Valiant, Etc.

“Standards!” “Accountability!” “Raise the bar!” “Rigor!” “No excuses!”

The slogans and catchwords of would-be school reformers are exploited by politicians, broadcast by radio talk-show hosts, plastered on car bumpers, underlined by newspaper editorialists, elaborated in the popular press, and taken seriously by much of the general public.

They’re also favorite themes of those leaders of business and industry who, in the1980s, began to elbow professional educators aside and work through Congress to take over education reform. There’s little or nothing wrong with American education, these leaders are certain, which can’t be made right by tightening institutional screws. (Read on …)

The Register reports that the Microsoft Annual Subscription Licensing scheme for schools requires the purchase of Microsoft licenses for all computers at a school — regardless of whether or not the computers can even run Windows! Microsoft explains that they must have an “institutional commitment.” Please read the article here and also take a look at an alternative to the Microsoft yoke.

Michael Williams, Network Technology Director of Haywood County Schools is says:

“With the money we saved from not buying proprietary licenses, the school district purchased additional resources that directly effected the learning experience of our students and brought us into the 21st century.”

It was a warm summer day in 1951. The car was a 1938 Chevy and the road was the worst in our area. Seven miles of gravel with hairpin turns, no guardrail and a long way down. Alton said, “You drive.” It was my first time behind the wheel.

(Read on …)

Far from “raising the bar” as advocates like to claim, the federal push for accountability through high-stakes testing is leading to a narrowing of the curriculum, lowering of student motivation, increasing dropouts, and virtually no evidence of improvement (and some evidence of decline) on such national measures as the NAEP, SAT and ACT (See the February 2003 issue of Educational Leadership). Leading education scholars continue to raise questions about the rush to control curriculum at the federal and state levels but legislators, governors, presidents and others push forward. It is time to speak out with a united voice against government control of school programs.

Join us here to discuss the issue and to develop ideas to turn this around. Please add your comments!

Is There Any Longitudinal Effect of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) on Student Achievement? That’s the question asked in a recent study by Dr. Donald Orlich of the Science Mathematics Engineering Education Center at Washington State University.

Dr. Orlich states:

An accountability conundrum has emerged due to the passage of the “No Child Left Behind Act of 2001″ in January 2002. States are now forced by federal law to show student adequate yearly progress targets, which will be met through high-stakes testing.

But the study conducted by Dr. Orlich calls to question the effectiveness and cost of the WASL in increasing the achievement of students in Washington. Read an on-line version of the study here

Everyone living in the world today is bombarded with messages regarding what to buy, whom to believe, how to behave, etc. These messages come from advertisers, politicians, friends, and the media but they all have something in common. They contain information that may, or may not, be factual. Whether the signal is from a clearly partisan source or from a self-anointed “no-spin zone”, let the receiver beware.
(Read on …)

A RECENT REPORT INDICATES THAT SCIENCE INSTRUCTION IN CALIFORNIA IS WOEFULLY INADEQUATE

I am sorry to report that in the dozens of Oregon schools I have visited in the past four years, the actual teaching of science in grades K-5 is not a lot different from that reported in California. Grades K-2 rarely reported any regular science instruction at all. The norm in grades 3-5 was two 1/2-hour sessions per week (alternating with social studies). The nature of the curriculum was almost universally fact-oriented content while instruction was primarily reading from texts.
(Read on …)