Viewing school as an opportunity

Viewing school as an opportunity

Walking into her office in early December in her tiny very very “high poverty” rural elementary school, sinking into her chair, principal Alison Dwier-Selden sighed and said, “I have learned that looking forward to Christmas is middle class privilege.” Truth. There are undeniable facts about poverty in America, and Alison’s quote is one. Hunger is…

Oxford comma, busyness, and the ACT/SAT – Top 3 for the week

Oxford comma, busyness, and the ACT/SAT – Top 3 for the week

Lack of an Oxford comma strikes again I, for one, welcome our new English overlords. The problem of being “busy” Being busy doesn’t necessarily mean you’re making progress. More than 950 accredited schools no longer require the ACT or SAT for admission Interesting that the push back toward standardized testing has now reached secondary education.

Four and five years old see things that adults miss

Four and five years old see things that adults miss

Although adults can beat children at most cognitive tasks, new research shows that children’s limitations can sometimes be their strength. In two studies, researchers found that adults were very good at remembering information they were told to focus on, and ignoring the rest. In contrast, 4- to 5-year-olds tended to pay attention to all the…

Xerox Parc created amazing technologies. How did this happen?

Xerox Parc created amazing technologies. How did this happen?

There was a vision: “The destiny of computers is to become interactive intellectual amplifiers for everyone in the world pervasively networked worldwide”. A few principles: Source: Alan Kay’s answer to What made Xerox PARC special? Who else today is like them? – Quora In the 70s, Xerox Parc was THE research facility in the United States. Technology…

More than 950 accredited schools no longer require the ACT or SAT for admission

More than 950 accredited schools no longer require the ACT or SAT for admission

This can’t be great news for the owners of the ACT and the SAT college admissions exams, but the list of colleges and universities that no longer require scores from those tests to be submitted with a student application keeps growing. The list of test-optional schools maintained by the nonprofit National Center for Fair and…

Amazon has created a parent portal that works with Freetime on the Amazon Fire tablet

Amazon has created a parent portal that works with Freetime on the Amazon Fire tablet

Today, the company is giving parents better insight into what their kids are doing on their tablets with the free Parent Dashboard. The dashboard lives at parents.amazon.com and can be accessed from any web browser. Source: Amazon is launching a new dashboard that lets you monitor the content your kid consumes – The Verge Amazon…

Most Americans do not believe that hard work alone is ultimately worth it

Most Americans do not believe that hard work alone is ultimately worth it

In the past, economists have acknowledged that citing hard work as the path to prosperity is overly simplistic and optimistic. Ultimately, whether hard work alone can lift people into better economic conditions is a more complex question. The formula only works if an individual’s efforts are met with opportunities for a better life. According to…

New options for Microsoft’s online multiemedia tool Sway—recording, autoplay and more

New options for Microsoft’s online multiemedia tool Sway—recording, autoplay and more

Over the last few months, we’ve been on the ground asking users what features they would like to see in the Sway app. We heard all the ways you use Sway in your personal, school and work lives, and listened to tons of great recommendations on how we could make these experiences even better. As…