1. A Financial Checklist for Your Newly Minted High School Graduate
“We’ve got budget, retirement account, credit, information security and insurance advice for your independent adult, college student, gap-year taker or future soldier.”
2. A Public School Makes the Case for ‘Montessori for All’
“My expectations have always been really high regardless of where you come from,” says Dollie Morrell, principal of Latta Elementary, where more than 70 percent of the 661 students receive free or reduced price lunch and nearly half are students of color. “One of the biggest misconceptions about Montessori education is that it is just for privileged children in the private sector, but as a large public school, we’re showing that Montessori works for every child.”
3. Why It’s Time to Rethink School Science Fairs
“Grinnell even suspects that competitive science fairs might hinder learning — and there’s some research to back him up. For three decades, researchers have been scrutinizing how competition motivates student behavior. Experiments by Carol Dweck in 2003, then a professor of psychology at Columbia University, suggest that students who are driven to learn for its own sake or for personal growth tend to stick to their studies longer than their highly competitive peers. People who want to outperform others, it turns out, get an emotional boost when they succeed, but any negative feedback stymies their interest in a subject. Individuals who value learning seem to be more resilient, persisting despite failures.”
4. Before 1st Day of School, a Quiz on How to Use Your Giant Schoolbag
“The school ruler must be an exact length. Each child is required to have three pairs of shoes: one for the classroom, one for outdoor sports and a third, with non-marking soles, for indoor sports. Their schoolbags must be reinforced, stand upright on their own and be able to carry pounds of homework.”
5. Dragons and Fairy Tales in Science Class
“Neuroscientists have discovered that our brains respond differently when we listen to a recitation of facts than when we listen to a story. Listening to facts mainly stimulates the two language-processing areas of the brain. However, when we listen to a story, additional parts of the brain are also activated—regions involved with our senses and motor movements help listeners actually “feel” the descriptions. As the neuroscientist Uri Hasson explains, “A story is the only way to activate parts of the brain so that a listener turns the story into their own idea and experience.”
6. Multiple Intelligences Theory: Widely Used, Yet Misunderstood
“That doubt planted the seed that grew into Gardner’s big insight: The prevailing idea of a single, monolithic intelligence didn’t match the world he observed. Surely Mozart’s genius was partially, but not fully, explained by an extraordinary musical intelligence. And wasn’t it the case that all people demonstrated a wide range of intellectual capabilities—from linguistic to social to logical—that were often mutually reinforcing, and that ebbed and flowed over time based on a person’s changing interests and efforts?”
7. How to Prepare Students in the Early Years to Read at Grade Level
“Because reading proficiency has such a huge impact on later learning, the challenging task of teaching young children to read must be “job one for elementary teachers,” according to a 2016 report by the National Council on Teacher Quality. Yet just 39 percent of the nation’s 820 teacher-prep programs cover the essential components of effective early reading instruction. “Poor teacher prep for reading has been going on a long time,” said Cáceres, the principal at P.S. 218. “Yet I haven’t met a teacher who can’t master it. But the schools that perform well, they all have high-level coaches. After that, success depends on two things: the quality of the coaching and how open a teacher is to receiving professional input.”
