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Ace a Test, Win a Prize (cont'd)
Now, we even have studies that say if we reward schools, the students
will do even better on tests. What's that all about?
The even sadder story is the one where even though American students can
pass all these great tests we've laid out for them, many are still "just
average" and the schools and it seems, many parents think that's
just fine, because they let them move on to Universitites where remedial
classes are more and more common.
Billing
School Districts Charging for Remedial Education
By Daniel Muniz, March 12th 2007
Colleges and employers already know first hand that merely having
a high school diploma is really an unknown variable, especially
since many schools are far more interested in the quantity of graduating
seniors instead of the quality of their education. But here is an
effective way to finally hold our school system directly accountable.
Financially penalize school districts when one of their students
has to take a remedial class in college.
Right now, high schools are not academically aligned to the expectations
of universities and workplaces. As a result, too many college students
have to take at least one or more remedial classes in college. That
means that the basics that should have already been mastered in
high school have to be repeated. |
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Side
Effects of Standardized Testing
by Ann Lahrson Fisher
Few people consider standardized tests to be the powerful teaching
instruments they are, nor do parents consider the possible impact
of tests on their children. Most homeschoolers who have their children
tested find the tests to be merely a source of academic feedback
or a simple way to notify the state that the children are being
educated according to their standards.
Some
Side Effect Lessons
- Someone
else knows what you should know better than you do.
- Learning
is an absolute that can be measured.
- Your
interests are not important.
- The
subject areas being evaluated on the test are the only things
that are important to know.
- Thinking
is not valued; getting the 'right' answer is the only goal.
- The
answer (to any question) is readily available, indisputable,
and it's one of these four or five answers here; there's
no need to look deeper or dwell on the question.
- Your
worth can be summarized by a single mark on a paper.
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Average
is not OK, unless we as a Nation are done being the "New Romans"
and are willing to step down from being a nation of innovators and achievers.
If you read any of the foreign press, there are many people outside the
United States that see our citizens as iPod toting folks, who are fascinated
by Paris, Brittany and American Idol, who are into immediate gratification
and not much else. In general, I don't tend to agree with Latin American
dictators, but recently there was an article in the New York TImes that
portrayed a pretty ugly picture of how a subset of Latin America sees
the U.S.
Bush
and Chávez Spar at Distance Over Latin Visit
By JIM RUTENBERG and LARRY ROHTER
Published: March 10, 2007
....But while President Bush pressed that point, President Chávez
led an “anti-imperialist” rally at which he railed against
what he called American hypocrisy and greed, and called Mr. Bush a
“political cadaver.”...[read
on] |
Though
some may see Chavez as a nut, there are other places in the world where
American integrity is also seriously damaged. What is the generation of
kids who are currently in our public school systems, who are being subjected
to Pavlovian style education going to do to American integrity abroad
in the future?
The most chilling news item I have read lately was one where Microsoft
Chairman, Bill Gates, went before The US Congress and told them he couldn't
fill 3,000 technical jobs in the United States because of a shortage of
skilled workers.
Gates:
Education lapses put U.S. at risk
BY NANCY ZUCKERBROD | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
March 8, 2007
WASHINGTON - Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates told Congress on Wednesday
that overhauls of the nation's schools and immigration laws are
urgently needed to keep jobs from going overseas.
"The U.S. cannot maintain its economic leadership unless our
work force consists of people who have the knowledge and skills
needed to drive innovation," Gates told the Senate committee
that oversees labor and education issues. |
There are educators who care, and then there are ones who in my book are
nuts.
I found an interesting blog where some educators were discussing the benefits
of "incentives" for good test results:
Should
schools offer students incentives for academic performance?
By Sara Bernard
A school district in central Ohio is trying a new kind of incentive
pay — for students. In return for doing well on annual exams,
each student can earn up to $100. And in schools near Miami, students
can win pizza parties, tickets to the prom, and even iPods in exchange
for passing scores on their new state science exam. Proponents of
these kinds of incentives maintain that this is one way among many
to encourage academic achievement, particularly when many schools’
livelihoods depend on test scores. Others argue that these are bribes,
and don’t encourage meaningful learning. What do you think?
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What's
the answer?
Who
knows.
I think it is homeschooling and eliminating most testing, but that's me.
Harvard seems to think so too:
In
a class of their own
Harvard Crimson Magazine, Wednesday, February 28, 2007
By LOGAN R. URY
Once considered an educational taboo found only in the homes of
the religious and political pariahs, homeschooling has developed
into a popular alternative to traditional education, perhaps because
of its educational benefits—recent NHERI studies show that
the average homeschooled student outperforms his public school peers
by 30 to 37 percentage points across all subjects....[read
on] |
See
you next Month -- OldSage
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Good
judgment comes from the experiences gained when exercising bad judgment.
