Education | Brandon Horn

Efficiency of instruction

Increasing efficiency of instruction enables a teacher to effectively instruct a greater number of students. This makes it possible for a school to offer a a wider variety of courses and for a greater number of students to benefit from each course. In the face of decreased funding, increasing the efficiency of a course can be an alternative to eliminating it.

This post explores a few techniques that reduce the educational impact of an increase in the ratio of students to teachers. The techniques can also be used in the absence of increasing class sizes to free up teacher time for other purposes. The techniques improve, rather than sacrifice, educational quality.

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Get started with Moodle

Teachers from WWPHSS are welcome to take advantage of my existing Moodle installation to add an online component to their courses. Teachers and tech staff from other districts are welcome to contact me for information about how to setup Moodle.

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Meet IEP and 504 accommodations with Moodle

Moodle helps me quickly and easily meet many of the accommodations often required by IEPs and 504 plans. Since most of the accommodations require no additional work per student, I can offer those that are appropriate to all of my students.

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Collect and use data from existing assignments to improve instruction

On Monday, I assigned a review packet for the upcoming AP exam. It contained AP style multiple choice questions covering a wide variety of topics as well as short answer questions typical of those found on real exams. Throughout the next 3 evenings, students entered their answers on Moodle. The students who were absent Monday and Tuesday saw the assignment online and used the electronic copy. They knew better than to return to class with a feeble, “I didn’t get the packet.”

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Online student and parent access to grades at the K-12 level

The West Windsor Plainsboro Regional School District purchased a new student information system that is being used extensively during the 2008-2009 school year. Teachers at the district’s high schools are required to enter marking period grades into the system. Many teachers also utilize the system’s electronic gradebook to record scores for individual assignments.

The district enabled a feature that, by default, allows middle school and high school students to view each of their scores through a website. Parents can view the same information. By default, scores are available immediately after they have been entered.

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New Jersey Teacher Tenure

This post refers solely to tenure of public school teachers in New Jersey. The facts presented may not apply to other positions or in other states.

How does a New Jersey teacher acquire tenure?

Tenure is established by state law, not by contract. The New Jersey Legislature has the power to modify or eliminate tenure. In the past, the Legislature has eliminated tenure for school district superintendents.

N.J.S.A. 18A:28 specifies the requirements that a teacher must meet to acquire tenure. Most teachers acquire tenure by serving in a position for 3 consecutive academic years and being rehired for a 4th year.

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Free speech in K-12 schools

I have heard students defend their inappropriate behavior in school by claiming that it is protected by “freedom of speech” or “freedom of expression.” When asked to elaborate, most students are unable to do so clearly and accurately.

In the Tinker v. Des Moines case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that students have rights to freedom of speech and expression in public schools. Schools cannot prohibit a student from expressing an opinion merely “to avoid the discomfort and unpleasantness that always accompany an unpopular viewpoint.”

Does this mean that students can say whatever they want whenever they want?

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Web based assessment in K-12 classrooms

The following is a research paper that I wrote for a graduate class on using data to improve instruction.

Appendix A has been removed because the creators of Moodle provide a live demonstration that is far better than the static screenshots from the original paper. (The paper still makes reference to Appendix A; however, the live demo is an appropriate substitute.)

Appendix B has been removed because it was relevant only to the course, rather than to the topic of web based assessment.

An edited PDF version is available with the original formatting. A presentation is also available that briefly mentions some of the highlights of the paper.

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Should K-12 school staff carry weapons?

The following is a research paper that I wrote for a graduate class on school law. Only the formatting has been changed for posting here, the content has not been edited. A PDF version is available with the original formatting.

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