"Parents—and this is a real sea change—understand the infant-toddle years as learning years." —Betty Holcomb, Policy Director, Children's Initiatives An article recently posted in the Wall Street Journal focused on the growing competition to find excellent early childhood programs in New York City. The change in this case is that the demand appears to be driven by affluent parents who are newly convinced that their very young children need the stimulation and guided instruction available … [Read more...]
Excitement For Student-Centered Learning Builds In Sanford, ME
At the end of the 2012 school year, the NISCE leadership team took a field trip to witness a community event in Sanford, Maine. Parents, students, teachers, administrators and community supporters had gathered to celebrate the end of the first year of a three-year effort designed to reshape their entire school system.This effort had been galvanized by the award of a competitive $3.75 million grant from the Nellie Mae Foundation. Sanford's Student-Centered Proficiency Based Learning approach … [Read more...]
Opportunities for Meaningful Education
When I first started working at Dearborn Academy, I had a colleague who'd been around for a number of years. He had a gentle soul and his love and respect for our students was manifest. One day the two of us were playing a pickup game of basketball, a game at which he excelled, against a pair of middle schoolers. I wasn't sure how hard I should be playing against such over-matched opponents, and when I got a chance to do so unobtrusively I asked how hard we should try to win.His response … [Read more...]
Creating a Culture of Collaborative Problem Solving at Seaport Academy
Seaport Academy was recently recognized in The Navy Yard News, a quarterly publication of the friends of the Charlestown Navy Yard, as emphasizing collaborative problem solving and a curriculum designed to be flexible enough to meet the wide variety of learning needs presented by their students.Here is the story: “We’ve scrapped the usual style of ‘reward-consequence’ learning in favor of collaboration — students identify issues and help solve problems together,” says Alex Tsonas, Director … [Read more...]
NISCE Workshop: Stand Up To Bullying
On April 13, following the premiere of the movie Bully, NISCE did a feature on What Can We Really Do to Fight Bullying, and provided a toolbox of resources from The Bully Project for readers from a variety of backgrounds to use. Included in the resources was a Toolkit for Parents, Toolkit for Students, Toolkit for Educators, and a Toolkit for Advocates.However, the conversation did not and should not stop there.On Wednesday, April 25th educators, parents, and concerned community members … [Read more...]
On Teaching Woodshop
When I tell people I teach woodshop to special needs students I am fairly certain to receive one of a couple of responses. Particularly when I first started, people would go on about what a noble thing I was doing. I don’t get that as much these days, and I don’t know whether that is a sign of the times or something about the way I now explain my work.People also tend to tell me about their own shop experience and how they still have this or that old shop project hidden away somewhere (that … [Read more...]
Jonah Mowry’s Story
Eighth-grader Jonah Mowry posted this extraordinary personal video on bullying and suicide, What’s Goin’ On, on YouTube last December. His video has been viewed over a ten million times and has generated more than 350,000 comments Jonah's video can help schools, families and parent-teacher organization begin a conversation on on issues of bullying and acceptance, and his courage and honesty can be an inspiration to us all. … [Read more...]
Educators Building Interpersonal Bridges
Boston University’s School of Psychiatric Rehabilitation provides a public resource to educators looking to build better relationships with students struggling with disabilities. On their How-to Tips for Educators page, they review interpersonal strategies that we feel can be seen as not only helpful to the student with disabilities but to all students in our nation's schools.The following tips are suggested to help educators:Interpersonal strategiesDevelop a working alliance with … [Read more...]
What Can We Really Do to Fight Bullying?
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...]
Schools for Children Launches National Institute for Student-Centered Education
IMMEDIATE RELEASEArlington, MA, June 1, 2012—Schools for Children, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating and managing great schools, is proud to announce the launch of the National Institute for Student-Centered Education (NISCE).NISCE is interested in promoting a broad national dialogue on the importance of committing to more ‘student-centered educational’ practices in what is an increasingly ‘standards-based’ world. NISCE will partner with educators, parents, administrators … [Read more...]
