In response to Christopher's commentary about our underfunded schools, I have provided an article from the Atlantic about Chicago schools sent to be my Tom O'Brien, who teaches in an inner city high school on the SW side.
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/04/reviving-a-hollowed-out-high-school/477354/ Tom's solution to our problem is similar to Chris's. It's all so obvious and yet we seem further away than we were 30 years ago regarding both solving the problem of the gross disparity of opportunity to quality education in the US as well as our concerns about such. Here is Tom's thoughts: Hey Joan, Thanks for the feedback. A good follow-up article would be: The key importance of the neighborhood school. The neighborhood school closes and a big part of the neighborhood slips further into chaos. These are anchor institutions that give hope to some of the poorest and most violent neighborhoods in the nation. Most of the school choice involves going to schools outside their neighborhood. The investment in poor kids needs to start in the home, prenatal, preschool and this takes money and courage. We try and do too much in the school and overwhelm kids teaching them at many grade levels above their level because of social promotions. I've been taking some notes on the Up Side of Down book by Megan McArdle for my teaching about learning from failure. Best, Tom Joan [email protected] Jim, > > It may be true that teacher training doesnt include enough information > about testing, but thats not the main problem in the US now. The problem > is that over-testing is actually disrupting (what is left of) the public > education system. Because the tests focus only on reading/writing and math > (important topics, to be sure), and because many schools districts have > suffered from terrible underfunding for decades now (see public education > funded by local property taxes), many other essential topics are being > squeezed out of the curriculum. Districts and teachers are under such > relentless pressure to raise test scores now that many have essentially > resorted to teaching their kids how to do well on these particular tests, > rather than teaching them a broad and reasonable curriculum. The crowning > paradox is that US kids still do worse on these topics than kids from > nearly every other economically equivalent country (and they often have > nearly no knowledge of other topics just ask them to, say, point out > Germany on a map of the world). One of the results is that the public > system is being eroded by various alternatives: "charter" schools, private > school vouchers, etc. > > It seems to be a classic case of fanaticism: faced with a failed strategy, > redouble your efforts. > If the US wants a decent public school system again (and there seem to be > lots of political and economic forces in the US that are actually fighting > this), the first thing they have to do to get out of the hole they're in > is to stop digging. > > Important topic not mentioned in article: Until the US is ready to admit > that its dreadful income inequality is having a profoundly negative impact > on its educational outcomes, it unlikely that top-down pressure on > teachers is going to make much difference. (What kid can concentrate on > school when s/he comes from a deprived home with highly stressed, > unemployed or precariously-employed parents? Something as simple as > Maslows "hierarchy of needs tells you pretty much everything you need to > know here.) > > Chris > > P.S. Let me be the first to say, Canada is no paradise when it comes to > public education, but it has managed to avoid some of the greater > pitfalls. Funding is spread across whole provinces, and so is more > equitable. Teacher pay is (generally) better. More generous anti-poverty > programs level the socio-economic playing field somewhat. And, yes, > Canadians pay higher taxes: the price of civilization, as Oliver Wendell > Holmes once put it. > .. > Christopher D Green > Department of Psychology > York University > Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 > Canada > 43.773895°, -79.503670° > > [email protected] > http://www.yorku.ca/christo > ... > > On Apr 24, 2016, at 6:37 AM, Jim Clark <[email protected]> wrote: > >> >> >> >> >> >> Hi >> >> NY Times reports latest on the testing wars in schools. I think one of >> the causal factors, perhaps especially in the negative reactions of many >> teachers, may be the lack of education about testing in teacher >> education. At least one professor of education in the province bemoaned >> several years ago about the lack of such training. >> >> http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/24/opinion/sunday/race-and-the-standardized-testing-wars.html?emc=edit_th_20160424&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=26933398&_r=0 >> >> Take care >> Jim >> >> Jim Clark >> Professor & Chair of Psychology >> University of Winnipeg >> 204-786-9757 >> Room 4L41A (4th Floor Lockhart) >> www.uwinnipeg.ca/~clark >> >> >> --- >> >> You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. >> >> To unsubscribe click here: >> http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=430248.781165b5ef80a3cd2b14721caf62bd92&n=T&l=tips&o=48605 >> >> (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is >> broken) >> >> or send a blank email to >> leave-48605-430248.781165b5ef80a3cd2b14721caf62b...@fsulist.frostburg.edu >> >> >> >> >> > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=49240.d374d0c18780e492c3d2e63f91752d0d&n=T&l=tips&o=48606 > or send a blank email to > leave-48606-49240.d374d0c18780e492c3d2e63f91752...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. 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