of progress in closing the wide achievement gap experienced by minorities around the country. With 177,000 students in about 170 schools, Orange County Schools operate the 11th largest public school in the nation. Part of the challenge for Orange County Schools is to address the issues of diversity that often result with minority students lagging behind. Students attending Orange County Schools come from 179 different countries and speak 137 different languages and dialects.

One way Orange County Schools are trying to address issues of language diversity is by encouraging all students in foreign language fluency. Magnet programs in immersion and dual language are offered starting at the elementary school level in French, English, Spanish and Vietnamese. Immigration issues and education are a hot topic nationwide. Yet Orange County Schools remain among a minority of public schools to offer immersion programs at the elementary level.

Statewide test results also show significant improvement in Orange County Schools. Results of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) for writing show improvement in every grade level to which it was administered. Fourth grade scores improved by 6%, 8th grade scores by 5%, and 10th grade scores by 4%. These results put Orange County Schools above 5 of its 6 neighboring counties. Only Broward County Schools outpaced Orange County Schools by 1%. The Orange County School that showed the greatest improvement was Ivey Lane Elementary, which showed a 33% rise in test results.

Orange County Schools employ a number of different methods to help improve academic success and close the achievement gap. Among the most notable are the different school choice options. Charter schools, magnet schools, and contract schools are all offered. There are also opportunity scholarships available to allow children in a failing school to attend a more successful private or public school. With its large minority population, Orange County Schools continues to seek innovative ways to provide students with practical opportunities for success. As with any large, urban district Orange County Schools have areas in need of improvement. But the numbers indicate that they are on the right path.

I am doing a report on my career of choice, a second grade teacher. I am having a bit of difficulty finding a website or even a straight out answer to my question “What education is required to become an elementary school teacher?”
Citations would be appreciated.

I’m just wondering which test i had to take: middle school math or elementary education content knowledge?

Purpose of the Learning Garden

The John Muir Learning Garden is designed to give San Francisco Schools students a change to take learning further outside of the classroom. The Garden builds on the fundamental curriculum concerns of the elementary school and provides an opportunity for students to gain real life experience that complements their academic studies. San Francisco school students are able to integrate classroom literacy, mathematics, science, history, and language arts instruction through their participation in activities in the Learning Garden.

The Learning Garden reaches out to the community in providing outreach services for parents, neighbors, and interested volunteers. Mentor gardeners work with teachers and students to design educational opportunities. One of the interesting projects going on now is the sustainable composting program that takes organic waste from San Francisco school lunches and uses it for fertilizing garden projects instead of filling landfills. This is just one of many projects that combine garden training with practical real world environmental concerns. The events organized in the park help students and the community learn about how to protect the local environment while studying nature in an urban setting.

Partners of the Learning Garden

The Learning Garden would not be possible without the support in terms of time and money from a variety of neighborhood partners. San Francisco area businesses, organizations, and volunteer groups have all played a role in establishing the Learning Garden. Located in Daniel E. Koshland Park, the Learning Garden has benefited from the dedication of two part-time garden mentors provided by the Hayes Valley Neighborhoods Parks Group. These two women, Rebecca and Aubrey, have become part of the local community as they organize activities that raise local awareness about the environment.

Further assistance has come from the San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners, the Center for Ecoliteracy, the Recreation and Park Department, the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, and the San Francisco Zen Center. All of these organizations have devoted time and money to helping the John Muir Learning Garden become an environmental center for the San Francisco community, especially the children that attend John Muir Elementary School. In particular, the John Muir Learning Garden is indebted to the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, which donated the initial funds to start the Learning Garden and remains an active community partner with John Muir Elementary School.

A Look at John Muir Elementary School

John Muir Elementary School has a unique place within the San Francisco Public School System. Located in the Western Addition of San Francisco, it operates as a professional development school where education students from the San Francisco State University’s Muir Alternative Teaching Program are able to hone their skills in a real world environment, learning how to specially adapt course for the urban classroom.

John Muir students come from a rich cultural background and are supported within the school community with language and literacy programs beginning in infancy. The programs also extend to the parents and families of John Muir Elementary School students. Within the San Francisco school district, John Muir Elementary School acts as a BASRC (Bay Area School Reform Collaborative) leadership school with a clear focus on literacy for the whole community.

CollegeGrad.com – Career Videos, Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education. Elementary School Teachers play an indispensable role in the education or our school children. Because they work with children who are very young Elementary Teachers have a golden opportunity to help shape the educational, social and moral development of children in many positive ways.

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This digital document is an article from The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR), published by Thomson Gale on October 8, 2007. The length of the article is 516 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Ceremony honors teacher at local elementary school.(Education)
Author: Gale Reference Team
Publication: The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR) (Newspaper)
Date: October 8, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Page: C20

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Ceremony honors teacher at local elementary school.

Academy of Global Citizenship (AGC) is a charter school located in south Chicago that connects sustainability and elementary school education. At AGC, kids learn how to recycle and compost, as well as organic food and reusable energy. What if everyone had reusable water bottles at age 6? Our idea is that it would be much easier to get rid of plastic water bottles. AGC is designed to inspire that change: The movement towards a sustainable future!

In 1907, Maria Montessori founded the first Montessori school in Rome. Its overall purpose was to give four to seven year old children from lowincome families a fullday educational program.

The idea quickly developed and grew in popularity and thus more Montessori schools were formed in Europe and India. It did not take long for the school method to cross over to the United States of America.

In fact, Montessori’s teaching methods created great interest in the United States from 1910 through 1920. Unfortunately, Montessori’s methods seem to be largely forgotten in the United States until the late 1950s.

It was around that time when a second Montessori movement started in America. This time, the main focus was on a set of private schools that served an almost entirely middleclass population.

The Montessori educational system struggled with it’s own success when it started having trouble finding enough teachers. In fact, it took that teacher shortage to start the creation of freestanding private Montessori teacher training centers. Each of these centers were not associated with any college or university and taught the Montessori teaching methods to aspiring educators.

In the late 1960s, some parents started to call for the public schools in their local areas to offer the Montessori education model for their elementary school children who had graduated from private Montessori preschools.

The publics rush of support was given a boost by government funds being made available for new Montessori programs starting up in public school areas. Today, over one hundred U.S. school districts have some type of Montessori program.

But just why has Montessori become so popular  Many believe it is due to the programs ability to overcome three major problems that the public school systems are still faced with. While the public school system has been put into a state of upheaval, the Montessori school systems have flourished.

Using their unique teaching methods, Montessori students have demonstrated a consistently high level of reading comprehension and academic performance. In the book Montessori Parents Guide, we dive deeper into how a Montessori program is powerfully unique and sets itself aside from current teaching methods.

Character Education: Whose Job Is It? While elementary and middle school teachers often work with students on critical but non-academic issues of Character and Values education, such as getting along, behaving appropriately, being respectful, honesty, cooperating, and so forth, high school teachers have a tendency not to work on these issues.

According to Dr. Andrew Milson in the Journal of Research in Character Education (Vol. 1, Number 2,2003), many elementary school teachers feel that values and character based teaching should be combined along with subject-oriented teaching and learning. High school teachers on the other hand, tend not to have a strong sense of self-efficacy in relation to teaching character education. They often feel that they don’t know how to “do” character education and if they did try it, they feel they probably would not have a real impact on their students.

Milson (2003) cites studies which indicate that high school teachers who have only had character education pedagogy during their pre-service training, or who only have university-delivered character education training, feel less confident about being able to teach character development. In contrast, teachers who have attended conferences or had staff development sessions on character education express a greater sense of confidence about being able to teach these critical skills to their students.

It makes sense, then, that schools and districts attempt to provide sessions on character education in the form of staff development, in particular focusing on strategies and programs that address issues that teachers are currently experiencing in their classrooms, rather than theory or abstract ideas.

Teachers can also benefit from learning how to incorporate elements of character education through their regular curriculum. Character education can contribute to a psychologically healthy classroom environment as well as increased achievement among students. It can also set the stage for mutual respect in the classroom. This respect can reduce the amount of time usually spent on disciplinary issues, and focus the class time back on learning the curriculum.

When teachers get practical information on how to incorporate character education into what they already do, they can become more confident about following through and reaping the benefits of character education.

Hal Urban, a successful teacher in a multiethnic public school for 35 years shares the importance of character education at home and in the classroom. He begins his presentation by quoting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “Intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”

Urban states, “The best news of all is that we now have solid research to prove that schools with an effective character education program promote higher academic standards. Yes, this even means higher scores on standardized tests. The reason is simple: an environment of mutual respect results in a better place for teachers to teach and a better place for students to learn.”

Utilizing an integrated character education program that emphasizes modeling and incorporating character education throughout the day is the best way to teach the students the value of character. Just as important is a support system for teachers that included staff development training and sessions that focus on specific implementation strategies, demonstrating how character traits can be integrated into the curriculum.