tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post3812523686817463268..comments2024-03-28T11:57:21.902-04:00Comments on CURMUDGUCATION: It's Not the Implementation, Stupid Peter Greenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16511193640285760299noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-20823553506569579562014-04-18T00:13:04.827-04:002014-04-18T00:13:04.827-04:00The problems in education reform in this country a...The problems in education reform in this country are so immense and so beyond our control as educators. I'm so tired of feeling like a pawn in this system. I love H.L. Mencken's quote, "The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all; it is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality." That's what happens with standardized testing when you link it to teachers' effectiveness ratings and to students' grades. Many times I have offered a creative idea to teach or enrich a standard only to be shot down by my peers because "that's not how they will be tested on this standard on the test." We are losing all motivation to think outside the box, and what is worse is that we are in jeopardy of losing our jobs if we color outside the narrow lines they have mandated. <br /><br />I'm so glad to see other teachers with blogs like this. I just started my own a few weeks ago! http://thebrantrant.blogspot.comMarlowehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13195204722437025741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-68101451020512688002014-04-17T22:07:07.622-04:002014-04-17T22:07:07.622-04:00But using PISA scores is in itself buying into the...But using PISA scores is in itself buying into the world-wide educational deform movement (or GERM, as Pasi Sahlberg has labeled it: http://pasisahlberg.com/text-test/) I'd steer clear of using international standardized test scores against the Common Core, lest they be turned against you five seconds later. <br /><br />Far better to step outside the entire institutional box of US public education, on my view. As long as you play within the rules that have helped get us into our current mess, you're unlikely to be making moves that get us to a better place. Michael Paul Goldenberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04939966966192318775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-12289317957597024162014-04-17T17:52:35.016-04:002014-04-17T17:52:35.016-04:00"This year we were all supposed to have-- by ..."This year we were all supposed to have-- by law--schools where 100% of the students were above average. The rollout of CCSS could not wait."<br /><br />Let's see how this goal compares to some of the top PISA scoring countries in the world that the US is often compared to.<br /><br />Finland: 54% graduate from high school on an academic track and 45% from vocational high schools. 25% of Finland's population has earned a college degree.<br /><br />Singapore: 66.6% have a high school diploma and 47% a college degree.<br /><br />China: 199 million students attend K-12 but only 15% earn a high school diploma and 11.6 (5.8%) million graduate from college.<br /><br />South Korea: The vast majority of South Korean youngsters graduate from high school, and of these, 82% go on to university. This is the highest rate in the OECD and, for a country which had an adult literacy rate of just 22% in 1945, it is an extraordinary achievement. With the high cost of tuition though—and a lack of decent jobs available for the vast numbers of graduates that the nation's universities churn out every year—many are now asking whether South Korea's education fetish has gone too far.<br /><br />http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2011/11/education-south-korea<br /><br />Japan: Even though upper-secondary school is not compulsory in Japan, as of 2005 94% of all junior high school graduates entered high schools and over 95% of students graduated successfully from them compared to 89% of Americans. About 46% of all high school graduates go on to university or junior college.<br /><br />Did anyone see 100% anywhere? If no other country demands this of their public schools---and on one ever has in the history of the world until Presidents G. W. Bush and Obama---then why is this happening in the United States?Lloyd Lofthousehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08828275232705892137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-73119092086157943892014-04-17T15:55:47.149-04:002014-04-17T15:55:47.149-04:00Anyone who thinks he is doing a good job with this...Anyone who thinks he is doing a good job with this must be Marquis de Sade!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-15288130362519091492014-04-17T14:33:35.125-04:002014-04-17T14:33:35.125-04:00Not possible to do a "good job" with rig...Not possible to do a "good job" with rigid, copyrighted, developmentally inappropriate standards tied to high stakes testing tied to teacher evaluation. Sorry, NH, not possible.teka21https://www.blogger.com/profile/01940482505192254008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-63420813801131599632014-04-17T14:05:05.149-04:002014-04-17T14:05:05.149-04:00"The implementation" is not a fallback p..."The implementation" is not a fallback position. It's the explanation for why CCSS is failing in NY and succeeding in states doing a good job, like NH.Bill Duncanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02155126711141152657noreply@blogger.com