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Most Clicked ASCD SmartBrief Stories


1. Report: Hands-on activities impart problem-solving skills

ASCD SmartBrief | Jul 16, 2008

Working with their hands helps students develop important cognitive skills that may be lost as more young people eschew such things as crafts, music and shop work in favor of a computer keyboard, a new report commissioned by the Ruskin Mill Educational Trust says. "Working with one's own hands in a real-world 3-D environment is imperative for full cognitive and intellectual development," said report author Aric Sigman. "That allows young people to experience how the world works in practice ... and to make informed judgments about abstract concepts." MSNBC (07/14)


2. Resource to help educators develop critical student skills

ASCD SmartBrief | Jul 21, 2008

A new online skills map aims to help social-studies teachers develop lessons and projects that teach so-called 21st-century skills like critical thinking and problem solving. Similar skills maps will be available for math, English, geography and science throughout this year and next. "Often people talk about 21st-century skills as if they are something that is extra and apart from the ordinary school day," said Valerie Greenhill, a Partnership for 21st Century Skills vice president. "We are of the opinion that the natural way to teach these skills is in the core subjects." eSchool News (07/18)


3. Can class-based integration replace racial desegregation?

ASCD SmartBrief | Jul 21, 2008

Since the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision last June barring the use of race as a factor in school assignments, several districts already are planning or contemplating a switch to integration based on students' socioeconomic status, known as class-based integration. But whether the new approach will offer the same measurable benefits as racial integration remains uncertain, this article says. New York Times, The (07/20)


4. Troubled N.J. school makes double-digit gains after year of reforms

ASCD SmartBrief | Jul 22, 2008

Newark's pre-K through eighth-grade Newton Street School saw vast improvements on student test scores after a year of major changes, including freeing itself from much of the usual paperwork and bureaucracy faced by other public schools and extending the middle-school day by one hour. Nearby Seton Hall University education professors coached and trained teachers, and undergraduates tutored Newton Street students. New York Times, The (07/20)


5. Virtual field trips a viable alternative amid skyrocketing fuel costs

ASCD SmartBrief | Jul 18, 2008

Class trips to the Louvre or the Grand Canyon may seem like a pipe dream, but technology can allow almost any student to travel virtually to such attractions with only a Web browser or video-conferencing software. "Virtual field trips offer inspiring ways for students to engage with the world outside their immediate surroundings," said Ruth Blankenbaker, who organizes virtual field trips. "Geographic boundaries disappear, and the world becomes their classroom." eSchool News (07/14)


6. Why do low-income Asian students mostly outperform Hispanic peers?

ASCD SmartBrief | Jul 17, 2008

Despite sharing similar financial circumstances, Asian and Hispanic students in one Los Angeles-area neighborhood are seeing an achievement gap, with Asian learners there comprising half of all students enrolled in AP coursework even though they represent just 15% of the student body. The students' own expectations and their parents' drive for educational excellence may determine how students do in school, Los Angeles teens say. Los Angeles Times (free registration) (07/16)


7. My Back Pages: Early Applications of Brain-Based Research

ASCD SmartBrief | Jul 18, 2008

Over the last 15 years, ASCD has produced an assortment of resources on brain-based learning. An ASCD blog post looks back at an article from the first issue of Educational Leadership to tackle this subject. The article, "Understanding a Brain-Based Approach to Learning and Teaching," explores how early advances in brain research were used to inform the teaching process. Reviewing everything from conscious and unconscious learning processes to types of memory, the authors laid out 12 "brain principles" and examined the implications of each for educators. View the post


8. Educating Everybody's Children: Diverse Teaching Strategies for Diverse Learners

ASCD SmartBrief | Jul 18, 2008

Since its first publication in 1995, hundreds of thousands of teachers in every grade and subject have benefited from the guide, "Educating Everybody's Children," which explains how to teach students from economically, ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse groups. Recently, ASCD has expanded this guide to explain how universal teaching practices have withstood the test of time and become key factors in bridging achievement gaps. The guide also allows readers to explore more than 100 research-backed, teacher-tested strategies to teach diverse learners. See sample chapters


9. Report urges board-certified teachers to take leadership positions

ASCD SmartBrief | Jul 18, 2008

National Board-certified teachers must take a larger role in shaping education policy and standards, says a new report. "If we continue to sit by and let others define effective teaching, we will always be reactors, not actors, on the school-reform stage where the policies that control our daily work play out," the report states. Education Week (premium article access compliments of Edweek.org) (07/17)


10. First black leader of Virginia education department leaving after two years

ASCD SmartBrief | Jul 21, 2008

Washington Post, The (07/18)




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