Around The Blogs

The Myth of Fun and Interesting
"Most educators have brought the myth that academic learning does not require discipline--that the best learning is easy and fun."

Elementary Schools The Real "Drop Out Factories"
I believe the drop out problem begins much earlier, and often in elementary schools when kids are held back or "retained" for the first time.

Shadow Group Attacks Jared Polis For Supporting School Choice
It's starting to get nasty in Colorado's second congressional district race.

Obama's sister speaks to teachers
Soetoro-Ng said she remembers her first year teaching when she ended up crying every week.

Debating socioeconomic diversity
I figured you'd want to have your own forum to shoot it out over the recent dueling articles on socioeconomic diversity.

How do State Legislators Really Feel About NCLB?
The National Conference of State Legislatures, which is meeting in New Orleans this week, has added a word to describe the No Child Left Behind Act, further showing how the group feels about the federal accountability law.

Testing the Tests
The past month has witnessed many skirmishes over the reliability of rising state test scores as measures of some high-profile education reforms' success.

Teacher Arrested Again For Sex With Student
Five counts of statutory rape aren't enough to stop you from going back?

Comments

[john thompson]

When I first entered public school teaching via alternative schools, I saw that some of the best teachers had been "Must Transfers" and the reason was that they could no longer cooperate with the teach to the test regime of the 1980s. Then when I went to regular schools, as a traveling teacher, I saw that the same dynamic in every class and in every school. about 15% of all freshmen would earn a zero for every semester. They adamently refused to do any written work, and they refused to beg for passing grades. Then as I got to better know students, I learned that many of those students were learning a great deal in class. Even after building stronger and stronger relationships and having more targeted conversations, most would still refuse to do any graded work. As I see it, they were on strike. The were making a pre-political statement. Most of these refusniks had had good reputations in elementary school, but at some point they chose to fail. Obviously, I had to respect the dignity of their choice, while worrying about the consequences.

Back then, the obvious conclusion was that test prep had ruined their educational experience. Now, I know enough to tease out a more complex story. But the main story, I believe, still holds. something about the early educational experiences affronted their dignity, and by their accounts testing was the worst of many insults.

I have since learned that almost all of my students from the less-poor part of our area loved elementary school. In the poorer area, it is usually 1/2 loved school and 1/2 disliked or hated it.

Now I have a lot more tools for getting more work from more students, but I must always remember my impressions as a rookie, because in some ways they are the most accourate of the system as a whole. And I expect that both sides have grown more extreme since NCLB brought a new wave of test prep. A significant percentage of students, I suspect, have benefitted from the increased academic rigor since NCLB. But a significant percentage, I believe, have suffered even more damage.

Its like one great elementary and then middle school principal once explained. In the spring of 5th grade, my kids score fantastic. In the fall of 6th grade, their scores have dropped by 50%. "Look at the power I must have. If I can ruin that many kids in two months, I must be pretty good."