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Khan Academy Will Be Ready For Its Close-Up In Idaho
theodp writes "Education officials with Northwest Nazarene University and the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation say they are arranging to have Khan Academy classes tested in about two dozen public schools next fall in Idaho, where state law now requires high school students to take online courses for two of their 47 graduation credits. 'This is the first time Khan Academy is partnering to tackle the math education of an entire state,' said Khan Academy's Maureen Suhendra. Alas, the Idaho Press-Tribune reports (alas, behind a paywall) that next fall would be too late for film director and producer Davis Guggenheim (Waiting for Superman, An Inconvenient Truth), who will be in Idaho in January filming The Great Teacher Project, a documentary which will highlight positives of education, like the Khan Academy pilot in Idaho. Not to worry. For the film, a few teachers will implement Khan Academy in day-to-day teaching starting in January, before the entire pilot program launches in fall 2013."
So they can demonstrate competency and commitment in acquiring knowledge and meeting objectives via a computer? Hell if it can just gird them to deal with Pearson's wonderful online software then it's a requirement well met, imho.
On the Oregon Cost born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days
My brother is a math teacher who convinced the board of his school system to let him try it in two of his classes. Now the entire school system is moving to Khan for the math program.
The major change in his teaching format is that learning a new concept is now homework (through Khan Academy), rather than him droning on about it in class. Then every morning he gets a report for each student and can see who did well and who didn't. That allows him to concentrate on the students that didn't get the concept in class. Overall he has seen a major improvement in the class as a whole since fewer kids get left without a good understanding of the fundamental concepts.
I'm from Idaho, this article is misleading. The laws that were to require students to take classes online were overturned by voter initiatives last November.
The majority of people in Idaho live in or around the Boise area you ignorant fuck. We're not all hillbillies. I'm not saying that our legislature doesn't comprise a good portion of ignorant hicks doing what ignorant hicks do, but there are some sensible people here too trying to get somethings changed for the better, especially for our children. It's just really hard to do when you have a republican stranglehold on EVERY conceivable state government outlet.
I got here through a series of tubes
Husband of an Idaho teacher. Not specifically an attempt to destroy the unions but was designed to take some of their power away. Lay off teachers? Doubtful. A way of rewarding for doing well? Yes, we received a $3,500 bonus from the pay for performance. How? She is a younger teacher that embraced technology and even with it being her first year she had a higher average GPA in her classes than the others, her class' test scores were higher, and in the math competitions students from her classes dominated their divisions, even stomped other students from the same school. Overall her students enjoyed math more than the other classes in her school. She has been using Khan Academy as supplementary material in her classes and her school already has 1 macbook for every 4 students and will soon be purchasing many more iPads because of a grant she submitted for. They have paid for much of their technology through donations or grants and are on the verge of getting rid of physical text books because of what my wife has shown. People get scared of new things, its a habit of humanity, why not embrace the changes and enjoy them?