Sixty-seven percent of parents in a recent  survey agreed with this statement: "I don't mind my child spending more screen time if he or she is learning."  And in another  survey of parents, 67 percent said that "incorporating more technology in the classroom" is  a "high priority." So where is the dilemma?

The conflict in perceptions arises over the one-third of the parents in one survey disagreeing with the statement: "I don't mind my child spending more screen time if he or she is learning." And a similar percentage in the other one responding that more classroom technology is a low, not a high, priority.  Within that one-third of dissenters, is where the high value of students using devices for their lessons comes into play rubbing up against another prized value of children and youth employing non-screen devices during school to learn since those very same kids are on their varied screens once they leave school and come home. And it is this tension between these values that wracks the one-third of dissenters in these surveys. ( READ MORE.)

  Derrick began to describe how he had to learn the Smart Board, specific tablet apps, Infinite Campus, and Pearson-created, computer-directed curricula for his courses. He was forced to implement a rigid, computer-directed classroom where all students worked in groups, listened to a Kahn Academy-like lecture, followed computer-programmed procedures outlined on the Smart Board, and did assignments on their tablets. Lesson plans were only to be followed, not created, and rigidly broke the period down into timed sections.

Derrick was told not to use the Socratic Method or any kind of class participation where he did anything more than monitor student progress on their work. He became a glorified babysitter. A cog in a machine. An automaton.

A technician, rather than a teacher.  ( Read more.)

  "When did the chest pains begin?" the ER doctor questioned.

"Just a couple of hours ago. I feel like I can't breathe and I haven't done anything. I'm light-headed. I was just sitting in the car," I said. My responses triggered a flurry of activity and medical equipment began to record information from all the wires now attached to me.

After studying the tests, the doctor said, "You did the right thing. If you ever have these kinds of symptoms again, you should not hesitate to come to the emergency room. But today, this is not a heart attack, you're experiencing an anxiety attack with acid reflux. It feels just like a heart attack. Anxiety attacks are typically physical reactions to emotional or mental stress. It tends to start small and build up to what you just had -- a full blown episode. I have some bad news and some good news."

"What's the bad news?" I asked cringing.

"This is self-inflicted," he said.   ( Read  more.)

The evidence shows unequivocally that pre-K gives children from poor families an "early advantage". The critical question for our time must be how to make that advantage sustainable.

The reason that is the critical question is because the "education gap" between the rich in the poor in the United States of America is no longer a gap - it is a chasm. Stanford Professor Sean Reardon asserts that "achievements gaps are wider than ever before and states that the proficiency gap today between the "poor and the rich" is nearly twice as large as that between black and white children. As Eduardo Porter reports in  a recent column , this is "a disparity that starts in pre-K, and just gets worse."  ( Read more.)

An estimated  two million children are being homeschooled in the United States. Scholars studying homeschooling often talk about the  academic achievement of homeschoolers or their  social skills.

But, as important as those things are, they are not the main concern of many families who choose homeschooling. According to the  surveys conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics, 91 percent of homeschooling parents are more concerned about the environment of schools and want to offer a religious (64 percent) and/or moral (77 percent) alternative.

Smaller-scale studies of parental attitudes have found the same thing, from the  conservative fathers  who try to form a moral cocoon around their children, to  African-American  families who want to foster a sense of racial pride in their children, to " quiverfull " families trying to have enough children to  Christianize the United States  by demographic transformation.   (Read more.)

 on the Teachers College Record site.

This paper demonstrates that the degree to which teachers report collaboration and communication around literacy in Reading First schools is significantly related to their perceptions of principal support for change. If policymakers expect teachers to collaborate around issues of instruction, then they need to consider the principal's role in supporting change in the school by encouraging teachers to improve their instruction and take the risks associated with innovation. In sum, the results of this study are important for educators, as the role of the principal is potentially critical for positive changes in teacher collaboration and, consequently, student achievement in high-poverty schools.  (Read more.)