Española/ 2-Mill Levy Before Voters September 18
By Louis McGill. Staff Writer
Rio Grande Sun
September 13, 2012
Voters within the Española School District boundaries will have the opportunity to vote Sept. 18 on a property tax increase intended to pay for the upkeep on the area's public schools.
- The 2-mill levy would place a new tax on property, adding an extra $20 for every $10,000 of a property's taxable value to a property owner's annual tax bill.
- Taxable value is one-third of a property's appraised value.
- A home appraised at $100,000 by the county assessor would have a taxable value of $33,000, giving the property owner an additional $66 per year in tax liability. (3.3 multiplied by $20)
If passed, the 2-mill levy would generate an estimated $1,320,825 a year over the course of six years for public schools in the district, including charter schools. The state will match funds with an estimated $256,425 a year.
Charter schools and regular public schools would be allocated funding based on how many students a school has enrolled. According to estimates released in May,
- Española public schools would get roughly 80 percent of the funding.
- McCurdy would receive the second-highest amount at 11.5 percent,
- Cariños would get a little over 4 percent, and
- La Tierra would get about 3.5 percent.
"All of the schools in our Valley will benefit from this, not just the Española kids," said School Board President Floyd Archuleta. "And everybody needs it. All our schools need that kind of attention."
While admitting that anti-tax sentiment might affect this election, Superintendent Art Blea said he hoped people who don't have children in the District realize that a strong school District improves property values for everybody.
Board president Floyd Archuleta said he is hopeful that voters will understand the importance of this tax's role in keeping the District's schools safe and properly maintained.
"Our budgets are bad enough as they are already, and we can't afford to be using money out of the classrooms to keep up the facilities, our classrooms, our schools," he said.
Both Archuleta and Blea said these elections have historically brought a pretty low turnout.
"If you get 10 percent you're fortunate," Blea said. "I don't know that this will be any higher than that."
Because of that, the School Board, Parent Advisory Committee, Superintendent and charter schools have all been running a full-court press to inform people about the election, the 2-mill levy, and how it will affect the District. The Board and Superintendent in particular have been meeting with the Ohkay Owingeh tribal officials and chamber of commerce, attending school open houses, and talking about it at the teacher orientation, Blea said.
Archuleta said that informing parents and teachers about this election and what it means is very important.
"They themselves are more familiar with what their needs are and they know how important it is, so they definitely are one of our main targets for getting this information out," he said.
Two-mill levy funds can be used for a variety of projects. The Public School Capital Improvements Act allows money generated by this tax to be used for:
- Erecting, remodeling, making additions to, providing equipment for, or furnishing public school buildings;
- Payments made pursuant to a financing agreement entered into by a school district or charter school for the leasing of a building or other real property with an option to purchase for a price that is reduced according to payments made;
- Purchasing or improving school grounds;
- Maintenance of public school buildings or public school grounds, including payments under contract for maintenance support services and expenditures for technical training and certification for maintenance and facilities management personnel, but excluding salary expenses of school district employees;
- Purchasing activity vehicles for transporting students to extracurricular activities;
- Purchasing computer software and hardware for student use in public school classrooms.
However, a school district can only use this money for the purposes stated in the bond election resolution voted on and issued by the school board. The resolution passed by the Española School District covers all of these.
The District allocated $50,000 to pay for the cost of the election in the 2012-2013 budget that was approved in June.
Española voters rejected mill levies in 2007, 2009 and 2011, though the District did pass a $28 million general obligation bond issue in 2011. The 2011 mil levy was rejected by about 50 votes. There are currently no active two-mill levies imposed by the District.
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Taos/ County Educational GRT on September 18 Ballot
By Matthew van Buren
Taos News
September 14, 2012
Next Tuesday (Sept. 18), Taos County voters will determine the fate of the Educational GRT.
The Educational GRT (gross receipts tax) is unique to Taos County, with the money generated going toward school facilities throughout the county. The half-percent tax has been in place for 20 years and is now up for renewal.
Outreach efforts have been conducted by supporters of the GRT, but early voting numbers at alternate voting sites in Questa and Peñasco were low. The sites were open Sept. 6-8, and according to information from the Taos County Bureau of Elections, 37 people voted early in Peñasco and a dozen early votes were cast in Questa. As of Wednesday morning (Sept. 12), 254 people had voted early in Taos.
Peñasco Superintendent Jeanelle Livingston said the Educational GRT is important to the district's operation. She said past funds have gone toward projects including a "beautiful new track facility," upgrading La Jicarita gym, and new flooring and lighting.
- "These are all really big projects that needed to be done," she said. "(Without the GRT) it would be very difficult for us to keep our schools up."
If the tax is reimposed, Livingston said the Peñasco district will continue to refurbish school buildings, improve athletic fields and update playground equipment to make it safer.
"We're very excited about that," she said.
Livingston said administrative staff members have traveled around the district passing out flyers and explaining to potential voters what the Educational GRT means for Peñasco schools. She emphasized that the tax is not new.
"When you say 'tax,' everyone thinks it's going to be an increase," she said. "That's been one of our challenges."
Livingston said early voting was light, but that efforts are being made to get people to the polls next Tuesday.
"We're still trying to get the word out to vote on the 18th," she said. "It's a good thing for our school district."
According to the legislation allowing the tax to be reimposed, the revenue can only be used to pay off bonds used for public school "capital projects," including designing, constructing and equipping new buildings; remodeling, renovating or making additions to and equipping existing buildings; or improving or equipping the grounds surrounding buildings.
- UNM-Taos receives a quarter of the funding, with the remainder divided among the Taos, Questa and Peñasco school districts in proportion to their relative populations as determined by the 2010 decennial Census.
- Taos would receive approximately 58 percent,
- Questa 9 percent and
- Peñasco 8 percent.
- Charter schools in the respective districts are also entitled to funding based on their student populations. The tax raises approximately $200,000 per month.
According to information from the Questa Independent School District, past projects conducted with the help of close to $1.2 million from the GRT include the installation of playground and weight room equipment, covered walkways, work at Río Costilla Elementary and the administration building, and the addition of audio-visual classrooms.
- "The projects identified with the upcoming GRT are: high school renovations, Alta Vista sidewalks and kitchen renovations, Río Costilla land improvements, Red River Elementary renovations and administration land improvements," Questa Business Manager Susie Martínez wrote in an email to The Taos News.
According to the legislation allowing the special election to go forward, if the question fails, the school boards of Taos, Questa and Peñasco must wait a year before requesting the reimposition of the tax again.
Early voting is available at the Taos County Clerk's office, 105 Albright St., through the end of this week. Thursday (Sept. 13) and Friday (Sept. 14), it will be available from 8-5, and Saturday (Sept. 15) from 10-6.
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ABQ/ APS May Tighten Online Class Rules
By Hailey Heinz
ABQ Journal Staff Writer
September 14, 2012
Albuquerque Public Schools students soon could find it much tougher to get credit for online classes from schools outside the district.
The APS board is considering a policy that would tighten restrictions on the kinds of online transfer credits permitted in the district.
The change was prompted by an incident last spring, when an Albuquerque High School student paid $200 to take an online course at Southwest Secondary charter high school. He completed a semester English class over a weekend, just in time for graduation.
That student was allowed to graduate with his class, but APS Superintendent Winston Brooks wrote a letter to the state Public Education Department, asking it to investigate the student's case and provide guidance to APS for future incidents.
The PED's investigation found no wrongdoing, essentially finding that the online class the student took met state academic standards. The student was logged in for 56 hours over the weekend, and earned a "C" in the class.
However, the department said APS has authority to decide what credits to accept in the future.
- "I think it's important, in that we need to have quality control among all our schools in this state, if we really care about all kids getting a quality education," Brooks said.
The school board had a preliminary discussion about the issue at a policy committee meeting Tuesday. Board member Martin Esquivel, who represents the Albuquerque High area and has been outspoken in his concern about the incident last spring, said he wants APS to tighten its policies as soon as possible. He raised concerns that other students could be angling for quick credits, either to graduate on time or to maintain athletic eligibility.
Last year, 259 students took a total of 399 online courses through Southwest Secondary, a state-chartered high school. Of those, 68 percent were seniors, and 17 percent were taking a class they had previously taken at APS. Some APS principals have said some students take the classes to raise their GPAs and maintain athletic eligibility.
The board is expected to vote on the policy at its next policy committee meeting, scheduled Oct. 9, after gathering comments from constituents.
The language of the proposed policy is vague, saying the superintendent shall "establish specific requirements for acceptance of an instructional credit" from non-APS schools, to guarantee the credit "was earned in a comparably rigorous environment."
Proposed administrative rules lay out the specifics, saying that:
- Credits would be accepted only for classes not reasonably available to students through APS, including the district's eCADEMY of online courses. This would stop enrollment in most online classes outside APS, since the eCADEMY offers about 30 core academic classes.
- Credits would be accepted only from schools or districts that have a written agreement with APS.
- Course curriculum would be subject to review by the APS curriculum committee.
- Students would not be able to enroll after the second semester of their senior year begins.
- Courses must require, and students must log, a reasonable number of instructional hours.
- Students may be required to pass an APS-approved exam to demonstrate they learned the course content.
- The course must be completed 10 days before the credit is posted to the student's transcript.
Brooks said the intent is not to discourage online learning, but to ensure the learning is high quality.
Brooks said he thinks APS is doing online learning the right way. He said students who take a class through eCADEMY are paired with a certified, highly qualified New Mexico teacher and he is confident the classes are rigorous and valid. He said it is also important that eCADEMY classes are "blended," meaning students learn through a mix of online work and face time with teachers.
"We need to make sure the credit they receive is one we can honor at APS," Brooks said.
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ABQ/ Legislation Proposed to Preserve Native Languages
Alamogordo Daly News, The Associated Press
September 14, 2012
Members of New Mexico's congressional delegation are pushing for the extension of a program that works to preserve Native American languages.
U.S. Reps. Marin Heinrich, Ben Ray Lujan and Steve Pearce introduced legislation on Thursday to reauthorize the Esther Martinez Native American Language Act for another five years.
The act provides grants to support language immersion programs. It's scheduled to expire at the end of the year.
Pearce says native languages are a valuable part of New Mexico's culture and represent an important piece of the American story.
Since 2000, 390 grants worth nearly $50 million have been awarded through the program.
The act was originally authorized in 2006. It's named after Esther Martinez who taught the Tewa language at Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo and helped develop language preservation strategies around the Southwest.
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Charlottesville VA/ Research Links 'Responsive' Teaching to Academic Gains
By Jaclyn Zubrzycki
Education Week, Vol. 32, Issue 4 [Edweek.org.]
September 13, 2012
Fifth graders in schools where teachers faithfully used the Responsive Classroom teaching approach performed better on statewide assessments of mathematics and reading skills than their peers at schools that did not use the social-emotional-learning program's strategies as much, according to new research presented at a national conference here last week.
The findings, discussed at the fall meeting of the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness, are part of a comprehensive, three-year study of the program, which trains 10,000 teachers each year. A team of researchers led by Sara Rimm-Kaufman, an associate professor of leadership, foundations, and policy at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, has also been examining the program's effect on teacher-student dynamics in the classroom and on standards-based math instruction. Those and other findings are being shared in a series of upcoming and recently published papers.
- "When there's top-notch research like [Ms. Rimm-Kaufman's] showing positive effects academically for social- and emotional-learning programs, it's a great contribution," said Paul Goren, the vice president for research and knowledge use at the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, or CASEL, in Chicago. Responsive Classroom is one of 20 or so programs that will appear in the "2012 CASEL Guide on Effective Social and Emotional Learning Programs," which is slated to be published later this month.
- The findings were also welcomed by Gretchen L. Bukowick, the director of professional-service delivery for the Northeast Foundation for Children, the Turners Falls, Mass.-based organization that developed the Responsive Classroom approach. "This helps us put some evidence behind what we believe," she said. "Academic, social, and emotional learning all go hand in hand."
Social and emotional learning programs focus on teaching students how to manage emotions and their behaviors and interactions with others. Some do so through direct lessons, but Responsive Classroom focuses on teacher language and modeling expectations, describing itself as an approach to learning rather than a program.
High Fidelity, High Scores
In this second in-depth study of Responsive Classroom led by Ms. Rimm-Kaufman, 24 elementary schools in an unnamed Virginia district were randomly assigned to either receive training, materials, coaching, and administrative support to implement Responsive Classroom or to be part of a control group that did not adopt the approach. The researchers followed 2,904 students, taught by 295 teachers, from 3rd to 5th grade, and examined their academic performance on the 5th grade state standardized test.
The researchers also used surveys and observations to determine the degree to which Responsive Classroom practices were used in every elementary school in the district, as the approach involves practices that may also be used by teachers who were not teaching in the Responsive Classroom schools.
Simply being assigned to implement Responsive Classroom strategies did not have a direct effect on student scores, the researchers found, but there was a strong indirect effect: Schools in which teachers adhered more closely to the approach had significantly higher math scores, especially for students who had had low math scores in 2nd grade.
Even within the group of schools that was not assigned to use Responsive Classroom, more-frequent use of the approach's strategies was correlated with higher math achievement.
- In both the control and treatment groups, using more Responsive Classroom practices was associated with a 23-point gain on state standardized tests. Which specific program components were associated with higher performance will be the topic of a different paper, Ms. Rimm-Kaufman said, but preliminary findings show that the program's focus on academic choice, which involves allowing students to choose among different activities to accomplish the same learning goals, may be particularly effective.
On the other hand, students in schools that were assigned to implement the program but did not do so with strong fidelity actually saw a small negative effect on their scores. "If you have lackluster fidelity, you don't see gains in whatever the intervention happens to be," Ms. Rimm-Kaufman said. But she said the dropoff in scores could also be tied to "something about schools and teachers that is both predicting use of practices and predicting achievement gains." A school with a principal who was adept at helping teachers prioritize, for instance, might be more likely to implement Responsive Classroom with fidelity and also have higher test scores.
A Schoolwide Effort
The fact that the schools that implemented the program more faithfully saw better results is no surprise, said CASEL's Mr. Goren. Previous research on similar programs has also indicated that social-emotional-learning programs are more effective when they are whole-school initiatives.
In this case, researchers found that fidelity was associated with having a principal or school leader who buys in to the program, with teachers' feelings of being supported and validated in taking up the new program, and with the presence of strong coaching. Implementation was more challenging when teachers said that the program was one of many being "thrown at them," or that they were unsupported.
The findings are part of a growing body of research showing that social-emotional learning can positively influence academic, as well as behavioral, results.
- "A lot of people believe that we just don't have time for social skills, and yet the data continue to show it's a great investment," said Steven Elliott, the director of the Learning Sciences Institute at Arizona State University in Tempe, who has conducted previous studies of the approach.
When asked during the Sept. 7 presentation if her work would lead her to recommend the program, Ms. Rimm-Kaufman said: "I would recommend it in situations where there's a clear plan for implementing practices and making sure they'll be implemented well. If you're thinking, 'I want to toss this into a school with many other ongoing professional development efforts all at the same time,' I'd say no."
Ms. Bukowick seconded the need for support. "It's not a curriculum, it's an approach. So the impact is from the whole culture changing," she said.
While some schools and principals were more committed to the program than others were, the findings from the study show that teachers who were trained were overall dramatically more likely to use Responsive Classroom practices than those who weren't trained, Ms. Rimm-Kaufman said.
"It's extremely clear that the Responsive Classroom training is an effective, well-run training. It's producing changes in teachers' behavior in a very dramatic way," she said.
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Washington DC/ Most States Providing Common-Core Instructional Materials
By Erik Robelen
Education Week [Edweek.org.]
September 13, 2012
Nearly all states are developing curricular and supplemental materials to help districts and schools implement the common-core state standards, but far fewer are approving or certifying lists of materials, according to a new report from a Washington-based research and advocacy group. And just four states-Delaware, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Nebraska-said they are requiring that districts use materials aligned to the common standards in English/language arts and mathematics.
- 39 states say they have developed a coordinated agency-wide plan and calendar for professional development aligned to the common core (or their own career- and college-ready standards), while
- 20 states say they have or will identify high-quality or promising providers for districts and schools to access.
The findings are part of the 7th annual "Closing the Expectations Gap" report from Achieve, a nonprofit organization founded by governors and business leaders that played a key role in helping to develop the common-core standards. All but one state, Montana, responded to the survey this year.
"One of the shortcomings of past state standards-based reform efforts was the lack of attention to implementation, including ensuring that curricular and instructional resources and meaningful professional development were available," the report says.
The report provides little detail about the types of curricular materials states are developing and providing, other than to say they include model units, lessons, curricular maps, or graphic organizers. The voluntary offerings supplied by states are typically housed on state education agency websites, the report says.
The survey also probed whether states are matching their standards with high school graduation requirements, finding that
- while the number is growing, it's still fewer than half (23 states).
- 3 made changes in 2011 to align their standards with graduation requirements: Hawaii, Iowa, and Washington state.
- The report defines such alignment as requiring students to complete a college- and career-ready curriculum "that includes at least mathematics through the content typically taught in an Algebra II course (or its equivalent) and four years of grade-level English" to earn a diploma.
"States send mixed signals about their commitment to college- and career-readiness when the courses-or competency-based demonstrations-required for students to earn a diploma in the state encompass only a subset of academic knowledge and skills" needed to succeed in postsecondary education and job training.
The report concludes that all 50 states and the District of Columbia have adopted English/language arts and mathematics standards that "reflect the knowledge and skills colleges and employers demand of high school graduates." This includes the 46 states to adopt the common core and the four others that did not: Alaska, Nebraska Texas, and Virginia. (Minnesota adopted the common-core ELA standards, but not the math standards.)
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Washington DC/ More Than $6 Million Awarded for Indian Education and Professional Development
US Department of Education Press Release [Ed.gov]
September 13, 2012
[No awards made in New Mexico]
The U.S. Department of Education today awarded 22 grants totaling more than $6 million to improve educational opportunities and achievement for American Indian children in 13 states and to provide professional development for individuals of American Indian descent who serve in the education field.
- "Reforming Native education has never been more important," Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said.
- "To do what is best for Native students, we must collaborate with people who know the students and communities. These grants will help schools offer more opportunities for students and provide training and support to educators and others in the communities that are serving the students."
The Department awarded 12 grants totaling $3,329,938 under the Demonstration Grants for Indian Children program, a competitive discretionary grant program that supports projects to develop, test and demonstrate the effectiveness of services and programs to improve the educational opportunities and achievement of Indian children.
- This grant focuses on increasing the school readiness skills of three- and four-year-old Indian children to prepare them for successful entry into kindergarten.
- Program funds also are used to enable Indian high school students to transition successfully to postsecondary education by increasing their competency and skills in challenging subjects, including mathematics and science.
Under the Indian Education Professional Development program, 10 grants totaling $3,329,939 are being awarded to increase the number of qualified Indian individuals in professions that serve Indian people and to provide training to qualified Indian individuals to become teachers and administrators.
To strengthen K-12 education, the Obama administration is investing in courageous leadership at the local level and taking to scale best practices that are closing achievement gaps and raising the bar for all students. The administration also is undertaking initiatives to make college more affordable and costs more transparent, as part of a larger effort to achieve the President's national goal to once again lead the world in college completion by 2020.
More information on grants for Indian education is available at http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oese/oie/index.html.
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New York NY/ Hey, Elmo, That Concept Has Legs
By Elizabeth Jensen
New York Times
September 13, 2012
ON a steamy June morning five 4-year-olds at a Harlem day care center lined up on the floor and focused intently on a tiny television set. Around them a half-dozen young women sat on miniature chairs and intensely monitored their every reaction. Were the children looking away? Smiling? Making a negative comment? Clapping?
On the screen was the beloved Elmo of "Sesame Street," playing a self-proclaimed "chef-explorer." As he quizzed the Rhombus of Recipes for a dip to satisfy the Queen of Nacho Picchu, the kids chattered away until suddenly they started chanting along with a song: "We want guac, we want guac." When Elmo counted 14 avocados, they counted along unprompted. When he added his three tablespoons of onions, and the dip whirled into a success, they cheered. As a final song played, they danced in place.
It was all a good sign, but the bigger test will come Sept. 24 at the beginning of the 43rd season of "Sesame Street," when "Elmo the Musical" - his guacamole adventure is just one installment - is broadcast nationally.
It's a major change for this PBS show for preschoolers as it phases out the long-running, popular segment "Elmo's World."
For the past decade each week's five daily episodes of "Sesame Street," which are typically seen by a cumulative 5.9 million viewers, have closed with "Elmo's World," a show within a show in which the furry red title character and his pet fish, Dorothy, explore a crayon-drawn wonderland of his mind, focused around a simple daily theme - frogs, say, or teeth.
The segment, created in 1998 and gradually introduced until it became a daily element of the show, was a hit among the show's very youngest viewers, the ones for whom it was designed, and 14 years later it shows no sign of losing steam, even though no new episodes have been produced since 2009. But "Sesame Street" itself is now appealing to an older audience, puppeteers need new challenges, and the producers want to keep the program fresh before viewers start to look elsewhere, especially at a time of ever more options in the overheated world of preschool media.
Enter "Elmo the Musical." Although "Elmo's World" segments will appear occasionally in repeats, mostly they will live online and in home video, as more "Musical" episodes are produced and rotated into the show.
The musical incarnation has been under tight wraps for the last year: until recently episodes were seen only by a toy licensee partner, and some parents and oblivious preschoolers, including those in Harlem, who were part of the show's rigorous testing process. (In fiscal year 2011 the nonprofit Sesame Workshop, which produces the show, earned $46.9 million in licensing revenues, from items like toys, DVDs, clothing and food. No new toys are currently planned as ties to "Elmo the Musical.")
Each 11-minute musical finds Elmo starring in a stage show of his imagination, with the help of his pal Velvet (a purple curtain played by Leslie Carrara-Rudolph, who is also the voice of the Muppet Abby Cadabby). Cavorting in front of animated scenery, Elmo travels the world, conjuring playmates like an about-to-be married penguin in full bridal regalia or a villainous table-tennis-playing octopus. Elmo searches for that "really big dip" in "Guacamole the Musical," hunts for Moby Pink in "Sea Captain the Musical" and, clad in astronaut gear, delivers a pizza to Mars in "Pizza the Musical."
The shows capture "what happens onstage that's so magical," said Elmo's voice and puppeteer, Kevin Clash (the subject of the 2011 documentary "Being Elmo"). "We kept pinching ourselves shooting this, all the puppeteers, because we got to sing," he said, and not just in character voices.
Each adventure - there will be 10 in rotation this year and 5 added next season - includes snappy original songs, a special musical cue to indicate that Elmo is using his imagination (and thus viewers should too) and math skills to learn, part of the show's current focus on a curriculum of science, technology, engineering and math, popularly known as STEM. More educational activities will be online.
Visually this is Elmo as viewers don't often see him: donning white tie and tails to tap-dance, trying a headstand and climbing a ladder before stepping out on a tightrope. Being a puppet, Elmo rarely shows his feet on screen: The "full-body Elmo," as the show's creators call it, requires three contorted puppeteers, not just one. In the world of preschool television, the competition is largely animated, with no limits on where characters can go or what they can do, so the creators of "Elmo the Musical" committed to "seeing how far we could go seeing Elmo head to toe," Mr. Clash said.
Even before production of "Elmo's World" ended Carol-Lynn Parente, the executive producer of "Sesame Street," was itching to revamp the final segment of the hour long show. But, she said, with budgets tight and viewers seemingly content with the status quo, "I had a hard time justifying spending money on something new."
The original "Elmo's World" joined "Sesame Street" at a time when the show, which was first broadcast in 1969 to prepare underserved children for school, had begun attracting a much younger audience, including many under 2. Though television time for them should be strictly limited, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, the show's producers felt obliged to cater to the very young and their attention span by adding the shorter "Elmo's World." Still, "we were depressed by the statistics about how young the audience had gotten," Ms. Parente said. "The curriculum was not designed for that."
In Season 40 Sesame Workshop made a conscious effort to lure back older preschoolers who had deemed the show too babyish. It was a success: the 3-year-old audience rose 41 percent that year; 4-year-olds increased 4 percent; and the 5-year-olds, 21 percent. That left "Elmo's World" as the show's youngest-skewing element, which should change with "Elmo the Musical," although producers are hopeful the younger set will still enjoy Elmo's escapades even if they don't follow the math.
"Elmo the Musical" began to take shape in June 2011, when the head writer of "Sesame Street," Joey Mazzarino, and five other writers sequestered themselves all day for two weeks in a bare room under renovation at their Manhattan offices. Figuring out what could replace "Elmo's World" was an emotionally charged process, Mr. Mazzarino said: Judy Freudberg, the co-creator and writer of "Elmo's World," had just been given a diagnosis of cancer and was not there. (She died this year.) "We didn't want to touch it," he said.
Among the Muppets, Mr. Mazzarino said, the innocent and pure Elmo is one of the more challenging to channel. Quirkier characters, like the inept Grover or Bert and Ernie, with their opposites-attract dynamic, lend themselves more easily to comic effect.
As they deconstructed the character of Elmo, the writers concluded that he "really is an everychild, and he's so excited about everything," with great energy and a big imagination, Mr. Mazzarino said. Add in Mr. Clash - "the greatest singer that we know" - along with the realization that "Elmo, when you put him in any kind of costume, is hilarious," as well as the popularity of television musicals like "Glee" and Disney's "High School Musical," and the concept jelled, he said.
The writers did come up with an alternative concept - taking Elmo on tricycle road trips - but it was the musical that clicked, Ms. Parente said. "It was simple, but genius," she said. "You just never run from simple." Still, she acknowledged a "little fear that those who have come to love 'Elmo's World' will scream."
For each $275,000 episode Mr. Mazzarino and his team wrote lyrics, and music was commissioned from a number of Broadway orchestrators, including Alex Lacamoire ("In the Heights"). Among the many regular "Sesame Street" puppeteers who took part in the productions was John Tartaglia, the creator and star of "Johnny and the Sprites," a Disney Channel preschool show that also features stage-style music.
The episodes, including one featuring the Broadway star Audra McDonald (who sings "Keep on Clucking" in "Circus the Musical"), were shot in just over a day each on the show's Queens set, in front of a blue screen, so the puppeteers could be digitally erased by the animation company Magnetic Dreams. Then a full score was added. Finally there was sound mixing. In early August Mr. Clash painstakingly worked his way through "Airplane" in an editing suite near Union Square. Footsteps sounded too much like flippers, the music drowned out Elmo, and the cows, well, they needed to sound more bovine. "I'm going to have to sing some of these cows," Mr. Clash said, jumping into a sound booth to rerecord the chorus of "Flap Your Wings."
In the middle of the process was the educational testing. No episode of "Sesame Street" goes out without first being run by preschoolers to see if the messages are getting through.
At the day care center in Harlem, Elmo's new adventures mostly got raves from two viewing groups. Sitting afterward with her adult monitor, a girl in braids with bright purple beads was one of the few in two separate age groups who didn't pick up on what a rhombus (a diamond shape) was, pointing to a triangle instead. Still, it was a good bet she would watch again. "I like when Elmo was dancing and dancing and dancing and dancing," she said, giggling.
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Denver CO/ CDE & GED Testing Service Partner on Computerized High School Equivalency Test
By Frances Swidler
The Denver Post
September 10, 2012
In an effort to provide more Colorado adults with a high school credential and basic technology skills, the Colorado Department of Education is partnering with GED Testing Service to offer the high school equivalency test on computer.
While the computerized GED test is the same GED test that is currently offered using the old paper-and-pencil model, the computer testing process is streamlined, and offers test takers new options and more convenience.
- By taking the GED test using a computer, the waiting period of receiving results is eliminated, as test takers receive instant, unofficial score reports upon test completion.
- The computerized GED test also gives test takers more flexibility, as online test scheduling and registration is available 24/7.
The computerized test is currently offered at these three locations: Arapahoe Community College in Littleton (5900 South Santa Fe Drive), Community College of Denver (1560 N. Broadway), and Otero Junior College in La Junta (1802 Colorado Avenue). More locations will be added in the future.
Since its launch in January, more than 8,700 computerized GED tests have been delivered in 24 states.
GED Testing Service expects more than half of all states to offer the test on computer by the end of 2012.
For more on Colorado's GED testing program, visit http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdeadult/GEDindex.htm
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Washington DC/ COLUMN: The 'Human Touch' in Computer-Based Learning
By Daniel Willingham
From Valerie Strauss' daily column, The Answer Sheet
Washington Post
September 14, 2012
Here's an interesting look at research on the impact of technology written by cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham, professor and director of graduate studies in psychology at the University of Virginia and author of "Why Don't Students Like School?" His newly published book is "When Can You Trust The Experts? How to tell good science from bad in education."
The importance of a good relationship between teacher and student is no surprise. More surprising is that the "human touch" is so powerful it can improve computer-based learning.
In a series of ingenious yet simple experiments, Rich Mayer and Scott DaPra showed that students learn better from an onscreen slide show when it is accompanied by an onscreen avatar that uses social cues.
Eighty-eight college students watched a four-minute Powerpoint slide show that explained how a solar cell converts sunlight to electricity. It consisted of 11 slides and a voice-over explanation.
- Some subjects saw an avatar which used a full compliment of social cues (gesturing, changing posture, facial expression, changes in eye gaze, and lip movements synchronized to speech) which were meant to direct student attention to relevant features of the slide show.
- Other subjects saw an avatar that maintained the same posture, maintained eye gaze straight ahead, and did not move (except for lip movements synchronized to speech).
- A third group saw no avatar at all, but just saw the slides and listened to the narration.
All subjects were later tested with fact-based recall questions and transfer questions (e.g. "how could you increase the electrical output of a solar power?") meant to test subjects' ability to apply their knowledge to new situations.
- There was no difference among the three groups on the retention test, but there was a sizable advantage (d = .90) for the high embodiment subjects on the transfer test. (The low-embodiment and no-avatar groups did not differ.)
- A second experiment showed that the effect was only obtained when a human voice was used; the avatar did not boost learning when synchronized to a machine voice.
The experimenters emphasized the social aspect of the situation to learning;
- students process the slideshow differently because the avatar is "human enough" for them to treat it prime interaction like those learners would use with a real person.
- This interpretation seems especially plausible in light of the second experiment; all of the more cognitive cues (e.g., the shifts in the avatar's eye gaze prompting shifts in learner's attention) were still present in the machine-voice condition, yet there was no advantage to learners.
There is something special about learning from another person. Surprisingly, that other person can be an avatar.
