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Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2005 > August
August 2005
Attack of the Spaghetti Monster!
Yesterday, I wrote about Intelligent Design, and the battle over this theory of how universe began and if it should be taught in science class, side-by-side with the theory of evolution.
This is, of course, a sensitive issue for many people on both sides. Many scientists are offended by ID, viewing as “not science” and as a cloaked effort to teach religion in public school. On the other side, ID proponents say the theory is simple and sensible, worthy of discussion and many on this side are offended by the suggestion by some that believing in God is incompatible with science.
Consider this lead from a recent New York Times story on the debate (Sorry I don’t have the link. The story is no longer free on the NYT site):
“At a recent scientific conference at City College of New York, a student in the audience rose to ask the panelists an unexpected question: ”Can you be a good scientist and believe in God?” Reaction from one of the panelists, all Nobel laureates, was quick and sharp. ”No!” declared Herbert A. Hauptman, who shared the chemistry prize in 1985 for his work on the structure of crystals. Belief in the supernatural, especially belief in God, is not only incompatible with good science, Dr. Hauptman declared, ”this kind of belief is damaging to the well-being of the human race.” “
Well in pointed debates like this, it pays to maintain a sense of humor. A blogger is making a big splash with his “theory” that a flying spaghetti monster created the universe. As you might expect, this post lampoons ID. So if you are anti-ID, you probably will find this quite funny. If you are pro-ID, but have a sense of humor about the subject, you also might enjoy the post.
If you feel ID is too serious a subject to joke about, then I suggest you NOT follow the link!
UPDATE: I’m having trouble following the spaghetti monster link. The site may be down. If you can’t get through to it, try again later.
LATEST UPDATE: Sorry. The bad link was my fault. You should be able to click through to the flying spaghetti monster now.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: Evolution vs. Intelligent Design
A good time to be had by all
The latest Carnival of Education, a weekly collection of the best blog posts about education, is up.
Permalink | | Categories: The Carnival of Education
The evolution debate
There was a devastating critique of Intelligent Design as a scientific theory on the Op-Ed page of the New York Times Sunday. The author, Tufts University philosophy professor Daniel C. Dennett, argues that ID is not a scientific theory, that its proponents are not even advancing it as such. Dennett also takes on the recent argument from the ID side that science class should at least “teach the controversy.”
Its a little dry, but the column gives a nice step-by-step explanation of evolution, discusses why it is viewed as a bedrock in science and challenges some of the strongest “common sense” arguments from ID proponents.
If you’re interested in the evolution debate, and Ohio is a major front in the battle over evolution, it’s worth reading.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Evolution vs. Intelligent Design
Public schools outdo charters
By Scott Elliott
Dayton Daily News
A surge in test performance by students in the city school district helped them pull further ahead from kids attending charter schools.
A Dayton Daily News analysis shows charter schools serving Dayton students performed poorly compared to the city school district, one of the worstrated districts in Ohio.
None of the 28 charter school were rated excellent or effective — the top two rating categories. Many charters, about 39 percent, got no rating, while another 40 percent were rated in academic emergency, the lowest category.
Schools might not get ratings for several reasons, usually because they have less than 10 students in grades that are tested.
For the school district, about 47 percent of its 34 schools are in academic emergency, but another 44 percent are in the middle category, continuous improvement.
On math and reading tests, charter schools are more commonly found at the bottom than at the top when compared with schools from the district. And just 25 percent of the charters that were rated made “adequate yearly progress� under the fed- eral No Child Left Behind law, while 50 percent of the district’s schools met AYP.
Some good news
The testing news was not all bleak for charter schools. Two schools from the Richard Allen chain of charters performed well across all tests and were the topranked elementary schools in the district.
“We are really delighted and encouraged with the progress made so far,� Richard Allen superintendent Mike McCormick said. “I think it is very important to remember we will be judged ultimately by our ability to be ranked as an excellent or effective school and school district.�
Looking at four tests — thirdgrade reading, fourth-grade math and sixth-grade reading and math — the Richard Allen schools are the only charters that ranked in the top five scorers. Among the bottom five, charters were more prevalent.
Charmaine Trayvick said test scores were not on her mind when she went school shopping for her son Caesar Dillard five years ago.
She went to a school expo and ended up chatting with the principal of Richard Allen’s Edgemont campus. Her energy impressed Trayvick, who choose the school after observing a kindergarten class during a visit.
“These children were reading in kindergarten and they just seemed to be having such a good time,� she said. “It was so familyoriented.�
Caesar is now in fourth grade and was a top scorer on the state proficiency test. Trayvick has no regrets about trying charter schools.
“Its been wonderful,� she said. “I have really enjoyed being an involved parent at Richard Allen.� Some charters shine
Terry Ryan, vice president of the pro-charter Fordham Foundation, said charters are progressing.
“It’s clear from this year’s results that some charter schools are really starting to show the way,� he said. “Many others are muddling along and the hope for their break-out year has to wait another year. A few appear hopeless and should close.�
The district again saw stellar performance from Stivers School for the Arts, a consistent gem. But the new Dayton Early College Academy, an experimental high school on the campus of the University of Dayton, even outperformed Stivers. Those were the only district schools in the top two rating categories.
Most of the district’s schools made gains from last year, with Patterson-Kennedy, Webster and Franklin elementary schools seeing double-digit growth. Only Dayton View Academy and Academy of Dayton — both charters — had double-digit losses.
“With Dayton View, clearly we had a disappointing performance year,â€? said Richard Barth, president of the Edison Schools’ division that oversees its two local campuses.
Edison, a management company, also runs the Dayton Academy. Barth said a principal change at mid-year hampered Dayton View.
“Looking at the Dayton Academy, they’re on track to raising levels of achievement,’ � he said. “We are confident Dayton View will get back on track this year.�
Ryan said Dayton’s test gains were, in part, the result of competition from charters.
“There is solid evidence in the numbers that the Dayton Public Schools are starting to turn the corner and are now making real academic gains,� he said. “This focus on academic achievement, spurred on by the competitive pressures of charters and recent changes in state and federal law, is good for Dayton and its children. But a lot of work remains to be done on all sides.�
Permalink | | Categories: Charter Schools and School Choice, Dayton Public Schools, My Favorite DDN Stories
Freak info you should know
Which of these statements is true?
- The more highly educated the parents, the higher the kid’s standardized test scores.
- The more wealthy the parents, the highest the kid scores.
- The child of a woman who was 30 or older when the child was born tends to have higher scores.
- Children with low birth weight tend to have lower scores.
- Children score higher if their families speak English at home.
- An adopted child tends to score lower.
- PTA parents see their kids score higher.
- High scoring kids tend to have lots of books at home.
- An intact family with two parents has no impact on test scores.
- A stay at home mom from birth to kindergarten has no impact on scores.
- Attending Head Start has no impact on scores.
- Frequent museum trips have no impact on scores.
- Watching lots of television has no impact on scores.
- Spanking or not spanking has no impact on scores.
- Reading to a child every day has no impact on scores.
According to the popular new book, Freakonomics by economist Steven Levitt and writer Stephen Dubner, all of these statements are true. These are conclusions they drew from reviewing a giant collection of data called the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study undertaken by the U.S. Department of Education.
Freakonomics doesn’t sound like a parenting book, but it is. Two chapters are focused on parenting and one on teachers. Parents should read it.
All the test score arguments are debatable. The data set they studied is certainly large, but the conclusions still are based on just the one study. Even so, some of the conclusions may make you re-think some of your parenting conventional wisdom.
Just looking at that list screams one lesson to me loudly and clearly — you can’t put too much stock in test scores. Test scores tell us who the kids are as much as what they know and can do. The book says as much. And the scores aren’t great indicators of success in life. Lots of kids from good homes meet failure in life. And a poor kid or adopted kid can surely succeed.
Even so, the authors have important information for parents to think about.
Consider this — which is more dangerous, to let you child go over to play with a friend who’s parents own a gun or a friend who’s parents own a swimming pool?
Levitt and Dubner say it’s the swimming pool by a long shot.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Categories: Teaching and Learning
Dayton’s dynamic duo
I think its pretty amazing that a small city like Dayton had two hometown girls make the 12-player roster for the World University Games.
Brandie Hoskins and Meghan Duffy both played on a nationally competitive select team called the Dayton Lady HoopStarts before high school and then starred together at Ohio girls basketball powerhouse Chaminade-Julienne High School.
Hoskins is now at Ohio State and Duffy stars for Notre Dame.
Fifty players tried out for the University Games team. Here’s a Dayton Daily News story when they both made the team.
As expected, Team USA trounced everyone en route to the Gold. Here’s a story on the gold medal game from ABC News.
Dayton has had a good run of producing top women’s basketball talent. But landing two players on a team this good is pretty tough. I saw these two play together in high school and they were fun to watch. So as basketball season approaches, keep an eye out for these two.
There was a nice story on Duffy in the South Bend Tribune this week. The championships were held in Turkey and I had to chuckle at the story’s account of Duffy forking over $12 for a McDonald’s meal because she didn’t like the local food.
Come on, live a little! There’s a lot more to Turkish food than lamb. I had many delicious dishes during the week I spent there.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Sports and Athletics
The whole school is pregnant!
OK, it’s not the whole school.
But check out this shocking story in the Canton (Ohio) Repository about Timken High School where 65 of 490 girls are pregnant. That’s 13 percent of the girls in the school! Incredible.
One of the great debates about schools is where to draw the line between education and social service. Schools were built, of course, to educate. But its such an opportunity, having the children of the community gathered together everyday. A little instruction — in proper nutrition, or fire safety, or sex education — can really make a difference in their lives. And, proponents say, benefit the community as a whole.
But does this muddle the mission? If schools spend too much energy on social services, does it take away from their ability to educate? And if pushed too far, does the schoolhouse intrude into a role that belongs to parents?
Well those philosophical questions are pre-empted in a situation like this. How does a school manage with 65 pregnant girls? They certainly can’t ignore it. This time, the school is forced into the position of managing these non-school issues.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Sex Education
Politics turned upside down
On Monday, Connecticut’s attorney general filed suit against the U.S. Department of Education, calling No Child Left Behind an “unfunded mandate” and demanding either more money for the additional standardized tests the law requires or relief from some of its rules.
For the basic story, here’s an Associated Press account in the Los Angeles Times.
Connecticut is an interesting case. It is one of the highest performing states academically, with very good cumulative test scores. But, like all states, it has an “achievement gap” between test performance by white students and black students, as well as gaps with poor kids, special education students and other “sub groups” of students.
Connecticut tests students at fourth, sixth, eighth and 10th grades, but NCLB requires testing at ALL grades 1 through 8. Connecticut, in the words of Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, told the feds “Give up the unfunded mandates, or give us the money.” The law does require many more tests. Mark Fisher and I reported last year that a General Accounting Office study estimated NCLB would require states to create or overhaul 433 tests by 2008 at a projected cost of $3.9 billion.
But this is politics, right? Connecticut’s a blue state, and NCLB is a conservative initiative, or so it is viewed by many.
But look who’s out front criticizing Connecticut — civil rights leaders.
In fact, the idea of tracking subgroups — shining a light on the under performance of these students and requiring states to address the gaps — was lobbied into the law by groups on the left. This is one example of the bipartisan elements in the bill. It’s easy to forget that Ted Kennedy stood arm-in-arm with President Bush when NCLB was passed.
And discontent with the law is not confined to the left. In February, the Utah House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to ignore NCLB in favor of state education initiatives, putting millions in federal aid at risk. Utah is about as conservative a state as you can find.
So this law puts Connecticut and Utah on one side against President Bush and civil rights leaders on the other. Is that weird, or what?
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Testing
Under the big tent
There’s lots of good stuff in this week’s Carnival of Education, a weekly compilation of the best blog posts about education from the prior week. Check it out at The Education Wonks blog.
Permalink | | Categories: The Carnival of Education
I don’t want that teacher!
Earlier this week, The Education Wonks asked the question, “Why would you get in your car, drive to your local school, and request a certain teacher (by name) for your child?”
The comments were interesting. Parents who posted largely said there is nothing wrong with requesting a specific teacher for you child. Some even argued it’s a parent’s duty to do so.
But I know lots of teachers who think specifically requesting a teacher (or requesting NOT to have a certain teacher) is improper. One told me she thought this was OK only if the parent had a “compelling reason.”
That’s because parents request the change for lots of bogus reasons. I know one high school that was forced to set a deadline for changing classes because kids would skip the summer reading, then show up a couple days before school starts and ask to change teachers. Other times, parent’s request a change because they’ve “heard” this teacher is mean or unfair or whatever. Or they just want to avoid a teacher who would challenge their child, preferring one that would be an easy A.
When do you think it’s OK to request a different teacher for your child?
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Teaching and Learning
Seniors going too far
The Associated Press is reporting the bizarre story of a girl mauled and killed by a tiger while posing for her senior picture.
Senior pictures have gotten a little out of hand. Back in the day, you just showed up in an ill-fitting sport coat and a tie you borrowed from your dad for the senior picture cattle call. Just look at Kevin Costner’s senior photo and you’ll see what I mean.
That’s no longer good enough. Now everyone seems to get their own photo professionally made. I noticed this trend about six years ago while covering education at a smaller paper. Part of my job was to organize an annual graduation section, complete with photos of the top students from every school in our area.
In the course of handling dozens of senior photos, I saw kids posed with with their musical instruments, in their sports uniforms, on their motorcycles or even with their pets. And the photos were getting increasingly racy — girls in slinky dresses, shirtless boys.
Now, as this tragic story shows, the kids are going even farther. If you don’t know what I mean look here and here to see a few examples of the glamour shots that pass for senior photos today.
Have you seen even crazier photos than these? What do you think about edgy senior photos?
Permalink | Comments (5) | Categories: My Favorite Posts
A good debate
There’s a pointed debate going in the comments under my post about why we’re low in the world on standardized tests. I cited the comments of education blogger JennyD, who said our top kids, who happen to be affluent and white, do well. It’s our low scoring kids, who happen to be poor and minority, that are so far behind the low scorers around the world.
So it seems to me we know the problem — we need to bring our low scorers up. The tricky question is how?
Some posters seem to suggest its up to individuals to raise themselves up and break through a “culture of poverty” that does not value education. Others say with government leadership, resources and creativity, we as a nation should be able to make positive change for these kids, but we choose to focus out attention elsewhere.
I’d like to hear your ideas for helping low scoring kids do better in America.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Testing
Talking Terry takes on Busy Brenda
My pal Patti Ghezzi, a fellow education reporter and trailblazing blogger at the Atlanta Journal Constitution, wants the teachers that read her blog to say who they are most like from this list of 10 teacher characters described in the blog of a Teach for America teacher.
The list of teacher types is humorous. Why don’t we take a look too. So parents, students, teachers — do you recognize any of these people from your school?
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Teaching and Learning
What else makes a good school?
On Tuesday, I gave my take on how to use test scores to judge you child’s school.
But let’s get beyond testing. As I said in that post, the scores are not always the best measure of school quality. Here’s some of ways I judge a school. I hope you’ll add to this list through the comments.
I think the principal is very important. A good principal, in my eyes, should make a connection with the kids. The principal should be an instructional leader focused on education, not just someone who makes sure the buses run on time. And a good principal is tough but fair.
Pay attention to how you are treated in the building. Is the staff welcoming and appear happy for you to be there? Or do they appear annoyed or otherwise unhappy to deal with you?
Look at the kids. Do they seem happy to be there? If you really look for this you will notice a difference. In good schools, kids are happy. In bad schools they are not.
A clean building is another good signal. An unkempt school is a very bad sign.
Do the teachers seem enthused about their work? In bad schools they can seem bored, tired or even angry to be there.
Pay attention to specials like music, art and physical education. Good schools value them, bad schools treat them as extras.
If you see parents around, that’s good. The best schools have strong parental involvement.
So that’s my list. What would you add or subtract?
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Testing
The Carnival is in town
The Carnival of Education, a compilation of the week’s best blog posts about education, is being hosted this week by the blogger Ticklish Ears. The one time Dayton resident (he was stationed at WPAFB for four years in the early 1990s) teaches at a university in North Carolina and is a home schooler. Check out the carnival!
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: The Carnival of Education
So what’s it all mean?
The scores are out and the question now is, how did your school do? How can you use report card information to learn more about the school where your child attends?
Here’s my advice:
First, maintain perspective. Test scores do not tell the whole story of a school’s effectiveness. I’ve seen good schools score low and bad schools do well. But test scores and report card information can help you learn about your school.
Remember, test scores are volatile. Every year a different group of kids are tested. Your school might be best in the district one year, then third, then first again in consecutive years. Don’t worry too much about small drops or get too excited about modest gains from year to year.
Compare to like schools. How does your school rank vs. similar schools? For instance, Kettering has nine elementary schools. Is your school first, last or somewhere in the middle? Or if your looking at Kettering Fairmont High School, how do its scores compare to other Montgomery County high schools?
Consider the scores for three or four tests — certainly reading and math, maybe science and social studies. The writing test is the least useful to compare. Is your school first or second in its comparison group on all of them? That’s good. Is it repeatedly at the bottom? That could be a worry.
Pay attention to trends. You want your school moving forward, not backward. I like to see at least a three year trend. If every year your school’s scores went up, that’s a good sign. If they went down each year, it could be cause for concern.
Did you school meet AYP? That’s the federal government’s progress measure. Not meeting it can put the school on a path toward sanctions. The state now also offers a performance index score, a measure of how the school did across all tests. That number can be compared with other schools, and again check the three-year trend. Is the index score going up or down?
Look at attendance. I think this is an under appreciated signal of school quality. Kids who attend great schools want to come everyday. A very high attendance rate is an excellent sign. The trend is important here, too. Good jumps up over three years are encouraging. A steady decline is a red flag.
Ask questions. Once you get a sense for your school’s trends and how it compares, see if the teachers and the principal are paying attention. Ask what they are doing to address their weaknesses. How do they hope to build on their strengths?
Permalink | | Categories: Testing
Navigating test scores
Ohio released a pile of test scores and school information Tuesday. You can read a summary of how school districts in the Miami Valley did in the Dayton Daily News.
If you just want to seehow your child’s school did, use the state’s search page here.
If you want to make comparisons and you’re comfortable using a spreadsheet, it’s best to use ODE’s download page.
Permalink | | Categories: Testing
Growth model helps Dayton
In Monday’s paper, I wrote about Dayton Public Schools’ test score gain. On several measures, Dayton made solid progress — its graduation rate jumped significantly and math and reading scores are up across several grades.
School officials are quite pleased, but they really have to thank a change in philosophy at the state, driven by the federal No Child Left Behind Law. Otherwise, I don’t think anyone would be paying much attention to their progress this year.
Since it began “school district report cards” in 1998, Ohio has always set a high bar and expected districts to leap over it. The number of standards, or “indicators” (mostly based on what percent of kids pass state tests at several grades) have changed, but the passing levels have not. Whatever the state test, Ohio has always required at least 75 percent of kids to score proficient for a district to get credit. For graduation, the state has long required 90 percent and for attendance, 93 percent.
On these measures, Dayton does not look much different today that it did in recent years — it earned one out of 23 indicators. When statewide data is released Tuesday, we’ll probably again find Dayton at or near the bottom among 610 school districts if you look solely at the number of indicators.
But NCLB last year introduced a new factor in evaluating schools, a provision called “adequate yearly progress.” This gets a little complicated, but in short to meet “AYP” in math or reading a district must meet a minimum score at three grade levels and show that scores are going up at a steady rate even among disadvantaged students like minorities, special education students and English language learners.
Dayton met AYP for reading and it just missed in math.
Inspired by the concept behind AYP, the state also added its own measure of growth to the report card, something it calls the performance index. This number is supposed to reflect how much progress kids are making across all tests. Again here Dayton had a big jump.
In fact, if the district had made just a whiff more progress and either hit AYP in math or garnered a few more performance index points, it would have earned a special bonus — a nudge out of the state’s lowest rating of “academic emergency” up to a slightly more palatable category called “academic watch,” the fourth worst rating level of five.
That would have been big news. Dayton has never come anywhere close to leaving academic emergency and its only been done a few times by big city districts elsewhere in the state.
But we only even know Dayton made this progress because of NCLB prodded Ohio to reward growth. Otherwise, this year would have been more of the same. Dayton would have looked as bad as ever.
The district’s leaders were quick to say they weren’t celebrating too much because they still have a long way to go. But there is no doubt they appreciate the recognition for making strides.
So do you think Ohio has struck the right balance by setting high standards and rewarding growth? Should growth count more than it does now or less?
Permalink | | Categories: Testing
The lessons of history
Down in the basement, I was filling the washing machine when my six-year-old, Claire, popped in carrying a $10 bill that had been laying out on the counter for use later that day.
“Dad, who is this?” she asked, pointing to the portrait in the center. “Was he a president?”
The history buff in me loves these moments.
“No, that’s Alexander Hamilton,” I said, pulling clothes from the dryer. “He is one of the few people on our money who was not president. He was a brilliant man who helped America get started. Alexander Hamilton helped the president figure out how banks and money would work in a way that would be more free than in other countries.”
“Did he live a long time ago?” she asked, pulling her favorite sun dress off the clean pile.
“Yes, he lived about 200 years ago, back when America was born.”
“How did he die? Did he die of old age?” This is a question I’m getting a lot since her great grandmother died earlier this year.
“Uh, no. He actually died in a duel.”
“What’s a duel?”
“Well, it was sort of a crazy way people settled arguments long ago. They would both take a gun and stand back-to-back,” I said, stepping closer, making a gun out of the fingers of her free hand and mimicking the dueling posture. “Then they’d both take ten steps, turn and shoot.”
She giggled as we took the steps, spun and fired our finger pistols.
“Sometimes they would both miss, and the argument would be over. Or one person might be hit and hurt, so the other guy would win the argument. But sometimes, one or both of them would actually get killed.
“That’s what happened to Alexander Hamilton. He got into an argument with Aaron Burr, another very smart man who also helped the president. They had a duel and Burr shot Hamilton and he died.”
Claire flung the dress over her shoulder and rubbed her thick blond hair with her hand.
“Was the president mad?” she asked.
“Yes I think so. Lots of people were angry that such a smart and important man died for such a dumb reason. I think it helped people realize how terrible duels were, and its probably part of the reason people don’t have duels today.”
She looked at me for a moment. Then she asked another question:
“Why do we still have wars, then? They’re even more terrible because lots of people die in wars. Why didn’t people learn not to have wars?”
I stared back at her.
“I don’t know, Claire. That’s a good question.”
“Maybe when me and all the other kids grow up, we’ll learn not to have wars.”
“I hope so, Claire. I hope so.”
UPDATE: This is my entry to win a camera in the “Capture the Educational Moment” Contest sponsored by Spunky and Academic Superstore.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: My Favorite Posts, Teaching and Learning
I now have an RSS feed!
Plug this web address into your RSS reader, and you can receive Get on the Bus via RSS feed:
http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/education/index.xml
If you don’t know what RSS is, you can learn about it here. The link takes you to story entitled “RSS for Journalists,” but just translate that to mean “RSS for Dummies.” The explanation is helpful even if you’re not a journalist.
I set up RSS feeds for myself through bloglines. It’s really nice. You build a little menu of your favorite blogs or news sites. Then you can just click down the list and the content from those sites appears in an adjoining window. You can get headlines from the New York Times or entries from blogs like Get on the Bus.
And your list shows you when there is new content that you haven’t yet read. It’s a really handy way to keep up with blogs and news.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Journalism
Your kid’s brain
The current issue of Newsweek has a long cover story detailing what brain research tells us about how babies learn.
Over the past 15 years, there’s been a real explosion of research about the brain. There’s a very good book by Chicago Tribune reporter Ron Kotulak called Inside the Brain that sums up the basics of what researchers have discovered. Kotulak’s book is based on a series that won him the Pulitzer Prize in 1994.
If there’s one thing the studies have shown, its that kids begin learning very early. They are much more aware and responsive than science previously knew.
This has fueled a national movement pushing for greater public support for high quality pre-school. Former Miami Herald Editor David Lawrence Jr. is a big player in the movement, through a group he heads called the Early Childhood Initiative Foundation.
I’ve heard both Kotulak and Lawrence speak and they make a compelling case that kids would benefit from tax-supported pre-school. But others say the there’s no reason to change. Here’s a recent column from the LA Times arguing against a universal system in California.
I hear superintendents complain all the time that too many kids show up unprepared for kindergarten. But is publicly-funded pre-school the best solution?
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Teaching and Learning
Why we’re low in the world
Jenny D, a grad student in education at one of the nation’s best schools of education and author of an excellent blog, argued this week that America’s education system still produces scholars that can compete with anyone in the world.
Our big problem, according to Jenny D, is educating kids on the low end. She makes her point using TIMMS, an international math test:
“The highest scoring kids in the U.S. score as well as the highest scoring kids anywhere in the world. Our best and brightest are as good as the best and brightest anywhere. We are indeed producing scholars. They tend to be white and affluent, according to the statistics. They go to public and private schools.
The big difference between the US. and other nations is at the low end of the achievement spectrum. Our kids who score low are at the VERY bottom, well below the lowest scoring kids in other nations that we compare ourselves to (think Germany, Japan, Singapore, Denmark). Thus our average score is much lower than that of other nations. Not because our smart kids are scoring poorly, but because we have so many kids at the bottom, and our bottom is so low.”
So perhaps our wealthy, suburban kids are doing just fine. This raises two questions:
- How does the U.S. address obstacles to learning where the most urgency is needed — in poor cities and rural areas?
- How worried should Americans really be about international comparisons that show us far behind?
Permalink | Comments (18) | Categories: Testing
Go to the carnival
California-based education bloggers The Education Wonks each week gather the best education blog entries in a collection they call The Carnival of Education.
The Carnival includes a nice variety of commentary — some about policy, some about politics, some from teachers. Check it out.
Permalink | | Categories: The Carnival of Education
Want to learn something about sex today?
Check out this new column called Carnal Knowledge by my good friend Faye Flam of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Faye is a science writer and every Monday she uses this column to explore issues of sex and gender, diving into the latest research. The column is well written, funny and informative. I learn something new every time I read it.
Maybe this is what high school sex education should be like. Take a look and then post your thoughts here. What’s your view of how sex education should be taught?
Update: It turns out you have to register at philly.com to get to this page. Registration is free, but you have to fill out their online form.
Permalink | Comments (7) | Categories: Sex Education
Sept. 11 changed her life
Jalma Fields clicked into Room 108 in high heels and a crisp blue suit, searching out unfamiliar faces.
This was the classroom she chose in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001, and in four years, she had come to know nearly every kid in the school.
“Welcome to Meadowdale Elementary School,” Fields, now the principal, said to the newcomers. “You’re going to love it here.”
Fields won the district’s 2004 teacher of the year award for her work at Meadowdale, before succeeded Principal Barbara Goins, who retired after running the school for 18 years. The promotion culminates a personal transformation.
Dayton was the “big city” when Fields first came here from Mississippi to visit her father. She started out as a teacher’s aide at Colonel White High School, taking night courses at Wright State University for three years to earn certification. She taught high school until taking an administrative post.
Then came the 2001 terrorist attacks.
“After Sept. 11, my heart wasn’t in it, working with the adults all the time,” she said. “Life is too short.”
She asked to go back to teaching, and the former high school teacher was sent in with the fifth graders in Room 108 on Oct. 24, 2001.
“I came here and absolutely fell in love with these kids,” she said.
And so she was lured back to a leadership post, this time closer to the kids and with the power to influence the learning on a wider scale. She cleared out of her classroom and hired the teacher who replaced her.
“The thrill of working in the classroom is just magnified when you have hundreds of kids in your charge.”
Permalink | | Categories: Teaching and Learning
When a nine-year-old gets it
How do you know when someone is a great teacher? It’s easy. Even a third grader can tell.
I met Danielle Boger Monday at Fairview Elementary School. I started talking to her because she was the “linebacker” for 2005 district teacher of the year Greg Powell’s sixth grade class — the student at the back of the line who keeps everyone going forward.
Danielle is tall and was hard not to notice back there in her white-shirt-blue-pants school uniform, wearing a bright smile. Powell picked her for this job because she’s a smart kid and a leader. She told me later she plans to be a doctor.
I wanted to know what makes Powell a great teacher. So I asked Danielle what she remembered about the first time she met him.
“I was in third grade,” she said. “I was in band and I had gotten noticed for my grades. I decided to try out for basketball and he was the coach.
” Ever since then I wanted to be in his class,” she said, proudly adding, “Now I’m in it.”
Her classmate this year, DeQuinn Talley, plans to own his own business one day. Powell was DeQuinn’s track coach in fourth grade, helping him prepare for the citywide meet.
“He means business when it comes to competition,” DeQuinn said.
But DeQuinn noticed something else about Powell after their track experience together. It was his class — the way they walked the halls and how they conducted themselves at school functions.
“His class is always the smartest,” DeQuinn said.
Dustin Young, another of Powell’s 27 students this year, wants to follow his brother into the military. He knows Powell has already walked that path and Dustin perhaps best summed up his teacher. He, too, said he’s wanted to be in Powell’s class since third grade.
“He doesn’t play around about getting an education,” Dustin said. “That’s mainly what he’s about.”
Powell told me Monday that the kids aren’t impressed that his was in the Air Force, or that he once helped manage a billion dollar program or that he has traveled the world.
“What matters to them is what can you do for me? How can you help me?” he said.
And even at age nine or 10, the kids get it: His class is smart. He can help me win. He can help me reach my dreams.
Permalink | | Categories: My Favorite Posts, Teaching and Learning
A busy news day
Space was tight in today’s paper, and at the end of the day we only had room for about half of what I’d written about the first day of school in Dayton. So instead I’ll post some of what was cut to the blog. My plan yesterday was to visit the last two district teachers of the year — Greg Powell and Jalma Fields. I’ll tell their stories here today.
Permalink | | Categories: Teaching and Learning
Off to a good start
No sign so far of any attendance drop off or parent unhappiness with Dayton Public Schools’ new early start calendar. On the contrary, I’ve visited two schools this morning and have yet to interview a parent who is unhappy with the change.
I was at Meadowdale Elementary School for its 7:45 a.m. start. and shadowed Jalma Fields, a brand new principal who was the district’s teacher of the year in 2004. Classrooms appeared full. Fields was in an administrative post on Sept. 11, 2001, when the events of that day caused her to re-evaluate her life. She decided she wanted to go back to the classroom, to work directly with kids, and was assigned to teach fifth grade at Meadowdale a month later. Now she’s the principal.
I ran into Superintendent Percy Mack at Meadowdale. He said he started work at 5 a.m. by meeting with bus drivers and was trying to visit all eight new principals on the job today.
Then I went to Fairview Elementary School to spend a couple hours with Greg Powell, the district’s 2005 teacher of the year, and his sixth grade class. He’s an interesting guy who was in the Air Force for 20 years before becoming a teacher. Again, the school didn’t appear to have a huge attendance problem either, although Powell had five absent of the 27 on his class roster. He has a really great group of kids. I enjoyed hanging out and talking with them.
Later, I’ll visit the new Charity Adams Earley Academy for Girls.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
School building boom not on target
By Scott Elliott
Dayton Daily News
DAYTON — During the 2002 bond issue campaign, the Dayton school board touted its school construction program as an economic boon that would pump $627 million into the ailing local economy.
But keeping that money here has proved tricky.
A quarter of the $51 million spent to date on school construction projects has gone to local companies, the district’s own figures show. And in a city that is 47 percent minority, 5 percent of the money has gone to small or minority-run firms.
The numbers are especially lacking at three schools where construction is under way.
In the most extreme example, 3 percent of the Kiser Elementary School project was won by companies in Dayton. And $10,000 of more than $11 million spent on Kiser went to small or minority companies, or 0.1 percent of the work.
The biggest public works program in the Miami Valley since the conservancy district dam and levee project in response to the 1913 flood so far has largely been built by out-of-town and even outof-state companies.
The numbers are alarming enough that school board President Gail Littlejohn has called for a new study of its local and minority hiring policies and given a committee until Aug. 31 to recommend fixes.
Al Washington, a community activist who has lobbied the board to improve its minority hiring record, said the urgency is overdue.
“They’ve done nothing to fix it,� he said. “If they don’t deliver what they promised, then they’ve lied to the community.�
But there are obstacles to improving the district’s record.
Washington and others say the district must do more to pressure winning bidders to use local and minority sub-contractors and that it should take an active role in connecting Dayton companies with resources to help them compete.
School board members say state rules sometimes tie their hands. But for them, perhaps the most frustrating problem is the number of quality local companies that decline to bid on their projects.
Donald McLaurin’s electricians are busy on school projects this summer, but college kids are the ones who will benefit from D’Laurin Electric’s skills this fall.
Instead of working on the school district projects, his Dayton-based, minority-owned company is wiring dormitories and sorority houses for the University of Dayton.
To be sure, McLaurin would like a shot at the school district’s work. And as a local business owner and a community leader, he wants the money to stay here.
But the state’s bidding rules set the bar too high for his company, he said. The bottom line, he said, is bids on other projects are a better bet to pay off with less time invested.
“For me to pursue that would be a waste of my energy,� said McLaurin, who is also mayor of Trotwood. “Those are obstacles I have chosen not to pursue because there is a much larger market out here than schools.�
That is a common reaction for local contractors.
Many Dayton construction companies have not fully recovered from the economic downturn of 2001, which left them with fewer employers and resources.
And smaller firms lack track records of success or established relationships with large companies that might hire them as subcontractors.
The biggest problem for McLaurin is bonding — the state says each bidding company must have an insurance “bond,� or a policy that guarantees they will complete the job.
Generally, the bond equates to 10 percent of the project cost. So if McLaurin bids on a $1 million project, he must have $100,000 cash for the bond. Many small companies just don’t have that kind of money on hand, McLaurin said.
The school projects, like all government work, also requires a hefty stack of forms with the bids.
“It’s a very burdensome oversight process,� said Howard Krisher, president of Starco, Inc., a Dayton construction company that has worked for the district in the past but is no longer bidding on school projects.
Yet former school board member Tony Hill argues there is an up side.
“Paperwork can be onerous but the process is transparent,� he said.
“On a government contract there are clear rules. You know if you did or didn’t get the job and why. And you will get paid for sure.�
Even if the board can get more companies bidding, by state law it still must give the contract to the lowest bidder — regardless of whether they are local, from out of town or another state. And the state of Ohio is not offering much wiggle room.
“We do have a responsibility to taxpayers to make sure we get the best price for the project,� said Rick Savors, spokesman for the Ohio School Facilities Commission. “We want the widest bidding pool possible to try to get the best price.�
One way of getting a lower price was to release school districts from a state law that requires governments to pay unionscale wages, which the legislature did in 1997.
Because the Dayton area still has a sizeable union workforce, some of the companies that use those workers have found themselves underbid by out-of-town or out-of-state firms that use cheaper labor.
Donna J. Matheney, vice president of Joe Becks and Associates in Riverside, said since her female-owned company uses union workers, the wage rule waiver hurts them.
“It makes us very hard to be competitive,� she said.
Despite these obstacles, board members think they can take steps that would help.
The district spent two years crafting a policy that in 2003 set targets calling for 25 percent of construction spending to go to local companies and 35 percent to “disadvantaged� firms, including minority-owned and small companies.
Littlejohn said construction only began in earnest this year and just now the board has come to see the stark numbers.
“We need to find out what’s going on here,� she said. “We’re trying to provide opportunity.�
Hill said the district must step up efforts to connect local and minority companies with big companies, financing and services they need to help them bid. While it has done some of those things, clearly it has not been enough, he said.
“From top to bottom, there has to be leadership,� he said. “The message has to be that this is what we want, we’re serious about this and it’s our expectation.�
Mike Eckley is not sure how much the board can really do.
Eckley is vice president of Shook Construction, one of the few Dayton companies big enough to bid for the overarching “general trades� contracts that would put it in charge of hiring subcontractors on a school job.
The district would very much like to see Shook win a general trades contract, since Shook has relationships with many small and minority firms in the city.
But so far, Shook has not bid.
“A lot of it is timing,� Eckley said. “There are other jobs out there that are more attractive for us.�
The odds are better for Shook if it bids on private jobs which often are limited to just a few bidders, he said. Creating a bid package takes time and money, so when the company does bid for public work, it picks jobs selectively.
“It costs a lot of money to bid a job in overhead because you have to estimate everything,� he said. “If you bid jobs all time and don’t get them, you don’t make any money.�
Shook is a union-affiliated company paying union wages. Because school projects can pick companies that pay far less, that drives the price down and makes the profit margin for the winning bidder razor thin.
These realities make it clear extra effort is required by the school board to keep its construction money in the community, Washington said.
Take the new Wogaman Elementary School, he said. Quickly emerging in the form of steel beams and newly poured concrete on Germantown Street, the school is in Dayton’s predominately black Madden Hills neighborhood.
But just 8 percent of the $10 million to be spent on Wogaman will go to Dayton companies and 2 percent to minority or other disadvantaged firms.
To Washington, it’s wrong that the job site is filled with unfamiliar trucks and few, if any, workers with a connection to Madden Hills.
“When I drive by Wogaman and look out into that field, it tells me all I need to know,� he said.
Permalink | | Categories: Dayton Public Schools, My Favorite DDN Stories, School Construction
Too early for school?
I’ll be spending Monday covering the start of school in Dayton because the school board last year decided to try a “modifiedâ€? year-round schedule, pushing the start of school back three weeks from late August to early August.
Dayton’s calendar this year had a 10-week summer and will feature two-week breaks in the fall and spring. The more common year-round calendars have eight-week summers and three-week breaks. Traditional school calendars have 12-week summers, no fall break and a one-week spring break.
Dayton’s school board made it clear that it believed a year-round calendar would benefit its students by limiting the academic “backslidingâ€? in the summer and the review needed in the fall to catch kids up.
There was little parent reaction to the change in Dayton. Frankly, I expected more parents would oppose the plan simply because it will force them to adapt their own schedules. One of my jobs today will be to gauge how parents react now that the change is actually here and see if they bring their kids to school.
It seems, though, that earlier start dates are a national trend, and the New York Times reports that it has fueled a surprising backlash.
Most interesting in the story was the argument from academics who said there are no scientific studies proving kids gain academically from these extended calendars, one is even quoted saying “there is not a scrap of evidence that shows a year-round calendar improves achievement.”
Would you favor or oppose a year-round calendar for your kid’s school?
Permalink | Comments (8) | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
My purple imaginary friend
Computer scoring of student essays is the future of standardized testing. Human scoring is too expensive to sustain as the federal government and the states increasingly demand more student testing. Indiana already is experimenting with computer essay scoring for its state tests.
How reliable is the computer? Testing proponents say very reliable. I decided to put one of these scoring programs to the test last year in a series called “Flunking the Test,” which earned my colleague Mark Fisher and I the National Headliner Award for education reporting.
I wrote an essay filled with nonsense — a purple imaginary friend, beings from outer space, etc. — but containing just enough of the right vocabulary words and other attributes the computer looks for to earn a top score. Another essay I wrote trying to get a top score was graded lower.
Take a look and see for yourself how the computer did.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Flunking the Test, My Favorite Posts, Testing
Saving downtown
The Sunday edition of the Dayton Daily News had several stories about what it might take to breathe new life into the core city.
Most prominently featured was the Crossroads series, which contained stories about how important saving downtown Dayton will be to the region’s future prosperity and in particular, how to revive the downtown arcade, which has been rotting empty for more than a decade.
Coincidentally, the paper had two other stories that fit with this theme. Margo Rutledge Kissell and I wrote about how little money from Dayton’s school construction program is being spent on local companies and to employ local workers. Reviving the city schools would have to be a key part of any plan to improve the inner city. All new schools, which the $627 million program will provide, should be a huge step in that direction.
Then on the front of the Metro section, Ben Sutherly writes about Findlay and the strategies that city has used to improve its center city.
None of these stories were specifically coordinated to compliment each other, but it does make for a nice Sunday paper when things come together like this.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Journalism, School Construction
