Back in March, GCP told you about Khan Academy (www.khanacademy.com) and its math and science tutorials online. ("GCP Sidebar: Homework Helpers", March 3, 2011) This semester, 36 schools nationwide are incorporating Khan Academy tutorials and software in their classroom instruction. Teachers across the country are combining their in-class lessons with computer based lectures and exercises devised by Salman Khan's [...]
It's parent teacher conference season! What's the best way to ensure that you get the most out of your limited time with your son's teachers during the conference? Check out these links for some helpful tips and ideas: "Acing Parent Teacher Conferences", published last year in the Wall Street Journal; A To-Do List for Parent Teacher Conferences from Education.com; [...]
Here's yet another interesting educational piece in the news: Today's Wall Street Journal features an article about how Chicago preschool and kindergarten teachers are integrating math concepts into daily classroom activities, giving young students firmer footing when they learn more complex math concepts in later grades. The teachers are being trained by The Erikson Institute, a graduate school in [...]
Here's an inspirational story from The Washington Post to savor along with your Thanksgiving leftovers: Coach Natalie Randolph, an African American believed to be the only woman currently coaching a high school football team in the country, led her Coolidge High School Colts earlier this week to the Turkey Bowl, Washington D.C.'s public school football championship. This was the [...]
While better teachers can certainly help a student achieve, better parenting can make a huge difference in a student's academic achievement as well. GCP has been shouting this from cyberspace rooftops since the day we launched, and a column in today's New York Times confirms that we need to turn up the volume. In "How About Better Parents?", found [...]
GCP is always on the lookout for ways to help our sons (and daughters) learn and excel. Here is a great one: The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History offers Saturday Academies of American History, which provide free elective courses for high school and middle school students on Saturday mornings. Gilder Lehrman Saturday Academies are held in eighteen schools [...]
A recent study conducted by UCLA and NYU researchers concluded that minority (which included African American, Chinese, Dominican and Russian) students as young as second grade recognize stigmas against their ethnic groups and experience increased anxiety because of these stigmas. However, these elementary school students are more motivated about school than their European American classmates. Read about it here, [...]
A professor at a Pennsylvania university recently set out to determine how college student's grades are impacted by their Facebook usage. Today's New York Times reveals his study's surprising conclusions, in an article found here. The study found that while spending an inordinate amount of time on Facebook is related to negative outcomes, just checking Facebook for a few [...]
I spent last Saturday with one of my sons at a college lacrosse clinic, where he along with scores of other high school juniors were demonstrating their skills to a group of college coaches, with the hopes of being recruited for a college team. After the lunch break, the head coach of the host school stepped in front of [...]
Back in August, GCP posted a piece called "Waiting For Superman? Superwoman Was Already Here" in which Daniel Petter-Lipstein extolled the virtues of a Montessori education. As a follow-up to that post, we asked Anne Williams-Isom, mother of three Montessori trained children ages 18, 15 and 9, for her perspective on Daniel's piece and the Montessori experience. She began [...]