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October 31, 2007
Apparently, SC schools are bad. But not really.
An important aspect of NCLB is "Adequate Yearly Progress." Schools are supposed to demonstrate that they are improving every year by having gains in test scores, especially among groups that are low performing. This is supposed to culminate with every school in every state becoming 100% proficient by 2014.
Well, no school district met AYP goals for 2006, as this article in the Herald shows.
If you read the article closely, the problems with NCLB that people have been complaining about for years are all apparent. Each state chooses their own set of tests. SC tests are generally recognized to be difficult, so it's no surprise no district met the benchmarks. Other states, with easier tests, do better.
Second, look at what the article says about Fort Mill -- a district that has lots of resources and high achievement. Even it did not meet AYP. Because districts must improve every year (in order to reach that unattainable 100%), one year where things are slightly down means the district fails. It could literally be the case that six kids in one school get the flu, do crappy on the tests because of it, and thus the entire school fails to meet AYP.
So the school fails to meet AYP? Big deal? Yes, because failure to meet AYP for a certain number of years leads to students being able to transfer out of that school. This isn't an option most students take (less than 2% is what I have heard). But we've already talked about what type of parents are most able to actualize choice scenarios like this -- families with more money and flexibility. Another consequence is the state could take over the school or mandate changes.
One of the thing that worries me from the article is Harriet Jaworowski's plans for curriculum mapping in Rock Hill. This is telling teachers what to teach and what days to teach it. Isn't autonomy supposed to be a requirement for a profession?
Posted by Nakia at 11:01 AM
Moon School Assignment (Final Project)
In case you missed it (or loose your copy), here's the moon school assignment:
Posted by Nakia at 10:53 AM
October 30, 2007
Service Learning Paper
Some folks are finishing up their service learning and may want to get started on their paper. Here are the guidelines:Service Learning Paper
Posted by Nakia at 06:11 PM
History PowerPoint
Remember to read both the Horace Mann piece and chapter 4 through page 137 for Thursday.
Here's the History powerpoint: History Powerpoint
Posted by Nakia at 06:06 PM
October 29, 2007
Reading for Tuesday, October 30th
I know all of you are out there wondering "Dr. Pope, what do I read for Tuesday? I want to read, I need to read for EDUC 110!". Well have no fear. For Tuesday, you should read "The Education of Free Men" by Horace Mann from the reader CD. Print out a copy and bring it to class with you.
And I know this is rather last minute, but the essay is only six pages, so don't worry.
Posted by Nakia at 12:16 PM
October 23, 2007
Exam Review
Here it is, the world famous Jeopardy exam review!
Download file
Posted by Nakia at 06:03 PM
October 18, 2007
NCLB: Local vs. Federal Control
This article from the McClatchy News Bureau brings up several key points about No Child Left Behind:
All students are required to be "proficient" in reading and math by 2014.
Individual states select both the tests used to measure proficiency and the scores on those tests that count as "proficient." SC, for example, selected some hard reading tests. So when our scores came back very low, we readjusted the scores that count as "proficient."
NCLB represents the largest entanglement of the federal government with public education. The two have traditionally been distant, with localities bearing the fiscal burden and administrative responsibility for public schools. The local control vs. federal involvement tension has been around since the beginning of public schools.
Some see the variation between states as a bad thing and are thus pushing for a national battery of tests. The argument that follows from that is that it does not make sense to have a national battery of tests unless you have a national curriculum.
It seems reasonable that any such curriculum would be essentialist in nature. Then there is the thorny problem of who gets to decide what every American child needs to know.
Posted by Nakia at 01:04 PM
October 17, 2007
Muddy Point: Metaphysics and Epistemology
A number of your muddy point cards indicated some confusion about the difference between metaphysics and epistemology. Well, you are in good company, because philosophers have been trying to figure that out for 3000 years! But for our purposes here, there are some ways to make the distinction clearer.
Metaphysics deals with the nature of reality. It asks questions like: is there one thing that everything (or everything that looks alike) common? Or do human beings(or other things) have something that stays constant despite the fact that we seem to be changing all the time? Is the "me" that teaches your class the same "me" that took philosophy classes 12 years ago or the same "me" that won an award in second grade for reading more books than anyone else? Metaphysics looks for essences -- the stuff that lies at the core of what something is. Many religious questions are metaphysical ones as well -- is there a god, if there is, what is god like, etc.
Epistemology deals with knowledge and truth. The principle question of epistemology is "How do I know something?" We may think that answer is obvious -- 'I know something because I can see it or because some one told it too me. But our senses are very unreliable. Other people are even more unreliable. Then, there are some stuff we say we know that don't depend on any sorts of sense whatsoever. Does seeing tell you that 2+2=4? Knowledge seems to depend on truth -- you can't know something that isn't true (you can believe it, but that's different), so epistemology asks questions about truth. What makes 7-2=5 true? Are there features of the world that make it true, in the same way that there are features of the world that make the sentence "The sky is blue" true? Or is it all just a matter of convention? Are things true just because we think they are?
Epistemology and metaphysics are related. There may be underling features of the world (we find out what they are by metaphysics) that make 7-5=2 true. So answering an epistemological question may require a metaphysical answer. And metaphysics may be impossible without epistemology. If there is an underling structure to the world, then how would we know it?
Both are important to education. We presumably want our students to be able to tell truth from falsity and hold beliefs for good reasons. Those are epistemological goals. And if there is an underlying structure to reality (be it spiritual, mathmatical, or whatever) then shouldn't schools be teaching students about that stuff instead of all the stuff that seems to be real and important?
Remember Plato's cave? He wants us to get out of the cave and into the sun. Education helps us figure out what is true and real. Those are epistemological and metaphysical goals.
Posted by Nakia at 03:41 PM
October 10, 2007
Ethics Powerpoint
Here's a very vanilla (I removed all the design elements so people could read it easier) Powerpoint for Thursday:
Posted by Nakia at 04:41 PM
October 08, 2007
Teachers and the Law Powerpoint
A handy powerpoint for chapter 8 can be found below:
Posted by Nakia at 01:59 PM
Thanks to the students, here's the article
The article on how SC's tests are harder than those of other states can be found here. Thanks to Amanda and Jamie for tracking it down.
Posted by Nakia at 01:56 PM
October 04, 2007
Two relevant No Child Left Behind stories
The first, here, is a NY Times Op-Ed piece by Diane Ravitch in which she pretty severely criticizes NCLB. Ravitich is best known as a conservative historian of education who also served in the U.S. Dept of Ed.
The second one is a bit more local. An AP article that ran in today's Rock Hill Herald reports that the tests SC uses to gage student proficiency are recognized as being more difficult that the tests used by many other states. That may partially account for why SC tends to have lower proficiency scores than many other states.
Edit: Despite the article about SC tests being on the FRONT PAGE of the Herald today, I can't seem to find it on their website, despite looking for 15 minutes. If you can find it, email me and let me know. 5 points in the "participation pool" portion of your grade for the first person that finds it and sends it to me.
Posted by Nakia at 03:02 PM
October 02, 2007
New school zoning in Rock Hill
Due to the addition of two new schools and some overcrowding, school attendance lines are being redrawn here in Rock Hill. Naturally, some parents are upset.
Here's the story from today's Herald.
Note a few of the worries: one parent complains that she will have to buy new clothes for her child because each middle school in the district has its own dress code. Should schools have a dress code? Should the code be unique to each school if so?
Another parent worries that his child won't be going to the same school as his friends and neighbors. A legitimate concern, but do schools have a duty to encourage diversity by bringing students together who don't live near each other and wouldn't otherwise interact?
Posted by Nakia at 08:57 AM
Readings for Thursday and Beyond
We should just about wrap up the philosophy of education section today, so we will move into the section on education law and ethics next (although why ethics isn't part of the philosophy chapter, I am not sure. I didn't write the book!).
The law and ethics section is highly interactive and I am sure we will have a lot to talk about. Here's my advice about how to tackle chapter 8:
Thursday: Skim pages 260-283. Pay special attention to the "Frame of Reference" sidebars -- they have good info. Try to figure out what YOU would do in each of those 18 situations and make a note of that.
Tuesday (9 October): Go back over pages 260-283, this time paying close attention to what the law says about those situations. Compare how your intuitions fared with the law. Give yourself a Rights Quotient (page 283). Also take a hard look at the criticial cases listed on pages 284-285. Those are very important.
Thursday (11 October): Read the rest of chapter 8 (286-293). We'll talk about whether or not schools should work to instill morals and/or values in students.
Posted by Nakia at 08:46 AM
October 01, 2007
Local newspaper article on poverty and education
Sunday's Herald had a decent article on poverty and it's effects on educational attainment, with a focus on the local, of course.
Socio-Economic Status is the single biggest predictor of educational success. The less money your family has, the less likely you are to do well in school.
Posted by Nakia at 11:31 AM