Dear Friends,
Waldorf educators
are delighted that research is finally catching up with what they have known
all along: excessive screen media has a negative impact on growing children.
Three researchers from Duke University in Durham, N.C. used data gathered from
a survey given to 1 million fifth through eighth graders for their paper:
Scaling the Digital Divide: Home Computer Technology and Student Achievement.
Their study shows that middle school
students who have access to home computers and high-speed Internet achieve
lower scores in reading and math assessments than their counterparts who do not
have a home computer. Students who do have home computers but use them twice a
month or less achieved better scores than those who used computers
indiscriminately.
You can read more and download the study by going to Why Waldorf Works.
Frances Kane Patrice Maynard Michael Soule
Administration Development & Outreach Programs & Activities
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How Giving Kids a Test Became a Political War
The Canadian
government's mandatory standardized testing system, known as the Foundational
Skills Assessment (FSA), has recently come under fire. Vancouver's school board
trustees voted to send a letter to parents that includes ministry-approved
reasons why a child can be excused from taking the test. Other school boards
and teachers are following suit, claiming the test discriminates unfairly,
humiliates by publicly posting student results, and discourages disadvantaged
districts. Some educators claim low test scores are more closely related to
socio-economics than to classroom skills and learning.
Read more Why Waldorf Works.
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Waldorf Schools Teach with Solar Panels
The Waldorf
School of the Peninsula in Los Altos partnered with SolarCity to commemorate
the opening of the school's new solar energy system (at the December Holiday
Faire). The installation of the system followed Waldorf's becoming the first
Los Altos school certified as a Santa Clara County Green Business by the Bay
Area Green Business Program last spring. The half dozen solar panels mounted
atop the Chicago Waldorf School in Rogers Park are able to power just a handful
of light bulbs, but they provide students with hands-on experience in physics
and environmental science. "They'll learn about solar power, online data
analysis, how electricity works and even global warming," according to science
teacher Jim Kotz, who wrote the grant proposal and received the grant for the
panels from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation and Commonwealth
Edison.
Read more at Why Waldorf Works.
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Waldorf Alum Wins
Prestigious Architecture Award
"If you follow
the same path through the city, each day getting off the subway at the same
station and walking the same route to your destination, you eventually become
disengaged and stop fully perceiving the surroundings. The moment you miss your
usual stop and are forced to drift from your routine, you perceive the city
with new eyes...." So begins the opening paragraph of Reilly O'Neil Hogan's
architectural project which was recently awarded First Prize at the prestigious
International VELUX Award 2008 ceremony in Venice, Italy. A graduate from the
San Francisco Waldorf High School (class of 2003), Reilly went on to attend
Cornell University's College of Architecture and graduated in May 2008. His
thesis project was called "Embodied Ephemerality." In it Reilly challenged the
concept of daily city routines by getting off the subway at a new or even a
wrong station, in this case the Path station in Lower Manhattan. You can view
drawings from Reilly's project at Why Waldorf Works.
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"Weaving the Educational Task
with the Social Mission of Waldorf Schools"
A gathering of teachers, staff, parents, & trustees from across N. America. Now is the time to register for the AWSNA Summer Conference 2009, June 23 - 27 at the Portland Waldorf School in Milwaukie, Oregon. Keynote lectures by Virginia Sease from the Goetheanum in Dornach. A range of artistic, pedagogical, and school organization workshops. Daily round-table sessions exploring critical issues in Waldorf Education. Meet old friends, make new colleagues, network, and share resources. Fresh local food carefully prepared for each day's meals. A salmon bake and evening of folk dance. See a brochure and find out details at Why Waldorf Works. You are welcome to send us Waldorf-related events for posting on our web site.
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The Association for Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA) is a not-for-profit membership organization that supports independent Waldorf schools, initiatives, and teacher training institutes, and promotes Waldorf education throughout North America.
Waldorf education is a holistic and developmental approach that integrates academic, practical and artistic elements as it addresses the changing needs of the growing child and maturing adolescent. Waldorf schools engage the heart and hands as well as the mind with a lively, experiential curriculum rich in the basics, literature, history, languages, the arts, the social and natural sciences and technology.
AWSNA provides leadership to schools by facilitating resources, networks and research as they strive towards excellence and build healthy school communities. The Association performs functions that its member schools and institutes could not do alone, including outreach and advocacy, accreditation and school support services, professional development activities, research and publications. Please contact us if you have any questions about AWSNA or this newsletter.
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