Archives for category: Childhood
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Connecticut Governor Malloy and His Wisconsin Moment

By dianeravitch
May 3, 2016 //
0

Jonathan Pelto writes about Connecticut Governor Dannell Malloy’s promise to prevents “Wisconsin Moment” in his state. Since his election and re-election, Pelto says, Malloy has inflicted a “Wisconsin era” on Connecticut.

 

 

Pelto writes:

 

“Malloy is saying that the only budget that will get his signature is a full-fledged austerity budget; a spending plan that destroys vital state services and lays-off public employees while coddling the rich and shifting even more of Connecticut’s already unfair and inequitable tax burden onto the back of Connecticut’s Middle Class.

 

“In his latest diatribe, the ever smug, sanctimonious and thin-skinned bully of a governor has announced that he will veto any spending plan put forward by the General Assembly’s Democratic majority that reverses Malloy’s record-breaking, mean-spirited and draconian cuts to the critically important services that Connecticut residents need and deserve.

 

“Pontificating that Democratic lawmakers won’t consider “enough spending cuts,” Malloy has – yet again telegraphed that when it comes to the state’s revenue and expenditure plan it is his way or no way. It is a strategy that will require unprecedented state employee layoffs, will reduce the availability of critically important services for Connecticut’s most vulnerable citizens, will mean less funding for Connecticut’s public schools and colleges, and will lead to higher local property taxes for Connecticut’s middle income families.”

 

 

 

Categories Budget Cuts, Childhood, Connecticut

Michigan State Superintendent Wants More Tests, Starting in Kindergarten

By dianeravitch
April 26, 2016 //
29

The state superintendent in Michigan has decided that testing students once a year in grades 3-8, as No Child Left Behind required, was not enough. He intends to test students twice a year, starting in kindergarten.

 

If he were a doctor, he would recommend frequent temperature taking as a cure for illness.

Categories Childhood, Michigan, Testing

Dennis Ian: Don’t Let Anyone Hurry Your Child

By dianeravitch
April 24, 2016 //
14

Reader Dennis Ian shared this memory, which has lessons for us all about what we expect of children. Should a second-grader be on track for college or career? Read on.

 

Dennis Ian writes:

 

 

This has been warmly received and I thought that it might be of value to your readers especially because the spring assessments are nearly upon us …

 

 

“Time,Time, Time, see what’s become of me …”

 

 

I’m an old father now. My sons have sons. I own lots of memories. I polish the sweet ones and never dust the ones that hurt. I mind time now. I didn’t used to. In fact, like lots of you, I was reckless with time. Not any longer.

 

 

When I was a boy of about 9 or so, I had the temporary misfortune of being the last to the dinner table … and that meant sitting just to the left of my father. That was like sitting next to the district attorney … or the pope. My brothers loved my dilemma … because that’s what brothers do. It’s in the Irish Manual of Life.

 

 

So … there I was … waiting for my moment of challenge. The knives were clanging plates and there were two or three different conversations happening around this table with the fat legs. Someone mentioned that my grandfather had a birthday in a few days … and that little-bitty mention sprung my father’s mind.

 

 

“So, young Denis” said my father, “ how long would you like to live? What is a good, long life?”

 

 

Right off the bat I’m thinking this is a trick question … because my father was never familiar with the obvious. So, there I sat … and my brothers had caught wind of my dinner-table distress … and they were loving every minute of it.

 

 

Meanwhile, my father was sipping his usual cocktail and pushing some food around his plate … which means he’s kinda waiting for an answer … to the trick question. And I don’t have much in the way of trick answers … because … I’m nine. Gimme a break.

 

 

After several long minutes he leaned over and asked, “And?”

 

 

I went full-out bravado … more for my brothers than for any other reason. I gotta live in this family after all, right? Strong is the key. Trust me.

 

 

“Seventy. Seventy years old is a good, long life.”

 

 

I was so pleased with my answer, I smirked at every guy at the table … until I noticed that my father was completely unimpressed … still sitting there … at the head of the table … playing fork-hockey with his peas.

 

 

And me? I’m waitin’ for a sign … any sign! … that my skinny answer is sufficiently smart. I’m dreaming of the big back-slap … or even the dreaded hair-muss.

 

 

There was none.

 

 

In fact, it seemed I was completely off his radar for a long moment.

 

 

I shouldn’t have been surprised. My father didn’t do that sort of stuff. I must’ve had him confused with my best friend’s father … who was really normal.

 

 

After a few long minutes, he clasped his hands and leaned over toward me. And then the verdict.

 

 

“You’re a silly boy.”

 

 

Mind you … he said it softly. No mocking at all. Just a soft, blunt statement … designed to make me think all over again. To spin my brain-gears a bit more. And I did. Even my brothers were cranking their brains. I think that was part of my father’s strategy … to make the moment belong to everyone. To glue everyone into the lesson.

 

 

Then he leaned over once again … and in a loud whisper … so all could hear … he said …“If you live to be seventy … you will have lived just 840 months. Does that seem long enough for you?”

 

 

And, of course, it didn’t then … and it doesn’t now. And I learned the lesson he intended me to learn … to be careful with numbers and to respect time. And to not waste time … or let others waste my time.

 

 

So, from this old father … to you young fathers and young mothers … mind the time.

 

 

Mind those sweet moments with your children and seldom say “Hurry up!”. Don’t wish for anything except this moment. Leave tomorrow alone. Tend to today.

 

 

Don’t let anyone hurry your child.

 

 

Don’t let anyone sandpaper their softest years with grit or rigor … because there’s plenty of that stuff in the eight hundred months ahead.

 

 

Don’t let anyone run innocence out of your child’s life. It has its own cadence and rhythm … and it’s plenty fast enough.

 

 

Don’t let others spin those clock hands faster than they already spin.

 

 

Mind the numbers in your life as never before. Pay as much attention to the little moments as you do the big moments.

 

 

Remind yourself that a five year old is sixty months on this planet. Less than 2,000 days old. They’re still brand new people! No one has the right to whisper anything about college or careers to a child determined to conquer the monkey bars. All adults should respect the Law of the Chair … if a child’s legs do not reach the floor … well … they are reality-exempt.

 

 

That eight year old … the one who sleeps in his Little League uniform? He’s a third grader. Not yet 100 months old. Let that sink in. Why is he rip-roaring mad at himself over some junk-test? That’s not the worry of an 8 year old. He should be anxious about base hits … not base line scores. His only career thought is what professional team to sign with … and that’s heavy enough.

 

 

That music-blasting “tween” is maybe 150 months old. At that age their job is to not walk into door jambs … and to try to put a lid on some hormone havoc. They’re still closer to babyhood than adulthood. Why do we let schools bum-rush them into anxiety-hell over tests? Mother Nature has already over-supplied them with all the anxiety they can barely handle. Why don’t we just lay off ‘em … and let ‘em outgrow this messy moment? It’s bad enough as it is … leave it be.

 

 

I’m glad my father cured me from becoming number-numb. My hot-seat moment has served me well for … for lots of months. Maybe this will shake up your consciousness … and slow you down some. And maybe … maybe you won’t say “Hurry up!” quite so often. And perhaps you’ll remind that school to slow down … that there are children on board … and they are entitled to every last drop of innocence.

 

 

Don’t let them tug your child into their warped world. If they think education is all about numbers, well, they’ve already forfeited their privilege to enjoy your child. They’re just as silly as I was … but I was only about a hundred months old. What’s their excuse?

 

 

Denis Ian

Categories Childhood

Pasi Sahlberg Wins LEGO Award for Fighting GERM

By dianeravitch
April 16, 2016 //
4

Pasi Sahlberg, author of “Finnish Lessons,” teacher, scholar, and defender of childhood, won the LEGO prize for his work in fighting the global effort to standardize children and crush the joy of learning. The award comes with a gift of $100,000.

Please watch Pasi’s presentation after winning the award.

He certainly belongs on the honor roll of this blog for his tireless efforts to present a vision of what real education is and how to make it happen.

“Former schoolteacher and current scholar and author, Finnish Pasi Sahlberg, wins the LEGO Prize 2016 for his work to improve the quality of children’s education worldwide. Hanne Rasmussen, CEO of the LEGO Foundation, presented the prize at the annual LEGO Idea Conference. The prize is accompanied by a cash award of USD 100,000 to support further development of quality in children’s learning.

The LEGO Foundation has taken on the ambition of re-defining what we mean with play and its role in learning, and of re-imagining how we best stimulate children to learn. This ambition is shared by Pasi Sahlberg, who believes that testing alone is the wrong way to quality education.

“Today, curiosity, creativity and ultimately genuine learning are at risk anywhere high-stakes testing, Big Data and punitive accountability are the dominant drivers of what teachers and students do in schools. This is a direct consequence of the current global education reform movement. Schools around the world have become places of standardized routines that aim at predetermined attainment targets in the name of improving competitiveness. Our children are therefore subjects of frequent assessments and tests that measure and divide them based solely on how they perform on these external expectations,” says Pasi Sahlberg.

Society needs creative and lifelong learners

These days, the LEGO Idea Conference hosts 300 academics, practitioners and representatives from educational organizations, who will discuss what quality learning is and how it can be put into action. According to Hanne Rasmussen, CEO of the LEGO Foundation, Pasi Sahlberg is a forerunner when it comes to improving the quality of children’s education worldwide.

The LEGO Foundation said in its announcement:

“Pasi Sahlberg wins the LEGO Prize 2016 for his enormously dedicated work to improve the quality of children’s education globally. Pasi Sahlberg is a forerunner in the efforts to ensure quality in children’s learning, which he believes must build on the natural curiosity and collaboration between children. The LEGO Foundation shares this view. A child’s inherent ability to play is paramount in the early years and a catalyst for learning competencies that prepare the child for formal education, creativity and learning. Quality learning supports a respect for children’s playfulness and does not only focus on curriculum that mirrors later educational experiences.,” says Hanne Rasmussen.

“The LEGO Foundation believes that learning through play is essential in children’s learning and development. The LEGO Foundation has taken on the task of re-defining what we mean with play and its role in learning, and of re-imagining how we can stimulate children to learn. Skills like problem solving, creativity, empathy, communication and teamwork are all rooted in play, which involves a constant process of “try, fail and try again” – helping children to develop and fine-tune the creative and critical thinking skills.

“The mission of the LEGO Foundation is to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow. The aim is to build a future where learning through play empowers children to become creative, engaged lifelong learners.

“The LEGO Foundation focuses on children aged 0-12 with a special emphasis on early childhood. This is the period when children develop most rapidly and when play is instrumental in building skills essential for the rest of their lives. As documented by several studies, investing in early childhood provides exceptional returns for the individual child and for the society, as it will lead to less crime, higher high school graduation rates and higher incomes.”

Categories Childhood, Honor Roll, International, Pensions, Play

A Third Grade Teacher Reviews the ELA Test 

By dianeravitch
April 12, 2016 //
17

Once again, Pearson produced a test that was developmentally inappropriate, confusing, and an ordeal for children. 
This teacher in the New York City public schools sums up the flaws in the 2016 ELA tests here. The test reading passages were beyond the reading levels of most students. The subject matter and vocabulary was sometimes arcane.
The state commissioner MaryEllen Elia thought she could address the concerns of parents by making the test untimed. But instead of relieving stress, the children labored over the tests for hours. 
Parents will continue to opt out as long as this punitive regime remains in place. 

Categories Childhood, Education Reform, New York, Standardized Testing

William Doyle: What Makes Finnish Schools So Successful?

By dianeravitch
February 29, 2016 //
28

William Doyle recently returned from a Fulbright year in Finland, and he spent his year studying education. His own child attended a Finnish school.

 

He wrote about some of the lessons he learned in this article that appeared in the Hechinger Report.

 

Here is the big takeaway:

 

If you want results, try doing the opposite of what American “education reformers” think we should do in classrooms.
Instead of control, competition, stress, standardized testing, screen-based schools and loosened teacher qualifications, try warmth, collaboration, and highly professionalized, teacher-led encouragement and assessment.

 

When American reformers refer to “personalized learning,” they mean that every child should have his/her own laptop. Finnish teachers use the concept of “personalized learning,” but they mean person-to-person learning:

 

While the school has the latest technology, there isn’t a tablet or smartphone in sight, just a smart board and a teacher’s desktop.

Screens can only deliver simulations of personalized learning, this is the real thing, pushed to the absolute limit.

 

Instead of walking in lines, remaining silent, blowing a bubble instead of speaking, and maintaining perfect order, as our reformers prefer:

 

Children are allowed to slouch, wiggle and giggle from time to time if they want to, since that’s what children are biologically engineered to do, in Finland, America, Asia and everywhere else.

 

Teachers in Finland have the freedom to teach and are encouraged to innovate:

 

Here, as in any other Finnish school, teachers are not strait-jacketed by bureaucrats, scripts or excessive regulations, but have the freedom to innovate and experiment as teams of trusted professionals….

 

Children at this and other Finnish public schools are given not only basic subject instruction in math, language and science, but learning-through-play-based preschools and kindergartens, training in second languages, arts, crafts, music, physical education, ethics, and, amazingly, as many as four outdoor free-play breaks per day, each lasting 15 minutes between classes, no matter how cold or wet the weather is. Educators and parents here believe that these breaks are a powerful engine of learning that improves almost all the “metrics” that matter most for children in school – executive function, concentration and cognitive focus, behavior, well-being, attendance, physical health, and yes, test scores, too.

 

But is there something about Finland that makes it inappropriate as a point of comparison? Does it succeed because of a homogeneous population? Doyle says no:

 

There are also those who would argue that this kind of approach wouldn’t work in America’s inner city schools, which instead need “no excuses,” boot-camp drilling-and-discipline, relentless standardized test prep, Stakhanovian workloads and stress-and-fear-based “rigor.”

 

But what if the opposite is true?

 

What if many of Finland’s educational practices are not cultural quirks or non-replicable national idiosyncrasies — but are instead bare-minimum global best practices that all our children urgently need, especially those children in high-poverty schools?

 

 

Categories Childhood, International

Denis Ian: When Do Children Get to Be Children Again?

By dianeravitch
February 17, 2016 //
26

Is childhood a lost concept? Have we decided to treat five year olds like little adults? Reader Denis Ian reacts to the post about a child’s first day in kindergarten, which was spent taking assessments, not playing or socializing. Taking assessments:

 

 

I find it harder and harder to repeat myself when I bump into tales like this.

 

I sort of cringe myself into almost-anger because what we all see before us is so macabre and so twisted. And it reappears week after week after week.

 

In this case, which is hardly unique, a child’s first several moments in school … her first actual memories perhaps! … are of evaluations, testing, and assessments. This sounds awfully army-ish to me … and not very school-ish at all.

 

But the essential question … the one that should be asked first … is very simple: Who thinks this is a good idea? Who thinks 60 month-old children should be queued up like draft inductees and then sized up like petite soldiers on their way to the proving ground of the classroom? I hate that forced gulp of adult air. Why? Why do that to a child?

 

Will these experts step forward and explain themselves to all of us who seem to think that such stuff is abusive and asinine and beyond reasonable? And do it all in human terms … in words we understand. And we’ll talk likewise.

 

Where are they? I seldom hear their voices. And if I do, I rush to their credentials, and guess what? I am almost always presented with the same disturbing information … that these new Know-It-Alls have zero classroom experience beyond visitor status.

 

But somehow, some way … through this warped reform … these classroom allergic gurus hold sway over a generation of new learners … that would be YOUR children … proposing logic-defying curriculum alterations and procedures that every classroom teacher knows to be worthless … and even damaging.

 

And still it goes on and on and on. In fact, it gets worse … because these new Socrates of education are ever more emboldened, and to cement their early assertions, they rummage their own empty heads for more educational absurdity which spews out at volcanic speed. And there are always some political schlubs right there to crown these dopes as the new geniuses of education … and then give them warping power beyond belief.

 

Can you see why I cringe? Why so many of you cringe? Here you are … in the moment of one of life’s great moments … your child’s first day of school. The camera is charged, they clothes are extra-neat, the essential paraphernalia is stylishly arrayed from lunch box to pencil case … and you now realize you are escorting your youngster … that child you love more than life … to boot camp. So, we all cringe some more. And lots of you probably cry, too.

 

I would cry. A lot. And I am not given to that sort of soft stuff. But I know how my children were once stitched to my heart and my soul when they were tiny human beings … and it doesn’t take great effort to recapture that moment in time.

 

All cringing aside … when do we stop begging and imploring educational officials and politicians to STOP! To treat our children like … like children?

 

When do they hear us rather than the goofy gurus? When do they realize that we’re not so goddamned consumed with data and test scores and rankings and such? That we’re more concerned with smiles and joy and refrigerator art?

 

When does that happen? When do we all get our balance back? And when does childhood make a comeback.

 

I can’t believe I typed that last sentence. I’m cringing again.

 

Denis Ian​

Categories Childhood, Testing

Revolutionary Idea: Elementary School Children Should LIKE School

By dianeravitch
January 8, 2016 //
22

Laura Eberhart Goodman is a parent and a retired teacher. She is upset that her children come home from elementary school exhausted, frustrated, and listless. When she asks them about the good things that happened that day, they can’t think of anything unless it was during lunch or recess. They have been subjected to scripted learning and continual assessment. There is no play, no imaginative activities, no fun, no good memories. It shouldn’t be like this. Thanks, President George W. Bush. Thanks, Sandy Kress and Margaret Spellings. Thanks, President Obama. Thanks, Arne Duncan. You ruined childhood for millions of children.

 

She writes:

 

 

From a parental perspective, a good learning environment is one with positive energy. The teachers want to be there, and the children want to be there. No one is counting the minutes to the end of the day before it has even started.

 
From an educator’s perspective, an environment that is engaging, hands-on, with opportunities for meaningful learning, practice, discussions, and creativity, makes kids happy. When kids are happy, they learn more, and without having to resort to bribery. It’s not rocket science.
When the learning environment becomes very serious, and relies heavily on assessment and grades, learning targets and goals, it is not as enjoyable. It is “work”, and children don’t enjoy work. It’s not in their nature to enjoy work; children are created to learn through play.

 
You will have as much success asking a tiger not to have stripes as you will asking children not to play. I was watching two children at the post office the other day waiting to get passports, and they had been there for quite a long time. They developed a game using one of their jackets, and entertained themselves nicely with it. It is as natural as breathing for children to play. What defines “play”? Any activity that engages the imagination and creativity, two skills that lead to innovation and problem solving when practiced often enough.

 
We can’t expect them to do work in the same way that an adult does work. We are not the same. They don’t have to pay a mortgage and I get to stay up as late as I want to. One is not better or worse than the other; they are different.

 
Just because students may have to sit in an office for 8 hours a day when they are adults, doesn’t mean that they should have to start practicing it now as children. It is like saying to a ten year old, “One day you’re going to pay taxes, so I’m going to keep 50% of your birthday money from Grandma because I want you to get used to it.”

 
There’s a proper time for everything.

 
Why has elementary school become the time for instructional and assessment methods that are more appropriate for high school and college students?

Categories Accountability, Childhood, Testing

Florida: Parents Organize to Fight for Recess in Elementary Schools

By dianeravitch
December 6, 2015 //
17

In Florida, there are laws governing how many minutes must be devoted to reading but there is no law requiring recess.

 

Some elementary schools have eliminated recess altogether. Some make it available only once a week.

 

The state does require 150 minutes of physical education each week. But that is not the same as recess, where children can play without adult direction.

 

Folks, we are talking about little children. They need time to stretch and run and play. They need time to exercise their bodies. Why are state officials allowing schools (or, compelling schools) to eliminate activity that is necessary for good health?

 

Fortunately, parents have begun to organize to demand that their children have recess every day.

 

Time for recess has been squeezed out in recent years, but now social media is helping parents, such as Lakeland mother Amanda Lipham, organize recess supporters.
Lipham says she organized the push for recess in Polk when she saw changes in her five year old son.

 

“He was losing his enthusiasm for school,” Lipham says. “His attitude was changing. I could see his spirit being broken.”

 

First, Lipham handed out flyers in the car line at her son’s elementary school, and she spoke out at a school board meeting. Then, she formed an online petition that garnered thousands of signatures.

 

Now parents are creating similar online petitions around the state. More than 2200 people have signed a petition to make recess mandatory in Pinellas County, This fall, Parents in Osceola County also started a petition demanding recess. And a similar effort in Orange County last year led to a school board resolution recommending that schools provide the breaks.

 

And that’s the way change might happen, says Judy Stockman, who teaches at Sykes Elementary school in Lakeland — when parents get involved.

 

You may be sick of hearing about Finland, but consider this: Elementary school students get a 15-minute recess after every class. They go outside and run around and play. Then they return to their classes refreshed and ready to learn. Sounds good to me.

 

 

 

 

Categories Childhood, Florida

Jack Covey Reviews Eva’s ED Talk

By dianeravitch
October 31, 2015 //
52

Reader Jack Covey watched Eva Moskowitz’s ED talk at Governor Cuomo’s Camp Philos retreat:

“Holy moley!

“I just watched a one-woman Eva Moskowitz’ horror show… starring Eva herself. It’s her six-minute “Ed Talk” (get it? rhymes with “Ted Talk”) at the 2014 Corporate Reform jamboree called “Camp Philos”:

She glowingly tells the story of Sidney — an eighth grade Success Academy student — while projecting her picture on a screen. (Did she get permission?)

“During Common Core testing, Sidney was in a life-threatening battle with sickle-cell anemia. Even at the most severe moment of crisis in her health, Sidney insisted on taking the entirety of that year’s Common Core testing. The adults around argued otherwise, because she had just had her infected spleen taken out that very day, “had lost a lot of weight,” and “was extremely cold and weak.” In the light of this, the principal informed Sidney that she was entitled to claim a “medical excuse” and delay taking the test.

“However, Sidney wouldn’t hear of it, and took the test.

“I want to get a 4,” Sidney replied, with Eva recounting these words with emotion.

Eva’s point?

( 02:10 – 03:03 )

( 02:10 – 03:03 )

“EVA MOSKOWITZ: “Children are incredibly resilient, and I would urge you to think about NOT treating children AS children… I think that we have underestimated in this country the pleasure that comes from achieving mastery, and from performance. In my experience, kids actually want to perform. The want to master. Sidney was a perfect example, even though she was in a life-threatening situation.”

Sweet Lord! What is WRONG with this woman?

“Cue the Supremes:

“(By the way, Camp Philos 2015 is this weekend. My invite must have got lost in the mail.
I wonder what Eva’s 2015 “Ed Talk” will be this year, given the timing.)”

Categories Charter Schools, Childhood, Common Core, Testing
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