3 brain facts every educator should know. WashingtonPost http://ping.fm/FaxBz

Learning Plans on Demand Named to Top 100 Education Products

STUART, Florida – December 10, 2010 – Learning Plans on Demand™ is among the Top 100 Products for 2010 recognized by the long-standing educational leader’s magazine, District Administration. Learning Plans on Demand (http://www.learningplansondemand.com/) is a powerful vertical assessment and instruction tool that determines 1) what concepts a student has missed in earlier grades and 2) provides the instructional materials needed to fill in the student’s knowledge gaps. Its companion-product, Skills Pointer™ (http://www.skillspointer.com/), is a computer-adaptive assessment resource that is also used to inform and individualize instruction.

Read more

Struggling Readers Sing Their Way to Reading Success with TUNEin™ to READING Version 5.0

Struggling Readers Sing Their Way to Reading Success with TUNEin™ to READING Version 5.0
Patented Method Engages Both Sides of the Brain and Leads to Reading Gains

TAMPA, Florida – December 8, 2010—In classrooms around the country, students are singing through their reading lessons with TUNEin™ to READING and they are loving it. Electronic Learning Products (www.elpcorp.com), the publishers of TUNEin™ to READING, today launched version 5.0 of their award-winning reading intervention program that uses music to help struggling readers in grades 3-12. Students who have been frustrated with reading are now learning to love reading because of TUNEin to READING.

Read more

I'm proud to report winning a Platinum Award, a Gold Award and two Honorable Mentions for the 2010 MarCom Awards.

• Platinum Award for Pro Bono Marketing Campaign - Friends of NICU, Celebration of Miracles
• Gold Award for Writing/News Release - ECO:LOGIC iPad News Release (recently placed on the cover of Public Works Magazine)
• Honorable Mention for Ads/Banner/Sign - Be Careful with Pesticides (City of Auburn)
• Honorable Mention for Social Media, Small Public Agency Website - Donner Summit Public Utility District

Florida’s Best Teachers Receive TUNEin™ to READING

TAMPA, Florida – November 1, 2010 — Last weekend, Florida’s 100 best teachers received special recognition from the Foundation for Excellence in Education, an organization founded by former Florida Governor, Jeb Bush. All of the exemplary teachers received TUNEin™ to READING (
http://www.elpcorp.com/)—a reading intervention program that uses music to help struggling students.

Read more on BusinessWire.

Best Time to ReTweet- Social Media Guide

I love short bulleted articles. Here is one that suggests the best times to use Twitter. My simplified version:

• What is the best single time to Tweet?
• ANSWER: 9:00 a.m. PST
  
• What is the best time to get retweeted?
• ANSWER: 4:00 p.m. EST
  
• Should you retweet your own tweets?
• ANSWER from Guy Kawasaki: Yes! Every 6 hours!

Read the entire post to fully understand the content of the article, especially the part from Guy. http://thesocialmediaguide.com.au/2010/04/04/when-is-the-best-time-to-tweet/

The Littlest Redshirts Sit Out Kindergarten (NYTimes quote)

I had the chance to talk with a New York Times writer about holding back kids for kindergarten. She quoted my reasons for keeping our son, Elliott, out until he was almost six. Now that he is a third grader, we realize we made a perspicacious decision four years ago. For the first time, he is not having too much trouble sitting through class. He is making good decision about his behavior and self-regulating when necessary.

Here is the link to the article. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/fashion/22Cultural.html

Feature Story: At-Risk School Earns Exemplary Status in Texas

Texas School with High At-risk Population Finds Success
with Brainchild Achiever!

DALLAS— July 22, 2010 — Forty-five percent of the students at Barbara Jordan Elementary School in Ector County ISD are considered at-risk. Teachers have to contend with more than 25 percent turn-over each year and yet, Barbara Jordan Elementary School is one of the best schools in Texas.

Read More on BusinessWire

Case Study

ECO:LOGIC Develops iPad Application for Wastewater Treatment Plants

ROCKLIN, Calif. — July 15, 2010 – Wastewater treatment plants and sewage systems cost millions of dollars to design and build so maintenance is important not only for preserving public and environmental health but also for sound fiscal stewardship of expensive and critical public resources. ECO:LOGIC Engineering (www.ecologic-eng.com) an engineering firm located in Northern California—has developed an Interactive Operations Manual (IOM) for the iPad™ mobile digital device that helps keep plants online and operating efficiently. (VIDEO link)

“This is just what we needed. If we discover that a piece of equipment needs an oil change every two months instead of four, we can log that here and turn it into a work order.”--

Steve Schimp, district manager and plant operator at San Andreas Sanitary District where the first IOM is in use.

Read more

Auburn Journal: FOG and e-Waste Pickup Started

Pick-up program to keep food waste out of sewer
Auburn Journal, July 11, 2010

The city of Auburn adopted a new program that will allow residents to get rid of their pipe-clogging fats, oil and grease through a curbside pick-up program...

Read more

It's All Water: Water Banking in Nevada

From the Nevada Water Environment Association's newsletter Silver State Water Environment News, July 2010:

IT’S ALL WATER: DEMONSTRATION OF AN INNOVATIVE TREATMENT TECHNOLOGY FOR WATER BANKING IN NEVADA
Vijay Sundaram, P.E. and John P. Enloe, P.E., ECO:LOGIC Engineering

...In Nevada and other states, an under-utilized water resource is municipal effluent. Adequately treated municipal effluent, or reclaimed water, is a reliable, high quality, drought-proof water resource. A critical question is how this resource could be saved (i.e. “banked”) for future use...

read more

Schoot Town wins Distinguished Achievement Award

School Town (www.Schooltown.net) won a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Publishers. This is a significant award in our industry. Category: Tech Innovations-Social Media for grades 9-12. See the list of winners here. More about the Awards (http://www.aepweb.org/awards/index.htm)

Brainchild Achiever! Selected as a Top Assessment Product for Helping Students Learn Essential Skills

June 02, 2010 10:48 AM Eastern Daylight Time via BusinessWire

DALLAS--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--The Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) selected Achiever! from Brainchild (www.Brainchild.com) as a finalist in the Distinguished Achievement Awards for K-5 assessment and instructional products. Achiever! assesses standards-based performance in school and then delivers targeted learning tutorials that help students improve their performance on state assessments. (Read more)

Tale of Two Students (from the Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal had this great article on Saturday, May 30, 2010.

...This fall, Ivan will enter the University of Oklahoma, armed with a prestigious scholarship. "I want to be the first Hispanic governor of Oklahoma," declares the clean-cut 18-year-old, standing on the steps of Santa Fe South High School, the charter school in the heart of this city's Hispanic enclave that he says put him on a new path.

Laura, who is 17, rose to senior class president at Capitol Hill High School, a large public school in the same neighborhood. But after scraping together enough credits to graduate, Laura isn't sure where she's headed. She never took college entrance exams. ...more...

Link to the full article: http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052748704717004575268752238805736-lMyQjAxMTAwMDAwMTEwNDEyWj.html (Valid for 7 days for non-subscribers)

Online newsrooms in the digital era: PRSA

Online newsrooms in the digital era: PRSA

Great short article about how to enhance an online news room. One key element (similar to how you make Twitter and blogs more visible and useful): be a reference source not an egotist. Yes, you should tell your own story and promote you product/services but also think bigger by adding content from other sources.

School Town Earns 5 Stars from Multimedia & Internet @ Schools

http://www.blogger.com/://www.mmischools.commagazine gave School Town a Five Star review for their May 2010 issue. A summary of the review:

"...Recommendation: School Town offers many resources that can aid in the development of teaching materials that integrate content from textbooks, multimedia, online resources, and much more. This collaborative platform can help educators take advantage of the growing amount of material available in today’s explosively expanding world of knowledge..."

Read the full review here (may require a free log in at MMIS to read the full review)

New Virtual High School Opens at Horizon Charter School for Students in Sacramento Region

ROSEVILLE, Calif. — April 28, 2010 —Teens in Placer, El Dorado, Sacramento, Sutter, Nevada, and Yuba counties looking for a cyber school now have a new option from Horizon Charter School (www.HorizonCharterSchool.org). Horizon is opening a new Virtual High School for the 2010/11 school year and will hold an informational meeting about the program for prospective students on Tuesday, May 4.

(more)

Individualizing Instruction with Technology (from District Administration Magazine)

Don Tylinski inherited a challenge when he became superintendent of the Seneca Valley (Pa.) School District in 2004. The 7,363-student K12 district located 30 miles north of Pittsburgh was under strain because of the arrival of large new industries in the area, including a new facility of global nuclear power plant builder Westinghouse. “The growth in student population had everyone in the district scrambling. We lost consistency in the curriculum,” says Tylinski.

(more)

TMCnet article: Brainchild Products Aid Educators and Students Alike

Education Technology News: Brainchild Products Aid Educators and Students Alike
By Mini Swamy, TMCnet Contributor

Brainchild was founded in 1992 when it created the first handheld tutor for students, the PLS-1000. In 1999, Brainchild's online summative assessment for state standards was introduced.

Since then, Brainchild has been constantly innovating, making multimedia education more interesting for students.Since then, it has come a long way.

Brainchild’s TAKS Achiever! online assessment program and Study Buddy handheld tutors have been approved by the Texas Education Agency Multi-regional Purchasing Cooperative Awards Committee for use in schools in Texas regions 9, 11, 14 and 15,

Haitian Students in FL Schools Have Help with Brainchild

MIAMI, Florida -- March 23, 2010 - Florida schools are seeing significant numbers of Haitian students file through their doors and some of the schools, like Miami-Killian High School in Miami are better equipped to help those students than others.

Miami-Killian High School has resources on hand to help Haitian students feel some sense of control despite the upheaval in their lives and the language barrier that exists in a new country. The school has dozens of Study Buddy hand-held learning devices on hand which are manufactured by a Florida-based company called Brainchild (www.Brainchild.com). Study Buddies look like small game devices but they are used by students to reinforce instruction in mathematics, language arts, math and science. And, for the Haitian students, Study Buddies already come with content in their native language, Haitian Creole.

more: BusinessWire or PitchEngine (with photos)

From WSJ - The Case for Saturday School

This is a great article to keep in your library for future reference. Mr. Finn writes about the US lag behind other countries and suggests that maybe this is happening because we spend 30% less time in school. However, he also makes a strong point that we waste a lot of instructional time getting prepped, going to recess, enforcing classroom rules, (you teachers know what he means!).

The Wall Street Journal only allows these links for seven days to non-subscribers.
The Case for Saturday School

Horizon Charter School Open Enrollment for College-pre Academy

On March 22, Horizon Charter School begins open enrollment for 2010-11 school year of the Roseville Academy of Math, Science and Engineering. The Academy is a free, high-rigor, college-prep academy for students in grades 7-12. Students attend classes three days a week. Non-classroom days are designed for elective instruction including music, athletics, fine arts, foreign language, robotics, computer programming and other areas of individual interest to the student.

“I love the personalized, individualized learning and individual concern of the teachers,” said Gina Morgan whose son attends seventh grade at Horizon Charter School. “We send our son here because this site gives him an opportunity to learn where there are lots of positive influences.”

Parents interested in learning more about the Academy or who wish to submit a letter of intent to enroll their child are invited to an open house:

DATE: Monday, March 22, 2010
LOCATION: Horizon Charter School, Roseville Learning Center, 911 Reserve Drive in Roseville
SCHEDULE: 4:30-5:00 – Presentation for grade 7-9
5:00-5:40 – School Tour and chance meet the teachers
5:45-6:15 – Presentation for grade 10-12
INFO: Carolyn Bakken at 916-408-5232 or cabakken@hcs.k12.ca.us

Horizon Charter School is known for its unique programs and small class sizes that foster connections with community and peers. Students learn in small groups using a project-based approach that encourages students to explore topics in great detail while building their skills in mathematics, language arts, science and social studies. Students take frequent field trips and participate in community service projects in area businesses and organizations.

As a publicly funded charter school, Horizon adheres to the same academic standards as public schools but in a creative, more individualized manner. Parents are urged to submit their applications early as space in each academy is limited.

Jeff Cameron of Brainchild Interviewed by Scholastic Administrator Magazine

Jeff Cameron is interviewed by Scholastic Administrator magazine at the 2010 Florida Educational Technology Conference in Orlando.

Jeff talks about how Brainchild Achiever! and the Study Buddies work together to help students improve their performance on standardized assessments.

School Town Gives Teachers a New Way to Manage Digital Content and Curriculum

AUSTIN, Texas — February 10, 2010 — School Town (www.schooltown.net) introduced a powerful new K-12 student-centric collaborative learning platform at the Texas Computer Education Association conference in Austin this week. Teachers use School Town to create and manage dynamic, media-rich learning communities with any of their digital resources including multimedia, files, URL links and third-party curricula. Students use School Town to manage their homework, set goals and interact with their peers in a secure and private learning community.

"School Town lets me teach twice as much,” said Tom Samorian, middle school teacher at Shepard Middle School in Deerfield, Ill. who has used School Town for the past two years. “[School Town] extends the learning day and allows for students to advance topics from home. The next day we hit the ground running.”

more on BusinessWire