What's KICKin' – the occasional blog postings of Fran Kick
Friday, February 06, 2009
I.O.U.S.A. for decades to come?
While our nation's "leaders" debate how we're going to "bail out" the U.S. economy (here's a thought: how about stop "sinking us further into debt!"), perhaps we would benefit by preparing students today on the "price they will have to pay" for decades to come. That might take a few lessons in Macroeconomics. (FYI: Macroeconomics is a branch of economics that deals with the performance, structure, and behavior of a national economy as a whole.) I know, I know, try to find that on the state standardized tests. Yet given we seem to be on the brink of a financial meltdown that potentially will be worsened long-term by an ever-expanding government, overextended entitlement programs, and debts that are becoming impossible to honor, we may all need to pay attention and respond appropriately.
Watching a movie might be faster and easier than getting into a macroeconomics class, so check out I.O.U.S.A. This film boldly examines the rapidly growing national debt and its consequences for the United States and its citizens. There's even a byte-sized 30-minute version...
Since no child will be left behind in dealing with this mess, perhaps we should seriously consider expanding the teaching of financial literacy and related civic activities for middle and high school students around the country.
Art, debate, drama, music and sports are what kept Tom Chapin involved in school. Yet, today these subjects are “not on the test.” So in many schools, according to The Center on Education Policy they’re not even on the schedule. Tom Chapin and John Forster’s satirical song for NPR’s “Morning Edition” on January 1, 2007 expresses their disappointment in educationally focusing only on the test. So much so, that the test has become the reason to teach and study in public schools.
For more information and facts about the arts in education, check out:
As teachers go back to school, doing what some would consider "hero's work" at times in many of our nations schools, a thoughtful article ties together the School Wars in America (over how best to "fix our schools"). Good Magazine offers its education issue detailing the fight over public education and asking if anyone is really winning as we strive to leave no child behind.
"It's easy to shake your head at the oft-repeated statistics about how many kids don't know what a verb is, or can't find the United States on a map. But in our fear about what will happen if every child doesn't know the quadratic formula by heart, we've created a far more damning problem: We've taken all the fun out of learning."
The article articulates that while politicians, billionaires and many educational mavericks all want to "fix public schools" - they really won't! The answer he says (surprise, surprise, surprise) is parents. Hmmm, wonder why he didn't mention teachers?
Howard Gardner has said for years, "it's not how smart you are, it's how are you smart." Yet measuring your intelligences with the two most widely used standardized tests for intelligence (the Wechsler Intelligence Scale and the Stanford-Binet) only considers linguistic and logical/mathematical intelligences. Education in general over-relies on the resulting narrowly focused single IQ score without substantiating the findings along side other data sources - completely ignoring "how students are smart." This does the individual student a huge disservice and produces insufficient information for educators.
The development of the IQ test (Intelligent Quotient test) specifically the Stanford-Binet IQ test actually initiated the modern field of intelligence testing back in 1896. Created by French psychologist Alfred Binet (1857-1911) when he was asked by the French government to develop a way of identifying intellectually deficient children for placement in special education programs.
While Binet himself suggested that case studies might be more detailed and at times more reliable and helpful, the actual time required to test large numbers of people would admittedly be too great to do it right. Unfortunately, the tests he and his assistant Victor Henri (1892-1940) developed were (and continue to be) largely disappointing. But don't blame Binet, he did warn everyone that these test scores shouldn't be taken too literally because of the many varieties and variations of intelligence as well as the inherent margin of error in the tests.
Using a test that only considers linguistic and logical/mathematical intelligences while calling it a "general intelligence" assessment might be grounds for educational malpractice. Sure, traditional IQ tests may be able to predict success in some specific factors relevant primarily to academic achievement or situations that resemble those of school. But what about all the other areas of learning and ways of learning?
Yale University researchers are pilot-testing an assessment – The Aurora Battery – that reportedly taps intellectual skills not captured by traditional IQ tests. The theoretical framework for this new assessment theory is based on Robert Sternberg's "successful intelligence." Developers say, "the new assessment could yield a very different pool of gifted students – one that includes a higher proportion of students from traditionally underrepresented minority groups than is often the case now."
Here's a concept, have the people most directly responsible for teaching share with the U.S. Department of Education what really works and what really won't work in schools today. Implementing change in any school without considering the perspectives of talented teachers seems like a no-brainer. Yet only now, after years of selling NCLB or forcing it down the educational throats of every teacher in America, the U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced the creation of the Teaching Ambassador Fellowship (TAF). Plans include having five highly motivated, innovative public school teachers on her staff and an additional group of twenty ad hoc advisers who still work in the classroom.
Secretary Spellings said, "This is a terrific opportunity for educators to share their voices directly with policymakers, and I look forward to hearing from them." What?! The leadership of the NEA, the AFT, the ASCD, and others must be shaking their collective heads. Six years since the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), perhaps it's time for the No Teacher Left Behind Act (NTLB)? Given the current version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) has become well known in the education world for it's "many policy flaws, false assumptions, unintended consequences, and botched implementation" now they're going to "give teachers the opportunity to contribute their knowledge and experience to the national dialogue on public education."
Hard to find anyone talking about this and perhaps the mistitled web page press release "Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius Appointed to National Assessment Governing Board" has something to do with it. Knowing this fellowship opportunity will not start until next fall—only months before she leaves office—U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings thinks, “It'll be very useful in both directions for teachers to understand what the issues are at the macro level,” she said in a recent interview. “But it's also hugely beneficial for us to make sure we know: Is this policy implementable, doable, realistic, and righteous by the classroom teacher?”
Better late than never? Hardly. In fact, depending on who gets to be involved in this selected group of 25, many will see this as a false gesture. Besides, most teachers are too busy teaching to even consider applying. That is, if they even hear about it in time. BTW, applications<
Phi Delta Kappa announced the release this week of the 39th Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools. Seems that the more people find out about the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) the less they like it. The poll results show 52 percent of Americans think No Child Left Behind is limiting what kids are taught in school – at the expense of subjects such as art, music, health, social studies and even science. 43 percent of the general public believe there is too much standardized testing in schools (which BTW is a 12 percent increase since 2002). Parents specifically are even more concerned about the amount of testing, with 52 percent saying there is too much, a 20 percent increase since 2002.
In response, NEA President Reg Weaver suggests that "The law's single-minded focus on test preparation is robbing students of the opportunity to think critically and solve problems." Really? Don't you also mean "think creatively?" He stated that "Narrowing the curriculum and teaching to the test are only two of the unintended consequences of No Child Left Behind."
The Whole Child initiative shines a light on the need to move beyond the current educational practice and policies which overwhelmingly – and many times myopically – focus solely on academic achievement. ASCD's new compact to educate the whole child advocates a comprehensive approach to learning and teaching. They propose a broader definition of achievement and accountability that promotes the development of children who are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged. The Learning Compact Redefined: A Call to Action, recommends a new compact with our young people. The Compact asks local, state, and national policymakers to ensure conditions that support comprehensive approaches to learning – for engaging the whole child. While ASCD has a number of resources available, including reports, surveys, articles, and studies that demonstrate the power of educating the whole child, they just posted a video that's worth seeing and sharing.
Their community conversations project with facilitator guides and materials can help you start a conversation in your community. Bravo to ASCD for even bringing one out for high school students too!
Perhaps Piaget was predicting the future when he asked, "Are we forming children who are only capable of learning what is already known? Or should we try to develop creative and innovative minds, capable of discovery from the preschool age on, throughout life?" While today's kids are smarter, what if in our attempt to insure that no child is left behind, we forget to teach them to figure things out on their own?
Eric Hoffer observed, "In times of change learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists."
Engaging students in the classroom vs. engaging students in video games? I know, “how about engaging them more in the real world vs. the virtual world” you say? Well, what if we did both? Teachers always talk about preparing students for the future, while many times teaching students today like they themselves were taught in the past. Given the “real world” becomes more and more “virtual” every day, perhaps it's time to make peace with our own nostalgic longing for the past, be more attentive to the present, and come together on how we can engage students in more real-world educational situations and simulations. The kind that they are destined to deal with such as world peace, environmental issues, and balancing governmental budgets.
To be honest it’s the kids who might make better peacemakers in this process than adults given many of the experiences they have in the virtual world. More and more games are incorporating the fundamental characteristics of public diplomacy, environmental issues, and political challenges with higher-level thinking skills, decision-making challenges, and just-in-time problem solving strategies.
ThanksUSA is providing college scholarships of up to $5,000 per year for the children and spouses of active duty military personnel – note that the applications deadline is May 29, 2006. They're also offering a nationwide treasure hunt to raise historical awareness along with funds for the scholarship program. Yet most of the scholarship money is already on-hand, thanks to a widely supported move by the U.S. Congress late last year.
To participate in the treasure hunt, you need the official set of ThanksUSA treasure hunting clues (available on May 29, 2006), access to the Internet or a library, and your own energy for pursuing clues to unlock the mysteries found in the riddles, puzzles and questions. The "hunt" will debut on May 29, 2006, and family oriented prizes for each of the 12 stages will include a vacation to Universal Studios and Disney World in Orlando, FL, a visit to the pyramids in Egypt and a trip to the 2007 Super Bowl. Only U.S. citizens can win any of these prizes.
ThanksUSA is non-partisan, non-profit 501(c)(3) effort to mobilize Americans of all ages to "thank" the men and women of the United States armed forces. Information and applications for both the scholarships and the treasure hunt can be found at http://www.ThanksUSA.org.
Last week the Florida House of Representatives passed a bill that would make Florida the first state to require high school students to declare a major, just as college students do. Governor Bush said the plan would "help prepare students better for the real world and reduce the dropout rate by making school more interesting." More interesting? Really? Don't you think State and Federal legislators have already made schools "more interesting?" Let's review:
STANDARDS: According to a research article from the Alliance for Curriculum Reform (a collaborative, non-profit organization that brings together more than twenty national education associations concerned with P-16 curriculum and school reform) "for many classroom teachers standards-based reform has come to mean two things: a seemingly endless list of expectations that their students must meet, and a series of high-stakes tests that are tied to discrete subject areas, the results of which often mean dire consequences. Both of these conditions have driven standards-based reform efforts in ways that tend to fracture learning, diminish responsive and creative thinking, and focus attention almost exclusively on the discrete subject areas represented in high-stakes, large-scale tests."
TESTING: Educational psychologists and researchers who studied the impact of standardized testing have documented that "students whose attention is relentlessly focused on how well they're doing often become less engaged with what they're doing." Alfie Kohn goes further to state: "Studies have shown that too much attention to the quality of one's performance is associated with more superficial thinking and less interest in whatever one is doing." As for grades and rubrics?
MAJORS: While I applaud the idea to tap into a student's individual interests and potential career goals rather than trying to run everyone through a 'one-size-fits-all' system, declaring a "major" might not be the answer. Developmentally even college students emerging into adulthood have a tough time with that, imagine trying to do so during adolescence? And why the seemingly constant fixation on higher-ed being the "model" to look towards in terms of making school more interesting and preventing drop outs?
Sure, nearly 3 percent of Florida's 800,000 high school students dropped out of high school last year. But Florida has a tough time getting high school graduates into college and the problem gets worse after their freshman year. About a quarter of Florida college freshmen drop out before their sophomore year. Another 25 percent of those who don't are gone before their junior year. Long term it's even worse, ten years after high school about 6 out of 10 Florida high school graduates do not have a college degree. BTWFYI: Nationally, 54 percent of students entering four-year colleges in 1997 had earned a college degree 6 years later.
To participate in the treasure hunt, you need the official set of ThanksUSA treasure hunting clues (available on May 29, 2006), access to the Internet or a library, and your own energy for pursuing clues to unlock the mysteries found in the riddles, puzzles and questions. The "
