1,659 results on '"Olson, Lynn"'
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2. Letters
- Author
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M’Bow, Amadou-Mahtar, Topper, David R., Goler, Robert I., Olson, Lynn, Zajec, Edward, Morgan, Robert C., Fisher, John, Goldman, James A., Hurwitz, Al, Emmer, Michele, Rauschenbach, Boris V., Wells, Alan, Goodman, Nelson, and Viora, Jean-Louis
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- 2017
3. Comments
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Lankford, Hamilton and Olson, Lynn
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- 2004
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4. How Can Learning Management Systems Be Used Effectively to Improve Student Engagement?
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Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) and Olson, Lynn
- Abstract
This paper summarizes findings from a consensus panel on using data from learning management systems and software to help educators understand and improve student engagement during remote instruction. Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) convened a group of researchers, practitioners, and technology and curriculum providers to explore how learning management systems and courseware, as well as student information systems, could help provide teachers and school systems with data to better measure student engagement and learning--both in the short term and in the future--with the goal of better supporting students. The panel concluded: (1) Learning software and platforms that many districts use already provide a host of data on students' access to technology, participation in learning, and even aspects of the learning environment. But stand-alone data points are hard to make sense of; most districts lack the data systems and technical capacity to integrate data across multiple sources and software platforms to place specific data points in context. Data on students' assignment completion rate is more meaningful and actionable when combined with information on students' prior performance, technology and internet access, and household conditions; (2) To make data accessible and actionable, districts need more consistent routines around data retrieval, analysis, and reporting. Platforms can help districts by surfacing the right data at the right time and presenting it in simple, teacher-friendly dashboards; and (3) Technology and education leaders alike have creative ideas about new features and data that would further advance our understanding of students' engagement in learning. Technology firms are eager to build more functional tools for users but they need both guidance and coordination from the field to build solutions that work for more than a single use in a single school system. Tech providers should codesign such solutions with the ultimate end users: educators and school system leaders.
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- 2021
5. Putting Families at the Center: The Role of Parent Advocacy Groups during COVID-19
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Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE), Olson, Lynn, and Heyward, Georgia
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As school systems nationwide struggle to deliver learning in a pandemic, parent advocacy groups are stepping up to help Black and Hispanic families who have often been left out of previous education policy making discussions. This brief profiles four advocacy groups--The Oakland REACH; Parents Amplifying Voices in Education, or PAVE; Kids First Chicago; and Parent Revolution--that have been particularly effective in devising bold solutions during the current crisis. The work of these groups offers critical lessons for supporting families to lead change during the pandemic and beyond, including: (1) Don't wait for a crisis to develop relationships with families; (2) Help families navigate the complex system of educational experiences in their city; (3) Create feedback loops with families to keep abreast of their most pressing concerns; (4) Equip families with the skills and power to elevate their concerns and craft solutions; and (5) Push the system while offering solutions.
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- 2020
6. A Shifting Landscape for State Testing
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Olson, Lynn
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Last spring's sudden shift to remote learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted K-12 education in an unprecedented way. Upon Education Secretary Betsy DeVos's waiver of federally mandated state testing for spring 2020, it also triggered the first nationwide break in state testing in half a century. With students returning to school for the 2020-21 school year, state boards of education will need to get a handle on exactly where students are in their learning in order to target resources and support. States also will need to restart annual assessments mandated by the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in order to track progress over time, particularly for vulnerable subgroups of students. Yet even before the pandemic, two recent FutureEd reports found that state testing systems were already in transition. A national analysis by FutureEd found that between 2014 and 2019, lawmakers in 36 states passed legislation to respond to concerns about overtesting, including by reducing testing in a variety of ways. That trend is likely to continue, as opponents to standardized testing eye the coronavirus crisis as an opportunity to leverage more cuts--and even end state testing entirely. At the same time, interest is growing in innovations that could make state testing systems more useful for teachers and students by moving away from a single, end-of-year test to more frequent assessments that better reflect classroom curriculum and instruction. As state boards think about the right questions to ask about testing in order to make smart decisions moving forward, it is important to understand the history of state summative assessment in the United States, the increasing fragmentation of the state testing landscape, and the larger political context.
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- 2020
7. Learning as We Go: Principles for Effective Assessment during the COVID-19 Pandemic
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Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE), Lake, Robin, and Olson, Lynn
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This paper summarizes the findings from a panel of assessment experts on diagnostic assessments and their role in helping educators and parents support student learning. Teachers, schools, and school systems will face unprecedented challenges when schools eventually reopen after pandemic-related closures. One of the central challenges will be figuring out how to meet the individual needs of students who had dramatically different experiences while schools were shuttered, and who will need dramatically different academic and nonacademic interventions and supports as schooling resumes this fall. Parents, too, will need reliable information to advocate for their children, and--if needed--to continue their education at home. Many stakeholders have recognized the likely value of diagnostic assessments in providing this information, yet others question the quality of the information existing assessments yield for diagnosing individual student needs and have expressed concern about the potential loss of instructional time and the over-remediation of students. The panel's task was to advise the field on the state of diagnostic testing: which types of assessment are best used for what purposes. [This report was prepared as part of the Evidence Project at CPRE.]
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- 2020
8. Networks Forge a Path to School Improvement
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Olson, Lynn
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Continuous improvement methods, widely used in fields such as medicine, can help educators identify and try out adjustments in practice, known as "change ideas," which contribute to better outcomes and more equitable systems for students. Since 2018, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has invested in 24 organizations across the United States to support networks of schools to use continuous improvement methods to advance equity in education -- with the specific aim to increase the number of Black and Latino students and students experiencing poverty who earn a high school diploma, enroll in college, and are on track for college success. This article discusses how the Networks for School Improvement support educators to use data to adapt research- and evidence-based practices to their specific contexts through cycles of continuous inquiry.
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- 2023
9. School-Community Partnerships: Joining Forces to Support the Learning and Development of All Students
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Aspen Institute, National Commission on Social, Emotional, & Academic Development (NCSEAD) and Olson, Lynn A.
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The third case study from the Aspen Institute National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development discusses the role community partners can play in supporting children's learning in collaboration with schools. "School-Community Partnerships: Joining Forces to Support the Learning and Development of All Students" cites key examples of school-community partnerships, highlighting the Tacoma Whole Child Initiative in particular which takes a city-wide approach to this work, joining everyone from the mayor's office to the local Boys and Girls Club in support of children's learning. The case study features other examples from across the country including the AfterZone program in Providence, Rhode Island which coordinates between 50 and 70 community-based organizations to provide after-school programming for middle school students, the Student Success Network in New York City which connects organizations to collect data and identify and share best practices to ensure students have the social and emotional skills they need to succeed in life, and Communities in Schools of Central Texas which brings resources and relationships from across the metro-Austin area to school campuses. [For the first case study, "Putting It All Together," see ED577045. For the second case study, "Supporting the Whole Teacher," see ED585624.]
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- 2018
10. High-Deductible Health Plans for US Children: Trends, Health Service Use, and Financial Barriers to Care
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Larson, Kandyce, Gottschlich, Elizabeth A., Cull, William L., and Olson, Lynn M.
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- 2021
- Full Text
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11. The Path to Instructional Excellence and Equitable Outcomes
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Learning Forward and Olson, Lynn
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This report explores District of Columbia Public Schools' innovative approach to supporting teaching instruction, called Learning Together to Advance our Practice, or LEAP. LEAP is based on research that has found the most effective professional learning is school-based and content-specific, grounded in the instructional materials and strategies that teachers will use with their students. It is based on the belief that, by establishing a clear vision for instructional excellence across a district grounded in standards-aligned curriculum and giving teachers a safe space in which to learn and collaborate, students will experience less variability in expectations and the quality of instruction from classroom to classroom, grade to grade, and school to school.
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- 2019
12. High-Quality Curricula and Team-Based Professional Learning: A Perfect Partnership for Equity
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Learning Forward and Olson, Lynn
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This report explores the premise that there's nothing more powerful than great teachers skillfully using great instructional materials to motivate and engage students in their learning. Three real-world examples illustrate how schools and school systems are working to support teachers to skillfully use high-quality, standards-aligned curricula, by providing teachers with the time and expertise to use those curricula well, with a focus on team-based, collaborative learning. The report also provides lessons learned across these sites and action steps to get schools and districts started on the journey.
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- 2018
13. Changing Trends of Childhood Disability, 2001–2011
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Houtrow, Amy J, Larson, Kandyce, Olson, Lynn M, Newacheck, Paul W, and Halfon, Neal
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Pediatric ,Basic Behavioral and Social Science ,Mental Health ,Behavioral and Social Science ,Aetiology ,2.4 Surveillance and distribution ,Good Health and Well Being ,Quality Education ,Adolescent ,Child ,Child ,Preschool ,Databases ,Factual ,Disabled Children ,Female ,Health Services Needs and Demand ,Health Surveys ,Humans ,Infant ,Infant ,Newborn ,Male ,disability ,sociodemographic ,disparities ,activity limitations ,children ,Medical and Health Sciences ,Psychology and Cognitive Sciences ,Pediatrics - Abstract
BackgroundOver the past half century the prevalence of childhood disability increased dramatically, coupled with notable increases in the prevalence of mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions. This study provides a detailed assessment of recent trends in childhood disability in relation to health conditions and sociodemographic factors.MethodsSecondary data analysis of National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) datasets 2001-2002, 2004-2005, 2007-2008, and 2010-2011 (N = 198888) was conducted to calculate the prevalence, rate of change, severity, and sociodemographic disparities of parent-reported childhood disability.ResultsThe prevalence of childhood disability has continued to increase, growing by 15.6% between 2001-2002 and 2010-2011. Nearly 6 million children were considered disabled in 2010-2011. Children living in poverty experienced the highest rates of disability, 102.6 cases per 1000 population in 2010-2011, but unexpectedly, children living in households with incomes ≥ 400% above the federal poverty level experienced the largest increase (28.4%) over this 10-year period. The percentage of disability cases related to any physical health condition declined 11.8% during the decade, whereas cases related to any neurodevelopmental or mental health condition increased by 20.9%.ConclusionsOver the past decade, parent-reported childhood disability steadily increased. As childhood disability due to physical conditions declined, there was a large increase in disabilities due to neurodevelopmental or mental health problems. For the first time since the NHIS began tracking childhood disability in 1957, the rise in reported prevalence is disproportionately occurring among socially advantaged families. This unexpected finding highlights the need to better understand the social, medical, and environmental factors influencing parent reports of childhood disability.
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- 2014
14. Precocious Readers: Past, Present, and Future
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Olson, Lynn A., Evans, James R., and Keckler, Wade T.
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Precocious readers represent a small portion of children who enter school each year. Researchers have investigated the environmental characteristics, acquisition process, psycholinguistic and neuropsychological characteristics, and academic skills of these children. Despite the research findings in the area, researchers and clinicians are still unable to predict who these children will be, describe how precocious readers fit into our current theories of emergent literacy and reading development, and confidently state whether this knowledge could be generalized beyond the precocious reader to the typically reading child. Forty years of research in this area is reviewed. Suggestions for improving the accessibility and generalizability of knowledge about precocious readers are provided. (Contains 2 tables.)
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- 2006
15. Children of Change. 2000 & Beyond: The Changing Face of American Schools.
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Editorial Projects in Education, Inc., Washington, DC. and Olson, Lynn
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This issue begins a five-part series that uses demographic projections as the starting point for examining some of the forces that will shape public education in the years ahead. It provides an overview of broad demographic trends, including the growing number of school-age youngsters, the increasing diversity of the student population, and the large number of children still living in poverty. After "Children of Change: Overview," the report discusses "School-Age 'Milleni-boom' Predicted for Next 100 Years"; "Minority Groups to Emerge as a Majority in U.S. Schools"; "Mixed Needs of Immigrants Pose Challenges for Schools"; and "High Poverty among Young Makes Schools' Jobs Harder." Each section includes a variety of charts on such issues as: population trends; minority populations on the rise; the new minority (non-Hispanic whites); the largest foreign-born populations in the United States; where immigrants are settling; parents' education levels; child poverty by state; children in working-poor families; and child poverty by race and ethnicity. (SM)
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- 2000
16. Can Your Students Spell Millennium?
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Olson, Lynn Olltmanns
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Spelling is a developmental process that fits naturally within the writing process. It is supported through quality phonics instruction and phonemic awareness activities, and requires the use of multiple modalities which students say, write, and look at words while they are learning to spell. There are common myths that are associated with spelling like "people who cannot spell are ignorant," and "spelling errors should not be tolerated". Teachers should make spelling part of the whole curriculum where expectations are based on each child's development, de-emphasizing correctedness, memorization, and writing mechanics. Spelling is a constructive developmental process in which patterns of stage progression are required. Invented spelling should be encouraged and celebrated, and teachers need to respond to children's writing in a written form to help them discover more about conventional writing. Spelling should be presented in a supportive and motivational manner, showing children how correct spelling is necessary to convey a message in print. (AA)
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- 2000
17. Routine Assessment of Family and Community Health Risks: Parent Views and What They Receive
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Kogan, Michael D., Schuster, Mark A., Yu, Stella M., Park, Christina H., Olson, Lynn M., Inkelas, Moira, Bethnell, Christina, Chung, Paul J., and Halfon, Neal
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OBJECTIVE: To examine the prevalence of parent–provider discussions of family and community health risks during well-child visits and the gaps between which issues are discussed and which issues parents would like to discuss.METHODS: Data came from the National Survey of Early Childhood Health, a nationally representative sample of parents of 2068 children aged 4 to 35 months. The outcome measures were 1) the reported discussions with pediatric clinicians about 7 family and community health risks and 2) whether the parent believes that pediatric clinicians should ask parents about each risk.RESULTS: Most parents believe that pediatric providers should discuss topics such as smoking in the household, financial difficulties, and emotional support available to the parent. However, with the exception of “household smoking,” fewer than half of parents have been asked about these topics by their child’s clinician. Parents of black and Hispanic children were more likely than parents of white children to be asked about several of these issues, as were parents of the youngest children and those with publicly financed health insurance. The greatest gap between parents’ views and their reports of discussion with the clinician occur for parents of white children and older children. Among parents who hold the view that a topic should be discussed, parents of white and older children are less likely than others to report discussing some or all family and community health risks.CONCLUSION: The low frequency of discussions for many topics indicates potential unmet need. More universal surveillance of parents with young children might ensure that needs are not missed, particularly given that strong majorities of parents view family and community topics, with the exception of community violence, as appropriate for discussion in clinic visits.
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- 2004
18. Pediatricians Working Part-Time Has Plateaued
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Cull, William L., Frintner, Mary Pat, O'Connor, Karen G., and Olson, Lynn M.
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- 2016
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19. Location of Usual Source of Care among Children and Adolescents in the United States, 1997-2013
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Simon, Alan E., Rossen, Lauren M., Schoendorf, Kenneth C., Larson, Kandyce, and Olson, Lynn M.
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- 2015
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20. Teachers Connect 'with' Technology: Online Tools Build New Pathways to Collaboration
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Phillips, Vicki L. and Olson, Lynn
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Teachers, curriculum experts, and other educators work together using online tools developed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to create high-quality, useful lessons and research-based instructional tools incorporating the Common Core State Standards.
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- 2013
21. Critical Intellectuals on Writing
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Gary A. Olson, Lynn Worsham, Gary A. Olson, Lynn Worsham and Gary A. Olson, Lynn Worsham, Gary A. Olson, Lynn Worsham
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- 2010
22. When 'Unequal' Is Fair Treatment
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Olson, Lynn
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When Jerry D. Weast became the superintendent of the Montgomery County, Maryland, public schools in 1999, he spent the summer poring over student-achievement results and demographic trends. Then he created a map to illustrate what he'd found. The map divided the suburban district, just outside the nation's capital, into two distinct areas, which he dubbed the "red zone" and the "green zone." Most poor, minority, and English-language learners lived in the red zone, an urbanized core that was attracting a growing immigrant population. The green zone was predominantly white, affluent, and English-speaking. Academic performance closely mirrored the demographic trends, with the lowest-performing schools overwhelmingly concentrated in the red zone. Without swift and deliberate action, the district faced the prospect of becoming split in two, divided by opportunity. To Mr. Weast, the solution was obvious. Montgomery County needed a differentiated strategy that funneled extra attention and resources to schools in the red zone, while increasing academic rigor for everyone. Since then, Montgomery County's leaders have maintained a delicate balance between "raising the bar and closing the gap" that has enabled the nation's 16th-largest school district to narrow achievement gaps while retaining the support of wealthier, highly educated parents. But as the district moves onto the much tougher shoals of middle school reform, that balance could be sorely tested.
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- 2008
23. More Power to Schools
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Olson, Lynn
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After a period of top-down control under the mayor, the New York City system is freeing schools to run their own affairs--and holding them accountable for results. This fall, for the first time, each of the district's 1,456 public schools gained unprecedented control over budgetary and instructional decisions that previously resided with the central office. That decision making includes the power to select a school-support organization to meet their needs, rather than taking what the central office delivers. In exchange, the city's department of education this month released "progress reports" that grade every school from A to F, based primarily on the test-score growth of their students over time. Successful schools will get additional dollars, while unsuccessful ones can be closed and replaced with new schools. The goal is to stimulate innovation, dynamism, and differentiation--something one does not hear about in public education. The push to empower schools reflects a sharp departure from the first few years of Chancellor Joel I. Klein and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's school reform strategy, known as Children First.
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- 2007
24. A National View
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Olson, Lynn
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When Arthur Levine, then the president of Teachers College at Columbia University, wrote a scathing report in 2005 on the preparation of American school leaders, the one institution he singled out as a "promising model" was not even in the United States. This article describes England's National College for School Leadership. Created by the government of then-Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1998, with the mission of "every child in a well-led school, every leader a learner," the college was designed to modernize the way school leaders are developed and supported at every stage of their careers, and to elevate their status. Located in Nottingham in a state-of-the-art conference facility, with soaring glass windows overlooking a lake, the college is a free-standing institution, independent of any university and almost wholly funded by the government. The focus is on developing individuals who can lead instructional improvement in their schools by drawing on both research and practice, aligned with the country's national standards. One of the college's key responsibilities is the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH). Introduced in 1997 to prepare candidates for the headship, or principalship, and underpinned by a set of national standards, the credential will become mandatory for all newly appointed head teachers by April 2009. In addition to the NPQH, the college offers programs for teachers who are just beginning to take on leadership roles, school business managers, school teams wishing to improve their effectiveness, and experienced heads who want to exercise leadership beyond their own schools.
- Published
- 2007
25. Getting Serious about Preparation
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Olson, Lynn
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For decades, preservice training for principals looked something like this: While working as teachers, they took occasional courses at an education school on such topics as school finance, law, and educational theory. After a few years, they completed a culminating field assignment, which might have involved shadowing their own principals. Then candidates applied for jobs in administration. This article describes the shift in the forms of principal preparation. The focus is less on creating efficient managers than on preparing individuals who can lead a school to higher student achievement. Would-be principals now go through their courses of study in a predetermined order, and in cohorts with others in the same program. Seminars build upon one another to produce candidates who know how to analyze instruction, create learning opportunities for teachers, and strategize about how to move a school forward based on data. Field experiences start early and involve the actual exercise of leadership in a school building. Additionally, districts are taking on a larger role in shaping school leadership, from who gets admitted to training programs to how they are mentored and evaluated. The reasons for the shift are clear. The push for unprecedented levels of improvement in student performance, epitomized by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, requires a different kind of leadership: focused on instruction and achievement. The Southern Regional Education Board, which represents 16 states, urges states to adopt rigorous, well-defined standards for school leaders; provide a curriculum framework to guide program redesign; create an external process for auditing the quality of program curricula; and strengthen accountability for results, including measures of graduates' on-the-job performance and the achievement of students in their schools.
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- 2007
26. Inside the 'Long Beach Way'
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Olson, Lynn
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This article features Long Beach Unified School District, the 2003 winner of a prestigious prize in urban education. The district of more than 90,000 students is the first winner of the award to return to the competition as a finalist. Its reappearance on the list after earning the prize in 2003 raises interesting questions about how districts sustain and deepen school improvement over time. Located in Southern California, adjacent to Los Angeles, Long Beach is a heavily industrialized port city with a student population that's highly diverse. Under the leadership of former Superintendent Carl Cohn, who led the district from 1992 to 2002, Long Beach made impressive gains in its elementary and middle schools. During his tenure, the district adopted a standards-based curriculum-and-assessment system, forged a strong partnership with local colleges and universities, and enacted a mandatory school uniform policy in grades K-8. It also ended social promotion in key grades and required all students to be able to read by the end of 3rd grade. When Mr. Cohn retired, the school board did not follow the typical pattern of looking for a high-profile outsider. Instead, it unanimously selected Christopher Steinhauser, a self-described "poster child" for the district. Now in his 26th year in the school system, Mr. Steinhauser grew up in the city, attended the public schools and the local institutions of higher education, and began his career as a teacher's aide at Signal Hill Elementary School. He worked closely with Mr. Cohn for a dozen years, first as the district's director of special projects--heading up many of the new K-8 initiatives--and then as a deputy superintendent. Far from jettisoning the earlier reform efforts, Mr. Steinhauser has built on them, taking some of the same strategies and tools that have worked in the elementary and middle schools and pushing them up into the high schools.
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- 2007
27. Instant Read on Reading, in Palms of Their Hands
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Olson, Lynn
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This article discusses teachers' use of hand-held computers in a rural New Mexico district to assess student's reading progress. With the help of a federal Reading First grant, the district began using the DIBELS assessments across its elementary schools along with the mCLASS: DIBELS assessment and reporting system. The district's experience helps illustrate the ways educators can use one popular assessment tool to better inform and shape classroom teaching and learning--a concept often labeled "formative assessment." The assessments include thrice-yearly benchmark tests to help screen and group students, as well as more-frequent, one-minute "progress monitoring" measures. Those measures track youngsters' responses to instruction on a particular literacy skill, such as initial sound fluency, phoneme segmentation, reading of nonsense words, or oral-reading fluency. Using the mCLASS: DIBELS assessment system, developed by Wireless Generation, a for-profit company based in New York City, teachers are able to give and record DIBELS results on hand-held computers and get instant feedback. Teachers can then upload the results to the Wireless Generation Web site to track class, school, and district performance over time using online reports.
- Published
- 2007
28. Framing the Debate
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Olson, Lynn and Hoff, David J.
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The No Child Left Behind Act is slated to be reauthorized in 2007, and both President Bush and the leaders of the incoming Democratic-controlled Congress have signaled their interest in keeping renewal of the law on schedule. Many observers expect the debate over renewing the law--which itself was a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, first passed in 1965--to touch on at least a half-dozen other big ideas for changes. Those themes include proposals for national academic standards; accountability models that measure students' learning growth; testing and achievement targets for special populations, such as students with disabilities and English-language learners; revisions in the sanctions for schools that miss their performance targets; greater accountability for high schools; and more attention to teacher quality. These ideas are discussed in this article.
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- 2006
29. States Push to Align Policies from Pre-K to Postsecondary
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Olson, Lynn
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Faced with stiffer economic competition and worried about the skills of their future workforces, many states are trying to connect education from preschool through postsecondary so that more students are prepared for further study, work, and citizenship. In the past decade, 30 states have created what are often called "P-16" councils or initiatives designed to increase collaboration across those levels of education, according to the Denver-based Education Commission of the States. In most states, the governance, finance, data, and accountability systems for pre-K-12 and higher education have largely operated separately, with different legislative committees, governing boards, and state agencies. That divide, policy experts say, has contributed to a maze of disconnected policies and practices that is hard for young people and their families to navigate. It is also wasted taxpayer dollars, such as when the public pays for students to relearn material in college that should have been mastered in high school.
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- 2006
30. Ambiguity about Preparation for Workforce Clouds Efforts to Equip Students for Future
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Olson, Lynn
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Preparing students to succeed in the workforce is increasingly seen as a key to global competitiveness. But employers aren't sending clear-cut answers on what young people need to know and be able to do on the job. In efforts to obtain information about workforce readiness, various agencies sent out surveys to various employers. One such agency is the New York City-based Conference Board which sent out a survey to some 10,000 human-resource and training executives to ask them what knowledge and skills their companies are looking for in recent job entrants. (Contains 3 graphs and 1 photograph.)
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- 2006
31. Views Differ on Defining College Prep: How to Gauge Readiness Sparks Vexing Questions
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Olson, Lynn
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This article presents different views by various professors on the issue of college readiness. Also discussed are the problems encountered by students as a part of college readiness. The discussion stems from a set of alarming statistics about college-completion rates. While nearly three-fourths of recent high school graduates enter some form of postsecondary education, far too many of those who start college never finish. One reason for the concern about college readiness is the large proportion of high school graduates who end up taking remedial courses for which they earn no credit. Here, the author describes studies and programs that have begun to follow high school graduates into college to look at the factors that contribute to students' success. (Contains 2 tables.)
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- 2006
32. Economic Trends Fuel Push to Retool Schooling. Leaders Want Tighter Links to Workplace, College Skills
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Olson, Lynn
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With an urgency not seen in decades, policy leaders concerned about America's global competitiveness and widening income gaps within U.S. society are propelling issues of academic and workforce preparation to the forefront of the nation's education policy debates. Worried that current expectations and structure are ill suited to the 21st century politicians, scholars, and business executives are pushing to ground educational standards far more closely in the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in the new economy. To that end they are arguing for closer connection between K-12 and postsecondary education, on the assumption that decent-paying jobs with opportunities for advancement will require at least some education beyond high school as well as lifelong learning to adjust to a fluid labor market. On one side of the debate are those who believe that fundamental shifts in the economy, brought about largely by technology, are creating a premium for knowledge and skills. Students must be prepared to take advantage of those new opportunities, they warn, or risk joining the ranks of the working poor. On the other side are economists who see a more gradual rise in skill requirements and no shortage of college-educated workers over the next decade. They question the extent to which education offers a solution to the United States' broader economic problems. Meanwhile, large disagreements remain about how best to redesign secondary and postsecondary institutions to meet the shifting demands. (Contains 3 graphs.)
- Published
- 2006
33. Room to Maneuver
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Olson, Lynn
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The federal government has responded to criticism of the No Child Left Behind Act by giving states greater flexibility in how to comply. Analysts worry that the law's purpose is being lost along the way. Since U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced that she would take a "common sense" approach to carrying out the No Child Left Behind Act, educators have been watching closely to see whether she keeps that promise. Opinions are shared in this article.
- Published
- 2005
34. Summit Fuels Push to Improve High Schools: Money, Initiatives Pledged during Two-Day Event
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Olson, Lynn
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The nation's governors adjourned their two-day summit on high schools armed with an expanded arsenal of political and financial commitments to prepare all students for success in college and the workplace. But despite the enthusiastic launch of two major initiatives at the February 26-27, 2005 meeting here, observers cautioned that improving American high schools is a long, arduous task that will likely fail unless policymakers can convince large sectors of the public that change is actually needed. Furthermore, in one of the summit's highlights, six philanthropies, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, announced a $42 million initiative to help states raise high school graduation and college-readiness rates. Thirteen states, which educate more than a third of U.S. students, also joined a new coalition committed to transforming high schools by raising standards, redesigning curricula, and tying high school tests and accountability systems to the knowledge and skills needed for life after high school. That view was echoed by many people during and after the event. They said that now may be the golden opportunity to tackle an institution long impervious to change. But educators also said that simply raising standards and demanding more of students would not produce the radical redesign of high schools called for by the summit's keynote speaker, Microsoft Corporation Chairman Bill Gates. And to address Mr. Gates' concerns, educators said, governors must be willing to tackle such tough issues as teacher preparation and working conditions, student engagement, school organization and structure, and support for students to accelerate their learning.
- Published
- 2005
35. Data Show Schools Making Progress on Federal Goals
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Olson, Lynn
- Abstract
This article discusses the increasing number of schools that met all of their 2004 annual achievement targets under U.S. federal law. Over half the states released at least preliminary lists of the number of schools that had made adequate yearly progress under the No Child Left Behind Act, based on 2003-04 test data. In general, the percentage of schools that met all their targets either held steady or increased compared with the previous school year. Despite overall signs of progress, the number of schools "in need of improvement" (schools that fail to make adequate progress for two or more years in a row) appears to have increased in many states. Many state officials warn that the real test could come in the following years, when states must significantly raise their Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) benchmarks for the first time, and many states will begin testing in more grades.
- Published
- 2004
36. Value Lessons
- Author
-
Olson, Lynn
- Abstract
The history of value-added methods in Britain dates back at least to 1982. That is when a handful of secondary schools in northeast England agreed to share data, on a confidential basis, about how much progress they were making in getting students to pass the A-level examinations required to enter universities. At least three methods of value-added analysis are now used in England. The simplest, and the one now employed by the national government, measures the progress of individual students based solely on their prior attainment. Other measures control for prior attainment in addition to a range of school-level factors that might affect students' progress, but are outside a school's control. The most complicated methods--often known as multilevel modeling--take into account both school-level characteristics and those of individual classrooms and pupils that may also impinge on academic growth.
- Published
- 2004
37. England Refines Accountability Reforms
- Author
-
Olson, Lynn
- Abstract
In this article, the author discusses how England refines its accountability reforms. When the Conservative government crafted the Education Reform Act of 1988, which mandates a national curriculum for England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, as well as national-curriculum tests at ages 7, 11, and 14, schools in England were permitted to secede from the local education authority and receive funding directly form the national government. The national government set up the Office for Standards in Education, or OFSTED, which regularly inspects schools and produces high-stakes reports on their performance, that are published in print and online. When the Labor government came to power in 1997, it built on that framework, pursuing a strategy that embraces both pressure and support for individual schools. The government has provided about 5 percent real growth in education spending and launched national literacy and numeracy strategies for primary schools. It also further devolved budgetary decisions to individual schools. In this article, the author also describes the government's efforts to improve the accountability system in England.
- Published
- 2004
38. Using the Assessment Cycle as a Tool for Collaboration
- Author
-
Flynn, Christie, Gilchrist, Debra, and Olson, Lynn
- Abstract
Assessment efforts document the academic library's contributions toward student success and institutional outcomes. Use of an Assessment Cycle at Pierce College Library enhances outcomes-based education and facilitates the library's role in the institutional assessment plan. Three examples of the Cycle are used to illustrate its application in instruction, in all library departments, and at the institutional level. Working collaboratively on assessment, both internally within the library and externally with other campus programs and departments, provides for maximum effectiveness and furthers student learning. (Contains 7 figures and 5 tables.)
- Published
- 2004
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
39. Pulling in Many Directions: A Short History of Education Governance in America.
- Author
-
Olson, Lynn
- Abstract
Provides a short history of educational governance in America during the 20th century. Includes description of the erosion of local control through court decisions, federal legislation, collective bargaining, state accountability, and parental choice. Describes alternative approaches to school governance. (PKP)
- Published
- 2002
40. Teaching Partnership in Action.
- Author
-
Olson, Lynn Oltmanns
- Abstract
Reports that school principles have endorsed grant-funded tutoring programs at their schools in which professional and pre-service teachers from Creighton University are the educators. States that the goal is to increase reading and mathematical skills in young children. Describes the process of enrollment and states that great improvements have been made in academic achievement. (CW)
- Published
- 2000
41. Networks forge a path to school improvement.
- Author
-
OLSON, LYNN
- Subjects
EDUCATIONAL equalization ,SCHOOL improvement programs ,EDUCATIONAL planning ,TEACHER leadership - Abstract
The article reports that Networks for School Improvement program, in the U.S. are helping educators to use continuous improvement methods to advance equity in education. It provides examples of how Networks for School Improvement have been used to improve education.It also discusses the importance of centering equity, elevating teacher leadership and student voice, and using data-driven decision-making.
- Published
- 2023
42. Does Having a Regular Primary Care Clinician Improve Quality of Preventive Care for Young Children?
- Author
-
Inkelas, Moira, Newacheck, Paul W., Olson, Lynn M., Zuckerman, Barry, and Schuster, Mark A.
- Published
- 2008
43. The New Basics in School-to-Work.
- Author
-
Olson, Lynn
- Abstract
While visiting school-to-work sites, the author observed numerous programs that teach students the "new basics" or "basics-plus" skills needed for success in today's economy. These skills include an ability to use technology, communicate ideas and information orally and in writing, work in groups, solve knotty problems, understand how systems work, and collect, analyze, and organize data. Exemplary programs are profiled. (MLH)
- Published
- 1998
44. The School-to-Work Revolution. How Employers and Educators Are Joining Forces To Prepare Tomorrow's Skilled Workforce.
- Author
-
Olson, Lynn and Olson, Lynn
- Abstract
This book presents a realistic appraisal of the state of efforts to link work and schooling and what can be expected of them. Chapter 1 focuses on the need for a new alliance between educators and employers. It discusses school-to-work (STW) and its variations and origins. Chapter 2 describes some new building blocks on which U.S. high school education should be based, including an end to categorizations such as academic and vocational, college bound and noncollege bound; higher standards; more active and engaging instruction; career exploration; and connection of learning at school and at work. Chapter 3 considers the benefits of STW, especially to apprenticeships and businesses, problems and pitfalls. Chapter 4 analyzes role of higher education in STW--building bridges back to high schools and out to employers. Chapter 5 outlines regional or community-wide strategies that reach out to employers as a group and give them a unified voice in education and training. It also describes some less intensive options for employer involvement. Chapter 6 shows how STW can contribute to a broader reform of high schools. Chapter 7 presents common features of successful STW programs. Chapter 8 proposes a set of principles that should undergird good STW systems and high quality education and describes the roles of STW partners. (Contains 255 references, 436 notes, and an index.) (YLB)
- Published
- 1997
45. The Elephant in the Living Room
- Author
-
Haycock, Kati, Lankford, Hamilton, and Olson, Lynn
- Published
- 2004
46. Inclusion of Children in Clinical Research
- Author
-
Denne, Scott C., Baumberger, James, and Olson, Lynn
- Abstract
Many groups have historically been excluded from clinical research. It has required vigorous, long-term advocacy efforts for better inclusion of women and children across racial and ethnic groups. To understand who is included in clinical research, data are required. A personal journey of advocacy requiring the National Institutes of Health to report inclusion in clinical studies by age was ultimately accomplished by federal legislation.
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
47. If It Ain't Broke.
- Author
-
Olson, Lynn
- Abstract
The article describes a large, middle class suburban high school's controversial efforts to make improvements, noting its difficulty in convincing parents, teachers, and school board members that a school with a fine reputation did not really provide students with the education they needed for the future. (SM)
- Published
- 1992
48. Quality Is Job One.
- Author
-
Olson, Lynn
- Abstract
Total quality management (TQM), a holistic approach to managing complex organizations, replaces top-down management with decentralized "customer-driven" decision making. TQM has been adopted by many schools and school systems nationwide. However, the context of public schooling makes implementation of TQM in education significantly different from its use in business. (IAH)
- Published
- 1992
49. Prescription for a Revolution.
- Author
-
Olson, Lynn
- Abstract
Discusses the book "Politics, Markets, and America's Schools," by John Chubb and Terry Moe. They claim the school reform movement has not worked, and a massive, deadening bureaucracy is ruining American education. They suggest a new system for effective schooling based on good organization and parental choice. (SM)
- Published
- 1990
50. Family Planning for Teens: Strategies for Improving Outreach and Service Delivery in Public Health Settings
- Author
-
Herz, Elicia J. and Olson, Lynn M.
- Published
- 1988
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