Posted February 27th, 2012
by Caleb Macdougall
As expected, thousands of Floridas pre-K providers are low performing this year, thanks to the states new, tougher pre-K standards.
The Florida Department of Education released its annual readiness rate information for all the pre-K providers who offer the state-funded pre-K program. This is mostly private schools and day-care centers but some public schools, too.
The information shows that 2,125 providers out of 6,719 statewide about 32 percent of the total are low performing this year, compared to about 800 last year. That uptick was expected since the state this year stopped grading pre-K providers on an easy curve and instead set new, stricter standards for their performance.
Now, the providers are judged on how many of their graduates test ready for kindergarten when they start formal schooling. Each pr
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Tags: Standards, Standards Fl Posted in Education Info
Posted February 17th, 2012
by Caleb Macdougall
Michael Rosen leads a star-studded cast of writers and illustrators at the 2012 Telegraph Hay Festival Programme for Schools.
The Hay Festival, which will be celebrating its 25th year, takes place from 31 May to 10 June. Rosen, a former children’s Laureate, will be appearing at the schools event, which takes place prior to the main programme, on Thursday 31 May (Key Stage 2). There will be Key Stages 3 & 4 events on Friday 1 June, featuring Phil Earle, the author of Being Billy, and fantasy writer Marcus Alexander.
Francesca Simon, author of the popular Horrid Henry stories, and Phillippa Gregory will also be attending and there will be a talk on art from illustrator James Mayhew.
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Tags: Michael Rosen, Michael Rosen Leads, Programme, Rosen Leads Posted in Education Info
Posted February 10th, 2012
by Caleb Macdougall
Free cookery classes are being held to teach people how to make use of leftovers.
As well as cooking up to three recipes, people can pick up recipe cards and take home a free goody bag.
The Leicestershire Waste Partnership is hoping the classes will teach people to love their leftovers and save up to £50 a month by reducing food waste.
It is estimated that if everyone stopped throwing away food waste, the carbon that would be saved would be equal to taking one in every four cars off the road.
Sessions will be held at Brockington College, Enderby, on February 20 and 24 from 6pm to 9pm.
There will also be sessions at Loughborough College, on February 28, from 6pm to 9pm and March 6 from 6pm to 9pm.
For more information, call 0116 305 7005 or e-mail:
wasteprevention@leics.gov.uk
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Tags: Leftovers Posted in Education Info
Posted February 8th, 2012
by Caleb Macdougall
Ofsted said, in some secondaries, there were no opportunities to develop programming skills
The teaching of information and communications technology (ICT) is inadequate in a fifth of secondary schools in England, Ofsted says.
Inspectors said teachers lacked the expertise and confidence to teach more demanding topics properly.
The report said areas such as databases and programming were poorly taught, with some pupils making more progress outside lessons than in them.
Schools Minister Nick Gibb said ICT teaching was “far too patchy”.
Of the 74 secondary schools visited between 2008 and 2011, achievement was good or outstanding in just 27 of the schools, satisfactory in 33 and inadequate in 14.
In 30 of the schools, nearly half of students reached the age of 16 without adequate foundation for further study or training in ICT and related subjects.
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Tags: Secondary, Secondary Schools Posted in Education Info
Posted January 25th, 2012
by Caleb Macdougall
Packt recently announced the release of Ext JS 4 First Look which is a practical step-by-step tutorial explaining the many new features of Ext JS 4 and how to use them. Written by Loiane Groner, the book is a guide to facilitate easy migration from Ext JS 3 to Ext JS 4.
Ext JS 4 is a pure JavaScript application framework that works everywhere from IE6 to Chrome 11. It enables developers to create the best cross-platform applications using nothing but a browser, and has a phenomenal API. It features expanded functionality, plugin-free charting, and a new MVC architecture making it the best Ext JS yet.
Ext JS 4 First Look starts off by introducing Ext JS 4, highlighting the differences between Ext JS 4 and the previous versions.
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Tags: Ext, Ext Js Posted in Education Info