School Improvement Mark Westerburg

This podcast focuses on the growing trend of not requiring testing and complaints about it does mean anything. The other issue is that teachers are teaching to the test. Spoiler alert, I hope so. Does anyone give a test they don't teach to and if so why. It is about accountability for the 810 Billion a year spent on K-12 education. I explain some changes that should be make and one of those is to embrace it and expect performance testing. 
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies - CLEP - ASVAB

Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091

This episode is about rethinking the high school diploma process for students. Differentiated diplomas make sense and say something about the students work in high school. How about a Scholarship / College Ready Diploma, Career Ready /  CTE Endorsed Diploma and a standard diploma as an option. Set criteria for them and make transcript so it show attendance, suspensions, college course taken, and test scores. Maybe an employer might ask for high school information if it was useful. The states have make the number of kids graduating the target and we spend all our time helping students to met the minimum standard instead of being able to set a standard and have them come back next fall should not be considered a district failure.


Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies - CLEP - ASVAB

Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091

This podcast is devoted to CLEP testing. CLEP is one of the least used but most effective and efficient ways to get student college credits. CLEP testing allows any high school teacher in the core classes, business and foreign languages to teach a college credit course. Tests are scored 20-80 with 50 being the passing score. CLEP gives credits not grades so it does help or hurt GPA's. I have attached my notes from the podcast below. 
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies - CLEP - ASVAB

Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091

This is a pitch to schools to make the ASVAB test a more important part of their program. There are few tests that have more of an impact on students than the ASVAB will on their military tenure. It is a great test for IEP's and a check on the CTE programs to see if students are getting the basic skills. In short, a student should never take the ASVAB without preparation. I have some notes available in the bottom of this presentation.
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies - CLEP - ASVAB

Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091

This episode is a response to the growing number of educator who are concerned about AI. I focused on ChatGPT which I view as the new wave in technology we should embrace. It is not going away and has some very useful purposes. This is not about Robots who are taking over human interaction, it is a wonderful new tool in the ELA box for writing.
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies - CLEP - ASVAB

Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091

This is an episode dedicated to the growing trend of parents wanting books to be banned at school. The other side of this issue is parents and staff who want to have everything be available. This is a suggestion on a policy and some ideas of how to mange the growing issue.
Trimesters.org - CLEP testing - Larry Bell - Merit Pay - Bart goes to SP.Ed. - Homework Strategies - CLEP - ASVAB

Email: mwesterburg@gmail.com
Website: www.trimesters.org
Text: 269-449-6091