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Jordan Perry

Big Study Links Good Teachers to Lasting Gain - NYTimes.com - 2 views

  • Elementary- and middle-school teachers who help raise their students’ standardized-test scores seem to have a wide-ranging, lasting positive effect on those students’ lives beyond academics, including lower teenage-pregnancy rates and greater college matriculation and adult earnings,
  • “That test scores help you get more education, and that more education has an earnings effect
  • metrics hold teachers accountable and can help improve the educational outcomes of millions of children.
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  • Critics particularly point to the high margin of error with many value-added ratings, noting that they tend to bounce around for a given teacher from year to year and class to class. But looking at an individual’s value-added score for three or four classes, the researchers found that some consistently outperformed their peers.
  • a student with one excellent teacher for one year between fourth and eighth grade would gain $4,600 in lifetime income
  • The student with the excellent teacher would also be 0.5 percent more likely to attend college.
  • Replacing a poor teacher with an average one would raise a single classroom’s lifetime earnings by about $266,000
  • But controlling for numerous factors, including students’ backgrounds, the researchers found that the value-added scores consistently identified some teachers as better than others, even if individual teachers’ value-added scores varied from year to year.
  • the effect of a good teacher mostly fades after three or four years. But the broader view showed that the students still benefit for years to come.
  • “The message is to fire people sooner rather than later,”
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    This article discusses how teachers who work to improve students test scores are leaving a lasting impression on their students. The more education they are getting by "good teachers" increases the students chances of succeeding. Teachers are working to improve these students test scores and while they are doing this the students are learning more than just what is needed to pass the tests. Schools need better teachers to help students in the long run.
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    I think it makes sense that "good" or "excellent" teachers are able to leave such lasting impressions on students well into adulthood, however, I'd be interested in seeing exactly how this study was conducted (sample size, research design, ethical considerations, etc.). I just finished a research methodology course so these types of studies really make me stop and think now. There is no denying that all children should have "good" teachers, but I don't think test scores are always an accurate measure of a teacher or even a student for that matter. For example, a school may have 4 second grade classrooms--3 of the classes are inclusion classrooms while the fourth class has the middle range and higher-level students; I don't know how it could be fair to compare the test scores or teachers in this situation. I feel that there has to be a better and more accurate way to determine whether or not a teacher is doing a "good" job.
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    "Mr. Jones might regularly help raise test scores more than Ms. Smith, but maybe that is because his students are from wealthier families, or because he has a harder-working class - factors that can be difficult for researchers to discern. " This quote stood out to me because it is similar to the argument against merit based pay for teachers in Indiana. We all know that students come to us with an array of prior knowledge, much of which is based on previous experiences and their environment. However, all students are capable of academic growth. What's the harm in evaluating teachers based on the growth their students made during the school year?
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    I knew I want to be a teacher since fourth and fifth grade when I had Mr. Cearfoss. He was one of those effective teachers who changed my life by making me feel successful on a daily basis and believe that I could be successful on a daily basis if I saw value in everything I did. Kind of deep for a fourth and fifth grade teacher, but I remember him attending my baseball games late in the evenings and calling home when he thought I was slacking. He made it clear to me, and the rest of the students, that while he cared about our education in his classroom, he cared even more that we used our education to make the right decisions in our lives after we left his classroom. The average effect of one teacher on a single student is modest. I did not find it surprising that, according to the article, "All else equal, a student with one excellent teacher for one year between fourth and eighth grade would gain $4,600 in lifetime income, compared to a student of similar demographics who has an average teacher. The student with the excellent teacher would also be 0.5 percent more likely to attend college." This is the power that vested, compassionate teachers can have on a student's life. While some of my students will say they like me and others will say the exact opposite, all my students would say that I care about them and care about their success. When a student feels that a person, especially a teacher, cares and believes in them, that student will strive to retain that faith others have in him/her.
kdamiano

Crisis & Hope: Transforming America 's Urban Schools « NJSACC Afterschool FLASH - 2 views

shared by kdamiano on 16 May 12 - No Cached
    • kdamiano
       
      This is so true, and yet, it is the most overlooked fact. The saying, "The rich get rich, and the poor get poorer" is so prevalent when it comes to gaining education. It seems like the more we try to apply standards and accountability, the more we continue to tell disadvantaged students that we believe their future is failure. 
  • In social terms, many of these young people constitute a dependency class overrepresented in prison populations, welfare rolls, broken households and homeless shelters. At the same time, the vast investment of tax dollars in education with seemingly minimal return strains the nation’s collective purse strings at a time of severe economic dislocation.
    • kdamiano
       
      If we know this, why are we not doing more about this!? Is anyone else baffled by the chaos that continues to ensue and the little "we" do to stop it. There needs to more. There need to be more people willing to fight and be the voice for these students. 
    • kdamiano
       
      Standardized tests only contribute to their demise and downfall. 
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    The article brings up a good point about all the different efforts and fads. While on the one hand it's commendable that a number of initiatives are attempted to improve student learning and students' experiences (and they all likely have various degrees of success), this does beg the question of how much might be TOO much. For instance, if multiple efforts are piloted within a school district, how long is it before there is pressure at other schools to adopt one model that shows promise? If there is struggle with one pilot program, how long does it take before there is pressure to abandon it in favor of another endeavor? There are a variety of questions that can come up, and it can just add to the layers of complications that students and educators face. With the world of standardized testing, deadlines and results-based outcomes, I think there are times that certain initiatives may be hindered simply by the pressures of a certain expectation of immediate results that fail to fully take into account the students and educators properly.
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    I can only imagine what it must feel like to take those standardized tests over and over...failing everytime. No wonder students are giving up. Why do we need to put so much stock in standardized tests? Still our government is throwing more and more money into making these tests more technological...is that really going to make a difference?
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    Austin and Jenn- The immediacy for results is true. We are a nation of we want it fast, and we want it now; however, this is not possible nor is it reliable. The need for answers only causes stress and irritability in our school systems. Sadly, the pressure to perform on tests and other assessments negates students overall comprehension and engagement within a class. It also limits a teachers ability to teach. It is complicated. I do not think there is one answer. I don't think there is an easy answer. However, I do think that there needs to be a bigger fight for students. It is my belief that this fight starts with eliminating the presence of instant failure, otherwise known as standardized tests.
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    I have spent many of my research classes studying the effect positive parenting has on education. With all of the fad ideas that have come and gone, reaching parents has been an initiative that has made a significant difference. Now we come to the dilemma. Unfortunately, we can't control what happens to the students away from our care, so how can we replicate the same results? I have no doubt that reformers will continue coming up with new ideas to try.
kdamiano

Not on the test - 3 views

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    I am sure most of you have already seen this video. Although it does not make the distinction between urban schools or suburban schools, it is one of those videos that is funny because it is sadly so true. It focuses on testing, and well, I will let the video speak for itself.
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    I hadn't seen this before. It is funny yet sad. "When thinking's not on the test"...
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    That's pretty creative. Beyond the catchy lyrics, the video displays plenty of kids/students. Throughout all the scenes or clips in the video, the only ones who are smiling are the kids who are mimicking the arguing politicians. All the students in the classroom setting have stern looks on their faces. One of the many messages filtering through is that we've lost the "learning is fun" idea that we at least used to try to sell to young ones. Now, it's high stakes "learning" at a very young age. Thanks for posting this one Krystal.
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    I had never seen this before! Thanks for sharing. These lyrics caught my attention the most: "Remember your teachers, their jobs are at stake. Your score is their score, but don't get all stressed. They never teach anything not on the test." This reinforces my beliefs that teacher evaluations should not be based solely on student performance. For older students that may be aware if that were the case, I can picture some being so stressed because they really like the teacher, and I can picture some taking advantage of a way to get back at a teacher they don't like.
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    Love it! Scary, yet true. Arts are so important. In high school especially, these are the classes where students build the best relationships with the teacher. These relationship are so importnat and when the pressure is off because the students are in a class they enjoy then they are open to conversation with the teacher. Sometimes students just need someone to listen.
Jill Hamilton

The Limits of School Reform - NYTimes.com - 0 views

    • Jill Hamilton
       
      I think it's true that teachers are being demonized. Just try typing "teacher" into YouTube and see what suggestions pop up afterward. I have been in this same situation where I have really worked hard and sacrificed for a student, and I feel like they're on the right track. Then, they move away or drop out of school to work or become pregnant, and there's very little I can do to prevent that. Sometimes it's frustrating to see a kid's test score from one day and realize that it's just a tiny, tiny measure of their potential. It's equally frustrating to have your career summed up in
    • Jill Hamilton
       
      1 or 2 statistics.
    • Jill Hamilton
       
      one or two statistics
  • the reform movement could use something else: a dose of humility about what it can accomplish — and what it can’t. 
    • Jill Hamilton
       
      This really connects to the Kennedy text in that she said that teachers are too divided in their focus. She said that the number of things we try to accomplish in a lesson makes our lessons almost meaningless.
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    You and Jenn must have been thinking alike when you choose this NYT article :) I liked the perspective and follow-up that the author provided. This article did tie into the Kennedy text and sparked some new ideas/perspectives. With the new RISE evaluation, it is hard to swallow that your students' performance of standardized tests can/will affect your teaching career/performance. My kids will never pass ISTEP but does that mean I'm a bad teacher? I know in my heart this is not the case. However, some people in their glass houses may think differently.
kdamiano

Project-Based Learning: Real-World Issues Motivate Students | Edutopia - 0 views

  • engaging students by starting with the concrete and solving hands-on, real-world problems is a great motivator.
    • kdamiano
       
      We know that students learning through experience, which is why I think PBL can really help reshape and reform what education is and means to this nation. If we want to be the leading country in engineering or mathematics or reading, than we need to allow our students to experience and explore these fields. 
  • "Everybody is motivated by challenge and solving problems, and we don't make use of that in schools enough,"
    • kdamiano
       
      We must hold our students to high expectations. I think allowing them to explore their curiosities and struggles is one of the most useful and impacting ways to learn. 
    • kdamiano
       
      This is where I could see teachers currently seeing a problem because with the restraints schools are placed in with time, curriculum, etc this amount of time is filled to the brim with material. I could see this being a big issue because of what is "expected" of teachers today. 
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  • In project-based learning, students try to answer a question -- one that has relevance for them -- that is greater than the immediate task at hand.
  • "One of the major advantages of project work is that it makes school more like real life,"
    • kdamiano
       
      When students have a vested interest in what they are learning, they are more apt to put forth the time. They are more likely try their best. 
  • "in-depth investigation of a real-world topic worthy of children's attention and effort." She advocates a three-phased approach: Phase 1 involves an initial discussion of a project topic, including children's firsthand experiences related to the topic. Phase 2 involves fieldwork, sessions with experts, and various aspects of gathering information, reading, writing, drawing, and computing. Phase 3 is the presentation of the project to an audience.
  • Kids who are excited about what they learn tend to dig more deeply and to expand their interest in learning to a wide array of subjects. They retain what they learn rather than forget it as soon as they disgorge it for a test. They make connections and apply their learning to other problems. They learn how to collaborate, and their social skills improve. They are more confident talking to groups of people, including adults. And, as a number of research reports suggest, project-based learning correlates positively with improved test scores, reduced absenteeism, and fewer disciplinary problems.
    • kdamiano
       
      Isn't it sad that we know this, yet reformer do little to acknowledge the impact of learning like this? 
Leah Burton

Why We Can't Fire Our Way to Urban School Reform - 8 views

shared by Leah Burton on 15 May 12 - No Cached
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    This article discusses the teacher turnover rate in one group of New York City schools; many of the teachers are either being fired or resigning for their own reasons. While it is definitely important to have the best teachers possible in the classrooms, it seems that schools might not be going about this in the best way possible for the teachers or the students.
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    During one of my undergraduate classes, we watched a documentary about New York City public schools. It was all about how students rely on a lottery to get into magnet schools. The documentary also covered the Rubber Room. The Rubber Room is the name for the places where New York City teachers who are under disciplinary investigation are sent to await their. For months, sometimes years, and sometimes decades, these teachers go to "work" - and get paid - to set in a bare room. There seems to be a huge discrepancy between teachers who would give their right arm to teach and have a classroom and yet there are teachers that are literally sitting around when they could be making a difference.
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    It would be interesting to hear from teachers in the school if they feel that the "at-will" method of employment affects how they approach their job - especially if they are friends or acquaintances with others teachers who resigned or were fired because of disagreements with administrators who were in a position to hire and fire teachers. Why a situation like The Rubber Room obviously isn't the solution, i would tend to think that teachers should feel reassured that they are able to teach their students in a way they deem most effective for them without pressure of being able to lose their jobs on a whim.
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    I agree Leah that schools don't go in to this the best way possible. As educators themselves, administrators need to be educating their teachers instead of this instant firing. It is not setting a good example for students to see that you can just "give up" on something and start over again with teachers who will likely end up fired too. It seems like a vicious circle that isn't helping anyone with constant inconsistency.
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    I have a hard time really understanding what is meant by a bad teacher. I'm surrounded by great teachers who really care and work hard at my high school. I know we don't get as good of results that we want all the time but I don't think if we fired the bottom third of our teachers and brought in new ones that anything would change. If anything we would have worse test results. My vision of what people are calling bad teachers is someone who gets to school right when the bell rings and leave right after the bell rings and hands out worksheets and just sits behind their desk telling kids to figure things out on their own. I'd like to see some video on what this "bad' teacher is that we are trying to get rid of so badly.
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    Edward, I completely agree with your image of a "bad" teacher and I honestly have never seen one myself either! I know some that might be a little burnt out, but they are still trying their best and doing everything they can to teach their students. I realize that this must not be the case in every school, or at least I am assuming there must be some really "bad" teachers out there since everyone seems to be so eager to get rid of them! And yes, your point about the bottom third is also important--even if every teacher in the school is working hard and doing their best, there still has to be a bottom third that will get fired...
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    Austin, I would also be interested in hearing from these teachers. If I were in a position like that I think I would feel like I have to keep looking over my shoulder and making sure that I am making administrators happy, rather than focusing on effective teaching strategies for my particular group of students. No two classrooms of students will ever be the same, and that should be taken into consideration accordingly.
Sarah Livengood

IPS Reforms and Examples of Success - 4 views

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    This article contains information about reform efforts in IPS, special education reform initiatives, and examples of success for IPS.
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    After reading this article, did you find that the implementation and reform initiatives were working? Not having worked in Indianapolis, I cannot be an accurate judge of the influence these ideas of success are having on IPS. I was just wondering what your thoughts were regarding the reality of the changes and the effectiveness?
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    I think looking at the beginning numbers before they changed the schools around is interesting to what they are after. The graduation rate has gone down, but the middle school and elementary testing scores have gone up. This could mean that as these younger students get older the graduation rate will increase.
Julie Chambers

Suburban Schools Are Getting the Urban Experience - Finding Common Ground - Education Week - 7 views

  • Students walk in shaped by their parents' ideas and school is a place where those ideas converge. Given the right circumstances, schools can be a great experience for students.
  • Many would agree that schools need to change, but the present situation is forcing schools to change for the worse, not the better. Public schools are in the midst of a perfect storm.
  • During a time when one big initiative would be a lot for schools, many are the middle of three. Those three are adopting the Common Core State Standards, teacher and administrator evaluation and budget cuts. All three together could have devastating effects on the public school system and we seem to be surrounded by people who really don't care.
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  • As the political game is controlling the education students receive, it is time for suburban, urban and rural teachers, parents and administrators to show that they are the true lobbyists for children.
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    This article highlights some of the changes that suburban schools are just now facing, that urban schools have been facing for years. 
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    It's interesting to see how these suburban schools are handling what urban schools have been dealing with for many years. Residency has always been a huge issue where I teach. Students who live in the district move out, and continue to attend the same school without any type of notification to the teacher or school. In so many cases it is not discovered until there is a problem with a student's attendance.
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    Interesting article. It's a good debate. It is frustrating to see schools who have everything: 4 star rating, award winning sports, academics, and music teams, and all the best equipment, while others have holes in the ceiling and technology that is severly outdated. Is it fair, however, to take some of these things away from them in order to level the playing field? To stop having great and less than great schools and make them all equally mediocre.
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    The first paragraph in this article touches on "teachable moments". This was a key point that I disagreed with in Kennedy's book. She wrote so much about how distractions in the school setting take away from their learning time. That the time we have students should be focused completely on the academic content. Her stance doesn't take in account the valuable "teachable moment" times-sometimes the content instruction needs to stop in order to address an issue that just pops up. Our students are still learning from these moments, even though they are not tested over them.
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    "If you ever take the time to get on Twitter and see some of the comments going back and forth between educators, consultants and educational historians, you will notice that they are at their breaking point, which if done right can lead to a better place." In my most optimistic moments, I like to believe that all the chaos and change in education will eventually work out for the best. I like to believe that even though I disagree with most of the political discourse, there are too many good people in and around schools working too hard for us not to eventually be in "a better place".
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    Brain, I wish I could "like" your comment! I have the same thought and hope for education as well. So many people want to make schools better for students and are working towards that goal; unfortunately, it seems like most of them are working against each other (reformers, government, teachers, administration, etc.). I just have to think that everyone will eventually figure out what is best for the students and start working together...
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    I thought the first section you highlighted about kids and their parents perceptions is valuable. It is a 2 way street between home and school and it has to be united for student success. If parents are not supportive and can not help their students, clearly there is going to be decrease in student performance. I think families are the most important relationship to establish. There are so many different groups that need to come together in order to fix this crisis...the thought seems difficult...almost impossible.
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    One point that I thought Kennedy left out of her arguments was parent support. Oftentimes, students are coming to schools with their parents' view of school, both positive and negative. If parents had trouble in school or have negative feelings toward schooling, they are less likely to be positive about it with their kids. The amount of support at home can make or break a student. Furthermore, reforms can come and go, but parent support is often the determining factor of success. This trend may begin to exemplify that notion as both urban and suburban schools face the same issues. I will be interested to see if the parents of the students in suburban schools are much more supportive and the difference that will make when the playing field is evened.
Amanda McIntyre

Preschool Reform: 5 Ways to Fix Pre-K in the U.S. - TIME - 3 views

    • Amanda McIntyre
       
      Preschool/Kindergarten are the first steps in an education career.
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    Take two kids, one from a low-income family, the other middle class. Let them run around and do little-kid things in their respective homes and then, at age 5, enroll them in kindergarten.
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    "Research shows that when the first day of school rolls around, the child from the low-income household will be as many as 1.5 years behind grade level in terms of language and prereading and premath skills. The middle-class kid will be as many as 1.5 years ahead. This means that, by the time these two 5-year-olds start school, the achievement gap between them is already as great as three years." I used to teach a bilingual prekindergarten class. It was grant-funded and had only 12 children. It was incredible how much progress those children could make in a year. They were nearly all from impoverished families and nearly all spoke exclusively Spanish at home. I had seen many start kindergarten and be "behind" for years. Yet, my students all started well-prepared, most of them reading, counting, and doing simple addition and subtraction. Unfortunately, the organization I worked for did not sustain its finding. Now I work with middle school kids, and although I love working with them, I often feel like I'm cleaning up a mess that could have been prevented through quality pre-kindergarten.
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    You are right, Jill. This is one of the conclusive pieces of educational research out there. And, it's one of the initiatives that has growing support in Indy, yet they can't seem to convince policy-makers at the capitol. Yet another reason why we need to check ourselves when we throw around the phrase "achievement gap" given that there are many structural factors that contribute to differentiated tests scores.
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    I was not surprised at all by the research data of 5 year olds from low-income households compared to those from middle-class households. Lately, the number of students I have in first and second grades with delayed language development is increasing. I am now using teaching time to help catch those students up on basic language skills that their peers have already developed. Those students who have those basic skills are already ahead of the game...think of how much more ahead they will be in the years to come.
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    I feel this shows how important it is to start educating children at a young age.
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    This topic/article really strikes home for me. One of my dearest friends works in Mississippi in a Pre-K class. Her effervescent personality, dedication, and perservance would make any child want to come to school. She is in a very high poverty school system but overcomes this obstacle in her teaching and with her students. Preschool children are at an age where money and SES have no baring but influence and change do. Thanks for sharing this article!
Brian Murphy

Geoffrey Canada on Colbert Report discussing Education Reform - 5 views

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    Most of you have probably heard of the Halem Project or the Harlem Kid Zone. Most of the critics have cited its dependence on high levels of funding. In the interview Canada mentions the funding cutbacks and challenges. What I like about it is the comprehensive approach to reform. It's not a 7:30 - 3:00 job.
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    I just wanted to comment on Canada's last few lines of his interview. He discusses how growing up he felt like he was always waiting for some superhero to come and save him. Someone to come into his neighborhood and save them from everything. Canada gets it. He knows what it is like to be one of the few that "makes it" in his society. This should never be the case; however, it is. His last words in the interview were: "There should be no waiting for superman. We should be there for these kids right now." It made me think about the statement posed by Craig: Are urban schools in crisis? And it's yes. It has always been yes. These kids are still waiting. They will continue to wait until we do more to protect them and well, save them.
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    "So we're trying to make sure that we not only give kids and education, but we teach them how they can really grow up without using violence." This is just one example of how Canada's model of school reform is holistic, whereas Kennedy was talking about a very focused approach to curriculum. I do not think Kennedy adequately acknowledged the many other factors that affect school performance.
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    I don't understand how this reform is fiscally possible. Canada mentioned that they had around 10,000 kids in the program and that they had an original budget of 200,000,000 dollars. He then said that it was cut to 10,000,000 dollars. This may be a model that works but the costs seem to be astronomical and any sort of school reform that is going to be widespread will need to not be dependant on expensive programs. Kennedy mentions that reforms fail because teachers give up on them when they don't see results right away and in this case the programs will likely fold because the improvements will either not come right away or not be deemed significant enough to justify the budget required.
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    I had forgotten that this was a model that was sought to be replicated across the country because of some of its successes in being able to address some of the major issues facing students in the Harlem Children's Zone. An article from 2010 addresses some of the successes, but also points out that the efforts have seen their share of struggles too, including a class of students that was completely dismissed because of students' academic performance, something that public schools would not be able to do (Otterman, 2010). The article also criticizes the funding that is spent per student on average, which also does not include everything that the organization provides to students, and the community as well (Otterman, 2010). It was noteworthy that, at least when the article was written, most of the funding was attained through private donations, though the government was beginning to try to allocate more federal funding to such initiatives. I think the biggest thing I take away from this is the realization of a variety of factors that influence students' performances in the classroom. While people typically focus on how well students do on tests and papers, other areas of their life (such as long-term or short-term illnesses, home life, etc.) unquestionably impact how students do in schools. As many people suffering challenges in their life would see that affect their performance at work, so to it influences students. The organization has done a great job of trying to address a lot of these different areas in an effort to improve students' performances (and, for that matter, their lives). Otterman, S. (2010, October 12). "Lauded Harlem schools have their own problems." New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/13/education/13harlem.html?pagewanted=all
Jenn Renner

The Limits of School Reform - NYTimes.com - 10 views

  • Going back to the famous Coleman report in the 1960s, social scientists have contended — and unquestionably proved — that students’ socioeconomic backgrounds vastly outweigh what goes on in the school as factors in determining how much they learn.
  • Yet the reformers act as if a student’s home life is irrelevant. “There is no question that family engagement can matter,” said Klein when I spoke to him. “But they seem to be saying that poverty is destiny, so let’s go home.
  • Demonizing teachers for the failures of poor students, and pretending that reforming the schools is all that is needed, as the reformers tend to do, is both misguided and counterproductive.
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    The article, by Jonathan Mahler, was about the heroic efforts of Ramón González, the principal of M.S. 223, a public middle school in the South Bronx, to make his school a place where his young charges can get a decent education and thus, perhaps, a better life.
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    Before reading this article, I did not realize that reformers tend to avoid the issue of students' home lives when considering reform--now I understand why Kennedy only focuses on teachers and the classroom environment when discussing reform. However, with all of the research done that tells us how much impact a child's home life can play in their education, why isn't there more focus on this issue? I can only assume it is because it is easier to reach schools and teachers rather than the communities and families, but this method does not seem to be working, in my opinion.
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    "Demonizing teachers for the failures of poor students, and pretending that reforming the schools is all that is needed, as the reformers tend to do, is both misguided and counterproductive." I think this is a good point. Although good teaching is the most essential part of school reform, it's not the only factor that makes children successful. Like Gonzalez, there have been times that I have really worked with a particular student and gotten them started toward success, only to have them move back into a bad situation, drop out of school to work, or some similar situation that is largely beyond my control. I'm not trying to make excuses, but just as I get frustrated when a student does poorly on one test and is judged by a single measure, it can be frustrating as a teacher when one or two statistics are used to judge your entire career.
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    Jenn and Jill, I made a sticky note of the same quote: "Demonizing teachers for the failures of poor students, and pretending that reforming the schools is all that is needed, as the reformers tend to do, is both misguided and counterproductive." I think it is important for schools and reformers to see that school reform is all encompassing with many counterparts and players. I also liked how the article ended with that reform should be handled with a "dose of humility". Fingers shouldn't be pointed when school reform needs to be analyzed by what it has and doesn't have. Thanks for sharing this NYT article - I really enjoyed it.
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    I think this also brings up a good point about exactly where reform efforts can be best put to good use. It's obviously not intended to simply write off students given their socio-economic background or home life. Yet as Joe Nocera highlights from the article that affected him, a single teacher working closely with a student begins to yield results. It would be interesting to see if it's just considered to be from the academic-related help his teacher is giving him, or from the other support - mainly that there is now an adult taking interest in what he does with his life (texts in the mornings to encourage him to attend class, taking the time to show that he has someone to emotionally support him while his mother "comes across as indifferent to his schooling") that he is being shown. It is likely a tremendous combination of both the emotional and academic support, which I think would help to shed light on some ways that reform efforts would be most effective. This piece indicates that a positive influence providing stability could bring just as much (or more) results than anything done to renovate efforts in front of a class of students (which, as Kennedy pointed out, frequently don't get implemented as reformers envision).
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    I think Nocera has some very valid points about why present-day school reform doesn't lead to more immediate changes. It seems as though reformers have been focused on important issues, but ones that are not attacking the problem. While socioeconomic status has been proven capable of overcoming obstacles, it does play a huge factor in the success of students. With that being said, simply attacking the teachers or the instruction isn't the answer either. As Nocera states, "Demonizing teachers for the failures of poor students, and pretending that reforming the schools is all that is needed, as the reformers tend to do, is both misguided and counterproductive." I absolutely agree.
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    Educational reforms are rarely about students and while they typically boast the mission of "student success" the majority of teachers and educators I have come into contact with feel a great disconnect between those enacting reforms and the needs they have in the classroom. One of Abraham Lincoln's strongest leadership principles was to "ciculate among the troops" however, it is a very rare event for central office leaders in a school district and the legislators that pass reforms actually set foot in a school much less engage with the teachers who are "on the front lines" in order to learn what the struggles are in today's educational environments.
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    I think while us (teachers) are wanting reformers to take a "walk in our shoes" with what goes on a day-to-day basis, we teachers have to stop and think no matter what we judge, or want to believe, we have no idea what goes on from the time our students leave in the afternoon until the time they come back the next day. This article goes to show that "yes," 80% of a student's learning comes from school, but then there is that 20% that needs to come from the home.
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