It is interesting to note that while Illinois' public school system is piloting a program that would give every student a wireless laptop, colleges and universities are trying to banish them from the classroom. Perhaps these two should talk.
Below is a graphic recently released by the Chicago Public Schools that allegedly demonstrates historic gains in student performance. Only, there are all sorts of questions about the tests. Students were given 30 minuted longer to complete tthe math portion and 20 minutes longer to complete the science portion. Moreover, students were given pre-tests for the first time.
And according to the Tribune the state "lowered the passing score for 8th grade math from the 67th to the 38th percentile."
Remind me to consult CPS next time I need a boost in my job performance numbers.
The Tribune reports on the opening of Illinois' first virtual school which has a limited enrollment of 600 (why? do we have to ask?). The criticism of virtual schools is much the same as the criticism levelled at home schooling: that kids need socialization. Of course, there is some truth to this complaint (I hear the objectivists out there cringing.) Kids do need to learn how to deal with other kids. They need to get in fights, deal with bullies, and pull each other's hair from time to time. This is a very important part of life.
Wonk Humor: This report from the Independence Institute in Colorado notes that 10 states last claimed they were 49th in education funding. Could your state be next?
Dennis Byrne is a Chicago writer and newspaper columnist.
Here’s a lesson in how bad public policy spreads, until it becomes the law of the land.
The bad policy being: A plan that was designed to offer parents more “choice” in educating their children, actually turned into a state-concocted straightjacket requiring that some kids be bused across town, because they were the wrong race.
I am only half as cynical about this idea as you might expect. The cynical half is the one concerned that the public is paying for this experiment. The open inquiry half of me observes that there may be some buy-in, some results. You would get more buy-in if the segments of the population, or, better understood, their individual constituents, were taking responsibility for the education of their own children -- that is buy-in in the ultimate sense.
If nothing else I enjoy the message it sends (or could I say 'sends up') to all the snooty academics who defend 'affirmative action' on the basis that 'diversity' is so critical to education.
Taking a little license with the tobacco commercial that gave rise to juxtaposing grammar and taste, the latest 'conundrum in a coffepot' suggests that, according to self-appointed mobs who proprose to speak for the universal palate, some broadsheets are publishing editorial cartoons in bad taste, like a newspaper shouldn't. This may come as shocking to some, but it leads me to ask: "what do you want, Good Humor or Good Taste?"
It lead Donn Fresard, the editor of the MIchigan Daily, a the student newspaper on the University of MIchigan campus to publish a serious non-sensational critique of the sensational criticism of editorial cartoons.
Ironically, he defends publication of cartoons attacking affirmative action while also defending the decision of the Daily not to republish the Jylands Post cartoon depictions of Muhammed. In the first case he argues cogently that whether the cartoons are offensive or not is essentially a subjective non-substantive measure of their worth. But in the latter, the Daily gives in to the idea that the offensive (Fresard substitutes the word shocking, but it has the same meaning) quality of the Muhammed cartoons drowns out the message.
He did invite readers to 'prove' him wrong, and I don't even need such an invitation. My case is only a click away...
I'm not trying to be insensitive to those who support laws mandating students be taught that evolution is merely scientific theory. Though, I thought these attempts would have ceased after the Dover case, but AP is reporting the Utah House has just killed another bill. I disagree with these kinds of laws and, like most libertarians, I feel they would be unnecessary in a voucher-ized school system. Be that as it may, I am not really all that troubled by the attempt to pass these laws.
What does trouble me is that American high school kids are apparently so lacking in scientific education they need a sticker on their textbooks to know that evolution is a "theory" and has not be "empirically proven".
Reading yesterday's Chicago Tribune, I saw that Governor Blagojevich wants to take the state of Illinois down the path towards universal pre-K schooling. Two items jumped out at me from the article:
1. The purpose of the expansion was to ensure that more children arrived in kindergarten ready to learn, including having skills like recognizing the shapes and sounds of letters of the alphabet.
2. The article noted that the expansion would require the hiring of hundreds more certified pre-K teachers with bachelors degrees.
Once upon a time, I was taught the shapes and sounds of the alphabet. It did not, as I recall, require a "certified" teacher with a bachelors degree. In fact, all it required was a 10-year old girl, more specifically my older sister, to teach me these skills.
For what a 10-year old child can do, the state needs to hire hundreds (more likely thousands, as government entitlements do have a way of growing a little faster than expected) of unionized teachers? And people wonder why education costs so much.
Not that we've haven't heard this suggested before, but Illinois' Lt. Governor, Pat Quinn, is apparently trying to make it a reality. He wants to give every 7th grader in the state a laptop. Let's set aside for the moment the obvious point that laptops do not necessarily equal better education.. The logistics of this would appear to be a nightmare, especially at such a large scale. Just a few thoughts:
Continue reading "Laptops: The Next Big Thing in School Reform?" »
Houston officially becomes the largest school district in the country to pass a merit pay plan for its teachers. From the Austin-American Statesman:
By a 9-0 vote, the Houston school board approved a plan that offers teachers up to $3,000 in extra pay if their students show improvement on state and national tests. The program could grow to up to $10,000 in merit pay.
...
In the first section, teachers get bonuses if their schools are rated acceptable or higher based on scores from the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, the state's standardized test. In addition, their students need to show improvement in the top half of scores when compared to students in 40 other similar schools throughout the state in order to get the extra pay.The second section deals with improvement by students on the Stanford Achievement Test, which compares student performance with nationwide norms, and its Spanish-language equivalent, Aprenda. Teachers who instruct children in the core subjects on these two tests are eligible for larger bonuses than teachers and other employees who don't instruct the core subjects.
In the third section, only teachers in the core TAKS subjects of reading and math would be eligible for bonuses, which they would receive if students show yearly progress compared with students in similar classrooms throughout the district.