Study Finds Growing Work for School Counselors

CAROL’S SUMMARY:
According to the New York Times article below, the ratio of school counselors to students, particularly at public high schools, continues to increase in part because of the influx of students applying to college. Nearly half of public schools have raised the caseloads of high school counselors this year, compared with last year, with the average increase exceeding 53 students, according to a study by the National Association for College Admission Counseling. While the core role of many counselors is helping students through the college admissions process, an equally if not more challenging task is helping at-risk students stay in school. Another report published in 2005 by the Educational Testing Service titled, One-Third of a Nation: Rising Dropout Rates and Declining Opportunities, documents, “On average, only one certified counselor is available for each 500 students in all schools, and one counselor to 285 students in high schools. “And they have many assignments that leave little time to spend with students at risk of dropping out.”
Source: http://www.ets.org/Media/Education_Topics/pdf/onethird.pdf

While the role of guidance counseling has largely been ignored in the education reform movement of the past two decades, that trend is beginning to change. Increasingly, counselors are driving student success and transition programs in districts and schools across the country, which is one of the antidotes to stemming our nation’s high school drop out rate. In my work with counselors, I see a commitment to managing their divergent demands and growing their role as school leaders. The president-elect for Florida’s School Counselor Association, Karalia Baldwin, had this to say: “School counselors must seem themselves as leaders of their programs, advocates for counseling, for students, and representatives of the profession, as they are an integral part of student learning.” Former president of the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), Dr. Judy Bowers, says, “It is critical that school counselors move beyond their current roles as helper-responders in order to become proactive leaders and advocates for the success of all students.”

LifeBound’s curriculum is coordinated to the national ASCA model, and is being implemented in Advisory and other programs by counselors who are in a unique position to be agents of change. At LifeBound, one of our objectives is to support school counselors in their role as leaders, and here are questions we ask of ourselves and others at the forefront of education reform:

How can we prepare school counselors to become action-oriented, critical thinkers and champions of change? One way we do this at LifeBound is through academic coaches training, and counselors from across the country who have attended this training have been promoted in their schools and districts.

How can we help counselors integrate student success and transition programs that positively impact school attendance, test scores, grades and behavior?

How can counselors lead the way with parents and coach them on modeling behaviors at home, such as turning off the TV and initiating conversations about the value of an education, that we know impact at-risk students?

ARTICLE
By JACQUES STEINBERG

The struggling economy has taken a toll on those directly responsible for advising students about the college admission process. Nearly half of public schools have raised the caseloads of high school counselors this year, compared with last year, with the average increase exceeding 53 students, according to a study by the National Association for College Admission Counseling.

To view the entire article visit
http://bit.ly/1LPtzX

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Once Convicts’ Last Hope, Now a Students’ Advocate

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” –Frederick Douglass

Former defense attorney, Tom Dunn, traded in the courthouse for the classroom, where he now works as a middle school teacher in a disadvantaged district of Atlanta, Georgia. From his 20-years of defending inmates on death row, Dunn observed a common thread among prisoners: the absence of a positive role model such as a father or a teacher, that might have meant “the difference between a good life and a ruined life.” The impetus for Dunn’s career change came after a devastating illness that led to congestive heart failure. Recognizing he could no longer endure the stress of being a lawyer, Dunn resigned and took a volunteer post at Teach for America with a focus on special education, because he saw learning disabilities “in nearly every case” on death row.

Almost ten years ago, I had the opportunity to volunteer for two years at the Federal Prison, with Native Americans in maximum security and men in the “camp” who were going to be released in the next year. I absolutely agree with Dunn’s assessment. I often reflected that if the men I worked with had been born into my family, they wouldn’t be there. Had I been born into their families and oppressive circumstances, I may very well be in their shoes. This experience left an indelible mark on me and has greatly shaped the work I do with LifeBound. I saw that the men in prison had practical intelligence, but not school smarts. Without emotional intelligence and at least one positive role model, these young men were doomed.

I believe strongly that we need to begin to see students and their gifts and talents more broadly. If someone is struggling in school, it doesn’t mean they are a second-class citizen. It means they need intervention, extra help, tutors and the respect to continue to explore who they are becoming. Not everyone in this country is meant to go to college right out of high school, but with the right guidance, students strong in practical intelligence can learn to do work that is meaningful while developing the maturity which Higher Education requires. Let’s start to look more broadly at students of all kinds—especially those who struggle at a young age. I would rather put money into helping them as children, than pay $65,000 a year on average per inmate within our growing prison system.

ARTICLE
New York Times
By JOHN SCHWARTZ

ATLANTA — “Pick your head up, buddy,” Tom Dunn said to Darius Nash, who had fallen asleep during the morning’s reading drills. “Sabrieon, sit down, buddy,” he called to a wandering boy. “Focus.”

Mr. Dunn’s classroom is less than three miles from his old law office, where he struggled to keep death row prisoners from the executioner’s needle. This summer, after serving hundreds of death row clients for 20 grinding, stressful years, he traded the courthouse for Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School.

To view the entire article visit
http://bit.ly/xue1o

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Reaping What We’ve Sown: How Schools Fail Low-Income Parents

CAROL’ SUMMARY:
The author of today’s article, Renee Moore, who teaches English to high school and college students in the Mississippi Delta, highlights the iniquities of our country’s education system similar to Jonathon Kozul’s book published in 2005, The Shame of the Nation, in which Kozol documents his visits to approximately 60 schools, in 30 school districts, across 11 states. Some of these schools are in the South Bronx, where he got to know their principals, their teachers and many of their students. His book is dedicated to a teacher from one of these schools.

The chief academic authority on this issue, whom Kozol interviews and quotes, is Gary Orfield of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, who has been as persistent in documenting the scale of segregation, and attacking its presumed educational effects, as Kozol has been in describing it. According to Orfield and his colleagues, writing in 2004, and quoted by Kozol, “American public schools are now 12 years into the process of continuous resegregation. . . . During the 1990’s, the proportion of black students in majority white schools has decreased . . . to a level lower than in any year since 1968.” He expresses outrage at inequities in expenditure, pointing out that New York City in 2002-3 spent $11,627 on the education of each child, while Manhasset (a nearby suburb) spent $22,311, Great Neck $19,705 and so on. There are comparable disparities in other metropolitan areas.

According to a study by Emory University sociologist Dennis Condron, “Racial segregation in the schools is fueling the learning disparity between young black and white children, while out-of-school factors are more important to the growth of social class gaps,” published in the October issue of the American Sociological Review. His research indicated that regardless of social class, black students are less often taught by certified teachers than are white students, and black students are far more likely than white students to attend predominantly minority schools, high-poverty schools and schools located in disadvantaged neighborhoods. “De facto segregation remains high these days, with important implications for education,” Condron said in an interview for the Science Daily (Oct. 2, 2009). “When it comes to both housing and schools, race trumps class as the central axis upon which blacks and whites are segregated. Real solutions to the black-white achievement gap lie far beyond schools and require changes to society more broadly.” A specialist in educational disparities, Condron is currently analyzing data on more than 80 countries to research the impact of economic inequality on countries’ average achievement levels. Here are questions to consider:

How can school districts be considered “good” when certain segments of their student population regularly and consistently perform poorly? And what can these districts do to alleviate such disparities in achievement?

How can parents get involved at their children’s schools to help foster community responsibility?

ARTICLE:
Teacher Magazine
October 16, 2009
Published: October 14, 2009
Reaping What We’ve Sown: How Schools Fail Low-Income Parents
By Renee Moore

Teacher Leaders Network Recently, I’ve been seeing more comments from people who argue that poverty causes people (specifically parents) not to value education. The latest opinion outburst has been prompted in part by the recent story of a young honor student in Chicago being beaten to death (unfortunately, not the only such case, but one of the most dramatic and publicized).

Some of these comments are coming from frustrated educators and others who think we are wasting our time trying to improve poorly performing schools in high-poverty communities because so many, if not most of the parents whose children attend these schools, “just don’t care.”

After 20 years of teaching in one of the poorest regions of the country, I respectfully disagree. Parents who do not love their children or don’t want the best for them─frightful as that is─are still the exception.

To view this entire article visit www.teachermagazine.org

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Texting, Surfing, Studying?

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

Often to the angst of their parents, many children spend time texting, watching television, listening to music and surfing the Internet –all while studying for tests and doing their homework. Based on the article below, the big question is: Can young people who have grown up with new technologies multitask more effectively than older generations, specifically their parents? “Kids are spending an extraordinary amount of time with media,” says Dr. Victor C. Strasburger, a professor at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. “We don’t really know what they pay attention to, what they don’t. We don’t know how it impacts their school performance, whether it impacts their school performance.”

While studies have shown a decrease in productivity among adults who multi-task, some scientists surmise that the elasticity of the brain of children and teens might be more adept at these kind of mental gymnastics, but the verdict is still out. “The literature looking at media and its impact on attentional skills is just in its infancy,” said Renee Hobbs, a professor of mass media and communications at Temple University and a specialist in media literacy.

Dr. Dimitri Christakis, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington mentions a digital divide, previously between the rich and poor, but now between parents and their children. “Parents are digital immigrants,” says Dr. Christakis. “We’re fairly clueless about the digital world they inhabit.” According to Harris M. Cooper, a professor of psychology at Duke, “One of the things that homework is supposed to do for us is help us generalize where we feel we can learn.” Harris offers this advice to parents: “If they’re doing well [in school], permitting them to have some choice permits them to find their own style.”

Regardless of media’s impact on studying, students need the requisite skills to process and absorb new information in order to thrive in school, career and life. LifeBound’s Study Skills book is an effective tool for helping students develop their own best strategies for learning. To view a sample chapter and lesson plan, visit www.lifebound.com and click on books. To request a review copy of this book, send an email to contact@lifebound.com or call toll free 1.877.737.8510.

ARTICLE:
New York Times
October 13, 2009
18 and Under
Texting, Surfing, Studying?
By PERRI KLASS, M.D.

Certain subjects make self-righteous parents of us all: our children thinking they are doing homework when in reality the text messages are flying, the Internet browsers are open, the video is streaming, the loud rock music is blaring on the turntable — oh, wait, sorry, that last one was our parents complaining about us.

Heaven knows, I understand the feeling. And not just as a pediatrician. I have my own children — a high school student, a college student and a medical student — and I know the drill.

But if you ask the experts, they are pretty unanimous that we don’t know much.

“The literature looking at media and its impact on attentional skills is just in its infancy,” said Renee Hobbs, a professor of mass media and communications at Temple University and a specialist in media literacy.

To view this entire article visit www.nytimes.com

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Successful Schools Avoid False Choices

Today’s commentary published in Education Week by Karen Chenowith, senior writer for the Education Trust Foundation, contains broad and profound implications supported by brain-based learning and cognitive research. In her observations of successful schools who work with disadvantaged students, she writes: “they based their teaching not on a preset philosophy, or a set of program prescriptions, but on what would best help their students learn” (italics mine). People often say that everyone can learn. Yet the reality is that everyone does learn. As Prentice Hall author, Dr. Lynn Quitman Troyka, writes in the introduction of some of her books, “Thinking is not something you choose to do any more than a fish chooses to live in water. To be human is to think.”

Indeed, the brain’s ability to act and react in ever-changing ways is known, in the scientific community, as “neuroplasticity.” This special characteristic allows the brain’s estimated 100 billion nerve cells, also called neurons (aka “gray matter”), to constantly create new pathways for neural communication and to rearrange existing ones throughout life, thereby aiding the processes of learning, memory, and adaptation through experience. Without the ability to make such functional changes, our brains would not be able to memorize a new fact or master a new skill, form a new memory or adjust to a new environment. The brain’s plasticity is the reason it can heal itself after stroke or injury and overcome addictions. According to Dr. Norman Doidge, author of The Brain That Changes Itself: “The brain is not ‘hardwired’ from birth, but holds a remarkable lifelong power to change—a phenomenon called ‘plasticity.’ Positive or negative environments, exercise, nurture, learning, and other experiences continue to change the brain throughout life.”

Which brings us back to today’s article. The reason a flexible approach to teaching works– as this article implies–is because students aren’t a one size fits all, nor is their intelligence fixed at birth. Everyone’s brain is unique and malleable for endless learning possibilities. As the principal at Imperial High School, Lisa Tabarez, in the Imperial Valley of California, quoted in this article said: “Every single student who comes before us has the ability to learn. As educators, we must accept our daily responsibility of taking students, at whatever level and place in their lives they may be, and helping them to learn—to learn how to become productive, contributing members of our society through the opportunity of education.”

  • How can we ignite and nurture student minds and emotions to transform learning?
  • How can the revolutionary findings in the field of neuroplasticity direct us to new possibilities for ‘rewiring’ the brain to help overcome learning disorders and to enhance memory, learning, and achievement in all learners?
  • What are the implications of cognitive research for student success and transition programs, which seek to address opportunities and vulnerabilities during adolescence?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

ARTICLE:
Education Week
Published in Print: October 14, 2009
Commentary
Successful Schools Avoid False Choices
By Karin Chenoweth

I know I am not the first to notice that education as a field tends to get whipsawed between what seem like incompatible alternatives: We can teach phonics or surround children with literature; we can teach skills or content; we can prepare students for the workforce or for college; we can provide schools that are equitable or schools that are excellent. The examples are endless.

For the past five years, I have been examining schools that have, for the most part, sidestepped these battles. They are schools I have visited as part of my work for the Education Trust, a Washington-based nonprofit organization. The job involves identifying and writing about schools with significant populations of low-income children and children of color that are also high-achieving or rapidly improving. In many of these, just about all of the students meet or exceed state standards, and achievement gaps are narrow, or sometimes nonexistent.

To view this entire article visit www.edweek.org

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CHS lifts ban on social networking sites

CAROL’S SUMMARY:
As the article below illustrates, educators are discovering that social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace, have applications that extend beyond an individual’s circle of family and friends to the classroom. Although not cited in the article, following are observations from a landmark study by researchers at the University of Minnesota, released on July 8, 2008:

94 percent use the Internet, 82 percent go online at home and 77 percent had a profile on a social networking site. When asked what they learn from using social networking sites, the students listed technology skills as the top lesson, followed by creativity, being open to new or diverse views and communication skills. Data was collected over six months from students, ages 16 to 18, in thirteen urban high schools across the Midwest. Beyond the surveyed students, a follow-up, randomly selected subset was asked questions about their Internet activity as they navigated MySpace.

“What we found was that students using social networking sites are actually practicing the kinds of 21st century skills we want them to develop to be successful today,” said Christine Greenhow, a learning technologies researcher in the university’s College of Education and Human Development and principal investigator of the study. “Students are developing a positive attitude towards using technology systems, editing and customizing content and thinking about online design and layout. They’re also sharing creative original work like poetry and film and practicing safe and responsible use of information and technology. The Web sites offer tremendous educational potential.”

“Now that we know what skills students are learning and what experiences they’re being exposed to, we can help foster and extend those skills,” said Greenhow. “As educators, we always want to know where our students are coming from and what they’re interested in so we can build on that in our teaching. By understanding how students may be positively using these networking technologies in their daily lives and where they as yet unrecognized educational opportunities are, we can help make schools even more relevant, connected and meaningful to kids.” Based on these findings, here are questions to consider:

How can we incorporate the educational benefits of social networking into student success and transition programs, which may offer a more flexible teaching format than core curriculum classes?

How can we create a 21st century global education to include project-based learning, which connects social networking to curriculum standards?

How can we teach students to become online leaders and digital citizens by using technology in appropriate, respectful ways?

####

ARTICLE via ASCD feed–BIMSMARCK, ND
Century Star
by Jordan Stalk
What started out as a way to keep in touch with family and friends has how grown to be much more. Social networking has been absorbed into the lives and daily needs of the average person.

To view the entire article visit
http://bit.ly/7ZPz8

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Newest Professions, Growing Salaries

CAROL’S SUMMARY:
Yahoo! hotjobs posted an article this week on new careers from the Occupational Information Network’s latest directory. Employment expert and author, Laurence Shatkin, stated “O*Net [Occupational Information Network] officially recognizes job titles once there is a critical mass of workers in those jobs and a clear road map for attaining the position.” According to the BLS, small companies have the highest percentage and large companies have the lowest percentage of new and emerging occupations. Small companies— those with fewer than 50 employees— often lead the economy in innovation. They can respond quickly to consumer trends and advances in technology. Professional associations and trade groups are good sources to identify jobs in emerging occupations. Some international careers open to new college graduates include global business credit risk analyst, trade relations coordinator, and import and export specialist. A software localization engineer translates and adapts programs to a foreign country, with sensitivity to customs and cultural values. Most international positions are held by employees with experience or graduate degrees.

Among the new jobs mentioned in the article below are wind farm engineers, business continuity planners and directors of social media. Many new occupations, especially those in the technical and scientific fields, require diverse skills. Multidisciplinary occupations may be a good match for the increasing number of students who choose to double or triple major. This trend was highlighted in “So, What’s Your Other Major?,” an article in the March issue of Counterpoint: The MIT-Wellesley Journal of Campus Life. Career advisers often see students with wide-ranging interests who choose multiple majors (or majors and minors) because of those broad interests

In order for students to effectively compete in a global marketplace amid today’s restricted economy students need 21st century skills, particularly problem-solving and critical and creative thinking abilities. That’s why each LifeBound book offers a corresponding curriculum that includes rigor and relevance activities, as well as powerful questions for discussion within a cross-disciplinary context.

Questions to consider:

As educators, how can we challenge and best prepare students to enter emerging career fields and acquire 21st Century Skills?

How do we engage students in meaningful lessons that build the necessary skills to compete in today’s global marketplace?

To learn more about LifeBound’s books and curricula, visit www.lifebound.com

ARTICLE:

Yahoo! hotjobs
Newest Professions, Growing Salaries
Larry Buhl, for Yahoo! HotJobs

The latest directory of job titles from Occupational Information Network (O*Net) features a variety of new entries that many people have never heard before.

Some of these jobs — at least the duties — have been around in some form for a while. What’s new is a “professional pathway” for these careers, according to employment expert and author Laurence Shatkin. “O*Net officially recognizes job titles once there is a critical mass of workers in those jobs and a clear road map for attaining the positions,” he says.

To view this entire article visit www.yahoo.com

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Study Finds High Rate of Imprisonment Among Drop Outs

CAROL’S SUMMARY:
A new study from Northeastern University cites that students who quit high school are 3.5 times more likely to become incarcerated in their lifetimes than high school graduates. The research also estimates a national cost of $292,000 per drop out, based on lost tax revenues and government assisted amenities and programs.The director of the report, Andrew Sum, told New York Times reporter, Sam Dillon:

“We’re trying to show what it means to be a dropout in the 21st century United States,” said Sum. “It’s one of the country’s costliest problems. The unemployment, the incarceration rates — it’s scary.”

Among African-American males who drop out of high school–which is estimated at 40 percent–the situation is worse. Of those, 72 percent are jobless, and the likelihood of being incarcerated jumps to 60 percent, according to statistics from Ronald B. Mincy, professor of social work at Columbia University and editor of “Black Males Left Behind” (Urban Institute Press, 2006).

One obvious question is why do students drop out? While it’s often assumed that students do so because they can’t keep up with the academic load, recent studies paint a different picture. For example, in a joint project by the Civic Enterprises and Peter D. Hart Research Associates for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,”The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts,” the study found:

Nearly half of the former students – 47 percent – quit not because of the academic challenge, but because they found classes uninteresting. “These young people reported being bored and disengaged from high school,” the report said. “Almost as many (42 percent) spent time with people who were not interested in school. These were among the top reasons selected by those with high GPAs and by those who said they were motivated to work hard.”

An even larger number of students – 69 percent – said they were not motivated or inspired to work hard. In fact, two-thirds said they would have worked harder had it been required of them.

These findings underscore why schools must challenge students and prepare them for the different transitions they face. Freshmen year, in particular, is a precarious time in student’s academic future because students typically drop out the summer between their freshmen and sophomore years. If we don’t engage them at this entry point, we may lose them for the rest of their lives at great cost to the student and to society.

1) As educators, how can we provide a more supportive academic environment at school and at home that would improve students’ chances of remaining in school? What needs to be different—with students, parents, teachers, counselors and administrators—for that to happen?

2) How can we continuously challenge teachers so that they are always learning, growing and contributing to their own passion-level? If a teacher isn’t motivated, students aren’t likely to be either.

3) How can we help students discover their gifts and talents so that they can envision the crucial role that education plays in their future? When students know what they are good at, research shows they will persevere.

4) What can we do to increase awareness of the value of student success and transition programs in fostering engagement and relevance in the classroom? How can we start these classes in fifth grade so that we avoid these costly patterns from the get-go?

ARTICLE
New York Times
by Sam Dillon

On any given day, about one in every 10 young male high school dropouts is in jail or juvenile detention, compared with one in 35 young male high school graduates, according to a new study of the effects of dropping out of school in an America where demand for low-skill workers is plunging.

To view the entire article visit
http://bit.ly/MIGHi

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Attorney General, in Chicago, Pledges Youth Violence Effort

CAROL’S SUMMARY
Chicago has been in the national and international news lately not only for losing the bid as host city for the 2016 summer Olympics, but for the tragic beating death of high school honor student, Derrion Albert, who was caught between two rival gangs on his way home from school on the city’s southside. Derrion’s murder is sparking a national conversation about youth violence. Many people compare the incident, which has been viewed by millions over YouTube, to Emmett Till’s brutal killing at the hands of white supremacists in 1955, when his open-casket funeral on television sparked the American Civil Rights Movement. Derrion was the third adolescent killed this school year. Since the beginning of 2007, close to 70 students have been murdered mostly on their way to or from school.

As the New York Times article below points out, youth violence isn’t only a Chicago problem; “it’s an American problem,” said Attorney General Eric H. Holder in his meeting yesterday with U.S. Secretary Arne Duncan, the former superintendent of Chicago Public Schools. As an admission counselor (who asked to not be identified) from another local high school on Chicago’s westside neighborhood said, “We’ve always heard of kids fighting kids, but they lived to tell about it. That’s not true anymore.”

Addressing such serious issues like youth violence requires support from many facets of society, including our school system. When former New York Times science journalist and co-founder of the Yale University Child Studies Center (now at the University of Illinois at Chicago) Daniel Goleman first coined the term emotional intelligence, he cited strong emotions as holding the potential for promoting great good in society as well as terrible atrocities, because some people use violence to release feelings of anger or frustration. LifeBound’s People Smarts for Teenagers program works with adolescents on developing self-awareness, as well as managing strong emotions. The principal at Skyway Elementary School in Colorado Springs, Patrick Webster, who used the People Smarts resources last spring told his counselor: “We have had ZERO disciplinary referrals from 6th grade this year, which is phenomenal.” In a typical time frame they would have received half a dozen by now.

As educators we need to cultivate a vision and establish a comprehensive game plan like they have in Colorado Springs for helping school communities curb violence and assess measurable goals. In addition to our resources for students and faculty, LifeBound provides programs for parents on coaching skills and other strategies so that they learn how to model the kinds of attitudes and behaviors they want their children to emulate. Children absorb how parents deal with a job layoff and other traumatic and stressful life events, and supporting parents in their roles is another effective way to stem the escalation of violence among school-aged children and teens.

For a review copy of People Smarts and more information about our programs for parents, please contact us by calling toll free 1.877.737.8510 or emailing contact@lifebound.com, and we’ll be glad to help you. Together we can answer the call to make a profound difference in our school communities.

ARTICLE:
Attorney General, in Chicago, Pledges Youth Violence Effort
By SUSAN SAULNY
Published: October 7, 2009

CHICAGO — Trying to spark what he called “a sustained national conversation” about youth violence, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. met with public school students and elected officials here Wednesday, pledging a heightened crime-fighting commitment from the federal government toward vulnerable children.

Mr. Holder, joined by Education Secretary Arne Duncan, the former head of the local public schools, said the Obama administration was dedicated to being a full partner in the fight against youth violence, in part, because “too many of today’s victims become tomorrow’s criminals.”

To view this entire article visit www.nytimes.com

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Twitter Tool Could Help Educators

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

A new Twitter program called Need4Feed was introduced this week by web developers at Purdue University to rank posts— known as “tweets”—on the social networking site. Designed specifically for educators and students, Need4Feed aims to filter out the “noise” of unrelated tweets and help visitors weed out the junk mail, by highlighting popular tweets using an algorithm that analyzes how other Twitter users respond to a message by reposting it, replying to it, marking it as a favorite or whether the message starts a longer conversation.

This tool will be used for the first time at the HighEdWeb 2009 conference in Milwaukee to help attendees find tweets gaining the most attention. The goal of Need4Feed is to help facilitate faculty-student conversations and help educators and students more effectively locate information regarding education trends and homework help or tips. Technology is always evolving and Twitter’s growth is proof of this. For k-12 and higher education institutions to stay current, they will need to embrace these new technologies and Need4Feed just may help them do that.

Need4Feed developer Kyle Bowen, director of informatics at Purdue, said the idea for the tool came after using Twitter to communicate during the Teaching and Learning with Technology Conference at Purdue in April. “We made heavy use of Twitter during the conference, and what we noticed was that there was a lot of noise, people making general comments and having conversations unrelated to the topic,” Bowen said. “What we wanted to do was find a way to get the most out of these back channel conversations.”

To find out more about education trends, follow LifeBound on Twitter at www.twitter.com/lifebound and to learn more about preparing your students for the world of work, follow me at www.twitter.com/caroljcarter.

ARTICLE
Ecampusnews.com

The micro-blogging web site Twitter is often crowded with extraneous posts and comments that distract from the site’s meaningful content. To bring order to this chaos and help make Twitter a more useful tool for educators, web developers at Purdue University unveiled a tool this week that would help Twitter members find the most popular and relevant tweets.

The Twitter program, called Need4Feed, is being used for the first time at the HighEdWeb 2009 conference in Milwaukee, where attendees can sift through hundreds of posts to find the tweets grabbing the most attention.

To view the entire article visit
http://bit.ly/32HOxk

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