Author Archive

Should Educators Talk of The Bar or Your Bar?

Sunday, May 27th, 2012

Should Education use The Bar or Your Bar?
by Douglas W. Green, EdD ©2012
Twitter: @DrDougGreen
Email: DGreen@stny.rr.com
Blog: HTTP://DrDougGreen.Com

Today I offer an original piece that takes on the folly educators indulge in when they talk about The Bar. I hope you enjoy it. Please share.

  • In education, we often hear talk about how we should raise the bar. The bar they speak of is a metaphor for the passing standards we set in schools as well as at state and national levels. This metaphor comes from the world of track and field where people who compete in the high jump or the pole vault try to jump over a pre set bar. What educational leaders and policy makers miss is while there is one bar that all players use, each athlete gets to decide where the bar will be set for their first try. Thus the commonly used metaphor of “the bar” breaks down because the geniuses who use it fail to notice that there is one bar but many different heights.
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Is School Hurting Your Kid?

Wednesday, May 16th, 2012

Although I have been concerned about the impact of school sports programs on student health for some time, I became more concerned when I heard Sophie Altcheck (@sophiealt) at TEDNYEd. She is a senior at Horace Mann School in New York City. While aspiring to play college soccer she sustained four concussions. She now is an intern at the Brain Trauma Foundation and tries to spread concussion awareness via her Facebook pages. Here is more on the subject along with the danger heavy backpacks pose and thoughts on recess

Concussions May Be More Severe in Girls and Young Athletes. @DrDougGreen.Com

Study: Women, Teens Take Longer to Recover From Concussions. @wired

Heavy Backpacts Can Spell Chronic Back Pain for Children @NYTimes

Does your school district have a health and wellness policy that includes recess? See my comment. @EngageFamilies @Playworks @DrMerylAin

Are schools making kids sick? @MiguelEscotet

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Is College Worth It Issue? Some Think Not.

Tuesday, May 15th, 2012

Are we starting to see the impact of a college cost/debt bubble? It seems that students are thinking twice about taking on college debt as others wonder if a college education has any value. When you couple this with tons of free online courses we may be seeing the beginning of a seismic shift. Here are some previous posts along with some I have recently added on this subject.

Is College Worth it Today? If you like this read my summary of Academically Adrift. @karolnyc @NYPost

Large Numbers of Students in California Foregoing College Because They Can’t Afford It @21stprincipal

Student loans: the next bubble. Would you lend money to someone without a credit history majoring in gender studies? @NYPost

Guide to Free, Quality Higher Education @rkiker

Colleges Realize They Can’t Keep Raising Tuition. @rkiker

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Cool Stuff Kids Do Issue

Wednesday, May 9th, 2012

I’m a sucker for stories about how students do amazing things. Here we have one has become a go to expert in his field, one who takes on the look of perfect women in magazines, and another college dropout making a bundle. There are more and they are all amazing in their own way.

Tweets Of The Day

A High School Senior Is Also a Keen Student of College Recruiting. When he talks, coaches listen. @NYTimes @DrDougGreen

A Real Girl, 14, Takes a Stand Against the Flawless Faces in Magazines. @DrDougGreen @NYTimes

Meet the 19-Year-Old former Pinterest employee who just got $7M in venture capital funding. @BrettRelander

How a 13-Year-Old’s Startup Might Be Able to Cure Your Hiccups @BrettRelander

13-year-old detects mistake on 6th century Byzantine map at Metropolitan Museum of Art. @iEducator

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CohortTracker™ – Essential Software

Saturday, April 28th, 2012

CohortTracker™ is a web-based application that helps schools keep track of the students in each cohort as they proceed towards graduation with special attention for those at risk of not graduating in four years. This software should be part of any student management system, but it generally isn’t. NCLB requires high schools to reach four-year graduation goals for each cohort. Here I explain the NCLB requirements, review the software, and explain why you should contact your regional computer service provider to ask for this time saving and possibly face saving product. More importantly, it will help you find students who can still graduate, but only if you intervene in time.

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