From: Rights of Parents who Home School
I really like your views, expressions and ideas, Trista. That makes sense about the stat exams and what not as well. I had no idea that was why they… ...
From: Technology Integration and Student Communication
I fully agree with you. I have taught in Masters Degree programs in the field of Education in both the traditional and the online environments. I… ...
From: Can NCLB be fixed? Should It be?
wetz, Interesting article... I wonder what they think students are 'reading'? Sounds odd to me...it is difficult to 'read' and miss out on 'history,… ...
Congratulations on your recent election to the highest office in the land. As an educator of many years, I hope you will be making the education of our young people one of your top priorities. Our future as a country depends on the quality of education that our children receive.
The last administration placed a strong emphasis on how well students did on the standardized tests. I feel this is the wrong approach to judging the quality of education of our children. Decades ago when we were in the early stages of the industrial revolution, there was a case to be made that children needed to learn the same skills. However, what employers are looking for today, is workers who are self motivated and can think outside the box. Emphasizing standardized tests places the classroom emphasis on standardizing the education provided. I think that is the wrong way to go.
Every child is different. Each has their own strengths, weaknesses and special gifts. We should be customizing their education to emphasize their gifts and strengths while helping bring their weaknesses to a higher level of competency. If a child is gifted in Math but has problems with spelling & grammar, the current trend is to take them out of math class to give them more help in spelling & grammar. The emphasis is on getting them to meet the standards in all areas. This weakens their growth in their specialty area of math. What we will end up with is lots of adults who are competent in all areas but no one with special gifts in any area. This would be a disaster for the growth of our country. There would be no one to help us move into the future with innovative ideas.
Let’s move away from comparing children and aiming for standard scores for all. Let’s judge the growth each child has made each year from where they started the year and where they ended the year in each subject. Yes they should grow every year in every field but if they grow 18 months in Math and 6 months in grammar, that is still great progress. Unlike the standardized tests which would call this a failure in grammar, we would be emphasizing the positive and urging our children to become lifelong learners in all fields but helping them find their gifted areas where they have something important to offer the rest of us.
Please take the emphasis off standardization and move it towards creative thinking and growth. As you plan your new Department of Education, please choose educators who see the value of every child’s special gift.
We need to break a mindset.
A single ‘national standard’ is not a good idea.
Conversely, having ‘National Standards’ (note the plurality) is a wonderful idea!
For instance…
ISO STANDARDS help industry create products and services that are compatible with one another and are more consumer friendly. This is good! These are not ‘measures’ between various products to decide which has ‘failed’ and which as ‘succeeded’. These are ‘linking blocks’ for ‘compatibility’ between related products and services! You can count on every car in the world having similar operating rules and characteristics, and feel confident that you will find places to refuel them, roads they can drive on. and spaces they can park in. You can get parts and service for it. The ‘standards’ give any automaker parameters to prepare for. All the cars have to meet them to use the roads, gas stations, and meet various safety and emissions levels. Beyond these ‘standards’...the sky is the limit for auto-makers to do anything they desire with a design!
Sadly, many educators don’t quite ‘get it’. The word ‘standards’ means something totally different to us. We tend to see them as ‘levels, goals, and even comparisons’. I.E. “I set very high ‘standards’ in my class! I expect your very best!”
This is not a statement about ‘compatibility’. It is not building ‘links’ between ethnic, social, and working classes, or relationships among people. This is just adding to the problems that ‘standards’ are meant to undo!
Standards are not meant to bring down high expectations, nor are they meant to lift up the disadvantaged overnight into the realms of high medicine and rocket science. They are meant to ‘build bridges’ so that people can share, trade, successfully live and work together, and successfully pursue their goals and dreams.
We’re not really hearing the call properly!
Before we do anything else on NCLB we need to rethink the word ‘standards’!
BrentJones |Jan. 6, 2009 @ 1:04 PM
Make the entire focus of no child left behind elementary reading. There is little anybody can learn without reading. As a chemistry teacher in urban Chicago, most of my students read below 5th grade level. They cannot use textbooks, even if motivated.
Standardized testing, for the non-reader, is merely an extended reading test and a mockery. More than 30% of high school students merely guess on standardized tests. Check out the stats; it is blatantly easy to see.
Motivate them to read, help them to read, require them to read, reward them for increased reading abilities. Otherwise much of secondary school is pure waste.