Running Dreamer

If you’re ever worried about what people think of you,...

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 23:19:45 -0500

If you’re ever worried about what people think of you, remember they probably don’t think of you at all.

Via someecards

wooshwoosh: Run Stronger

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 19:51:32 -0400

wooshwoosh:

Run Stronger

Divided we stand…

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 19:31:53 -0400

Divided we stand…

Photo

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 00:28:07 -0400

New RAND Teacher Effectiveness Portal

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 00:26:19 -0400

Will follow up with a more through post after I dig through the whole site, but I wanted to share the new find:

http://www.rand.org/education/projects/measuring-teacher-effectiveness/value-added-modeling.html

realclearpeople: “If I can fix America’s public schools, then I...

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 00:28:00 -0400

realclearpeople:

“If I can fix America’s public schools, then I want to do what all other tenured professors in America do. Nothing!” ~Roland Fryer

RealClearPeople hope Roland G. Fryer, Jr., PhD, gets to join his other tenured colleagues one day soon. Dr. Fryer is a Labor Economist that wants every kid to have a shot at the American Dream and believes better public K-12 schools is the way to achieve it. In 2008, he became the youngest African American to ever receive tenure at Harvard University and followed that up with a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 2011. For the last few years he has been consistently mentioned as a candidate to receive the John Bates Clark Medal, which is awarded annually (in April) to the top American economist under age 40 (Fryer is 35).

In addition to teaching at Harvard, Fryer currently directs the Education Innovation Lab at Harvard where his research teams have conducted some of the more rigorous randomized studies of education interventions anywhere. In past studies, Fryer has examined several non-traditional methods of improving learning outcomes, such as paying children to learn. He found financial incentives a cost-effective, albeit politically controversial, method to improve performance (he says at one point he received death threats). That’s sad and unfortunate. Some of the biggest gains in test scores occurred with kids that had a history of serious behavioral problems. For now though, Fryer has settled on more traditional methods of education reform after studying two high performing charter schools in NYC:

longer school days;

small group tutoring on basic skills for kids needing extra help;

employ good teachers, and give them good feedback from attentive school leaders;

students receive short assessment tests every few weeks rather than one big test at the end of the school year; and

create a culture of high expectations.

These changes significantly improved 20 of the worst performing Houston, Texas public schools (no charters among them) in only one year, and he is now assisting Denver, Colorado public schools with their turnaround plan. Early results are positive.

Fryer believes we have no more excuses as a country for the failing state of our public schools since we have solutions to improve education outcomes. However, he wonders if we have the will to implement these solutions. You can find many more details in his presentation to the Ringling College Library Association Town Hall Lecture Series. Fryer is laugh out loud funny when presenting his work, but his approach is insanely serious. He is worth listening to for the full hour.

theinspirationalmind: Life isn’t promised…it just isn’t…So live...

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 00:26:28 -0400

theinspirationalmind:

Life isn’t promised…it just isn’t…So live happy NOW!

President Obama and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, watch on...

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 00:24:49 -0400

President Obama and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, watch on television as First Lady Michelle Obama takes the stage to deliver her speech at the Democratic National Convention, in the Treaty Room of the White House on September 4, 2012.

Bless Michelle for she is a power orator, but sometimes it isn’t even about the power of one’s words. It’s about the feeling WE get knowing that its okay to be real, to be human, to love, to make mistakes, to struggle, to laugh, to cry, to genuinely care about something or someone other than ourselves, to live, to dream, to fall, and to achieve. My president is not just black. My president is real. My president represents who we all are but sometimes are too afraid to let show. #FamilyObama2012

Died from this!!!!!! Miss classic tv shows.

Wed, 29 Aug 2012 01:23:26 -0400

Died from this!!!!!! Miss classic tv shows.

good: Shake the Dust: Hip-hop and break-dancing for social...

Tue, 21 Aug 2012 02:14:14 -0400

good:

Shake the Dust: Hip-hop and break-dancing for social good

Last week, LA based filmmaker Adam Sjöberg launched a Kickstarter campaign aiming to fund his latest project about hip-hop and break-dancing in developing countries called Shake the Dust.

Check out the project here.

Me walking through the subways in NYC when I think no one is...

Sun, 19 Aug 2012 11:27:56 -0400

Me walking through the subways in NYC when I think no one is looking :)

Photo

Sun, 19 Aug 2012 00:05:47 -0400

positivepositivepositive: Love starts at home.

Sun, 19 Aug 2012 00:03:52 -0400

positivepositivepositive:

Love starts at home.

I don’t believe in Magic. I believe, I believe in love...

Sun, 19 Aug 2012 00:01:47 -0400

I don’t believe in Magic. I believe, I believe in love everlasting…

Photo

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 00:21:54 -0400

"For the second year in a row, none of the eighth-grade students in District 7 in Mott..."

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 21:04:12 -0400

“For the second year in a row, none of the eighth-grade students in District 7 in Mott Haven/Melrose/Concourse scored a Level 4, the highest mark, on the state English exam. The district encompasses more than 20 neighborhood schools and about six charter schools.”

- No 8th graders in Bronx District 7 got top score on English exam

good: Mid-Week Motivation Last week, a couple of us saw the...

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 19:32:54 -0400

good:

Mid-Week Motivation

Last week, a couple of us saw the one-night-only* screening of Shut Up And Play The Hits, the nostalgic documentary following LCD Soundsystem’s remaining days as a band and their final show at Madison Square Garden. We actually wrote about LCD Soundsystem last year, when they confronted scalpers on Twitter. And we were lucky enough to have frontman James Murphy, DJ one of our first GOOD parties in New York.

Suffice it to say, we love them and also this sweet poster by Rob Reynolds, that popped up in one of the scenes.

*they’ve added more showings!

Office bonding at the Staten Islands Yankee game.

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 19:54:01 -0400

Office bonding at the Staten Islands Yankee game.

Good morning New York!

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 08:29:09 -0400

Good morning New York!

And to think I was coding data on test scores and mentor...

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 23:47:05 -0400

And to think I was coding data on test scores and mentor interventions a few years ago! Glad Diplomas Now is finally getting some recognition. For more on Diplomas Now and other similar initiatives, check out the work of the Philadelphia Education Fund!