Ed Links Brain Stuff Edition (II)

Brain Mechanisms Of Social ConformityNew research reveals the brain activity that underlies our tendency to "follow the crowd." The study provides intriguing insight into how human behavior can be guided by the perceived behavior of other individuals. Evolution Of New Brain Area Enables Complex MovementsA...

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A Super Start to Our Film Series

reposted from my dean's blog, originally published 1/31/11A.G. RudSponsoring a film series is a bit of an experiment for our college. Based on the first presentation, I predict it will be a success. Our goal is to address educational issues affecting children, families, schools and communities.“Waiting...

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Reading and Action Meet in the Brain

A new brain-imaging study is shedding light on what it means to "get lost" in a good book — suggesting that readers create vivid mental simulations of the sounds, sights, tastes and movements described in a textual narrative while simultaneously activating brain regions used to process similar experiences...

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Save Our Schools March - who we are, part 1.

Last Sunday, January 23, I introduced you to Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action, where I told you that For the future of our children, we demand the following . . . * Equitable funding for all public school communities * An end to high stakes testing for student, teacher,...

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Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action

Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action For the future of our children, we demand the following . . . * Equitable funding for all public school communities * An end to high stakes testing for student, teacher, and school evaluation * Teacher and community leadership in forming...

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Why Great Teachers Quit: And How We Might Stop the Exodus

If teachers, parents, school boards, administrators, community members, and lawmakers can listen to each other and work on this problem together, we can lessen the tide of teacher attrition, ultimately improving the learning and working environment in schools for everyone. (p. 156)Those are the final...

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Mario Small Responds

Dear all,Considering the visibility of the Boston Review piece---and given its numerous distortions and misrepresentations---I think it's important for people to read the original paper themselves and arrive at their own conclusions. The Boston Review piece is threatening to set the discussion...

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The Poverty of Culture of Poverty Arguments

Note: See Mario Small's Response here.Poor Reason: Culture Still Doesn’t Explain Poverty, by Stephen Steinberg Indeed, the comeback of the culture of poverty, albeit in new rhetorical guise, signifies a reversion to the status quo ante: to the discourses and concomitant policy agenda that existed before...

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Arne Duncan on School Reform

On many issues, Democrats and Republicans agree, starting with the fact that no one likes how NCLB labels schools as failures, even when they are making broad gains. Parents, teachers, and lawmakers want a system that measures not just an arbitrary level of proficiency, but student growth and school...

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