Archives for category: Curriculum
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How Useful Are the Magazine HS Rankings?

By dianeravitch
May 15, 2013 //
35

Matt Di Carlo takes a close look at the Newsweek and US News high school rankings and finds that they don’t tell you much about school quality. The information is self-reported. Only about half the high schools responded. The measures favor schools in affluent districts or schools with selective admissions.

This echoes what I heard from a reporter in Arizona. Two charter high schools are at the top end of the US News ratings. One has a tough selection process, accepting only accomplished students. The other requires that students take the AP courses so beloved by the magazine, so it has a high attrition rate.

Bottom line: a good school, as judged by US News, is a selective school that does not accept or retain average or low-performing students.

Categories Curriculum

The Witch Doctor Curriculum in Louisiana

By dianeravitch
May 3, 2013 //
2

Crazy Crawfish explains why the Louisiana legislature decided not to repeal its “Science Education Act,” which permits the teaching of New Earth Creationism in public school science classes. It seems that a member of the legislature was healed by a witch doctor so he blocked efforts to repeal the law.

As Crazy Crawfish points out, it’s not all bad:

“Well, on the plus side, at least now Louisiana can start teaching kids how to be certified witch doctors early on in their public school careers. Since none of ouy kids will understand real biology that might be the best we can get for a while. Now all I need to do is corner the “magic bones” market and I bet I could make a killing selling those as school supplies at Walmart next Fall. . .”

Crazy Crawfish reblogged the story from another great Louisiana blogger called CenLamar. I swear these brilliant Louisiana bloggers will bring bring down the Jindal era of meanness and foolishness. They are so doggone good at exposing the official scams, hoaxes, and deceptions, and doing it Louisiana-style. The phonies don’t have a chance.

Categories Curriculum, Louisiana

Don’t You Love the Providence Student Union?

By dianeravitch
April 30, 2013 //
7

The Providence Student Union delivered the First Annual State of the Student Address today, right before State Commissioner Denorah Gist gave her annual State of Education Address.

**********************

Hello. Attached please find the materials from the Providence Student Union’s First Annual State of the Student Address, including a press release, a list of PSU’s policy recommendations, and a one-page document detailing PSU’s idea for assessment reform.

PRESS RELEASE

CONTACT: Hector Perea | Contact@ProvidenceStudentUnion.org | 401-545-1973

STUDENTS COUNTER ED. COMMISSIONER’S “STATE OF EDUCATION” SPEECH –

OFFER THEIR OWN VISION FOR RI EDUCATION IN “STATE OF THE STUDENT” ADDRESS

Providence, Rhode Island – April 30, 2013 – A crowd of students, parents and teachers gathered in front of the State House today before the Commissioner of Education’s yearly State of Education address for what members of the Providence Student Union (PSU) called their First Annual State of the Student Address.

“Commissioner Gist’s education addresses have been one-sided,” said PSU member and Hope High School junior Kelvis Hernandez. “They have not told the full story about Rhode Island education because they have never been given from the student’s perspective. Rhode Island students know what is actually happening in our schools, and we know what needs to change. Today we will offer an alternative vision for how our schools should be improved so that students can meet the high standards we all aspire to achieve.”

During the address, five students from five different high schools in Providence laid out a series of policy recommendations for the Commissioner to focus to improve education in Rhode Island. Leexammarie, a sophomore at Central High School, explained PSU’s suggestions on teaching and curriculum. “We’re told to sit and listen, to do our test prep so we can pass our NECAP and move on. But that’s not how we learn. That’s certainly not how I learn. We need an education that is as creative as we are. We need projects, hands-on learning, debates, and conversations. We need opportunities to do arts and technology and to work in groups. And we need small enough classes where teachers have the flexibility to teach us like individuals.”

Speaking about the need for more funding for school repairs and transportation, Danise Nichols of Mount Pleasant High School said, “If Providence schools get the funding they need to make our buildings safe, healthy, and comfortable for students, and to provide transportation to students, then we will be in a much better position to learn. We don’t think this is too much to ask. Do you?”

PSU members also described the need for a better assessment system than the current high-stakes testing regime. “We need an assessment system that challenges us to really learn – not to just fill in bubbles,” said Cauldierre McKay, a junior at Classical High School. “We should look for inspiration at successful systems like the New York Performance Standards Consortium. These schools require a student to complete four performance-based assessments that show oral and written skill, including an analytic literary essay, a social studies research paper with valid arguments and evidence, a science experiment that shows understanding of the scientific method and an applied math problem. These schools outperform New York schools using high-stakes testing – and we can see why.”

Members of the Providence Student Union said they hoped their event would help re-center the education conversation in Rhode Island back to its proper focus, the needs of students. After describing all their policy recommendations, Cauldierre McKay summed up PSU’s future plans, saying, “Now it’s up to all of us to work, together, to turn these ideas from words into real changes – to convince the Commissioner to give us an education instead of a test.”
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Categories Class size, Curriculum, Education Reform, Students, Testing

What Did Albert Shanker Say and What Would He Say Now?

By dianeravitch
April 28, 2013 //
16

There is a new parlor game among the cognoscenti called “Albert Shanker Said This 20 or 30 Years Ago So It Must Be Right.”

Last fall, I had a tiff with New Jersey Commissioner Chris Cerf, who invoked Shanker’s name to support the Christie administration’s push for charters. I patiently explained that Al Shanker was indeed a founding father of the charter movement in 1988, but became a vehement critic of charters in 1993. He decided that charters and vouchers were the same thing, and both would be used to “smash” public education. This is not a matter of speculation. It is on the record.

Now the Shanker blog has an article by Lisa Hansel, former editor of the AFT’s “American Educator” magazine and now an employee of the Core Knowledge Foundation, asserting that Shanker would endorse Common Core if he were alive today. (The Core Knowledge English Language Arts program is now licensed to Amplify, which is run by Joel Klein and owned by Rupert Murdoch.)

Hansel also quotes Shanker as a great admirer of “A Nation at Risk.”

But here is the problem. Hansel speculates about what Shanker would say if he were alive today. She doesn’t know.

Would he join with Jeb Bush to endorse the Common Core? We don’t know.

Would he be as enthusiastic about “A Nation at Risk” in 2013 as he was in 1983, now that it has become the Bible of the privatization movement? We don’t know.

However, I can speculate too. Al Shanker cared passionately about a content-rich curriculum. So do I. Would his love for a content-rich curriculum have caused him to join with those who want to destroy public education? I don’t think so.

Would he have come to realize that “A Nation at Risk” would become not a document for reform but an indictment against public education? If he had, he would have turned against it.

Would he have felt good about Common Core if he knew that it had never been field tested? Would he have been thrilled with the prospect that scores will plummet across the nation, giving fodder to the privatizers? I think not.

Would he have been concerned that the primary writers of the Common Core were the original members of the board of Michelle Rhee’s union-busting StudentsFirst? Absolutely.

Would he have allied himself and his union with those who want to destroy the union and privatize public education? No.

Where would Albert Shanker stand on the Common Core if he were alive today?

I don’t know, and neither does anyone else.

Categories Bush, Jeb, Charter Schools, Common Core, Curriculum, Education Reform, Rhee, Michelle, StudentsFirst, Unions

Hilarious! Cursive Writing: Follow the Money

By dianeravitch
April 24, 2013 //
22

This is crazy, or is it?

We learned the other day that Texas Instruments is a big promoter of Algebra 2 as a graduation requirement in Texas. Why? Civic spirit, love of education, or the fact that TI supplies most of the graphing calculators needed for Algebra 2?

Now we learn from this report that a company selling cursive writing materials is a major proponent of a law requiring same in North Carolina.

Please do not misunderstand the issue here.

I believe that everyone should learn cursive writing, both to do it and to read it.

But I don’t believe that state legislatures should dictate how teachers teach or what methods are best.

I also am a firm believer in the value of knowing the multiplication table by heart, but I don’t think that lawmakers should mandate it.

I love memorizing poetry but that should not be subject to legislation either.

States like North Carolina should have high standards for teachers. They should have at least a year of study and practice before entering the classroom. They should pass tests in the subject they plan to teach. They should have support and mentors.

If they are truly professionals, let them teach.

Categories Curriculum, North Carolina

Paul Barton on Common Core Implementation

By dianeravitch
April 24, 2013 //
19

Paul Barton, an experienced analyst of trends in American education, has written this piece to emphasize the importance of appropriate implementation of the Common Core standards. He warns that testing should not begin until teachers are prepared, a curriculum is in place and has been taught, and teachers have the materials they need.

A Critical Stage for the Common Core

​The much-anticipated Common Core Standards have been rolled out and tests based on the standards are being created. Now is a really critical stage when teachers must be trained and a curriculum created, and states and schools seem to be on their own. The standards have been described as very rigorous and challenging, requiring teachers to learn new pedagogies. These tasks will be both time consuming and expensive.

​The early returns publically available are worrisome. A recent Education Week story bore the headline, “Teachers Feel Unprepared for the Common Standards.” The story was based on a survey of 600 subscribing teachers who formed “quite a diverse sample.” The survey found that nearly three in ten teachers have had no training at all on the standards. Of the 70 percent who had training, 41 percent had four days or less, and three in ten had one day or less. Although job-embedded training is considered the most effective kind, only three in ten of those who received training say they received it in that way.

The respondents said that more than two-thirds of their schools were not prepared, and 27 percent said their districts were not up to the task.

​In addition to teacher training, a curriculum needs to be developed and teachers need to be provided the materials they need. The standards are about what students must know, not how they will be taught. If English teachers must include more non-fiction reading, non-fiction materials must be made available.

​According to the Wall Street Journal (4-15-2013), New York City “slowly started preparing schools for the new standards three years ago.” The New York City Schools Chancellor said that all NYC schools were expected this year to teach to the Common Core mold, but the city never provided schools with a full curriculum or curriculum materials to plan lessons.

​What is needed is common readiness standards. Although implementation is up to the states, it would be comforting to know that the principal actors who have gotten the standards movement this far would find a way to help guide it, check on all the stages of implementation, provide needed information about progress, and give some assistance or cautions to the states if implementation gets off track.

​The new tests should not be given until implementation of the Common Core Standards is complete. It is the responsibility of the states to fully prepare teachers, develop a curriculum based on the standards, and provide teachers with the materials they need to teach to the standards. If not, students will suffer the consequences and teachers will likely be blamed.
______________________
Paul E. Barton is author of National Standards, Getting Beneath the Surface.

Categories Accountability, Common Core, Curriculum

One of the Strangest Articles Ever

By dianeravitch
March 24, 2013 //
28

An article in the Wall Street Journal goes on a rant against critics of standardized testing. It was written by a charter school advocate in Texas and a professor at ultra-conservative Hillsdale College in Michigan. The authors are shocked that so many parents and local school boards in Texas want to reduce the number of tests needed to graduate high from 15 to only three or four.

They insist that American students are really incredibly stupid and the best way to make sure they gain the wisdom of the ages is to demand more of Pearson’s multiple choice tests.

You can see that they really care about the Higher Things because they drop names like Homer, Milton, Melville, and Shakespeare. They also drop some references to the Founding Fathers.

Two things are odd about this article (in addition to the fact that the statistics they cite were based on a telephone survey of 1,200 students, who were asked multiple-choice questions and had no reason to take the survey seriously).*

First, when American students were classically educated, many eons ago, as the authors yearn for, they were not taking any standardized tests. None. Zero. Zip. They were writing essays and examined orally by their teachers. It seems the authors yearn for the good old days of 1910, when the high school graduation rate was about 10%.

And then there is the irony that the authors are the sort who usually rant about the importance of respecting parental choice. Why do they deny the choice that so many Texas parents so clearly and passionately want: an education where more time and resources are devoted to teaching, not testing?

Gosh, with more time for teaching and learning, the students would actually have time to read Homer, Shakespeare, Melville, and Milton, instead of test prep.

*Full disclosure: I was co-chair of the organization that commissioned the survey and co-authored the introduction. The organization, named Common Core, has no connection to the Common Core State Standards. It was created to advocate for the liberal arts and sciences, not for testing them. I resigned from it in 2009.

P.S. a comment below points out that Hillsdale College attracts many home-schoolers who do not take batteries of standardized tests annually.

Categories Curriculum, Standardized Testing, Testing, Texas

No Surprise: Voucher Schools Teaching Creationism

By dianeravitch
March 19, 2013 //
17

I previously named Zack Kopplin to the honor roll for his outspoken opposition to schools teaching creationism. A native of Louisiana, Zack criticized Governor Bobby Jindal’s voucher plan for using public funds to send students to schools that teach creationism.

Zack, a student at Rice University, recently appeared on the Bill Moyers show to talk about vouchers and creationism.

The show featured an interactive map that pinpoints every school teaching creationism with public funding. Most are concentrated in Florida and Louisiana.

If Governor Haslam in Tennessee gets his way (abetted by State Commissioner Kevin Huffman [ex-TFA]), there will be many more creationist schools funded by taxpayers. Even more taxpayer dollars will flow to such schools in Alabama and Georgia, and don’t discount their spread into Indiana, Ohio, and other states.

Is this the STEM education that will propel our nation into the 21st century?

Categories Curriculum, Honor Roll, Jindal, Bobby, Louisiana, Religion, Separation of church and state, Tennessee, U.S. education, Vouchers

What English Classes Should Look Like in the Common Core Era

By dianeravitch
January 19, 2013 //
31

Carol Jago is an experienced English teacher, author, and former president of the National Council of Teachers of English.

Jago writes here about what high school English classes should look like in the Common a core era.

She served on the NAEP assessment committee that set the ratio of 70-30 for test developers.

Here is the key point:

“What seems to be causing confusion are the comparative recommended percentages for informational and literary text cited in the Common Core’s introduction. These percentages reflect the 2009 NAEP Reading Framework http://www.nagb.org/content/nagb/assets/documents/publications/frameworks/reading09.pdf . I served on that framework committee and can assure you that when we determined that 70% of what students would be asked to read for the 12th grade NAEP reading assessment would be informational, we did not mean that 70% of what students read in senior English should be informational text. The National Assessment for Educational Progress does not measure performance in English class. It measures performance in reading, reading across the disciplines and throughout the school day.”

I would clarify further to say that NAEP was not designed to tell teachers what to teach or how to teach. That ratio of 70-30 is an instruction to test developers, not to teachers.

Categories Common Core, Curriculum, Education Reform, NAEP

Why Students Need Financial Literacy

By dianeravitch
January 15, 2013 //
33

This post was written by Ohio teacher Brian Page @FinEdChat

 

The curriculum ladder

 

As teachers, we are all feeling the squeeze of tough economic times. States have cut education funding for a number of reasons. We are taking the cuts personally because we live a profession that strikes at the core of our values. Every child deserves a fair shot, regardless of the zip code where they were born. Our system should serve as the ladder to provide every child in the country a tool to climb to whatever heights they aspire to reach. Yet we continue to cut away one step after another.

 

Developing across the country are programs and legislation that prioritize cost-cutting measures rather than put kids first. The world’s most respected educational minds stress the importance of art, music, foreign languages, and gifted instruction opportunities, especially in the elementary grades. Yet these subjects are experiencing deep cuts in all grades, and in some cases disappearing all together. So while we are fighting just to keep every step in the ladder, we are losing sight of the additional steps we need to add to keep pace with the adult demands of modern society. Mastering financial literacy is a necessary step out of poverty for some and into adulthood for everyone.

 

Did you know…

 

• We are asking our children to make one of the biggest debt choices of their lives while still in high school, student debt. Student debt has now surpassed credit card debt – – it is $1 trillion. Yet in 46 states kids are unlikely to be introduced to resources like this one and this one to help them make an informed college choice.

 

• Lots of high school students have jobs and pay taxes, but they don’t know how to fill out basic tax forms or file for themselves. It is time we begin integrating resources like this one so they understand their taxes.

 

• According to this research, the biggest mistake low-moderate income (LMI) Americans make is they do not have any emergency savings. They do not use any basic banking services such as a direct deposit or a saving account. It baffles me that we do not teach our kids the importance of savings, or the power of compound interest using resources like this one.

 

• Many high school students are purchasing cars on their own, without any direction or understanding of the total financial obligation. We owe it to them to provide resources like this so they can make informed choices.

 

• Of those who carry a balance on their credit card from one billing cycle to the next, the average credit debt is $15,418. When our high school students turn 18, they are eligible for a credit card (with a co-signer), and if used wisely, it can be a great tool for them to build their credit score. If used inappropriately, it can ruin their lives. It is time we start to teach kids to understand credit card solicitations and their credit bills using resources like this one.

 

• A lot of our high school students have trouble figuring out what career field would be a good fit for them. Resources like this one are very helpful, and we owe it to them to expose them to this information.

 

Each resource makes up the framework for an important step in the education ladder missing in 46 states. Yet the research is clear that there is a direct link between inequality and financial literacy. Equally as clear is a message from our parents. A resounding 93% of parents wish to see financial literacy courses taught in high school.

 

I want our children first introduced to complicated financial concepts and contracts by teachers who love them and who are trying to help them, not by someone trying to trick them. Relying on the school of hard knocks should not be an option anymore. It is time a step is added in the ladder to empower future generations to make wise and informed financial choices. Personal Finance should be integrated into every child’s K-12 educational experience, and a course in Personal Finance should be a semester-long high school graduation requirement.

Categories Curriculum
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