Education Policy, The Teenage Brain, and Distance Learning

The Institute for Education and the Arts is sharing these recent articles about education, policy, and learning.

BUSH MAKING EDUCATION BILL A PRIORITY
By Nedra Pickler, Boston Globe, October 5, 2006

"President Bush said that renewing No Child Left Behind will be a priority for him next year but acknowledged the law isn't working as well for parents as it should. Of more than 2.2 million children eligible for tutoring, only 19% of them got it in 2004-05. Even fewer kids take advantage of the option to transfer to another school -- about 1 or 2% of those eligible. The law is scheduled to be reauthorized by Congress next year, but some education observers have speculated it may be bumped until as late as 2009, after the next presidential election. The sooner the better -- that's the view among dozens of education groups that are seeking changes in the law, such as how kids are tested and how schools are graded. Bush outlined a series of ways (http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/education/) which the law could be improved, such as by expanding testing in high schools. He also said he wants the federal government to pay for 28,000 low income students across the country to transfer to private schools, an initiative he has in the current budget request at a cost of $100 million.”

Read the entire article here.

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TEEN BRAIN EXPOSED
Geoff Maslen, The Age (Australia), October 2, 2006

“RESEARCH into the teenage brain suggests teachers should be more flexible in the way they teach.

“Dr Lorraine Hammond, a senior lecturer in education at Perth's Edith Cowan University, says that thinking is a natural activity but some teenage brains are beyond organising, linking and committing new ideas to memory.

“’Because the frontal lobes of their brains are still developing, this affects teenagers' ability to develop an argument, plan an essay, solve maths problems and organise ideas into words,’ she says.

“The research leads to the conclusion that teachers need to focus on how learning occurs in maturing minds rather than teaching to a prescribed formula. ‘They need to coach, mentor and support this development,’ says Dr Hammond.”

Read the entire article here.

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