Parent Cortical Mass

Week's Top Articles on Learning & Education, for Parents

Can you believe how much news coverage the changes to SAT got? Major media gave it top billing. It's valuable when education grabs the public mind, even for a day. ● For weeks we’ve heard about the opt out movement. But, this week Lisa T. McElroy’s, “I Opted My Kids Out. My Schools Freaked Out. Now I Know Why,” has spread far and wide. It’s worth the read. ● Chester Finn, a long time edu-influencer, wrote a clarifying article on the 10 “philosophical tug-o-wars” in education today. You will be smarter. He references Diane Ravitch and E.D. Hirsch Jr., and refers to background knowledge, common core, accountability, and value-add teacher evaluations. ● Have you heard there’s a sequel to Carl Sagan’s PBS series, Cosmos? The new program starts this month, on Fox, and stars Neil deGrasse Tyson. Will Neil be tempted to refer to the quantity of stars as “beellions and beellions”? I couldn’t resist in a...

Parenting

I Opted My Kids Out. The Schools Freaked Out. Now I Know Why. - Lisa T. McElroy, Slate

Debunking Myths About Parent Involvement in Middle School - Katie Wester-Neal, MiddleWeb

Don't Stalk Your Kid Online - Emily Bazelon, Slate

10 Things You Should Never Say to Your Kids Michelle Crouch, Parents

Redshirting: Good or Bad? New Research Adds to the Debate - Annie Murphy Paul, Brilliant Blog

Success and Character and Parenting - Richard Rende, Parenting

Learning

Most Preschoolers Are Capable of Algebra - Traci Pedersen, PsychCentral

Playtime is Learning Time - Too Small to Fail

Infants Use Known Verbs to Learn New Nouns - Northwestern University, PsyPost

What People Know About the cost of Multitasking - Daniel Willingham, Science and Education Blog

What Do IQ Tests Test? - Scott Barry Kaufman, Creativity Post

5 Year Olds Can Learn Calculus - Luba Vangelova, The Atlantic

Is Learning a Foreign Language Worth It? - Suzie Lechtenberg, Freakonomics

Education

This is What the New SAT Will Be Like - Julia Ryan, The Atlantic

A New SAT Aims to Realign with Schoolwork - Tamar Lewin, New York Times

Why the SAT Needs to Be Harder - Jonathan Wai, Psychology Today

10 Education Dichotomies We Quarrel About - Chester Finn, Education Next

US Needs to Add Student Online Privacy Rules -Editorial Board, Los Angeles Times

The Common Core Teaches Kids to Be Good Citizens - Ross Wiener, The Atlantic

2 Flash Points in the Curriculum Wars - Tom Loveless, Education Next

Finland's Novel Approach to Recess - Samantha Stainburn

How Does PISA Put the World at Risk - Yong Zhao, Zhao Learning

Resources

Illustrated Field Guide to Mythic Monsters - Maria Popova, Brain Pickings

Neil deGrasse Tyson: Why Cosmos Will Be Better Than Ever - Rachel Edidin, Wired

Project Spark Arrives on Xbox One - Tom Warren, The Verge

Parents Warned About Yik Yak, a Controversial Social App - Rajwani and Rodriguez, Chicago Tribune

11 Tips for Students to Manage Their Digital Footprints - TeachThought

Read a few articles each week, and gain parent cortical mass! If you enjoy our weekly article roundup, please email it to a friend, or share on social media. Thank you!

Week's Top Articles on Learning & Education, for Parents

In the President’s State of the Union address, he mentioned “parents” 9 times (0 in 2013) and “education” 8 times (3 last year.) Yes, these topics are on his mind. ● Articles below cover 4 of our Top 10 Learning Concepts. Read about language dancing, the 10,000 Hour Rule, growth mindsets, and background knowledge. ● Jessica Lahey wrote about E.D. Hirsch. You'll learn how cultural literacy morphed into the common core. ● Have you heard about stereotype threat? Read Annie Murphy Paul’s article to get familiar. ● There's an app to help keep track of talks with your tots. And check out the new e-book subscription service.

Parenting

Review of All Joy and No Fun, by Jennifer Senior - Andrew Solomon, New York Times

What Really Drives Success: Lessons for Tiger Mom - Ellen Galinsky, Huffington Post

Parents Less Likely to Spank After Reading About Its Problems - SMU Research

Why I Let My Daughter Get a 'Useless' Humanities Degree - Randye Hoder, Time

Meet Grahm Smith, SnapChat's 16-Year-Old Nemesis - Nina Strochlic, The Daily Beast

'Gender Judo' vs 'Leaning In' - Joan C. Williams, Washington Post

Improve All Manner of Outcomes for Teens, With 1 Change - Annie Murphy Paul, Brilliant

How Do We Help Kids Identify as Readers? - A. Cunnningham & J. Zibulsky, Psychology Today

Learning

Benefits of Talking About Thoughts with Tots - Rebecca Schwarzlose, Scientific American

Fixed vs Growth: 2 Mindsets that Shape Our Lives - Maria Popova, Brain Pickings

Forget the 10,000 Hour Rule: It's About Quality Not Quantity -Drake Baer, Fast Company

Brain Scans Help Predict Learning Problems: Study Says - Yahoo News

Taking Notes By-Hand vs On A Laptop: What's Best? - Wray Herbert, Huffington Post

Debunking: What Percentage of Your Brain Do You Use? [5 min video] - TED-Ed

The Myth of Learning Styles - Katie Lepi, Edudemic

How 'Stereotype Threat' Plays Out in Chess - Annie Murphy Paul, Brilliant

Education

The Value of Teaching Cultural Literacy - Jessica Lahey, The Atlantic

States 'Rebranding' Controversial Common Core Standards - Lyndsey Layton, Washington Post

Obama Sells Race to Top, Early-Childhood Ed in SOTU - Alyson Klein, Hechinger Report

But What Kind of Universal Pre-K? - Alfie Kohn, Huffington Post

Socioeconomic Achievement Gaps: Parenting, Policy, and Poverty - Jane Waldfogel, Brookings

Student Data Breaches Prompt Action - Benjamin Herold, Government Technology

Should Schools Teach Kids to Meditate? - Amanda Machado, The Atlantic

Math Wars: How Different Nations Teach Math - The Economist

Educating High and Low Achievers in the Same Classroom - Michael Petrilli, EducationNext

Reading Gap Between Wealthy and Poor Students Widens - Alessandra Malito, NBC News

Resources

Conversation App Helps Parents Boost Child's Language - Hal Hodson, NewScientist

Beyond Angry Birds, 5 Apps That Test Your Physics Skills - Tanner Higgin, Mind/Shift

Children's Book 'Hello Ruby' Teaches 4-7-Year-Olds How to Code - Rebecca Hiscott, Mashable

Epic!: The Netflix of Kids' Books? - Jeff John Roberts, GigaOM

Kids Smartphone Gives Parents More Control -Larry Greenemeier, Scientific American

Build with Chrome: Chrome + LEGO - Google Official Blog

Read a few articles each week, and gain parent cortical mass! If you enjoy our weekly article roundup, please email it to a friend, or share on social media. Thank you!

Week's Top Articles on Learning & Education, for Parents

How do the education policies of accountability and the common core relate to parents' widespread push-back over testing and the privacy of student data? 10 articles below uncover the interrelationships and explain the impacts for parents. ● A survey of parents published last week by The Joan Cooney Ganz Center (the nonprofit affiliated with Sesame Workshop) got broad attention. Parents gave their opinions on the informal learning value of kids’ screen time spent on electronics around the home. How do their opinions compare to yours? ● This week find out more about the 10,000 Hour Rule and the growth mindset. ● Stories about education influencers Arne Duncan, E.D. Hirsch Jr., and Rep. George Miller made our roundup.● Did you hear about the twitter account, started by two teens, called @HistoryInPictures? What a fun, go-viral story.

Parenting

Learning at Home: Families Educational Media Use in America - Joan Ganz Cooney Center

3 Ways We Prevent Media Overload in Our Family - Lorraine Akemann, What To Expect

Students Won't Learn? Go Visit Their Parents - Jay Mathews, Washington Post

The Defiant Parents: Opting Out of Testing - Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker

Parents Worried Student Data Will Be Used for Marketing - Allie Bidwell, US News

Your Web-Savvy Kids Are Outsmarting Your Parental Controls - Jenna Kagel, Fast Company

7 Parenting Behaviors That Keep Kids From Becoming Leaders - Kathy Caprino, Forbes

Age-Appropriate Chores for Children (Montessori Chart) - KJ Dell'Antonia, New York Times

Learning

Dopamine and Teenage Logic - Daniel Siegel, The Atlantic

Extra Zzz's in Morning May Help Teens Stay Alert in Class - US News

Unintended Consequences of Praise for Low-Esteem Kids - Tom Jacobs, Pacific Standard

The Link Between Media Multitasking And Impulsiveness - Belle Beth Cooper, Fast Company

Why Positive Encouragement Works Better Than Criticism - Elise Hu, NPR

Debunking the 10,000 Hour Rule - Maria Popova, Brain Pickings

Education

It Takes a Generation - David Brooks, New York Times

What About Student Accountability? - Annie Murphy Paul, Brilliant Blog

When Done Right, Students Should Be Tested More, Not Less - Jessica Lahey, The Atlantic

Test More, Not Less - Russ Whitehurst, K. Lindquist, EducationNext

Test to Get Into College Now Followed by Test to Get Out - Jon Marcus, Hechinger Report

College Degrees That Get the Most Job Offers - Susan Adams, Forbes

Telling the Truth on Achievement Gaps Improves Education - Arne Duncan, Washington Post

The Problems with the Common Core - Stan Karp, Rethinking Schools

New Book on ED Hirsch, Knowledge at the Core (Free) - C. Finn & M. Petrilli, EducationNext

Adieu to Edu-Guru George Miller and His 'Stache - Fawn Johnson, National Journal

Resources

Just Released: Sample Test Questions for New Common Core Tests - PARCC

Education Stats, State by State (Clickable Infographic) - BestEducationDegrees.com, Wash Post

25 US High Schools with Highest Standardized Text Scores - Melia Robinson, Business Insider

Fact Sheet On President's Plan for More Affordable College - The White House

The State of America's Children, 2014 Report - Children's Defense Fund

The 2 Teens Who Run the Wildly Popular @HistoryInPics - Alexis Madrigal, The Atlantic

Read a few articles each week, and gain parent cortical mass! If you enjoy our weekly article roundup, please email it to a friend, or share on social media. Thank you!