Earlier this week I had an awkward moment with a parent. A mom who has been trying to help her child be more successful openly admitted that she was struggling with the worksheet. She had called to pick up a copy of the book, but I don't use a textbook. I hopped online and printed off some information I thought would be helpful. The assignment was to calculate the area of a circle.
The encounter got me thinking. Teachers often send home work expecting the student can get help from a parent; how often are parents unable to help because of their own educational background? Let's face it, teachers complain about a lack of parent involvement- parents complain that teachers don't teach their child. Miami-Dade County Public Schools is doing something to improve the teacher-parent relationship and by extension help students. Miami's Parent Academy has been holding free classes for parents such as "Help Your Child Succeed in Math" and "Teaching Behavior Skills" for the last few years. Philadelphia School District operates the Parent University, blending parenting skills and adult education courses. In Arlington, Virginia, Latino moms attend a class that guides them through school procedures and provides techniques for helping students with homework.
We all know the benefits of involved parents. It appears we have been remiss in teaching some parents how to be involved. I think if more school districts took the extra time and money to set up programs such as these mentioned drop out rates would decline and behavioral problems decrease. We would finally stand a chance at changing the attitude that education is optional.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Prep School
Be warned, I'm struggling to find some topic, some news article, some thing to blog about. While skimming newspapers and the Internet as I nurse a cold, a few unrelated topics have begun to congeal in my mind.
I had the opportunity to watch a rerun of the Colbert Report interview of Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education. He was on the show to discuss lengthening the school year. It's about 15 min 35 seconds into the video. Duncan made some very good points about student retention, or lack of, over the summer break. During my years as a math teacher I know a large amount of time is spent reviewing material from the previous year.
Next point; IBM and Google have gone back to college. they have joined with universities and the National Science Foundation to provide students with access to huge computers handling petabytes (= 1 million gigabytes) of information. Their complaint; students don't have the skills or experience to handle the enormous amount of data available. One example that caught my eye is Facebook uses 1 petabyte just to store pictures.
The global perspective; it doesn't appear that the amount of time in school varies as much as what students do when they aren't in school. it does seem that in countries where students surpass US students on standardized test students are participating regularly in tutoring or activities that enrich academics.
The Gap year; it is becoming fashionable for US students to take a year off between high school and college. The premise is that they can partake in activities that enrich their life experience. The Gap year may be a year of volunteering or simply "seeing new places." All good things if the student will actually go to college after that year off.
Here's where it begins to jell. It seems to me there used to be such a thing as prep school meant to help prepare high school graduates for college. Though prep school was focused on making up for shortfalls in one's high school education why not revamp an old idea? Extending public education 1-32 years could be focused on one's area of interest, incorporate higher level instruction or apprenticeships. Yes, this would mean students won't graduate from college until age 25 but they would possess more skills, be more mature, and perhaps have gained some work experience.
I had the opportunity to watch a rerun of the Colbert Report interview of Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education. He was on the show to discuss lengthening the school year. It's about 15 min 35 seconds into the video. Duncan made some very good points about student retention, or lack of, over the summer break. During my years as a math teacher I know a large amount of time is spent reviewing material from the previous year.
Next point; IBM and Google have gone back to college. they have joined with universities and the National Science Foundation to provide students with access to huge computers handling petabytes (= 1 million gigabytes) of information. Their complaint; students don't have the skills or experience to handle the enormous amount of data available. One example that caught my eye is Facebook uses 1 petabyte just to store pictures.
The global perspective; it doesn't appear that the amount of time in school varies as much as what students do when they aren't in school. it does seem that in countries where students surpass US students on standardized test students are participating regularly in tutoring or activities that enrich academics.
The Gap year; it is becoming fashionable for US students to take a year off between high school and college. The premise is that they can partake in activities that enrich their life experience. The Gap year may be a year of volunteering or simply "seeing new places." All good things if the student will actually go to college after that year off.
Here's where it begins to jell. It seems to me there used to be such a thing as prep school meant to help prepare high school graduates for college. Though prep school was focused on making up for shortfalls in one's high school education why not revamp an old idea? Extending public education 1-32 years could be focused on one's area of interest, incorporate higher level instruction or apprenticeships. Yes, this would mean students won't graduate from college until age 25 but they would possess more skills, be more mature, and perhaps have gained some work experience.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Why Do Teacher's Cheat?
Ever vigilant for a topic to blog about, our recent stint of standardized testing brought about a lunch discussion of teachers who help students with the test- aka cheat. I decided to look into the subject. I am happy to report after tediously searching news sites and Google-ing at large I found little current news on the subject. I did however find some new and some older reports worth looking at.
Cheating through teachers and administrators has been statistically estimated to occur in 4-5% of elementary classrooms. Cheating comes in three basic forms; prompting students to choose another answer when they have answered incorrectly, outright changing incorrect answers after the tests have been collected, and falsifying student records so below par tests aren't counted toward annual yearly progress (AYP). It appears most suspicions of cheating are a result of erasure marks. The companies who score the test count the number of erasures on answer sheets and compare them against the average number of erasures. If a group of tests has a higher than average number of marks the tests are flagged. Early this year a popular veteran teacher's tests were flagged and she was suspended without pay pending investigation. Tests are also flagged when there is an uncommonly large improvement from one year to the next. In this case the schools testing practices come into question.
We are all under pressure to show improvement. ( I even panicked a tiny bit wondering how many time a student I was monitoring erased an answer.) the NCLB Act threatens everything from taking away federal funding to taking over a school's administration if progress is not evident through test scores. Administrators can look at scores and use them in teacher evaluations. high stake tests equal high pressure. I taught math for 2 years at a school that swings back and forth between AYP and Safe Harbor. I know the pressure that these tests create. I can't imagine continuing to teach if the pressure became so oppressive I considered cheating an option.
There are also districts that reward teachers for improving test scores. In Washington D.C., teachers who show a 20% improvement receive bonuses of about $3,000/teacher. principals who can show rapid improvement move up the career ladder; those who don't are let go. Greed or financial desperation can also initiate cheating however morally unacceptable it may seem to most of us.
When cheating is discovered a school's test scores are voided and the school receives a failing grade for AYP and Title I money is withheld. there is discussion whether students should retake the test. I am in favor of retakes as the scores become part of a student's record; why should a student be penalized for cheating they didn't commit? I also favor revoking any teacher's license when cheating is discovered. The most pressing issue is, why do teachers feel the need to cheat in the first place?
Cheating through teachers and administrators has been statistically estimated to occur in 4-5% of elementary classrooms. Cheating comes in three basic forms; prompting students to choose another answer when they have answered incorrectly, outright changing incorrect answers after the tests have been collected, and falsifying student records so below par tests aren't counted toward annual yearly progress (AYP). It appears most suspicions of cheating are a result of erasure marks. The companies who score the test count the number of erasures on answer sheets and compare them against the average number of erasures. If a group of tests has a higher than average number of marks the tests are flagged. Early this year a popular veteran teacher's tests were flagged and she was suspended without pay pending investigation. Tests are also flagged when there is an uncommonly large improvement from one year to the next. In this case the schools testing practices come into question.
We are all under pressure to show improvement. ( I even panicked a tiny bit wondering how many time a student I was monitoring erased an answer.) the NCLB Act threatens everything from taking away federal funding to taking over a school's administration if progress is not evident through test scores. Administrators can look at scores and use them in teacher evaluations. high stake tests equal high pressure. I taught math for 2 years at a school that swings back and forth between AYP and Safe Harbor. I know the pressure that these tests create. I can't imagine continuing to teach if the pressure became so oppressive I considered cheating an option.
There are also districts that reward teachers for improving test scores. In Washington D.C., teachers who show a 20% improvement receive bonuses of about $3,000/teacher. principals who can show rapid improvement move up the career ladder; those who don't are let go. Greed or financial desperation can also initiate cheating however morally unacceptable it may seem to most of us.
When cheating is discovered a school's test scores are voided and the school receives a failing grade for AYP and Title I money is withheld. there is discussion whether students should retake the test. I am in favor of retakes as the scores become part of a student's record; why should a student be penalized for cheating they didn't commit? I also favor revoking any teacher's license when cheating is discovered. The most pressing issue is, why do teachers feel the need to cheat in the first place?
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Girl's Tech Ed
I opened my mailbox today to find my new issue of The Technology Teacher, a publication put out through the International Technology Educators association (ITEA) of which I am member. A quick look at the cover stories gave me my topic for this week's blog. Unfortunately the article is not available to the public online but you may be able to borrow a copy. The article's title, Beyond Smash and Crash: Gender- Friendly Tech Ed leaves little question as to the basic content. The article reminds us that despite our best efforts girls are not entering STEM careers. In fact there is a downward trend in the number of Engineering Technology BA degrees awarded to female students; 9.9% compared to 13% in 1999.
What more can be done to encourage girls to help design our future technologies? One possible solution lies in the fact that girls tend to migrate to "caring disciplines." Engineering still carries the stigma of being math intensive, isolated from the world, job done by pocket protector wearing individuals. We need to show our female students that engineers make a difference in people's lives. Examples we can share include biomedical engineering's strides in prosthetics and how desalination technology could be the answer to the world's fresh water shortage.
We also need more role models. It may surprise you to hear but, female technology teachers surveyed all reported positive male role models be it a father, grandfather, or technology teacher. This gave the the females interviewed a less confined view of their own gender and opened the door to technology related careers. The interviewees additionally reported a lack of information from their school's guidance office. Either they never consulted guidance or they were not provided information about technology careers. Guidance officers could play a significant role in steering students toward engineering fields if they themselves had the opportunity to update and expand their own knowledge. If we don't start interesting girls in engineering as a career I fear we will not fulfill technology's potential for positive change.
What more can be done to encourage girls to help design our future technologies? One possible solution lies in the fact that girls tend to migrate to "caring disciplines." Engineering still carries the stigma of being math intensive, isolated from the world, job done by pocket protector wearing individuals. We need to show our female students that engineers make a difference in people's lives. Examples we can share include biomedical engineering's strides in prosthetics and how desalination technology could be the answer to the world's fresh water shortage.
We also need more role models. It may surprise you to hear but, female technology teachers surveyed all reported positive male role models be it a father, grandfather, or technology teacher. This gave the the females interviewed a less confined view of their own gender and opened the door to technology related careers. The interviewees additionally reported a lack of information from their school's guidance office. Either they never consulted guidance or they were not provided information about technology careers. Guidance officers could play a significant role in steering students toward engineering fields if they themselves had the opportunity to update and expand their own knowledge. If we don't start interesting girls in engineering as a career I fear we will not fulfill technology's potential for positive change.
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