Joel Zehring

"...test scores for individual children can change dramatically from one administration to the next with no apparent explanation." - Joel Zehring

"This new BBA report recommends that ESEA expand the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a test given to a representative sample of the nation's students, to cover a broad range of subjects — not only math and reading — to counteract the narrowing of the curriculum spurred in recent years by NCLB. And the report further recommends that ESEA permit states flexibility in designing their accountability systems, provided these systems include qualitative evaluation of school quality and do not rely primarily on standardized test scores to judge the success of schools." - Joel Zehring via Bookmarklet

"I especially like the proposal for state-directed school inspection teams. People ask, “What could we rely on if we didn’t do all this testing?” Here is a good answer. Establish state inspection teams that regularly visit schools to survey the quality of teaching and learning." - Joel Zehring via Bookmarklet

TED Talks Someone always asks the math teacher, "Am I going to use calculus in real life?" And for most of us, says Arthur Benjamin, the answer is no. He offers a bold proposal on how to make math education relevant in the digital age. - Joel Zehring

Karen contacted me about writing a post for my blog. I'm a little curious about what she sees in my blog, but she seems like a class act. - Joel Zehring via Bookmarklet

"Imagine going through your day being called a different name by every person you meet. Even the people in your family call you different names. What would you do to get people to call you by your real name? How far would you go to get people to recognize you and acknowledge you for who you really are?" - Joel Zehring via Bookmarklet

"Religion is like the outer bark of a tree. The tree needs a thin layer of this dead material to stay protected from infection and attack. If the layer is too thick, the tree can't grow properly, or can't survive. I read a Eugene Peterson interview where he quoted another guy saying that. Seemed to make sense." - Joel Zehring via Bookmarklet

Linux systems for sale. - Joel Zehring via Bookmarklet

"When the fundamentals change it is important to for educational organizations to create buy-in and consensus on the front end of decisions, so that they don’t rush and fight those resistant to the cultural change on the back end. The Japanese call this process nemawahsi, which means to prepare the tree’s roots for the soil. It’s a metaphor for getting wide input from members of the organization. Toyota famously adopted this metaphor into their idea of “lean thinking.”" - Joel Zehring

"Thornburg, physical therapist Jodi Garberg and occupational therapist Christi Sullivan are working together to create a pilot program for the Wii therapy. They spent two days observing students using the system and several games at Sandstone Middle School and Hermiston High School to develop a baseline of activities and design a data collection model for the program." - Joel Zehring

"It is a profound mistake, therefore, to treat Christ as simply the founder of a set of moral, ethical, or social teaching. The Lord Jesus and his teaching are one. The Medium and the Message are One. Christ is the incarnation of the Kingdom of God and the Sermon on the Mount." - Joel Zehring

"The information derived from testing can be useful, but lately I have begun to see how often test scores are being misused to punish kids, teachers, and schools and to mislead the public." - Joel Zehring via Bookmarklet