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Star Ledger--What to expect today with release of every N.J. school's PARCC scores
TRENTON — Results from New Jersey's latest standardized math and English tests will be released today, giving parents and students a look at how well their schools performed compared to others across the state.
The tests scores will show how students in grades 3-11 fared in the second year of the new state tests, called the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) exams.
Districts first received their scores over the summer, and many shared the results at their school board meetings. Wednesday's release is the first chance for the public to see scores from different districts compared side-by-side.
The results are likely to show improvement in many districts considering statewide scores rose on nearly every exam, according to data released in August. But the scores may be lower than parents and teachers expected to see based on the state's old exams.
http://www.nj.com/education/2016/11/every_nj_schools_parcc_scores_will_be_released_tod.html
Adam Clark | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com| November 02, 2016 at 7:06 AM, updated November 02, 2016 at 7:10 AM
NY Times--How to Deal With Digital Distractions
I used to teach at the graduate school of information sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. I couldn’t believe how many students looked at ESPN.com or its ilk in class. We live in a world of screens, where digital distractions contend with our need to learn. Is multitasking a good idea?
No. Clifford Nass, a Stanford professor who pioneered research into how humans interact with technology, conducted numerous studies of people juggling different cognitive tasks, like talking on the phone, watching television and working on a computer. Basically, people are bad at it. They are actually moving in and out of different things quickly, not working simultaneously, and nothing gets enough attention.
On the other hand, performance isn’t the same as learning. Joo-Hyun Song, a psychologist working with the neuroscientist Patrick Bédard at Brown University, found that when people learn motor skills with a distraction, the two are internalized. That can create better learning, particularly if you have to recall facts in a dissonant environment. “When pilots are learning how to handle emergency situations,” Dr. Song said, “it’s better if they learn them with distractions going on.”
By QUENTIN HARDYNOV. 1, 2016
