tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post923799649814801545..comments2024-03-27T08:53:29.267-04:00Comments on CURMUDGUCATION: Reformsters Discover Air, Water, but not FoodPeter Greenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16511193640285760299noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-27744265214145622022015-07-16T02:06:39.647-04:002015-07-16T02:06:39.647-04:00Aldeman says accountability systems should "r...Aldeman says accountability systems should "reflect what society values, not what's easiest to measure", but doesn't that mean we have to determine what society actually values before we can set up an accountability system? And what exactly does "society" mean? Parents? Students? Corporations? I'll go with parents and students.<br /><br />Besides talking about being ready for college or a career, Aldeman mentions "soft skills that are essential to success in life," which for him are "perseverance, grit, and higher order thinking skills." To measure higher order thinking skills, he suggests placement into and passing rates on AP tests and career/technical programs and certifications, but he has no suggestion for measuring grit or perseverance. Rather than grit or perseverance (I want to scream every time I see the word "grit"), I would suggest focusing on what they call the "non-cognitive" skills: emotional and social skills. Of course, they're hard to measure.<br /><br />Aldeman says student surveys on "engagement" and safety have been shown to predict student learning growth, which I think is more than what can be said about a lot of other things in his system, so I would certainly weight them more than 5%. And certainly it would be good to figure out how to better align K-12 with post-secondary, and also to fund career-technical programs and make sure there are, as Bernie Sanders says, "effective, attainable pathways for young people to pursue middle class careers." <br /><br />By all means, collect data. But data only tell you where the problems lie, not why they exist or how to solve them. Collect data, but don't put them in a stupid algorithm to rank anything. Closing schools, firing teachers and hiring new ones isn't going to change a thing if you still don't know the whys and hows, and data and algorithms won't tell you. Figuring out why the problem exists so you can figure out specifically what might work to solve it is a lot harder than collecting data, but can certainly be done if we actually try to do it instead of stopping at data collection. Aldeman thinks schools just need "incentives," stupid sticks and carrots, to solve problems. No, they don't. The problem isn't motivation. The problem is figuring out what works.<br />Rebecca deCocahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13168718846105012814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-19151038926956357792015-07-14T15:50:08.549-04:002015-07-14T15:50:08.549-04:00I do not think that nearly enough attention is pai...I do not think that nearly enough attention is paid to the number of students who are over zealous in their leisure activities when they first leave for college. I attended college in the 80s, a school that was considered a good commuter college. There were many students starting in the second year because of problems with living in a dorm. And, there were many students that did not stay passed the first or second year because of partying, or the need to work. College is not for everyone and education reform will not change that.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-10604895550138866592015-07-14T10:07:01.888-04:002015-07-14T10:07:01.888-04:00I can help a little with the story of Chris.
At m...I can help a little with the story of Chris.<br /><br />At my institution, about 20 out of every 100 first year students will not return for their second year. Of those 20 who leave, 13 were asked to leave by the University because of poor academic performance. All 13 were judged by their high schools to be adequately prepared for my institution (there is automatic admission for any student with an average high school GPA of 2.0 across a set of academic classes and the state high schools are well aware of that), but it may be that the students were not actually prepared academically, it may be that the students were not able to deal with the temptations from living away from home, or it may be that the students were not able to both work to pay tuition (in state it is about $4,500 a semester) and keep up with classes. Some of those students will return after they show evidence of improved academic performance, typically by successfully taking classes a community college.<br /><br />The remaining 7 who leave are in good academic standing when they leave. They might have left because the costs became unmanageable or they might have left because they transferred to another college or university. They might decide that they don't want to go to college after all. <br /><br />No one has any idea about what happens to those 20 students, but there are efforts now to try and find out how many of them eventually get a college degree or not after leaving the first institution they attend.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com