Changing Education in Colorado

The Denver Post reports on the changing nature of the economy and efforts by Colorado colleges to adapt to the needs of its students and the market. This seems to follow what I was reading in Wagner's Global Achievement Gap in terms of what the education system is doing to provide the guidance and skills needed in the twenty-first century. While I am a little suspicious of the 21st Century Skills movement in education, I don't deny the need to modify some of the approaches to education and credentialing. In fact, my recent posts and article in the Denver Post address that very need. There is much we can do to be more efficient and effective in actually preparing kids for what they want, and need, to do.

Re-inventing education

Having finished Tony Wagner's The Global Achievement Gap, I am intrigued by many of his ideas.  Though I was critical of what I felt were some generalizations and red herrings earlier, there is much to investigate.  Some of the areas in which Wagner asks valid questions are "testing," "reinventing the education profession," and "motivating today's students" (in different ways than motivating student years ago).  While I don't believe there are fundamental flaws with the system as a whole, I believe Wagner is right when he asks, "what does it mean to be an educated adult in the twenty-first century" and "how do we define rigor in the age of the information explosion" and "how do we create better assessments and accountability systems that give us the information we need."

In terms of testing, I have never been a vigorous critic of standardized testing, though I acknowledge its flaws.  There is such an arbitrary nature to the questions on the exams, especially in terms of content and vocabulary.  Without a standard national curriculum or even state curriculum with a set vocabulary list, there is a problematic component to reading assessment.  Even the AP exams - while they definitely identify academically committed and skilled students - don't necessarily identify clearly the "critical thinking skills" that Wagner proposes and communities and employers demand.

However, Wagner offers some intriguing information on the new Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) which is "an open-ended, ninety-minute performance assessment in which students have to demonstrate their reasoning, problem-solving, and writing skills while attempting to solve a real-world problem."  From the description of this test and system, it seems like a great development in assessment, and its components should become more standard even in the classroom.  It's worth more discussion.   What do you think?

Race to Nowhere

A new documentary film on the education system - focusing on its misplaced priorities and goals
- presents the following insight: "When success is defined by high grades, test scores, trophies - we know we end up with unprepared, disengaged, exhausted, and ultimately unhealthy kids."

The movie, by Reel Link Films, is called Race to Nowhere and it lays blame with all of us - parents, teachers, communities, government, and even the kids. It is a mantra that has been echoed in books such as Jean Twenge's Generation Me and Denise Clark Pope's Doing School. At the same time that some kids are incredibly deficient in school-related skills, others are merely exhausted with perfecting them.

Ultimately, the feeling from this film is something has to give.

Feeling Good About Conservatives

With the seemingly lemmings-off-a-cliff mentality driving the agenda-less GOP these days, it's tough to feel good about conservatism. As they seek to "re-brand" the party on the way to "returning to its ideals," it's just been tough to defend, or even look at, conservatives lately. Thankfully, we still have people like Kathleen Parker and David Brooks to remind us that there can be good, logical, practical, rational conservatism at work in the Republican Party. I've praised Brooks for educating people about "Burke-an conservatism," and I can always count on Parker to take the hot air out of conservative hot-button issues and offer a rational critique, as she does today with her piece on the comedienne Wanda Sykes' comments at the Correspondents dinner. Three cheers for common sense and pragmatism.

Too Many Charters in North Denver

In moves toward school reform, I tend to believe choices such as charter schools and open enrollment are the most feasible and effective ways to bring about change. Vouchers are a trickier issue, as evidenced by the spat in Washington, D.C. Critics of vouchers have reasonably argued that districts and communities should focus on fixing the existing schools, rather than transferring motivated students out and, obviously, "leaving some child behind." In North Denver, however, parents and voters are expressing skepticism of the charter movement, and like many public school supporters pushing the district to fix the neighborhood schools. According to the Denver Post:

Parents and community members in northwest Denver implored school district officials Tuesday to fix their neighborhood schools and were skeptical about a plan to add more charter schools. "Thirty-six percent of the schools are not neighborhood schools now," said Loralie Cole, whose daughter will enter Denver Public Schools next fall. "We have a lot of choice already."

It's an interesting discussion, and relevant to the story in the LA Times about the Green Dot charter schools and the organizers urging parents to call for a revolution. Joanne featured this story with a link to the Times piece. One of the more insightful comments on this issue came form a parent in North Denver:

"New schools and charters are a great choice," said Ricardo Martinez, co-director of Padres y Jovenes Unidos, a community advocacy group. "But we want that kind of excellence at all of our schools. "
"Parents are urged to demand more from ... schools," reports the Times. That says a mouthful, doesn't it.

Problems with Charter Results

David Brooks recent praise of the "Harlem Miracle" is drawing some criticism. Apparently, some think the success of Geoffery Canada's Harlem Children's Zone and Promise Academy is not as impressive as Brooks claims, or at least the scores on standardized tests aren't. Joanne's site has some critical comments like this one from Aaron Pallas on the Gotham School:

http://gothamschools.org/2009/05/08/just-how-gullible-is-david-brooks/

There is also some excellent, and extensive analysis and comments from Corey at Thoughts on Education Policy:

http://www.edpolicythoughts.com/2009/05/sunday-commentary-sale-on-snake-oil-at.html#links

My feelings on charters generally fall in the "whatever works" category, though it appears the judgment of that is equally complex. If Brooks' piece manages to generate some discussion, and it can move at the policy level beyond the soundbites accurately criticized by Corey, then we may be getting somewhere.

Reforming College Expectations

As I've noted before, I am intrigued by the plans for New Hampshire to move to a curriculum that allows graduation at sixteen for students entering associate degree and trade schools, as well as a more rigorous AP/IB-style schedule for students who stay for junior and senior year before applying to four-year colleges. To that end, I wrote a piece of op-ed commentary which was featured as the cover piece for the Denver Post's Sunday Perspective section yesterday.

Strong Schools equal Success

For a long time, the general consensus has been that the number one predictor of academic success was socio-economic success. There were many reasons this was an accepted standard: all the other factors tended to be stronger up the income ladder - higher earning families could provide more parental support with more assistance from generally two college-educated parents who could afford to live near and send their kids to the best schools. However, the success in certain charter school movements is turning much of that logic on its ear, and this is spotlighted this week by David Brooks of the New York Times.

Brooks praises the rather astounding turnaround for students attending Harlem's Children Zone schools like the Promise Academy. These are the brainchild of Geoffery Canada, a man committed to education reform, and one who refuses to accept the conventional wisdom. I saw him several years ago, and I was amazed by his program. Now that he's getting more press, I hope the reality of his success will spread. As Brooks notes:

The approach works. Ever since welfare reform, we have had success with intrusive government programs that combine paternalistic leadership, sufficient funding and a ferocious commitment to traditional, middle-class values. We may have found a remedy for the achievement gap. Which city is going to take up the challenge? Omaha? Chicago? Yours?

NAEP and Comparing Schools

Now that NAEP and state scores are being released, the inevitable comparisons and ranting about the decline of America has begin. While I am in no way saying we are living in Lake Wobegon, focusing on the scores of American high school seniors in NAEP assessments is problematic at best. These tests, like the international TMSS, are completely voluntary, as students are asked to miss class time to take a test that will have no effect on their grades. Often, as my students have noted, the most motivated American students are unwilling to miss class time to participate, and they won't put the extra effort in to a test that means nothing. When students are asked to voluntarily take a zero-stakes test, there must be a consideration for the dubious quality of the results. In many districts nationwide, state test scores have gone down as ACT/SAT/PSAT/AP/IB exam scores have increased. Slate Magazine has an effective commentary on this:

http://www.slate.com/id/2124163/

The comparison to Asian schools is another problem, as it completely discounts cultural differences that lead to a widely different educational environment. The issue of school discipline alone - expectations of students and authority of school personnel to deal effectively with problems - makes a direct comparison nearly impossible and, again, disingenuous. Having lived and taught English in Taiwan for five years, I can assert that the environments simply do not translate. I can picture classrooms of 80-100 students who are sitting still in their chairs and vigorously writing down everything the teacher says, nearly word for word, as the teacher stands with a microphone and reads out of a book. Any disciplinary problem is dealt with immediately and harshly, and disruptive students do not have a “property right” to stay in the classroom. In fact, any non-academically motivated students are eliminated from the school by sixteen at the latest. Thus, their scores do not skew the NAEP and international test results, as they can in the U.S.

Additionally, people who haven't lived in Asia have no understanding of just how vast the cultural differences are and how deeply that can affect school culture and test scores. On the day that junior high school students in South Korea take high school entrance exams, the country shuts down air traffic for a half hour so the testing students can have absolute quiet during the oral part of the English exam. They hold national celebrations in Korea on the day their students take the international tests to promote national pride. Students in Taiwan who don’t test into a college-bound junior high school effectively eliminate their option of college at the age of twelve. Schools in Japan lock their gates at the start of school, and several years ago a high school student who was a few seconds late was crushed to death by the gate that is controlled by a timer. Students in Taiwan leave school at four and go to English and Math/Science cram schools from sometimes six to ten o’clock at night three or four days of week so they get the opportunity to go to an academic high school.

Clearly, there is an ocean (no pun intended) between academic expectations in the different countries. Putting emphasis on an international test that American kids don’t even know what it is and are told makes no difference to their grades or status is not telling the whole story. There is also no causation between high NAEP and international test scores and actual marketplace performance. Great test scores don't necessarily equal great doctors, engineers, teachers, etc. Thus, this data needs to be viewed with a interested, but skeptical eye.

Global Achievement Comparisons

As I've noted before, it is difficult to justify comparing the education systems of different countries because there are countless variables and intangibles that cannot be contrasted to any truly evaluative conclusion. For example, in the beginning of Wagner's Global Achievement Gap, he notes various statistics designed to show how poorly America is doing. For example, he points out that the US high school graduation of rate of 70% trails many countries, such as Denmark which graduates 96%. However, countries such as Denmark only have compulsory education until the age of sixteen. The US allows dropouts at sixteen but graduation is generally two years later. Thus, if the US switched graduation to sixteen, the rate may be as high as others. He argues "only 1/3 of US high school students graduate ready for college," yet the percentage of the population holding bachelors degrees is about 30%, so perhaps that is all that is necessary, or all that the market will bare. Clearly, Wagner is using statistics in absence of any truly meaningful context.

Later, he attempts to provide context by citing a conversation with Christy Pedra, the CEO of Siemens Hearing Instruments. Pedra argues that "questioning techniques" are a major component of her success in her job. She criticizes the public education of her kids - at a top school in Massachusetts - because "They're spending too much time getting kids ready to take [state tests]. And they're measuring the wrong things." Pedra believes that training students to become scientists is about the ability to explore and asking the right questions. She believes it's not about "how much they can retain." However, that's only half the issue. It's about both retention of core knowledge, and using that knowledge to ask even more, or even better, questions. This has been well documented, and blogged about, by Dan Willingham whose book Why Don't Students Like School offers insight into the importance of knowledge prior to and as a component of learning . Willingham's research in cognitive science explains how important "how much they can retain" is in the brain accessing new information.

Clearly, Pedra and Wagner have an understanding that ignores much we know about learning and education. Pedra criticizes the education of her kids, yet I assume a similar education allowed her to rise to the level of CEO. Somewhere, despite standardized testing, she learned to apply those questioning techniques integral to her job. Additionally, I would assume she wants her children to be well prepared for the ACT/SAT which are the gateways to college whether she likes the focus on skills and knowledge or not. Pedra and Wagner make good points, though their primary focus is too narrow and removed from the larger school of cognitive science and learning.

Global Achievement Gap

As I continue to read blogs and encounter discussion, comparing public education in the U.S. and the rest of the world, I recently picked up Tony Wagner's book on the issue, The Global Achievement Gap. While I am only a chapter in, and I concur with Wagner on some assertions, I am still frustrated by the blanket comparisons of separate school systems, especially when they are focused on issues such as international standardized test rankings and graduation rates. Both of these issues are arbitrary in many ways, as well as myopic at best in terms of true evaluation.

One of Wagner's early references that gave me pause was to Thomas Friedman's work in The World is Flat. Friedman has regularly noted in books and columns how America is "falling behind," and he warns that U.S. students will face increasing competition in the "global community." The problem is Friedman, and by reference Wagner, often asserts that the math skills of foreign students give them an advantage as American companies offshore accounting and engineering jobs to countries such as India and China. This is a deceptive claim, as both authors ignore the fact that companies offshore this work, not because the foreign workers are better, but because they are cheaper. Thus, the "crisis" that is discussed in many blogs about students' use of calculators implies that the lack of skills will cost American workers their jobs. The reality might be much simpler - a matter of cost, not talent.

This sort of assertion, which is bought by many commentators and politicians outside of the classroom, does a huge disservice to discussions about education reform.

Tea Party Silliness

As thousands of people across the country hit the streets (apparently with no jobs to distract them) to protest taxes, columnist Debra Saunders offered insight into the odd appropriation of the "Boston Tea Party" allusion. As she clearly noted:

There is a world of difference between 1773 and 2009. Two hundred-plus years ago, Americans risked life and limb protesting a distant and oligarchic system of government that did not represent the good people of Massachusetts.

No doubt many who show up at the Tea Day rallies will argue that they didn't vote for Obama and should not have to pay for his programs. I have news for you folks: Conservatives lost. American voters elected a big spender and, one way or another, Americans will have to pay for his agenda. The Obama tax hikes on Americans earning more than $250,000 have yet to materialize — but when they do, they'll be taxation with representation, a campaign pledge made good.

Even though both Saunders and I disagree with much of Obama's policies, there is something unseemly, even absurd, about current objectors aligning themselves with patriots who risked their lives to achieve representation and the right to protest.

We currently have representative government - thus there is no connection to the Boston Tea Party.