Publications
llinois ASCD publishes a quarterly newsletter, Illinois ASCD Newsletter, and a quarterly special publication titled HOT TOPICS that are provided as part of the membership in Illinois ASCD. For more information about Illinois ASCD publications, contact
Bill Dodds (dwdodds@ilstu.edu).
Technology Counts 2009
You can be among the first to review the newest annual report from
edweek.org, Technology Counts 2009: Breaking Away From Tradition. View
it online - plus Web-only content, tables, and graphics - right now.
http://e-news.edweek.org
Teaching to tests that are worth teaching to
In an op-ed in The New York Times, E. D. Hirsch writes that as lawmakers
consider reauthorizing NCLB, they must "find a way to maintain
accountability while mitigating the current tendency to reduce schooling
to a joyless grind of practice exams and empty instruction in 'reading
strategies.'" He urges a different testing scenario: "If the reading
passages on each test were culled from each grade's specific curricular
content in literature, science, history, geography and the arts, the
tests would exhibit what researchers call 'consequential validity' --
meaning that the tests would actually help improve education." "We do
not need to abandon either the principle of accountability or the
fill-in-the-bubble format. Rather, we need to move from teaching to the
test to tests that are worth teaching to." Read more:
www.nytimes.com
TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SOURCEBOOK
Reinventing Professional Development in Tough Times
http://e-news.edweek.org
The Spring 2009 issue of the Teacher Professional
Development Sourcebook explores ways schools and teachers can bring
focus and innovation to staff-development programs despite reduced
budgets.
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