Skip to main content

Home/ Diigo In Education/ Contents contributed and discussions participated by marcmancinelli

Contents contributed and discussions participated by marcmancinelli

marcmancinelli

Think Again: Education - By Ben Wildavsky | Foreign Policy - 31 views

  • But when the results from the first major international math test came out in 1967, the effort did not seem to have made much of a difference. Japan took first place out of 12 countries, while the United States finished near the bottom.
  • By the early 1970s, American students were ranking last among industrialized countries in seven of 19 tests of academic achievement and never made it to first or even second place in any of them. A decade later, "A Nation at Risk," the landmark 1983 report by the National Commission on Excellence in Education, cited these and other academic failings to buttress its stark claim that "if an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war."
    • marcmancinelli
       
      US has long been mediocre or at the bottom of international comparisons, but it's not a zer-sum game
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • But don't expect any of them to bring the country back to its educational golden age -- there wasn't one.
    • marcmancinelli
       
      People use crises to advance their own agendas...
  • J. Michael Shaughnessy, president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, argues that the latest PISA test "underscores the need for integrating reasoning and sense making in our teaching of mathematics." Randi Weingarten, head of the American Federation of Teachers, claims that the same results "tell us … that if you don't make smart investments in teachers, respect them, or involve them in decision-making, as the top-performing countries do, students pay a price."
  • According to the most recent statistics, the U.S. share of foreign students fell from 24 percent in 2000 to just below 19 percent in 2008. Meanwhile, countries like Australia, Canada, and Japan saw increased market shares from their 2000 levels, though they are still far below the American numbers.
  • And even with its declining share, the United States still commands 9 percentage points more of the market than its nearest competitor, Britain.
  • A 2008 Rand Corp. report found that nearly two-thirds of the most highly cited articles in science and technology come from the United States, and seven in 10 Nobel Prize winners are employed by American universities. And the United States spends about 2.9 percent of its GDP on postsecondary education, about twice the percentage spent by China, the European Union, and Japan in 2006.
  • But over the long term, exactly where countries sit in the university hierarchy will be less and less relevant, as Americans' understanding of who is "us" and who is "them" gradually changes. Already, a historically unprecedented level of student and faculty mobility has become a defining characteristic of global higher education. Cross-border scientific collaboration, as measured by the volume of publications by co-authors from different countries, has more than doubled in two decades.
  •  
    A great perspective piece on American education compared to the world.
marcmancinelli

The American Team | Show All Your Work - 39 views

  •  
    If America is a team, we need to call a timeout.
marcmancinelli

The Wrong Stuff | Show All Your Work - 88 views

  •  
    The misguided focus of the educational conversation...
marcmancinelli

Save the Children - 67 views

  •  
    See where you're likely to be born based on percentages, and the ramifications of that likelihood.
  •  
    Fantastic resource for teaching empathy and perspective.
marcmancinelli

Dissent Magazine - Winter 2011 Issue - Got Dough? Public Scho... - 59 views

  • To justify their campaign, ed reformers repeat, mantra-like, that U.S. students are trailing far behind their peers in other nations, that U.S. public schools are failing. The claims are specious. Two of the three major international tests—the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study and the Trends in International Math and Science Study—break down student scores according to the poverty rate in each school. The tests are given every five years. The most recent results (2006) showed the following: students in U.S. schools where the poverty rate was less than 10 percent ranked first in reading, first in science, and third in math. When the poverty rate was 10 percent to 25 percent, U.S. students still ranked first in reading and science. But as the poverty rate rose still higher, students ranked lower and lower. Twenty percent of all U.S. schools have poverty rates over 75 percent. The average ranking of American students reflects this. The problem is not public schools; it is poverty. And as dozens of studies have shown, the gap in cognitive, physical, and social development between children in poverty and middle-class children is set by age three.
  • Drilling students on sample questions for weeks before a state test will not improve their education. The truly excellent charter schools depend on foundation money and their prerogative to send low-performing students back to traditional public schools. They cannot be replicated to serve millions of low-income children. Yet the reform movement, led by Gates, Broad, and Walton, has convinced most Americans who have an opinion about education (including most liberals) that their agenda deserves support.
  •  
    A great analysis of the problems with financial giants supporting educational reform.
marcmancinelli

First 180 - 89 views

  •  
    Great site for new teachers... lots of good resources.
marcmancinelli

Show All Your Work | A blog about learning, teaching, and thriving with technology whil... - 108 views

  •  
    Blog about education, technology, instruction, internet, and more.
marcmancinelli

First 180- A resource website for new teachers and lifelong learners - 41 views

  •  
    Great website for new teachers and teachers interested in broadening their worldview and keeping on top of new learnings.
marcmancinelli

Big Ideas - Exploring the Essential Questions of Education - 46 views

  • here are at least three very good reasons, particularly for educators, to ask enduring questions. However, I will first define what I mean by an enduring question. What makes a question enduring is its transcendent quality.
  • However, I will first define what I mean by an enduring question. What makes a question enduring is its transcendent quality. That is, a question that continues to be asked again and again, despite ages and sages. It is a really profound question that goes beyond human comprehension, but if not asked, would detract from our humanity. Enduring questions are ones that challenge the greatest minds and intrigue the simplest ones (i.e. children).
  • We should ask enduring questions because they lead to thoughtful, soul searching reflection about great ideas.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Enduring questions make life and learning engaging and interesting
  • Enduring questions lead to more questions.
marcmancinelli

Website lets college students gamble on grades | Philadelphia Inquirer | 08/11/2010 - 20 views

    • marcmancinelli
       
      This is a bad idea... you should only be able to bet in favor of advanced academic performance
marcmancinelli

Op-Ed Columnist - The Medium Is the Medium - NYTimes.com - 33 views

    • marcmancinelli
       
      Literature helps you become cultivated, not just hip or knowledgeable.
1 - 16 of 16
Showing 20 items per page