Archive for April, 2010
Founded in 2003, iNACOL (The International Association for K-12 Online Learning) is a non-profit organization that focuses on online learning. As an independent organization, the iNACOL works with administrators, teachers and students around the globe to improve the quality of online education services. Since there is such as overwhelming amount of information now available, it is important to have a systematic system that identifies and disseminates quality, relevant research.
In addition to promoting the sharing of information, the iNACOL is committed to expanding the scope of internet education and developing programs in new countries. Although the organization originally started in Mexico, Canada and the US, their efforts have expanded to the global marketplace.
MetaMetrics has developed a free site which allows us to develop individualized programs for all children.
Who has access to the MetaMetrics site?
1.Teachers of any grade, any subject, from any where in US or internationally for that matter as long as they are teaching in the English language.
2.Parents who have their child’s Lexile score or a good idea of their child’s reading ability and interests. Parents anywhere, anytime can access this site, meaning military families on the go have access.
3.The CHILDREN themselves. How empowering is that!
Where can the child’s Lexile score be found?
1.Many state assessments now report back reading ability in Lexiles.
2.Some norm-referenced or achievement assessments taken in schools including:
a. CTB/ McGraw-Hill: TerraNova, Tests of Adult Basic Education, b. Pearson: The Stanford 9, Stanford 10, MAT 8 and Aprenda 3 (Spanish language test of academic standards,
c. Educational Records Bureau: ERB: Comprehensive Testing Program, 4th Edition,
d. Riverside Publishing: The Iowa Tests, Gates-McGinitie Reading Test,
e. DIBELS,
f. Measured Progress: PTS3,
g. Northwest Evalutation Association: Measures of Academic Progress (MAP)
What tools that are available to us?
1.Find a Book: The teacher, parent or child enters their Lexile measurement or lexile range, books of interest or using key words, and then search. You will be given a reading list to review. The program gives you the option to a) add to “my reading list”, b) use WorldCat to ind the books at a local library using your zip code, or c) buy it from Barnes & Noble which has lexiled their books.
2.Lexile Analyzer: You are required to register for this tool but it is free. This tool allows you to scan in up to 1000 words of material from a book, magazine, newspaper, etc. and get a lexile read. You are able to upgrade to measure longer text if you are an educator. There is both an English and Spanish analyzer.
3.The Lexile Database contains measures over 10,000 books from hundreds of publishers. There are separate databases for English and Spanish titles. You must sign a license agreement with them before they give you access to download.
4.The Lexile map places examples of popular books and text on the Lexile scale as a reference guide for what a Lexile measure means. This can be downloaded in English or Spanish.
5.MetaMetrics partners with the nation’s largest periodical database services. This means that you can get Lexile measures for newspaper and magazine articles, as well as encyclopedia and reference content. A few of these are:
a. EBSCO Publishing: leading provider of online resources for schools.
b. Grolier Online: Fully integrated database collection with age appropriate learning environments.
c. NetTrekker: Fast, easy access to educational resources from the entie Internet organized and standards-aligned.
It would be time well spent to explore their site and learn for yourself how Lexiles can change your approach to lesson planning as a teacher, reading and working with your child as a parent in the know, and taking charge of your own learning as a student.
Mistacres School provides indivualized programs
to their students . They do this by using the Lexile.The Lexile Framework for Reading is a standard measurement which allows us to match the reader to the text. It was developed by an organization called MetaMetrics. They recognized that grade and age was not the way to determine a child’s ability to understand text. They compare it to going into a store to buy shoes. The child walks in and the sales clerk asks him his age. He states he is 12. The sales clerk goes in and brings out a rack of shoes labelled “12 year olds”. The boy looks at the shoes and at his feet – that they don’t match.
http://www.youtube.com/metametrics
We don’t buy things by our age – we buy by who we are, what we need, what fits us. Then why to we teach that way. A child who is 12, in 6th grade is determined to be at a certain level. That child is given textbooks and materials for that grade level. And who determines the content of the material? Textbook publishers that haven’t a clue how to differentiate material.
Many years ago I taught a reading class at a local college. At that time I also worked in a public school with learning disabled students. I took into the class a dilemma. A 7th grade science teacher came in frusrated and threw down her science text. “I don’t know what to do with your students. Even when I get a textbook written especially for slow learners they still don’t get it. They’re just to stupid to understand and you need to fix it.”
Back in those days, teachers used various methods based on a formula of number of sentences, length of the sentences, words and characters in the sentence, etc. It meant graphing out the text of a number of samples in the book to come up with a grade level for the text. I copied various pages from te book and distributed them to the students. There task, to determine the grade level of this book labeled, “Adapted for the Handicapped Student”. What they found shocked them. This “adapted” text was written on a level that ranged from 11th grade to 1st year college. And the students were “just to dumb to get it”?
But those days SHOULD be over. The Lexile has allowed us to put children on a universal scale. When we drive from state to state, we know what 35 mph means. Just because we change states doesn’t mean that the measurement changes. However, when a child moves from school to school, much less state to state, the way their reading skills are measured differ. Their Lexile score is the same regardless of where they go to school and it is immediately usable. It is this measurement that allows us to ensure a “good fit” . It helps us select reading material that meets and challenges each student’s ability. More important, it is a powerful tool for matching instruction in content areas to the reader which leads to individual achievement and SUCCESS. Using Lexiles, teachers can connect students with instructional resources that match their reading abilities. And it isn’t just fiction and nonfiction books that are Lexiled. The list of textbooks, periodicals and Web sites with Lexile measures grows every day.
While we all know that homeschooling is educating a child or children at home, the motivations for home schooling are not always as clear. There are several reasons for it:
1. Religion cited as a factor in their choice;
2. Poor or unsafe learning environment;
3. Objections to school curriculum;
4. Being over or under challenged at school;
5. Drugs, sexual harassment, bullying and negative peer-pressure.
Other reasons often cited are; more flexibility in the educational curriculum, more available times and days, better individualized support for children with learning disabilities, more consistent academics for children of missionaries, military families, or parents that travel as part of their career.
Let’s face it, public education isn’t as reliable as it used to be, and children in public school tend to be under enormous peer pressure, which can distract from the actual learning. Homeschooling is a practical choice to ensure that your child receives the best education. In addition, there are all kinds of teaching resources out there for parents who want to consider homeschooling for their child, including supplemental education services. Homeschooling is becoming quite practical, and there are now programs in certain states that help parents who want to homeschool their child even up to college, and ensure that the child is able to enter college with a high school diploma or accreditation.
When homeschooling, it’s important to maintain a regular schedule, because public school is about more than education, it’s about getting into a routine. Children who learn to keep to a schedule while being homeschooled will carry valuable time management skills with them later in life.