Taylor Swift bought a place in New York not too long ago and donated $50,000 to the New York City School System, prompting Cal Thomas to say this in his article:
According to the Huffington Post, citing U.S. Census Bureau data, “New York spent $19,076 per student in the 2011 fiscal year, as compared to the national average of $10,560.” In 90 of the city’s public schools, Families for Excellent Schools found that not a single African-American or Hispanic student received a passing grade on state tests.
If there were a correlation between spending and achievement, it ought to show in grade and graduation performance and state test scores, but it doesn’t. A Heritage Foundation study concludes: “Continued spending increases (on public education) have not corresponded with equal improvement in American educational performance. Long-term National Assessment of Education Progress reading scale scores and high school graduation rates show that the performance of American students has not improved dramatically in recent decades even though education spending has soared.”
If Taylor Swift is looking for a return on her investment in the currency of better student achievement, she might consider donating to the Children’s Scholarship Fund (CSF). It takes students out of failing and underperforming New York schools and places them in private schools where, in addition to academics, they learn virtues that teach them not only how to make a living, but how to live a productive life.
Perfect example of more money does not always equate to more learning.
The feed to Cal Thomas' article is listed above.
"Families for Excellent Schools found that not a single African-American or Hispanic student received a passing grade on state tests."
ReplyDeletePretty sad, but the latest trend is to discount all those tests anyway, so this kind of concern mostly falls on deaf ears to those education "reformers" who'd just like to see all this bad news disappear.
Eliminate the tests and eliminate discipline and the schools will be much better in their views.
All to accommodate those who can't (or won't) behave or learn.
That's where we're heading.
Yes and paying those who don't get an education $15.00+ per hour to hand you a bag through a window....
ReplyDelete"If there were a correlation between spending and achievement, it ought to show in grade and graduation performance and state test scores, but it doesn’t".
ReplyDeleteFood for thought...
My public charter school - which operates on significantly less money with far fewer resources - recently received the same letter grade from the state of NC as our neighboring traditional public schools.
One of the issues with K-12 standardized testing is that scores don't apply equally across the board when it comes to higher education which factors in things like diversity and talent in the admissions process. The testing - which also greatly determines what teachers teach - also fails to address educational goals for students who aren't headed to college. I've found myself eliminating some things from my school's recently adopted Singapore Math program because the concepts simply aren't tested on NC's EOGs. Every math teacher at my school appears to be doing the same thing in a desperate attempt to find middle ground between Common Core Standards (which the EOG's are based on) and Singapore Math. I'm also finding that some kids don't appear developmentally ready to tackle a lot of the material which then gets into the issue of grading. I've witnessed capable 10-year-olds break down and cry over an inflated letter grade of a C - which accomplishes what? I've got other kids sailing through the material who think they deserve special recognition and rewards for doing so. It's complicated.
The answer to the trick question is Common Sense, not Common Core.
ReplyDeleteTo me, there is absolutely nothing wrong with having basic skills assessments at every grade level.
As you said, some kids barely know what the answer to 2+2 or the first two Presidents of the US, while others can do Calculus in the 6th grade and recite all Presidents from Washington.
It seems to me that charters schools have it tougher in the sense that there are fewer students to "group".
When I was in high school, I knew I was not in an honors type English class and was glad of it as I hated to read. I loved reading how-to stuff, news and magazines that I could learn something from, instead of aome novel I didn't give a rat's ass about.
I liked the Singapore Math curriculum and used it to teach some concepts to my son who was doing fairly well in math for a while. Now, we've changed the focus to reading and let the math slide a bit, but we occasionally push it. Still, he's ahead of most of his peers.
ReplyDeleteI think Singapore math is good in that it does focus on fairly simple methods which explain the basics and work, unlike some of the really convoluted stuff I've seen in the US which seems to go round-about trying to explain things 20 different ways in hopes that the kids will somehow latch onto one way and understand it. That sort of shotgun approach just confuses kids, I think.
I think for the lower levels, the kids just need a fairly simple, understandable way of comprehending and doing the calculations.
If nothing else, as a confidence builder. Show them one good way that works, and then branch out as they get older.
It's the way they work with reading and spelling using phonics. You start with simple words which match the simple rules and phonetic sounds, then you add more complex words which don't follow the rules every time.
Where you can get creative, though, even in routine calculations, is in solving the various problems presented to you. At some point the mechanics are not as important as being able to think your way to a solution.
That's a little trickier and I don't see as much work on the "problem solving" aspect of math. I think Singapore math does address this, though, but it's within their framework which usually does help with a lot of the problems you are most likely to encounter on tests.
But one of the problems they have in Asia in general is trying to teach kids to comply to "the way" of doing things, when sometimes it is good if you can see other ways.
Singapore Math does tend to be one of those systems that teach "the way".
I'd want to supplement it once kids get familiar enough with "the way".
For us, though, most of that is still a bit in the future, as my oldest is a fourth grader and still needs to focus on the calculations.
Wiley, I was also a fan of non-fiction more than fiction. As a result, I felt a bit out of place with what was assigned at school, but I read an awful lot of stuff on my own. I was one of those kids who would just sit down and browse an encyclopedia and just read whatever looked interesting at the time.
ReplyDeleteI'd occasionally read fiction, but I was mainly drawn to horror stories and stuff like that, probably not the "healthy choice" the government would prefer. I read things like Edgar Allan Poe, Ambrose Bierce and H.G. Wells when I was nine or ten.
And I used to like to look up the words I didn't understand, too, so I was really odd. And I loved etymology and history. I remember reading a book as a kid on the history of salt. And when I was in the fifth grade I found a dusty old book on the history of the English language which I read as well. It had a chapter on "Those Four Letter Words" which was really great.
Of course, once the teacher saw what I was reading (and it had probably been sitting on the classroom shelves for years unnoticed), she confiscated it.
Later, I remember trying to find that book again just a few years ago and actually figured out who wrote it based on what I recall reading from way back then.
I've been meaning to pull that book up again and read it for fun. Or maybe let my son read it.
I did and still do the same thing. If I don't know the meaning of a word or want to ensure I'm using the word properly, I look it up.
DeleteYou never know what a kid is going to be interested in or what they want to do in life, but LEAs have got to be more responsive in making sure that if a child wants to take foreign languages or music or dance, etc. that they have those paths to pursue. That's why I'm a big proponent of magnets. Yes, teach the basics but also allow for immesrsion into something a kid is passionate about. I think you wind up with better results.
Our son all of a sudden got interested in Japanese culture which led to his being immersed in the language academy. He speaks fluent Japanese and Spanish plus a great deal of other languages including German since he has now been in Germany for over a year and a half.
He certainly isn't a rocket scientist but can literally fire a rocket, as he is responsible for managing $10 million dollars worth of arms for the government.
"You never know what a kid is going to be interested in or what they want to do in life,"
DeleteTrue. That's why that even though I may find something fascinating, I usually don't try to push my kids into it. I may expose them to it, but I figure the best things for them are the things they discover for themselves. And I also know that the fact that "dad" is recommending something probably means it is not too interesting. And I only expect that to get worse.
After all, when I was growing up, the "hot" thing a lot of my rather dim-witted relatives thought was cool was tap-dancing.
Too much Mickey Mouse Club, Lawrence Welk, and Shirley Temple did THAT to them, I'm convinced.
To this day, I can't dance.
Probably as a defense mechanism against my upbringing.
I guess if I survived some of the crazy stuff I've been exposed to, they will too.
" The testing - which also greatly determines what teachers teach - also fails to address educational goals for students who aren't headed to college."
ReplyDeleteAlicia, one "problem" I have with this is that most kids really don't have educational goals. At least not ones that make any sense. I used to have kids in one of my rural schools who would say things like "Why do I need to study this, I'm going to work at the lumber mill like my dad" and they find out later that the lumber mill was shut down when they grew up.
And, really, I had NO IDEA what the possibilities were for the work world when I was growing up. I had NO IDEA what anyone could do with a college degree besides teach. Honestly, I first thought I'd probably become a History teacher, but I ended up working several decades in various types of computer jobs.
No one had a clue about computers when I was growing up and I certainly had no idea other than what I'd seen on TV or read in popular fiction on the subject. Which is to say, I knew nothing.
That's one problem. Kids and even adults most likely have no idea what will be important to a kid 20 years from now.
That's one reason I find "career training" just a bit narrow and think that most kids would be better served with basic literacy and numeracy which would apply across many careers.
Honestly, I've seen so many "technical" and "career" school screw-ups that it's not even funny to me.
Like my elementary school buddy who chose to study "Linotype" in the local tech High School. It was obsolete technology before he even got a chance to use it.
Now, having said that, there are probably several career options out there that are likely to last. Plumbing, HVAC repair, Electrician, auto mechanic, and the like. At least as far as I can tell. But who knows what types of disruptive technologies may change things enough that several of the skills associated with these start becoming obsolete. Plumbing seems to be one of the most stable.
ReplyDeleteIronic you said that above....
DeleteObama to call for more training, hiring of high tech workers
Published March 09, 2015·
Associated Press
WASHINGTON – Facing stubbornly stagnant wages, President Barack Obama has obtained commitments from more than 300 employers as well as local governments in 20 regions of the country to train and hire high technology workers in an effort to drive up higher-income employment.
People familiar with the program inside and outside the White House said Obama is to announce the program, called TechHire, during a speech Monday to the National League of Cities.
The initiative is designed to prepare U.S. workers for a growing number of technology jobs. According to the White House, of the 5 million jobs available today, more than half a million of them are in fields such as software development, network administration, and cybersecurity.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/03/09/obama-to-call-for-more-training-hiring-high-tech-workers/?intcmp=latestnews
Wiley, the real problem with these jobs is that they typically require a fairly high level of intelligence and the ability to work independently. It's not the kind of job you can just take someone off the streets and train. I know they've been trying to "dumb down" the work for decades now, but I don't think that even Microsoft with its various "certification" programs has even accomplished that.
DeleteAnd, boy, if you talk about getting on a learning/re-learning treadmill, high tech (or actually mid-tech, which is what most IT work is today) is still a challenge for folks who aren't good with numbers and fairly literate.