Education Week - October 28, 2015 - 8

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Educators in the Middle East
Tackle the Common Core
| MARKETPLACE K-12 | The United Arab Emirates might
seem an unlikely place to find a conference on the Common
Core State Standards. But Dubai was center stage this
month for about 200 educators from the Middle East and
North Africa who met to delve into the common core.
Despite the fact that eight states in the United States
are not on board with the common core, the standards
have been embraced by 110 private schools in the UAE,
said Alison Burrows, the co-founder of KDSL, a UAE-based
education company that organized the conference.
"There are hundreds of thousands of K-12 students here
who don't qualify for public school," she said, because the
government only provides a free education for its citizens.
"We have a huge international private school market
offering various curricula-American being one of the most
favored."
Each emirate has its own regulatory agency for
private schools. In Dubai, it's the Knowledge and Human
Development Authority, and this organization requires
American-curriculum schools to use the common core. It
partners with the New England Association of Schools and
Colleges, which inspects the American-oriented schools
annually, according to Burrows. That review is central to
the adoption of the common core: "If schools here want to
be competitive with schools back home," they need to follow
the standards, she said.
The keynote presenter at the conference was Norman
Webb, who created the "depth of knowledge" classification
system to explore the extent to which the common-core
assessments gauge students' deeper learning. Among the
exhibitors was WebbAlign, a program based on his research
to help K-12 educational publishers validate the rigor of
their curricula and assessments.

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The common-core standards-which have been much
discussed, debated, and challenged in the United States-
are being studied, taught, and implemented with interest in
the Middle East, Burrows said.
-MICHELE MOLNAR

Clockmaker's White House Visit
Shines Light on School Discipline
| RULES FOR ENGAGEMENT | Teenage clockmaker Ahmed
Mohamed's visit to the White House astronomy night last
week has once again stirred conversations about discipline
and racial justice in schools.
Ahmed, a Muslim from a Sudanese-American family,
drew international press coverage last month when police
arrested him at his Irving, Texas, school after teachers
said his homemade clock looked like a "hoax bomb." Police
later filed no charges, though Ahmed did serve a multiday
suspension related to the incident.
His supporters said the case demonstrates how discipline
is often administered unfairly, especially for students
of color. But some said the public was too quick to judge
educators and police who were responding to what they saw
as a potential safety threat.
The boy and his family have been on a sometimes bizarre
international press tour. As Mashable points out, it included
meetings with tech leaders, appearances at conferences,
and even a meeting with the Sudanese president and
alleged war criminal Omar al-Bashir.
The whole experience culminated in a quick meeting with
President Obama as Ahmed joined other science-minded
teenagers to gaze at the stars from the White House lawn.
The Advancement Project, a Washington-based racialjustice organization, was quick to highlight that Ahmed
isn't the first student to be disciplined for a science project.
Kiera Wilmot, a black Florida student, was arrested in
2013 on two felony charges after her science experiment, a

volcano model, malfunctioned. She was later expelled and
then allowed to return to school and graduate following a
public outcry, the organization said.
"We should be encouraging young scientists like Ahmed
and Kiera, not criminalizing them because of race," Thena
Robinson Mock, a project official, said in a statement.
-EVIE BLAD

New York Principal Orders
Teachers' Desks Thrown Out
| TEACHING NOW | Teachers at a New York City elementary
school got their furniture back last week after they were
suddenly ordered to remove all desks and cabinets from
their classrooms.
Donna Connelly, the principal of PS 24 Spuyten Duyvil
School in Riverdale, had the furniture thrown out because
she didn't want teachers sitting, according to a story first
reported in the New York Post.
Connelly had teachers clear out their desks and filing
cabinets while classes were in session. Custodians then
dumped the desks at the curb.
Photographs of the desks piled up on the street were
uploaded to a teacher's Facebook page, which has since been
deleted. The post sparked hundreds of outraged comments
criticizing the principal for her behavior.
After an uproar from teachers and Post readers, District
10 Superintendent Melodie Mashel ordered the return of
the furniture, which then was stored in the basement.
Last week, Connelly sent a staffwide email saying she
would be returning desks to classrooms, the Post said.
The idea of removing the front-and-center teacher's desk
from classrooms has become popular in recent years as
educators have sought to create nontraditional learning
spaces and to circulate more among students.

Read for Success: Improve Reading
Proficiency and Combat the Summer
Learning Slide
Read for Success is a groundbreaking
program intervention designed to
help early elementary students excel
at reading. Learn how school systems
are using RIF's program to combat
the summer learning slide and ensure
reading success.
free webinar

Guests
RoN FaIRchILd, president and ceo,
Smarter Learning Group
tImothy SImS, director of federal
programs, hickory public Schools, N.c.
JeNNy WhIte, principal, Southwest
elementary School

Wed., Nov. 4, 2015
2 to 3 p.m. et

Moderator
JuLIe RodRIGuez, vice president, literacy
services, Reading Is Fundamental

www.edweek.org/go/webinar/
ReadForSuccess

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Education Week - October 28, 2015

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