What's the Story? The Vermont Young People Social Action Team

Check out What's the Story?, a dynamic learning experience for Vermont secondary students sponsored by the Middlebury College Breadloaf School of English.  What's the Story? provides Vermont secondary students with the tools, resources and expertise they need to pursue their questions, collaborate with peers and create compelling multi-media narratives that provoke positive change in their communities.

• The website includes links to the What's the Story? Facebook page and YouTube channel where you can see student products from this amazing program.

• Students describing their experience in What's the Story?

• Course Description and Calendar of Key Dates

What's the Story? has begun accepting applications for next year's cohort, through a rolling admissions process.  Here is the application to join the 2016-2017 cohort for this learning experience.

TED: Zombie Roaches and Other Parasite Tales

In this fascinating, hilarious, and ever-so-slightly creepy 2014 TED talk, science writer Ed Yong tells the story of his favorite parasites - animals and organisms that live on the bodies (and brains!!) of other organisms, causing them to do their bidding.  Do humans have them too?  Maybe...

TED: The Astonishing World of the Deep Ocean

In this 2008 TED talk, ocean explorer Robert Ballard takes us on a mind bending trip to hidden worlds under water, where he and other researchers are finding unexpected life, resources, and even new mountains. (Chemosynthesis?!!)  He makes a case for serious exploration and mapping.

VT Board of Education Resolution on Equitable, Efficient & Effective Educational Reform in Vermont

Sent on behalf of the Vermont State Board of Education -

March 22, 2016

Dear Legislators:

Attached please find a resolution unanimously adopted by the state board of education at its regular meeting of March 15, 2016. We are aware of and appreciate the state's efforts to limit new programs. We are also aware of your efforts to improve existing laws to manage our limited resources as wisely and economically as possible.

Two recent policy issues stand out as needing prioritized attention, the first is that the pre-school law is a voucher subsidy for the middle class and the affluent. This will only exacerbate our achievement gap and equity problems. It could prove to be the basis for legal action against the state. The second is that the dual enrollment bill is also a subsidy for the wealthy. While a goal may have been to encourage higher education for the less affluent, in practice, it is proving to be the opposite.

We think that these issues are paramount and need to be addressed quickly. Otherwise, a new constituency will form with the purpose of protecting what will rapidly be seen as an entitlement.

If you would like members of the state board to discuss these issues with you, we would be glad to do so.

Sincerely,

William J. Mathis, Ph.D.

Chair, Legislative Committee

Vermont State Board of Education

wmathis@sover.net

(802) 383-0058

ISTE Standards Refresh 2016

ISTE Standards Refresh 2016

Audience: Educators, School Leaders, Technology Coordinators
Put Vermont on the map with your review and comments for the new International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) standards Refresh project. The ISTE has developed Standards for Education Technology, of which the last round, in 2009, the State Board of Education endorsed as a basis for our standards work in Vermont. The new standards are in draft form and comments are being taken through a survey tool into March 2016. Stay tuned for a Vermont session on this topic via webinar being planned for late January or early February 2016.
Contact: Peter Drescher at (802) 479-1169 or peter.drescher@vermont.gov

VT AOE Seeks Input on High School Assessment

AOE Seeks Input on High School Assessment

Audience: Educators, Administrators, Parents, Students, Community Members
The Agency of Education is inviting interested individuals to complete a survey that will help the Agency select the best approach to assessment for Vermont’s high school students. The survey requests input relative to two key questions: 1) should the Agency replace the Smarter Balanced Assessment with a college admissions exam such as the ACT or the SAT and 2) when making this decision, how much weight should the Agency place on each of several specific factors related to assessment cost, content, purpose and use? The survey, which should only take a few minutes to complete, can be accessed here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WZC3W6W. Learn more about the High School Assessment survey.
Contact: Michael Hock, State Assessment Director, at (802) 479-1288 or michael.hock@vermont.gov

Qualities of an Effective School Leader

(The post below comes from Issue # 618 of The Marshall Memo, an EXCELLENT resource for educators)

“A teacher affects eternity,” says Adam Rohdie (Greenwich Country Day School) in this article in Independent School paying tribute to his mentor and friend, John Hanly, who was battling Parkinson’s disease. Just before Hanly went into hospice care, Rohdie asked him for a list of the ten most important qualities to look for in a school principal. “He, of course, gave me 14!” says Rohdie. They are:

-   A passion for education, a respect for and love of teachers, and a delight in students;

-   An eye for potential in others – being able to spot a diamond in the rough;

-   The ability to stay cool under pressure;

-   The confidence to say, “I don’t know the answer to the problem that you raise; I’ll have to think about it.”

-   Willingness to share the credit but to shoulder the blame;

-   The ability to motivate and build a team;

-   The ability to inspire trust;

-   Genuine delight in the success of the people who work with you;

-   The discernment to know when to let someone go and when to give that person a second chance;

-   The willingness to be thin-skinned at times in order to sense the pulse of the school; the strength to be thick-skinned at times in order not to overreact to criticism;

-   Solid judgment based on experience, thoughtfulness, personal integrity, courage, and compassion;

-   Engagement in life and all of its complexities, frustrations, and joys;

-   The ability to take the long-term view, to distinguish what is important from what is merely urgent;

-   Discretion, balance, and perspective.

“Touching Eternity” by Adam Rohdie in Independent School, Winter 2016 (Vol. 75, #2, p. 12, 14), no e-link available