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"Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day…" - 5 new articles
“War Atlas” Shows You Most Of The Major Recorded Battles From The Past Few Thousand Years
War Atlas shows you – on a world map – most of the major recorded battles from the past few thousand years. It will also show you a Wikipedia entry for each one. In addition, it can give you “tours” of the battles that take place during extended conflicts. I’m adding it to The Best Websites For Teaching & Learning About World History.      Ed Tech Digest
Ten years ago, in another somewhat futile attempt to reduce the backlog of resources I want to share, I began this occasional “Ed Tech Digest” post where I share three or four links I think are particularly useful and related to…ed tech, including some Web 2.0 apps. You might also be interested in checking out all my edtech resources. Here are this week’s choices: I’m adding 6-Second WORD to PDF Converter to Not “The Best,” But “A List” Of Ways To Convert PDF & Word Documents. Animation Builder turns your text. social media posts into animations. From Classroom to Creator Studio: Podcasting for Students is from TechNotes. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Teacher & Student Podcasting. Tool Waves has a collection of free online tools. Koolyz is another collection of free online tools.
 Yet Another Study Finds Reasons To Be Very Cautious When Using Value Added Measurements To Evaluate Teachers paulracko / Pixabay
Some education “reformers” sing the praises of using Value Added Measurements in evaluating the performance of teachers. However, researchers have found many reasons to be cautious about using them. I’ve posted about them at The Best Resources For Learning About The “Value-Added” Approach Towards Teacher Evaluation, including: NEW STUDY QUESTIONS USE OF VAM IN TEACHER EVALUATION New Study Finds VAM Is Biased Against Teachers Of “At Risk” Students Then, of course, there are other studies questioning the whole role of test scores in teacher evaluation, and you can find those posts at The Most Important Studies Showing That VAM For Test Scores Is Not The Be-All, End-All Of Schooling. Now, yet another study pokes hole in the infallibility of VAM. The Sensitivity of Value-Added Estimates to Test Scoring Decisions finds that: While the various test scores are highly correlated, on average, using different scoring approaches leads to variation in VA percentile ranks of over 20 points, and more than 50% of teachers or schools are classified in multiple quartiles of the VA distribution. Dispersion in VA ranks is reduced with more complete item response data. Our findings suggest that consideration of both measurement error and model uncertainty are important for the appropriate interpretation of VAMs. I asked ChatGPT to put that in non-academic language: Here is a simpler version in plain language: Even though different test scores usually line up pretty closely with each other, the way you calculate “value-added” scores (how much a teacher or school is said to improve student learning) can change the results a lot. On average, using different calculation methods can shift a teacher’s or school’s ranking by more than 20 percentile points. In fact, over half of teachers or schools end up in different performance groups (like top 25%, middle, or bottom 25%) depending on which method is used. The rankings become a little more stable when there is more complete and detailed test data about students. Overall, the study is saying:
 The “Birth Lottery” Shows Your Possible Life Trajectory If You Were Born In A Different Country
The Birth Lottery will show your potential life trajectory if you had been born in a different country (“There but for fortune…”). It could certainly make country comparisons in class personal. I’m adding it to The Best Tools For Comparing Demographics Of Different Countries.  Research Studies Of The Week Mohamed_hassan / Pixabay I often write about research studies from various fields and how they can be applied to the classroom. I write individual posts about ones that I think are especially significant, and will continue to do so. However, so many studies are published that it’s hard to keep up. So I’ve started writing a “round-up” of some of them each week or every other week as a regular feature. You can see all my “Best” lists related to education research here. Here are some new useful studies (and related resources): What Teachers Say and Do to Support Students’ Autonomy During a Learning Activity is from Tips for Teachers. I’m adding it to Best Posts On “Motivating” Students. Cellphone bans can help kids learn — but Black students are suspended more as schools make the shift is from The Hechinger Report. Feeling stressed? Science finds a simple way to take back control is from Science Daily. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About Teens & Stress. Strengthening K-12 Cellphone Policies to Support Student Learning and Well-Being: Research-Based Guidance for U.S. Education Leaders is from UCLA. I’m adding it to The Best Posts On Student Cellphone Use In Class — Please Contribute More. Virtual tutoring is here to stay. New research points to ways to make it better. is from Chalkbeat. I’m adding this post to The Best Resources On Providing Scaffolds To Students:
Does the Jigsaw method improve motivation and self-regulation in vocational high schools? is a recent study. I’m adding it to THE BEST RESOURCES FOR LEARNING ABOUT THE JIGSAW INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGY. The application of gamification to learning outcomes and motivation of biology students: A literature review is a recent study. I’m adding it to The Best Posts On “Gamification” In Education — Help Me Find More.  More Recent Articles
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