Hello All,
after exploring different links for a while, and with a help from my 10-yr. old, I have chosen the Colonial Williamsburg's website for review http://www.history.org/history/teaching/eft/ We visited Colonial Williamsburg last summer and the experience was quite memorable. I flipped through the pages of my daughter's Social Studies textbook a few months ago when she was learning about the colonial times, and reminded her that we actually visited the home of George Wythe, who was Virginia's first signer of the Declaration of Independence. And then...there was this priceless "Oh yeah, I remember" moment...
I found Colonial Williamsburg's website to be extremely helpful for teachers, kids and their parents. Their EFT (Electronic Field Trip) program offers an impressive library of educational resources, live streaming videos, lesson plans, interactive classroom features, podcasts and links to virtual explorations of the Colonial Williamsburg's mansions, public spaces, gardens and farms. The 2010-2011 EFT season provides interactive lessons on the Bill of Rights, presidential elections, slavery, women of the Revolution and others. The art collections from their museums and live discussions with curators and historians are broadcasted 7 times a year on public TV education stations. Colonial Williamsburg's EFTs are correlated to American history, literacy and science standards. The cost of the program is $500 for the series (Emmy-winning!) or $120 for individual programs. I am a big supporter for infusion of the technology and interactive learning into our kids' classrooms. I am sure that 5th graders would benefit from EFT to Colonial Williamsburg - it will help them visualize the historical events that are quite complex and provide access to fun interactive activities (like "Battle for the Vote" game), which I barely finished, if I may add :-)
Monday, March 21, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
HS Report Cards Comparison
Hello Everyone,
Since I graduated from high school in Europe, I have decided to compare 2 high schools based on their geographical location - both located in Bergen County and just under 3 miles apart - Fort Lee and Cliffside Park high schools. I was particularly interested in the Fort Lee HS because it's in the walking distance from where we live and, quite possibly, my daughter will be attending it in the future. Before settling down in Fort Lee, we looked at neighboring towns and compared costs of living, taxes, demographic data, and, of course, the schools. Fort Lee high school outperformed others, according to different sources, and the report cards I compared today clearly support that...
What caught my attention right away was the data in language diversity, subject proficiency and SAT scores. Cliffside Park's LEP (Limited English Proficiency) is twice as high as in Fort Lee high school (8% vs. 4%), and on the language diversity, English language is spoken in more Fort Lee households (54.4%) than in Cliffside Park's (38.8%).
Taking the language diversity into consideration, it's not surprising that in Language Arts assessment, Fort Lee HS's advanced proficiency is at 19%, while Cliffside Park's - at 6%, and that 6% falls way below the state's 18.7% advanced proficiency. In Math, Fort Lee HS's advanced proficiency is at 35.5% (!), comparing to Cliffside Park's 14.7%. When comparing SAT scores, Fort Lee HS scores higher across the board in all subjects, whether you compare it to the state's averages, or, to Cliffside Park HS's scores.
When you look at Math SAT scores, for example, Fort Lee HS's average score is 565, while Cliffside Park's - 474 (state's average - 520). In Verbal/Essay, Fort Lee HS scores 514/526, while Cliffside Park HS scores 449/444.
And then I found something interesting: only 38% of Fort Lee HS's teachers have Master's Degree, but in Cliffside Park HS - 51%(!) of teachers have Master's Degree. And the student/faculty ratio is lower at Cliffside Park HS. So, it makes me wonder, how relevant is the instructional/teacher quality for high school education...Oh, and by the way, Cliffside Park HS has more computers...
Since I graduated from high school in Europe, I have decided to compare 2 high schools based on their geographical location - both located in Bergen County and just under 3 miles apart - Fort Lee and Cliffside Park high schools. I was particularly interested in the Fort Lee HS because it's in the walking distance from where we live and, quite possibly, my daughter will be attending it in the future. Before settling down in Fort Lee, we looked at neighboring towns and compared costs of living, taxes, demographic data, and, of course, the schools. Fort Lee high school outperformed others, according to different sources, and the report cards I compared today clearly support that...
What caught my attention right away was the data in language diversity, subject proficiency and SAT scores. Cliffside Park's LEP (Limited English Proficiency) is twice as high as in Fort Lee high school (8% vs. 4%), and on the language diversity, English language is spoken in more Fort Lee households (54.4%) than in Cliffside Park's (38.8%).
Taking the language diversity into consideration, it's not surprising that in Language Arts assessment, Fort Lee HS's advanced proficiency is at 19%, while Cliffside Park's - at 6%, and that 6% falls way below the state's 18.7% advanced proficiency. In Math, Fort Lee HS's advanced proficiency is at 35.5% (!), comparing to Cliffside Park's 14.7%. When comparing SAT scores, Fort Lee HS scores higher across the board in all subjects, whether you compare it to the state's averages, or, to Cliffside Park HS's scores.
When you look at Math SAT scores, for example, Fort Lee HS's average score is 565, while Cliffside Park's - 474 (state's average - 520). In Verbal/Essay, Fort Lee HS scores 514/526, while Cliffside Park HS scores 449/444.
And then I found something interesting: only 38% of Fort Lee HS's teachers have Master's Degree, but in Cliffside Park HS - 51%(!) of teachers have Master's Degree. And the student/faculty ratio is lower at Cliffside Park HS. So, it makes me wonder, how relevant is the instructional/teacher quality for high school education...Oh, and by the way, Cliffside Park HS has more computers...
Saturday, March 5, 2011
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