Episodes

Monday Nov 04, 2024
Monday Nov 04, 2024
David Blobaum: College Admissions, Test Scores, and the National Test Prep Association. This is episode 720 of Teaching Learning Leading K12, an audio podcast.
David Blobaum is a nationally recognized expert on standardized exams and college admissions. Since graduating from the University of Chicago, he has devoted himself to helping students reach their potential on the SAT and ACT and, more broadly, to help them succeed through education. In addition to leading Summit Prep, he is on the Board of Directors for the National Test Prep Association and serves as its Director of Outreach to help advocate for the appropriate use of standardized testing in college admissions.
Lots to learn.
Awesome conversation.
Before you go...
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Connect & Learn More:
https://www.instagram.com/nationaltestprepassociation/
https://www.facebook.com/NTPAssociation/
https://www.youtube.com/@NationalTestPrepAssociation
https://www.linkedin.com/company/national-test-preparation-association
Length - 50:25

Monday Feb 02, 2015
Episode 45: Laura Robb-Vocabulary is Comprehension
Monday Feb 02, 2015
Monday Feb 02, 2015
Today I am talking with Laura Robb. She is a teacher, speaker, author, and coach.
She has taught for over 43 years and continues to teach each year in middle grades classrooms.
She has published 18 books primarily focused on reading, writing, and comprehension.
You will often find her speaking across the country and working with classroom teachers to learn how to address the needs of kids in reading, writing and text comprehension.
Laura is concerned about teachers who are “stressed out” with attempts to measure classroom success by using standardized, high stakes tests. The money and time that is spent on these tests could be better spent on training teachers to use better instructional practices.
Laura says, “One of the joys of teaching is that every child is unique.”
Our talk is primarily focused on one of her most recent works, “Vocabulary is Comprehension: Getting to the Root of Text Complexity”.
This work is filled with understandable lessons on how to connect vocabulary building and development with complex text comprehension.
Any teacher could easily take this book read sections and immediately begin to use its lessons in her plans for the week.
Some instructional works are cumbersome with their own language and information. The teacher would need a translator first before even getting close to thinking about using the information…not this book! It is easy to understand and use!
Take a look at her Big 10 and then turn to any of the lessons associated with them and you will be able to start making a difference in a child’s understanding of the text and content.
I strongly encourage you to take this information to heart and to use her book to help change your lessons to help the kids “get it!”
By the way…also, check out her foundation. She and her son are focused on getting books into the hands of children with none.
Enjoy!!!
www.teacher.scholastic.com/products/classroombooks/laurarobb
www.facebook.com/laura.robb.372
Length: 1:00:19

Wednesday Apr 09, 2014
Episode 17: The ACT with Carl Forbes
Wednesday Apr 09, 2014
Wednesday Apr 09, 2014
Carl has been working at The ACT now for the last eight years and is assigned to both secondary and post-secondary schools.
He helps secondary schools understand what their data is telling them and how to respond.
With post-secondary schools he assists them in looking at the student data with a focus on what admissions and scholarship decisions could be made from that data.
We discuss everything from understanding about the organization known as ACT, what the organization offers besides the college entrance test, what the ACT test scores mean, and what the fundamental differences are between the ACT and the SAT.
Carl states, “The ACT is focused on college and career readiness but also work preparedness.”
He explains the ACT standards and benchmarks and what they mean to an educator, parent, and a student taking the test. As Carl recalls, These components help “you understand what the scores on the ACT tell you about what you are ready to do.”
He also shared that there are ACT apps that students can use with their Smart phones and tablets.
We had an awesome conversation!
I think that you will learn so much whether a teacher, administrator, student, or parent you will want to listen again and then share this podcast with others. You will also want to take time to explore the ACT on the web.
www.act.org