With over 13 million kids bullied this year, making it the most common form of violence that young people experience, educators, parents, students and advocates need to be given resources and voices to address the epidemic.On Wednesday, April 25th at Dearborn Academy in Arlington, MA the National Institute for Student-Centered Education (NISCE) will be hosting a roundtable discussion with parents, educators, and students on Fostering Empathy and Action.Participants will discuss the hard … [Read more...]
Educational Triage—Who Gets Lost?
A recent article by Susan Sparks posted in Education Week cites research into the unintended consequences of combining Federal accountability standards with increases in state curriculum standards. The article calls out the efforts made to improve the testing performance of the so-called 'bubble children' or students who almost passed the tests.It is the description of a system of 'educational triage,' however, that should be most alarming to those concerned with the state of our … [Read more...]
What’s Your School’s Culture
Central to delivering student-centered education is the continuous feedback loop reflected in the NISCE Instructional model. Thoughtful assessment guides developmentally appropriate differentiated instruction, which promotes student engagement which in turn leads to success as defined for each individual student. Positive and supportive school relationships permeate and sustain each element of the model.In Part 1 of 6, we offer brief tips to help individuals and schools support a true focus on … [Read more...]
Giving Voices to the Issues – NISCE Roundtables
On April 25th, the National Institute for Student-Centered Education will host its first NISCE Roundtable. The topic will be Bullying: Fostering Empathy and Action in Schools, and will be held as a follow-up to our screening of Bully. We are scheduling a series of such Roundtables in the months ahead on topics drawn from our study of student centered education. We believe that by inspiring honest, informed, and respectful conversations around critical issues in education that we will help us … [Read more...]
NISCE Hosts Boston Screening of “Bully”
The film "Bully" premiered on March 30th in New York and Los Angeles, but on April 13th NISCE will host the inaugural Boston-area screening of the film at the Landmark Kendall Cinema in Cambridge. Immediately following the show, Dr. Richard Weissbourd, Harvard lecturer, will provide commentary and lead a short discussion with the audience.The documentary, which follows five students who are bullied over the course of one year, seeks to expose the tragic effects of bullying. By giving intimate … [Read more...]
Inspiring Reading From Grade School Through Grad School
Research shows that Americans are reading less and that those who are reading are reading less well. This is according to a study by the National Endowment for the Arts which notes that, "Less than one-third of 13-year olds are daily readers, a 14 % decline from 20 years early," and that "Reading scores for 12th-graders fell significantly from 1992 to 2005, with the sharpest declines in the amount for lower-level readers." How is it that parents, educators, and individuals who are concerned … [Read more...]
Standing Up For The Student In The Midst of Standardized Testing
Christopher Chamness, the son of a former teacher, will likely not be surrounded by his third grade classmates next spring when they take their standardized test, according to a New York Times article Student Assessments Facing Stiff Backlash in Texas. Why? His mother will be pulling him out of class to protest the system she says has sapped her son’s love of learning. While the move is bold—her son’s school does not permit students to miss test days for any reason – it is in line with a … [Read more...]
What Does The Whole Child Initiative Mean For Student-Centered Education?
A critical element of a student-centered approach is a keen sense of context and boundaries. We observe that there is more to a child than his or her identity as a student. The whole of what is learned is much greater than what is taught, what is tested, what is addressed in curriculum, and what may be in any teacher’s plan book.The Whole Child Initiative The Whole Child Initiative (ASCD) takes this notion seriously and recommends to schools that education should be about nurturing the growth … [Read more...]
The Importance of Relationships Through All Educational Contexts
Relationship is Fundamental The importance of relationship carries on through constructivist, traditional, religious, military, and non-traditional models. It is so fundamental, in fact, that it could be said that the ability to form positive and nurturing relationships with students is the sine qua non of a student-centered approach. The primary importance of relationship is also a well established factor in research on the development of resilience in children.Seeking to identify the factors … [Read more...]
The Importance of Relationships and the Basics of Self-Teaching
Sugata Mitra Teaches About Self-Teaching Consider the connection between relationship and self-teaching.At first glance this will appear to be a contradiction. It would seem that self-teaching is, by definition, outside the realm of relationship. Of the list of educational context categories—military, traditional, Montessori, et cetera it is the least dependent on adult guidance. On further inspection, we discover that the very nature of learning is deeply affected by relationship at the … [Read more...]
