California Using New Standardized Test On Computers

 

The Los Angeles Times (5/12, Blume) reports in depth on technical issues which plagued the testing of the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, the electronic standardized test which was used for the first time this year but will not be used to evaluate students and teachers. The Times also details some of the newer aspects of the test, including questions with more than one answer, some with audio clips, and other attributes. The article highlights comments from some students, some of whom expressed being overwhelmed by the new tests, and educators, who questioned whether the test accurately tested the children’s knowledge.

Concerns Remain Over Shift Toward Technology In Classrooms

 

In its “Room for Debate” section, The New York Times (5/12, Subscription Publication) features a discussion among several contributors who present their opinions on whether elementary school curriculum should include “coding” as concerns persist “that creative thinking and other important social and creative skills could be compromised by a growing focus on technology, particularly among younger students.”

School Design Said To Affect Students, But Not As Much As Culture

 

James Marshall Crotty writes on Forbes (5/9) that classroom design hasn’t changed much in the last century, even as students have been affected by social, cultural, and technological changes. Crotty describes schools that use “flexible and collaborative spaces that double as interactive teaching tools” and allow students to interact with surroundings designed to help with their learning. These schools often involve environmentally friendly, energy efficient, sustainable design. Crotty notes that a University of Salford, UK study found that “a school’s design can affect test scores by as much as 25 percent.” However, many foreign nations produce excellent students with mediocre school infrastructure. Crotty concludes, “it’s a culture’s support and desire for learning that is the ultimate arbiter of student succes [sic],” so issues of school design aren’t important “until we get parents and students to grasp the importance of daily, rigorous, focused study.”

Blogger: Faceless Nature Of Social Media Points To Need To Address Causes Of Bullying

 

In a blog entry for The Nation (5/9) website, New York City-based Stuyvesant High School junior and member of the Anti Bullying Leadership Network Kumaran Chanthrakumar addressed “the combination of social media and bullying that ends in tragedy.” Chanthrakumar said that because social media has allowed bullying to “bypass and escape parents and school officials,” it has become “essential that middle school and high school officials work with student leaders in their respective schools to understand the causes of bullying, how it spreads through social media, and how to find solutions so that the victims of bullying and even the bullies themselves can have a more enjoyable school experience, leading to happier and more productive lives.”

States Keeping Common Core, Backing Away From Tests

 

Education Week (5/7, Ujifusa) reports that though most Common Core states appear to be “sticking with” the standards, “political pressure is fragmenting the environment for tests aligned with” them and the two consortia producing them. The article relates statistics showing the declining number of states associated with the consortia, noting that some states, such as Tennessee, “appear to be willing to sacrifice the tests to keep the standards themselves.”

Failure Considered More Instructive Than Success In Classroom

 

In a commentary piece, in the Chronicle of Higher Education (5/6, Sobel), Anne Sobel, a lecturer in residence in the communication program at Northwestern University in Qatar, details how “failure in the classroom is more instructive than success.” Sobel outlines ways educators can give “students permission to fail while maintaining a high standard in the classroom.”

California Calls For School Districts To Provide Graduation Attire At No Cost

For the first time, California “has called on school districts to provide graduation attire at no cost to students or their families if required during the diploma ceremony,” the Sacramento (CA) Bee (5/5, Kalb) reports. The move “stems from a new California law, which took effect last year and strengthened a prohibition on charging fees for integral parts of public education.” Although “the Elk Grove Unified School District was among the earliest in Sacramento to embrace the state’s graduation missive,” some large districts in the region “did not know about the state Department of Education policy on caps and gowns.”

Dvorsky: We Need To Address Both Innumeracy And Math Anxiety In US

 

George Dvorsky writes in his io9 (5/1) column on the “growing problem of innumeracy,” and that “mathematics causes the most stress and trepidation” of all academic subjects. Dvorsky outlines the growing role of numeracy in the modern economy, writing that “it has a pronounced influence on our fiscal choices, literacy, and even perceptions of risk as it pertains to health...reduced susceptibility to framing effects ...and a greater awareness of risks that have a numerical component.” He also quotes Atif Kukaswadia, who says that “now more than ever the ability to critically evaluate information presented to us to draw our own conclusions” is critical. After discussing numeracy and the economy, Dvorsky shifts to considering math phobia, arguing that “the culture surrounding math has got to change, but we also need to be aware of the anxiety that math can produce.” Dvorsky concludes by calling for “teaching relevant problems that will lead students to appreciate how a mathematical formula models and clarifies real-world situations.”

Study Shows Girls Generally Receive Higher Grades Than Boys

 

The Voice of America (4/30, Hilburn) reports that a new study of academic performance in over 30 countries and covering almost 100 years shows “girls do better than boys in math and science as well as other subjects.” Co-author Daniel Voyer, PhD, of the University of New Brunswick, said that “School marks reflect learning in the larger social context...whereas standardized tests assess basic or specialized academic abilities and aptitudes at one point in time without social influences.” Co-author Susan Voyer, MASc, added, “The fact that females generally perform better than their male counterparts ...seems to be a well-kept secret, considering how little attention it has received as a global phenomenon.” The authors note that girls “tend to study in order to understand the materials, whereas boys emphasize performance, which indicates a focus on the final grades.” Daniel Voyer said the study “might get people to look outside the classroom for solutions to the underachievement in boys.”

Teenagers Overseas Take Fewer Tests, But Stakes Are Higher

NPR (4/30, Turner) reports that while American students take a lot of tests, their overseas counterparts’ exams have much higher stakes. Dylan Wiliam, a professor emeritus of educational assessment at the University of London, notes that “at the age of 16, almost every child in England will take probably about 15 or 20 substantial examinations,” which determine if they complete high school, adding that the exams also “determine which universities you’re offered places at.” Finland has one standardized exam at the end of high school that involves almost 40 hours of testing. Pasi Sahlberg, a visiting professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, commented on the test, “unless you do very well with this one examination...some of these dreams that you may have...will become very difficult to fulfill.” In Japan, universities have their own entrance examinations, as do high schools. Williams noted that, internationally, teacher input has little effect on college admissions: “Basically, it’s how well you do on those exams.”

Special Needs Inclusion Slow To Spread

NPR’s All Things Considered (4/28) broadcast a segment on the push for more classroom integration of students with special needs, noting that “even champions of an inclusive model can have difficulty balancing students’ varying needs.” The piece focuses on the slow adoption of the practice and the challenges educators face in blending learning styles.

US, Singapore Take Alternate Approaches To Education Technology

NBC News (4/28) reports on the differences between how US schools and schools in Singapore approach education technology, noting that “in Singapore, digital devices are increasingly viewed as a means to bring students together in collaboration, rather than separate them further.” The article contrasts this with the US, where students often use laptops or tablets “in isolation, powering through interactive worksheets and online quizzes.”

Common Core’s Focus On Nonfiction Text Raises Concerns

The Baltimore Sun (4/28, Bowie) reports that one facet of the debate over the Common Core is the increased focus on “reading nonfiction,” noting that some critics argue that this would “lead to a reduction in students’ exposure to great literature.” The piece reports, however, that the National Council of English Teachers says that “the switch doesn’t mean reading good fiction in English classes will be diminished.”

Study: US Teens Less Likely To Engage In Bullying

HealthDay (4/25, Mozes) reports that according to a study published online April 17 in the American Journal of Public Health, US adolescents “are much less likely to engage in bullying than they were a decade ago.” After surveying middle and high school students between the years 1998 and 2010, researchers found that “instances of both verbal and physical bullying dropped by roughly half, with much of the decline seen specifically among boys.” The study’s author, Jessamyn Perlus, “a fellow in the division of intramural population health research with the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development,” part of the US National Institutes of Health, “described her team’s findings as ‘encouraging.’”

Fewer Schools Teaching Cursive

PBS (4/25) reports that “many elementary schools...have dropped cursive instruction altogether as increased testing, the implementation of Common Core State Standards and computers in the classroom take more time and resources.” A total of 45 states and the District of Columbia adopted the English Language Arts standards outlined in the Common Core, but several states including California Idaho, Kansas, Massachusetts, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee have mandated cursive instruction. Marilyn Zecher, a former teacher and certified academic language therapist , related a conversation she had with a bank manager, who said that “there is an appalling number of high school students transitioning to college ...[who] don’t have a signature...That’s a problem.” Steve Graham, a Professor of Education at Arizona State University, said “We now have electronic signatures. We don’t use the signature in the same way that we did 20, 30, 50, 100 years ago.” The article concludes by noting that there are still “devotees who slowly and methodically create beautiful characters.”

Panel Discusses Common Core Backlash

US News & World Report (4/24) reports that Massachusetts Commissioner Mitchell Chester and Council of Chief State School Officers Executive Director Chris Minnich took part in a US News “STEM Solutions Conference” this week “to discuss the political backlash growing in many states, and how the implementation of Common Core will play out moving forward.” Both participants “acknowledged there have been challenges stemming from the growing opposition,” but expressed confidence that “the standards will move forward and prove beneficial to students and teachers.”

New SAT Part Of Shift Toward Testing Achievement Instead Of Aptitude

The Washington Post (4/22, Anderson) reports that that the new SAT is part of a “long move away from testing for aptitude as the College Board seeks to tie the exam more closely to what students learn in the classroom.” Cyndie Schmeiser, the College Board’s chief of assessment, commented that “the College Board has moved toward achievement testing in response to the need for better information about student readiness.” Jeremiah Quinlan, Yale University’s dean of undergraduate admissions and an adviser to college board, said “this test could be even more predictive of success in college than it has been in the past.” Bob Schaeffer, a spokesman for the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, criticized the new test, stating that “SAT scores will remain a better measure of family income than of college readiness.” In an opposite opinion, Stuart Schmill, dean of admissions for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said the new focus “made sense,” as it measures what students “should be” learning in high school.

New Technology Seen As Essential To Teaching Old Subjects

In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal (4/22, Subscription Publication), former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who serves as chairwoman of iCivics Inc., and Jeff Curley, its executive director, cite the College Board’s decision to have every student who takes the SAT read a passage from America’s founding documents or the world debate they inspired. They also note the announcement that the College Board and the nonprofit digital education platform Khan Academy will partner to provide “free, world-class test prep” for the new SAT. In discussing these developments, the authors note a paradox in education in which teaching the old subjects is as important as ever, but also in which new methods may be required to fully prepare students for the future. They argue that old methods of preparation such as flashcards and memorization are no longer sufficient, and digital technology is essential to providing students with the tools they need to understand the material.