Homeschool & Education News

'Virtual reality' learning to debut in Baltimore Co.

2009-03-29T17:16:00.000-07:00

Virtual education is around the corner. In many situations this will be a good thing. However, a balance between real world experiences and simulation would be the best path. This program sounds like it is a step in the right direction.

The initiative, for which nearly $1 million is requested in the next fiscal year, is part of the school system's effort to equip students with 21st-century skills. Teachers can use simulations of real-life situations and problems to help students apply what they learn. The planned classroom of computer work stations and a wall of large screens for group lessons is believed to be a first in the area.

We need to be able distinguish between the tool of technology and its practical use. In a shop class, for instance, actually working on a motor IRL (in real life) would teach far more than a simulation of a motor. Likewise, using technology to teach bridge building might be beneficial. (Although building bridges with toothpicks or straws might also teach some of the same skills!)

Paul D. Coverstone, who teaches at McDaniel College and specializes in instructional design for online learning, said virtual instruction will eventually become commonplace, particularly as bandwidth capability grows.

"There is no doubt that technology can be a strong adjunct to the learning process," said Coverstone, who is acting chief information officer for the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission. Still, he said, using such tools should not be about technology for its own sake, but tied to specific objectives.

I completely agree. Technology in education should be used to compliment and enhance practical experience.

Full article: The Baltimore Sun

Irving ISD uses online textbooks, so unused copies state must buy sit in a warehouse

2009-03-26T14:28:00.000-07:00

The Irving school district in Dallas has been switching to on-line versions of their textbooks. Unfortunately, they are compelled to buy hard copies of the books in order to have access to the on-line versions. These books, then, are warehoused and sit unused until the next edition is purchased by the district.

"Irving ISD officials say the problem stems from two major factors: the increased use of computer-based instructional materials and the reluctance to issue textbooks to each student for fear they might lose or damage them."

Hmmm. Wasteful. Irving is apparently an affluent district since each student gets issued a laptop. I would assume that there are districts, without laptops, that could use the hard copies of these books. It is likely that the school beaurocracy and funding laws prohibit such sharing. The article mentions this as a possibility, but does not expound.

"So many books are stacking up in Irving's Ratteree Career Development Center–which also houses cosmetology and auto tech programs– that construction workers are expanding the warehouse.
Fire inspectors repeatedly warned district officials that it was unsafe to stack boxes of books in the warehouse aisles. Therefore, the district commissioned the $118,000 building expansion."

So, not only are thousands of dollars worth of new books sitting unused, but more money was spent in order to store them!

This article is a bit confusing with contradicting statements and ideas that need to be explained. For example, early on the author mentions that no one knows how many books are in storage. Later it mentions that a computerized inventory system allows the state to transfer books to districts that need them.

If they can do this then why are there so many books still in storage? This should have been asked and answered.

My Homeschooler's Perspective:

I am all for saving trees and money by moving to electronic teaching alternatives. However, there will be many, many districts that couldn't possible afford to issue laptops to all their students. According to this article, districts prefer not to give the students their own books. So what exactly do they do?

Full article: Dallas News

Top 10 reasons to criminalize homeschooling

2009-03-10T06:52:00.000-07:00

Funny!

"In an effort to increase the public drumbeat for criminalizing homeschooling, a memo has been distributed containing the top 10 reasons why public schooling is better than homeschooling. Here is an excerpt from that memo:

Most parents were educated in the under funded public school system, and so are not smart enough to homeschool their own children.

Children who receive one-on-one homeschooling will learn more than others, giving them an unfair advantage in the marketplace. This is undemocratic.

How can children learn to defend themselves unless they have to fight off bullies on a daily basis?

Ridicule from other children is important to the socialization process.

Children in public schools can get more practice "Just Saying No" to drugs, cigarettes and alcohol.

Fluorescent lighting may have significant health benefits.

Publicly asking permission to go to the bathroom teaches young people their place in society.

The fashion industry depends upon the peer pressure that only public schools can generate.

Public schools foster cultural literacy, passing on important traditions like the singing of "Jingle Bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg..."

Homeschooled children may not learn important office career skills, like how to sit still for six hours straight."

While this is a snarky tongue-in-cheek list, it has its basis in the real questions often put to homeschoolers.

Full article: The Examiner

Grades Fixed: An Allegation Shocks No One

2009-03-09T05:41:00.000-07:00

The headline says it all. A competitive high school in NJ has been altering the books for years. They have been changing grades for seniors (without their knowledge) to get them into better colleges and universities. This is not a new phenomena:

"After all, the banks and brokerages have had to restate their earnings. Baseball statistics have to be retrofitted either with or without steroids. What’s the surprise in a high school having to figure out how many transcripts sent to colleges were given a happy tweak to remove a nasty C or turn a B into an A?"

What is this all about? Are they doing it for the kids? Nope, its all about reputation and money...

"Which, of course, is the name of the game. Dr. Bandlow indicated that part of the reason for the false reports wasn’t to help the students — it was to enhance the school’s reputation. And why not? In many hypercompetitive school districts (and you know who you are), the real final report card is how seniors fare in getting into top colleges."

Full article: The New York Times

Will Obama Stand Up for These Kids?

2009-03-05T05:34:00.000-08:00

The District of Columbia's school voucher program is under assault. Sen. Dick Durban has created a provision that will remove the voucher program unless Congress takes action. Thus, no one has to actually stand up and declare that they do not like vouchers, they can just let it fade away.

"And it points to perhaps the most odious of double standards in American life today: the way some of our loudest champions of public education vote to keep other people's children -- mostly inner-city blacks and Latinos -- trapped in schools where they'd never let their own kids set foot.
This double standard is largely unchallenged by either the teachers' unions or the press corps. For the teachers' unions, it's a fairly cold-blooded calculation. They're willing to look the other way at lawmakers who chose private or parochial schools for their own kids -- so long as these lawmakers vote in ways that keep the union grip on the public schools intact and an escape hatch like vouchers bolted."

The article also quotes Obama (but doesn't give the specific citation):

"The biggest source of resistance [to reform]," he said, "was rarely talked about . . . namely, the uncomfortable fact that every one of our churches was filled with teachers, principals, and district superintendents. Few of these educators sent their own children to public schools; they knew too much for that. But they would defend the status quo with the same skill and vigor as their white counterparts of two decades before."

When I first began to research homeschooling I joined a very large and eclectic homeschooling group. Early on I realized that well over half the homeschoolers had been or still were teachers. They had chosen to homeschool their own kids based on personal experiences in the classroom. This observation was crucial to my own decision to teach my children at home.

Full article: The Wall Street Journal

Homeschoolers Get Blamed, Again

2009-03-04T06:16:00.000-08:00

Recently posted on the Homeschool Legal Defense Association website:

On January 22, a committee of the Rapid City School Board implied that homeschoolers were to blame for the school system losing thousands of dollars in funding. Just six days later, the Clear Lake Courier blamed homeschoolers for the loss of $41,000 in school funding.

When homeschoolers are wrongly accused of creating financial problems for public school systems, it’s time to respond. HSLDA attorney Scott A. Woodruff sent the following letter to the editor to the Clear Lake Courier:

Dear Editor:
By leaving the blame for the school system losing $41,981 at the door of area homeschoolers, your recent article, “Students and aid lost from open enrollment,” encourages your readership to think that homeschoolers are the problem.
But it’s perfectly logical to reduce a school’s funding when it serves fewer students. If there are fewer students, the school needs less money.
The question that then remains is: “Since the opportunity to serve someone is a privilege, not an entitlement, what does the school plan to change to reduce the erosion of confidence among area families?” That’s the $41,000 question that went unasked and therefore unanswered in your article.
Next time the Clear Lake Courier talks about schools “losing” money because of homeschoolers, please mention how much homeschoolers save the taxpayer by educating their children at their own expense—not the taxpayers’. Homeschoolers are some of the best friends the taxpayer has.
Sincerely,
Scott A. Woodruff, Esq.

Source : HSLDA

Pasco girl Jessica Howard, 7, pushes petition to change online education law

2009-02-27T05:13:00.000-08:00

She is a homeschooler trying to change a law that restricts access to the state's virtual school program. The Board of Education requires that a student spend at least one year in the public school system in order to use the virtual program.

Why? Its all about the money.

"Limiting the program to kids already in public school would simply shift resources while freeing up classroom space"

Thus, the schools can effectively keep their enrollment numbers up ($$) without having pay the "extra" costs of educating them. ( i.e. teachers' pay, overhead for buildings, lunches, custodians, etc.)

Jessica is collecting signatures and attracting the attention of lawmakers. Rep. John Legg is actively researching her claim that this is unconstitutional.

"Legg is conferring with lawyers, staff analysts and virtual education experts to determine whether the state has the right to tell one set of children they have the right to a public school program while others are kept out. The state allows homeschooled children to play on public school sports teams, after all."

Full article: St. Petersburg Times

Obama puts spotlight on education deficit

2009-02-26T04:59:00.000-08:00

Obama set an aggressive goal for education in his speech to the joint session of Congress. He wants the US to be producing the most college graduates in the world by 2020.

This is going to be a challenge:

"By one measure used by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, in 2005 the U.S. had a 76% high school graduation rate, putting it behind Hungary, Greece, Ireland and the Slovak Republic.

Before we can get everyone in to college, we need to get them out of high school.

Full article: The LA Times

Is a 4-day week in Florida public schools' future?

2009-02-23T05:02:00.000-08:00

The idea of longer days with a shorter school week has been proposed in many districts across the country. This is primarily a budget solution - it has nothing to do with actual education.

"School districts are unsure how much money they might save by going to four days, but the prospect of spending a fifth less on bus fuel alone is attractive. There would be savings on utilities, too, if schools could be shut down for long weekends, and certain other costs tied to each day of school, such as meal preparation, might be trimmed as well."

This leads to many questions. Is education a matter of time spent in school? Who will watch the children? What will the older kids (teens) DO all day?

As a homeschooler, I think learning is mostly a matter of quality over quantity of time spent. Often students can cover as much or more material in a few hours at home as they can in a full day at school, but it takes discipline and a willingness to learn

Full article: The Orlando Sentinel

I’ll spell it out: if children can’t read, lives are ruined

2009-02-22T10:33:00.000-08:00

This article comes out of Britain, but fits our system as well. Here is the very frank opening paragraph:

"This country’s education system is a betrayal of this country’s children. It blunts their intelligence, narrows their perspectives and blasts their future prospects. How often does that need to be said? Of course it is not universally true; many children defy the system, one way or another. But the point is that the system is bad. If the word “institutionally” means anything, this country’s education system is institutionally unfit for purpose."

The schools have been focussed on testing with the result that the broader curriculum has been neglected. The children have been denied a wide and deep education in favor of teaching-to-the-test minimalism. Unfortunately, this hyper attention to testing is not working.

In yet another attempt to plug the holes, some argue that arts and humanities need to be re-invigorated.

"However, there is no point in proposing a wide and imaginative course of study for children who cannot read well. A child who cannot read well cannot learn. He or she cannot possibly share the riches of a wide education or the freedom of the literate mind to teach and enrich itself when others can’t or won’t. And the reason our schools fail so badly, the reason teachers teach narrowly to the dubious “literacy” tests, is that they have failed to teach little children to read properly in the first place."

This is a fundamental issue in American schools as well. A good education MUST be broad, but it is pointless to introduce art and philosophy if the 3 Rs are weak. Children need a strong foundation to build on.

For those who are tempted to think that problems in the UK's system really are not comparable to ours, know that the US ranks lower than the UK in international comparison testing. This is true for math & science comparisons and literacy comparisons.

Full article: The Sunday Times

Student Expectations Seen as Causing Grade Disputes

2009-02-19T05:27:00.000-08:00

Apparently college students no longer feel that they should have to work to receive good grades.

A recent study by researchers at the University of California, Irvine, found that a third of students surveyed said that they expected B’s just for attending lectures, and 40 percent said they deserved a B for completing the required reading.

There is a sense of entitlement here that they have absorbed throughout their early schooling. Everybody wins, nobody should lose, as long as they try real hard. Here is a quote from a senior at the University of Maryland:

“I think putting in a lot of effort should merit a high grade,” Mr. Greenwood said. “What else is there really than the effort that you put in?”
“If you put in all the effort you have and get a C, what is the point?” he added. “If someone goes to every class and reads every chapter in the book and does everything the teacher asks of them and more, then they should be getting an A like their effort deserves. If your maximum effort can only be average in a teacher’s mind, then something is wrong.”

What about actually learning the material? Where is the actual education?

Professor Brower said professors at Wisconsin emphasized that students must “read for knowledge and write with the goal of exploring ideas.”

This informal mission statement, along with special seminars for freshmen, is intended to help “re-teach students about what education is.”

College should not be an extension of high school. Any student interested in "higher" education should already know what education is.

Full article: New York Times

Industry Makes Pitch That Smartphones Belong in Classroom

2009-02-18T05:30:00.000-08:00

Money for education will be a huge part of the new stimulus plan. For those with something to market, this might be one of the few lucrative venues left.

At a conference this week in Washington called Mobile Learning 09, CTIA, a wireless industry trade group, plans to start making its case for the educational value of cellphones. It will present research — paid for by Qualcomm, a maker of chips for cellphones — that shows so-called smartphones can make students smarter.

Teachers, however, are not so sure that technology will save the day.

“Texting, ringing, vibrating,” said Janet Bass, a spokeswoman for the American Federation of Teachers, the nation’s second largest teachers’ union. “Cellphones so far haven’t been an educational tool. They’ve been a distraction.” Ms. Bass says it is “almost laughable that the cellphone industry is pushing a study showing that cellphones will make kids smarter,” particularly during a recession that is crushing the budgets of many school districts.

Do we really need to spend what little money the schools have on more stuff? What makes for a good education? Technical prowess is of no use to a mind that is limited and undisciplined.

Full article: New York Times

Summer-born children 'more likely to struggle at school'

2009-02-17T04:49:00.000-08:00

Children born in the summer struggle for years at school as they are put at a "clear and long-term disadvantage in the education system", according to a major review.

It comes amid debate over the best way to educate summer-born children.

They are more likely to play truant and even commit suicide when they grow up after falling behind older classmates.
Pupils with birthdays in June, July and August are also less likely to succeed in sport and become professional athletes.

There are no words to express my thoughts on this. I am struck dumb.

Full article: The Telegraph

Higher learning: More middle-schoolers leapfrog into advanced classes -- but are minorities being left behind?

2009-02-16T04:00:00.000-08:00

Some middle schools are allowing advanced students to take high school classes for credit. This has set off alarm bells for many...

But the nation's foremost scholars in middle-school education are worried the fast-growing trend is leaving minority children behind. They also question whether the practice is legal because, nationwide, it has tended to result in students being segregated by race.

Basically, the argument is that this shouldn't be allowed because somehow its not fair. Those students who have the desire and ability to accelerate their education shouldn't be given this option.

In the current educational system self esteem and fairness are the rule. No one should be allowed to excel (too much) and no one should be allowed to fail. If you excel you make others look bad, if you fail you make the system look bad.

This is not meritocracy, it is mediocrity.

Full article: Orlando Sentinel

The Great College Hoax

2009-02-13T16:28:00.000-08:00

We have all been taught to believe that a college education was worth the debt burden in exchange for rewards (read $$$) later. It is time to rethink that assumption.

All the while students have been lulled into thinking of the extra $1 million that will be theirs, they have been forced to disgorge an ever larger fraction of it in pursuit of the degree. While the premium that college grads earn over high schoolers has remained relatively constant over the past five years, the cost of acquiring a degree has risen at twice the rate of inflation, dramatically undermining any value a sheepskin adds.

According to this Forbes article in some cases the trade-off is little more than an outright scam.

"I call it the million-dollar misunderstanding," says Mark Schneider, vice president of the American Institutes for Research, of the prevailing propaganda.

"There are a lot of aspects of selling education that are tinged with consumer fraud," Sander says. "There is a definite conspiracy to lead students down a primrose path."

Full article: Forbes

Knowledge Is Power Program shown as urban triumph

2009-02-12T12:02:00.000-08:00

Started by two young teachers, the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) is proving that anyone, no matter the setting can learn.

Eventually, Levin and Feinberg cobble together a college-prep program that boasts longer hours, days, weeks and years — kids stay in school until 5 p.m. most days, attend class every other Saturday and spend weeks in summer school; it demands 24/7 dedication from parents, students and teachers but gets good, replicable results.

Hard work, high expectations, and dedicated parents; thats what it takes to achieve.

Full article: USA Today

Head Start Falls Further Behind

2009-02-11T05:42:00.000-08:00

The new stimulus package includes more money for Head Start but requires little change or improvement.

Head Start and similar prekindergarten programs could truly help disadvantaged children, but many studies have shown that Head Start, as it is now managed, is failing them.

In 1998, Congress required the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct the first rigorous national evaluation of the program. The Clinton administration took this mandate seriously and initiated a 383-site randomized experiment involving about 4,600 children. Confirming previous research, the study found that the current program had little meaningful impact.

A complete reorganization seems called for, not more money.

Lack of money is not the problem: to keep a child in Head Start full-time, year-round, costs about $22,600, as opposed to an average cost of $9,500 in a day care center. And that’s the big failing of the stimulus bill. In area after area, it does not require any real change in return for vast piles of money.

Full article: New York Times

UK schools have 20,000 unqualified teachers

2009-02-10T05:38:00.000-08:00

This is an interesting article considering the tone and outcry reflected in this recent post about creating youth apprenticeships in the classrooms.

The number of unqualified staff, who include those currently in training on a "fast track" into the profession, and foreign teachers whose qualifications are not recognised in the UK, has mushroomed from just 3,000 when Labour came to power in 1997 to more than 20,000 last year, government figures have revealed.

How, then, can the call to allow only certified teachers/parents to homeschool be justified?

Here is a cryptic line... with no analysis to explain it. Why is this so?

Last year, research found that pupils from poor homes are more likely to be taught by unqualified teachers than those in well-off areas.

Full article: The Independent

Test Scores Provide Valuable Measure Of Success in D.C.

2009-02-09T06:34:00.000-08:00

Good News!

Some DC schools are beginning show improvements on test scores. After much upheaval throughout the district brought on by Michelle Rhee, it looks like things are getting better. Rhee is the tough new Chancellor of the DC school system. Her methods have been harshly criticized by many teachers across the country.

Testing is a controversial issue. Teaching-to-the-test is a natural outcome of score focussed schools. The schools and teachers can not help but hone in on weaker areas to prep for the next round of exams. The tests, however, should reflect only minimum knowledge needed to progress. Ultimately, the test itself becomes the goal and not education beyond the minimum.

This, though, is a valid point:

Parents and educators who decry the rise of testing will cringe. Why, they ask, does everything have to revolve around multiple-choice assessments? (The BAS, which takes about eight hours over two days, has some essay questions, as does the DC-CAS, but is mostly multiple choice.) What happened, these skeptics ask, to helping students explore literature, mathematics, history and science and letting their conversations and writing reveal how much they learned?
There are two problems with this critique. First, for the vast majority of students, particularly in the Shaw neighborhood, that golden age of deep learning never existed. Schooling in America, with bright exceptions, has been shallow, unimaginative and easy for students to avoid by not showing up to class. Second, in an age of data-driven teamwork in business, science and politics, education could not avoid the 21st-century impulse to measure results and galvanize groups of experts to improve performance.

So far the only options seem to be no bar or low bar.

Full article: Washington Post

Thousands of school-leavers to work as teaching assistants under new Government plan

2009-02-06T05:19:00.000-08:00

Now that's a headline!

The British government is proposing an apprenticeship program for teenagers within the schools. They will be assisting and tutoring younger students as well as working in support services.

Plans for a new breed of classroom apprentice will see the teenagers given roles in secondary schools, helping to teach pupils only a little younger than themselves.

Thousands more would be taken on in non-teaching roles such as grounds staff and lab technicians - and in other public services,

The reporter implies that this idea is simply a cheap solution to logistical problems.

The recruits will help fill staffing gaps created by new teachers' contracts which guarantee them half-a-day a week away from the classroom to catch up with admin.

Opponents immediately responded that 16 year-olds were too immature and irresponsible for such duty, that this will never work, and only highly qualified (and certified) assistants should be used.

Christine Blower, acting General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: 'The idea that anyone can do the job of assisting in classrooms is hardly one that will endear Ed Balls to teaching assistants, never mind teachers.

Here is an intriguing line... with no more information given. What were the results?

A small number of schools have experimented with classroom apprentices paid £120 a week.

While the wording of this is quite alarmist, give this idea a second run through. Many homeschoolers and educational theorists alike feel that giving students a sense of purpose can help them become much more involved and motivated to learn. Teens are capable of many things, our culture simply does not expect much of them.

Responsibility can be a good thing.

Full article: The Daily Mail (UK)

N.B. The article suggests that these assistants will be recruited from "school-leavers" (drop-outs?) but does not provide a foundation for that assertion.

Technology not the panacea for education

2009-02-05T06:15:00.000-08:00

A very interesting article on the value of technology in the classroom.

Educators have been trying to improve schools with every technology we've ever invented, beginning with Thomas Edison's promise, in 1912, to create "100 percent efficiency" in the classroom through the medium of "the motion picture." Since personal computers and the Internet first arrived in classrooms, in the early 1990s, schools have spent approximately $100 billion on technology. Throughout this campaign, educators and the technology industry have been searching madly for solid evidence of whether the computers were boosting achievement. So little has been found that this data has become education's WMD.

It seems that many educators and lawmakers feel that cutting edge technology will save our school system. The future employers, however, are looking for something much more basic.

First, the wiser captains of industry have never asked schools to emphasize "technology skills." What they prefer, and are in fact dying for to better compete in a global economy, are graduates with skills in areas that increasingly get neglected: writing and reasoning; reliable work habits; the capacity for concentration and face-to-face communication; a sense of history, cultural anthropology, and - for jobs in the technology sector in particular - higher math and science. "Want to get a job using information technology to solve problems?," a report from the Information Technology Association of America, once asked. "Know something about the problems that need to be solved."

Technology is just a tool. It cannot completely replace a rigorous, well rounded education.

Full article: San Francisco Chronicle

Children: Recess Found to Improve Behavior

2009-02-04T06:12:00.000-08:00

This is news? Any parent knows that kids need a break to get the wiggles out!

Children who had at least 15 minutes of recess scored better than the others on teachers’ behavioral ratings. Dr. Romina M. Barros, a pediatrician and assistant professor at Albert Einstein, said the data were important because many new schools were being built without adequate outdoor space for students.

“We need to understand that kids need a break,” Dr. Barros said. “Our brains can concentrate and pay attention for 45 to 60 minutes, and in kids it’s even less. For them to be able to acquire all the academic skills we want them to learn, they need a break to go out and release the energy and play and be social.”

For most homeschoolers this is not an issue. If the kids are squirrelly... out they go! If they are spacey... out they go! If they are completely lost and frustrated... out they go! They return refreshed and ready to learn (MOST of the time).

Full article: New York Times

Committee Urges Schools to “Recruit” Homeschoolers to Fix Budget

2009-02-03T17:37:00.000-08:00

This is something of a thorn in many homescholing communities. Many see these public school programs as simply luring homeaaschoolers back onto the books for the state's financial gain. After all, they get the same amount of money per student whether they are teaching them or the parent is teaching them....

A committee of the Rapid City School Board wants to fix the system’s broken budget by recruiting homeschoolers.

The Rapid City School Board created a committee last summer to examine budget issues for the school system. On January 22, their recommendations were made public. The report suggested that the school system could find additional revenue sources by “recruiting more homeschooled students into the district.” Other recommendations were made, as well.

Homeschoolers already feel somewhat taken advantage of. Not only do they pay for an expensive public education for the children of others, but they pay the full cost of educating their own children at home. Of the thousands of dollars of tax money they send to the school system to educate other people’s children, they do not even get back one dollar. The idea of homeschooled children being recruited to repair a school system’s broken budget is unacceptable. If the school system built too many buildings and hired too many staff, the solution is to reduce the use of buildings and reduce staff—not lure homeschool families to give their children back to the public schools.

Article from: HSDLA

Its a catastrophe for the apostrophe in Britain

2009-02-02T17:54:00.000-08:00

How can this be a good thing?

England's second-largest city has decided to drop apostrophes from all its street signs, saying they're confusing and old-fashioned.

"Confusing and old-fashioned"??? Other arguments were presented for removing the apostrophe, but they were fairly thin. The truth is as quoted; people do not understand what that little squiggle means.

Presumably it is much easier and cheaper to change every sign in the city than to actually educate the populace in the first place. Or better yet, leave it up to the individual to solve the riddle of that dangling dot...

This fits with an earlier report concerning the words chosen to be excluded from new children's dictionaries in Britain. Words that specifically dealt with English history, Christianity, and the monarchy were removed. These were to be replaced with modern words from popular culture and technology.

Full article: Associated Press

School Reform That Works

2009-01-31T06:23:00.000-08:00

Bill Gates reflects on the state of his research and experiments in improving education.

Nine years ago, the foundation decided to invest in helping to create better high schools, and we have made over $2 billion in grants. The goal was to give schools extra money for a period of time to make changes in the way they were organized (including reducing their size), in how the teachers worked, and in the curriculum. The hope was that after a few years they would operate at the same cost per student as before, but they would have become much more effective.

He was forthright in admitting that some of these schools did not improve, but from this the Gates Foundation gained valuable insights into the changes necessary to improve our system.

One of the key things these schools have done is help their teachers be more effective in the classroom. It is amazing how big a difference a great teacher makes versus an ineffective one. Research shows that there is only half as much variation in student achievement between schools as there is among classrooms in the same school. If you want your child to get the best education possible, it is actually more important to get him assigned to a great teacher than to a great school.

This was particularly striking considering the report discussed previously concerning the evaluation and retention of effective teachers.

Full article: Washington Post

Houston area has boost in those wishing relief duty in schools

2009-01-30T05:10:00.000-08:00

An interesting result of economic meltdown...

School administrators say the unusually high caliber of the applicants — some with MBAs and other prestigious advanced degrees — allows them to be choosier when assigning substitutes to classrooms. For schools, it’s at least one upside to the sour economy.

Full article: Houston Chronicle

States get D-plus on teacher reviews

2009-01-29T05:21:00.000-08:00

A new study reports that nationwide good teachers are not being kept, while bad teachers are not being fired.

States were given letter grades in the study, earning a D-plus on average. The group gave its highest overall mark, a B-minus, to South Carolina, saying the state does better than any other at allowing ineffective teachers to be fired.

more...

It said just 15 states require a look at whether kids are learning when teachers are evaluated. In addition, the study gave poor ratings to 35 states that don't explicitly connect bonuses or raises to evidence of student achievement.

This quote was interesting. If not based at least primarily on their ability to increase learning, then what criteria are used to evaluate teachers????

Homeschoolers will notice this aspect of the study: education degrees and quality of teaching are not related...

Also, 20 states insist that teachers take additional classes that don't specifically help them improve. Five states make teachers get advanced degrees to be get professionally licensed, despite research indicating those degrees don't necessarily help people teach better. Some 18 states require that teachers with advanced degrees be paid more.

It will be interesting to see what effect (if any) this study will have on the school system.

Full Article: Associated Press
Full report: National Council on Teacher Quality

Israeli Entrepreneur Plans a Free Global University That Will Be Online Only

2009-01-28T05:40:00.000-08:00

WOW...

“The open-source courseware is there, from universities that have put their courses online, available to the public, free,” Mr. Reshef said. “We know that online peer-to-peer teaching works. Putting it all together, we can make a free university for students all over the world, anyone who speaks English and has an Internet connection.”

This is exciting news. It signals a complete and radical change in the current stagnant for-profit system. Definitely something to watch as it grows.

Presumably, once this gets going, anyone who can pay the nominal testing fees can enroll. A true merit/skills based system. That sounds radical!

Full Article: New York Times

Studies: Schools not providing enough physical education

2009-01-27T05:34:00.000-08:00

The state of NY has recently completed a survey finding that the schools are not complying with state PE requirements.

Joanne Hamilton, a P.E. teacher at Sunrise Drive Elementary in Sayville, said the district is in compliance for grades 5 to 12 but not in the lower grades, where requirements are daily and compete with No Child Left Behind mandates.

"They don't have the space or the staff for daily physical education K to 3, especially in today's fiscal crisis," she said. "What good is it if, due to a lack of physical activity, you end up an unhealthy adult but you can read and write?"

Presumably the K-3 get some kind of recess...just not organized PE?

Full Article: Newsday

Texas evolution education continued...

2009-01-26T05:25:00.000-08:00

Apparently they voted to remove the general scientific "strengths and weaknesses" discussion requirement but added an amendment to make sure the students discuss the "sufficiency or insufficiency" of Darwin's theory. Hmmmm. The final vote will be in March.

Sources:

Dallas Morning News: Texas education Board approves science standards that don't include evolution "weaknesses"

New York Times: Split Outcome in Texas Battle on Teaching Evolution

Scientific American: Evolution wins a round in Texas education debate

The Federal Bailout Plan for Schools

2009-01-25T06:12:00.000-08:00

This is a listing of the proposed uses and amounts for the bailout.

Petrilli and other education pundits are skeptical that the bailout of schools will be good for actual education reform.

Presumably, at this point simply funding the schools is the priority. Radical change might have to wait a bit.

The breakdown of funding can be read here: US News & World Report

In Texas, a Line in the Curriculum Revives Evolution Debate

2009-01-24T05:26:00.000-08:00

An article with much more depth and clarity than that posted earlier.

This is the core of the discussion:

On the surface, the debate centers on a passage in the state’s curriculum that requires students to critique all scientific theories, exploring “the strengths and weaknesses” of each. Texas has stuck to that same standard for 20 years, having originally passed it to please religious conservatives. In practice, teachers rarely pay attention to it.
This year, however, a panel of teachers assigned to revise the curriculum proposed dropping those words, urging students instead to “analyze and evaluate scientific explanations using empirical evidence.”

Why is this important to the rest of the county?

The debate here has far-reaching consequences; Texas is one of the nation’s biggest buyers of textbooks, and publishers are reluctant to produce different versions of the same material.

Full article: New York Times

Texas' Board of Education to hear testimony on teaching evolution

2009-01-23T05:14:00.000-08:00

This article was a bit vague...what are they teaching now? Shouldn't strengths and weaknesses of any given theory or idea always be examined?

Presumably this all really hangs on evolution. Would only strengths be taught (scientists) or only weaknesses (creationists)? Either approach is faulty.

Curriculum review committees made up of science teachers and academics recommended last year that the state scrap its long-standing requirement that strengths and weaknesses of all scientific theories – notably evolution – be covered in science classes.

Complete article: Dallas News

Two bills raise red flags among Oklahoma homeschoolers

2009-01-22T06:39:00.000-08:00

This is frightening. One of the bills will require more oversight of homeschoolers, the second will allow police or truancy officers to question and detain children not in school. (!!!!!)

Wilson cited potential abuse among some of the homeschooling parents as the reason behind the bill.

Some parents are not teaching their children but are putting them in front of a television, he said.

"I call that child abuse,” Wilson said.

Sarcasm alert:
Perhaps we should just put cameras in all homes. Then we wouldn't have to legislate based on the potential of abuse, we would know immediately if abuse is occurring. Video surveillance would be much cheaper than case workers and truancy officers.

Or better yet, we could just take all children away to be raised by the state at the age of 6 (possibly earlier) to ensure their proper, safe upbringing. If that is unreasonable we could simply mandate 6-8 hours of state approved and certified supervision and moral training.

Other possible definitions of child abuse:

Any religious teaching (Richard Dawkins)
junk food in schools
extraordinary amounts of homework
teaching to the test

Read the article: NewsOK

Taliban threats close Pakistan schools

2009-01-21T05:20:00.000-08:00

The Associated Press reports on violence related to the education of girls in northern Pakistan. The resurgent Taliban has destroyed over 170 schools and threatened more:

Muslim Khan, the militants' spokesman, said they would not allow any girls' schools to operate until the army withdraws from the valley and Islamic law is imposed.
"These schools are being run under a system introduced by the British and promote obscenity and vulgarity in society," Khan told AP by telephone from an undisclosed location.
Khan said a system of girls education would be developed in line with the teaching of Islam.

This puts our concerns about education somewhat in perspective...

Colleges cut instruction spending

2009-01-20T05:55:00.000-08:00

Is this really the best place to cut??? Charge more deliver less. This will not help our higher ed. institutions keep their competitive edge in the world or share it with the next generation.

At some point between 2002 and 2004, most private four-colleges began spending a larger share of their budget on administrative and academic support than on instruction. The exception: private research universities.

And that was before the current economic difficulties.

Read the entire article in USA TODAY under News ... Education.

For Catholic Schools, Crisis and Catharsis

2009-01-19T07:19:00.000-08:00

Catholic school are closing nationwide. This NYT article discusses the history and future of America's Catholic school network. Unfortunately it doesn't pinpoint the reasons for the dwindling enrollment.

A series of major studies in the past few years, including one by the White House Domestic Policy Council, have described the dwindling presence of parochial schools as a crisis not just for Catholics but for society.
The losses have already been deeply felt in impoverished urban neighborhoods, where parochial schools have attracted poor and minority students — including non-Catholics — seeking havens of safety and order from troubled public schools. Roughly 20 percent of parochial school students are not Catholic, according to experts.

5 Myths About No Child Left Behind

2009-01-18T05:20:00.000-08:00

What are the five myths?

No Child Left Behind is an unprecedented extension of federal control over schools.
No Child Left Behind is egregiously underfunded.
Setting academic standards will fix U.S. schools.
The standardized testing required by No Child Left Behind gets in the way of real learning
Certified teachers are better than non-certified teachers.

This is a great education article that hits on most of the arguments against NCLB. Unfortunately it doesn't go into as much depth as I would have liked. For example, just because LBJ expanded federal controls over schools (myth #1) does not mean that further expansion is desirable or acceptable.

One quote that homeschoolers will give the nod to:

There's no solid evidence that state certification ensures classroom effectiveness -- and the booming success of programs such as Teach for America, which sends recent college graduates into troubled schools, suggests that certification may be wholly unnecessary. By requiring certified teachers in every classroom, No Child Left Behind makes it harder for district and charter schools to attract energetic and capable people who want to teach but take a less traditional route to the classroom.

YEAH!

Students Found to Pick Up Science Outside School

2009-01-16T09:01:00.000-08:00

Hmmmmm.... it looks like lots of money was spent to discover something many of us (particularly homeschoolers) have known for years. Education Week gives a nice summary of the report.

There is “mounting evidence,” the study says, that nonschool science programs can nurture students’ and adults’ interest in pursuing scientific careers.

and

Another conclusion is that strong evidence exists that educational TV has an effect on students’ science learning

The original National Acadamies press release can be found here.

Rethinking the Notion of Public vs. Private

2009-01-15T11:00:00.000-08:00

Will Obama recognize the fact that the lines are already blurred? Public funds pay for charter schools in many states. Public funds pay for private tutoring for special needs....why not agree to a voucher system?

A well thought out article at Education Week.

Panel: Technology alone can't protect kids online

2009-01-15T06:51:00.000-08:00

Once again actual involved parenting is needed. You shouldn't rely on technology alone to protect your children (or teach them, or babysit them, or entertain them).

A task force charged with assessing technologies for protecting children from unwanted contact online has concluded that no single approach is foolproof and that parental oversight is vital.

"Parents, teachers, mentors, social services, law enforcement and minors themselves all have crucial roles to play in ensuring online safety for all minors," the report said.

read the entire Associated Press article.

Home-schoolers: There is no hope in Obama

2009-01-14T16:36:00.000-08:00

Great editorial on homeschooling and possible changes (or lack thereof ) with the new establishment. A couple of excerpts that caught my eye:

Even as America's students have dropped to their lowest level on standardized tests compared to students internationally, and even as drop-out rates soar past the 50 percent mark in most of the largest urban school districts, President-elect Barack Obama has shown contempt for school choice-even as he exercised school choice in enrolling his own children in the most expensive and exclusive private prep school in Washington, D.C.

and later:

These parents have seen home-schooled children win spelling bees and other awards (such as when home-schooled Cheyenne Kimball won NBC's America's Most Talented Kid at age 12). They have seen how top colleges are now seeking out home-schooled kids, and have noticed that home-schooled children out-score traditionally schooled ones on the ACT. Home-schooled children have an average ACT composite score of 22.4, compared to the national average of 21.1.