Comments on: What Do We Have To Say For Ourselves?

By: Dina

Dina — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 22:58:15 +0000

Which half of the blogroll would that be, Dan?

:: smiles ::

By: Frank Krasicki

Frank Krasicki — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 20:26:30 +0000

The first sentence should have read: The system, public schools, and teachers have little or nothing to do with the *problem* unless they are surrounded by supplementary programs.

By: Frank Krasicki

Frank Krasicki — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 20:25:02 +0000

The system, public schools, and teachers have little or nothing to do with the sytem unless they are surrounded by supplementary programs.

Taken by themselves these so-called “gaps” exist and have been a well-known phenomenon for a long, long time.

Naep shows the same thing although the Naep reporters obfuscate the data.

see: http://region19.blogspot.com/2008/07/more-doctored-nclb-studies.html

By: Laura

Laura — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 16:40:42 +0000

from Grammarphobia.com: "R.I.P. It's time to admit that data has joined agenda, erotica, insignia, opera, and other technically plural Latin and Greek words that have become thoroughly Anglicized as singular nouns taking singular verbs. No plural form is necessary, and the old singular form, datum, can be left to the Romans. (Media, it seems, is going the same way, though it's not there yet. Ask again in a few years.)"

By: JasonB

JasonB — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:21:17 +0000

I’m currently reading Tony Wagner’s The Global Achievement Gap and his suggestion seems apropos here. Each of these assessment tools is imperfect in its measurement of student preparation for adulthood and productive citizenry. I wonder what would happen if we followed his suggestion and all took the NAEP or something like it and used that as a common baseline for all data. At least it would give us the opportunity to define success in common ways and enable school districts to share successful strategies in a more meaningful way than in the current hodge podge collection of disconnected assessments across state lines.

By: Claire Hertz

Claire Hertz — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 04:59:02 +0000

@Chris I couldn’t agree with you more on using a national leveled test. Our district is using the ACT series of tests for 8th – 11th grade which helps our students be college ready. Oregon has implemented the PSAT for all 10th graders across the state – again helping students ready themselves for college entry. I believe some students who may never think of themselves as college worthy will be given the opportunity to see that they are.

While state tests cannot be compared to one another – I still think we should pay attention to these two districts – Montgomery County and Atlanta as they’ve made a difference in many kids’ lives.

@Dan – thanks for having the courage to bring up a very uncomfortable subject. We need to continue working through the issue until we find the solutions.

By: dan

dan — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 04:38:58 +0000

Awright, not to protest too much or anything, but I sat there proofreading, pushing publish, fully aware of the error. I just don’t know at what point this becomes one of those “above par / below par” malapropisms where it’s just better to roll with common usage. Apologies, anyway.

By: Jon Becker

Jon Becker — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 04:19:30 +0000

All,
Can we at least agree that the word “data” is a plural noun? “Data are…” not “data is…”
“These data….” not “this data…”
Etc.

We probably won’t agree, but I can try…

By: JasonP

JasonP — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 04:13:10 +0000

@Dan: Yeah, it is discouraging. I find the way to deal with it is to ignore it when it emotionally bothers me, and just focus on helping the kid in front of me. I do my best to only read huge statistics near the end of the week. As teachers, we can’t get into this mentality that we have to fix all of the world’s problems because that’s what the graph is—a huge set of super–larger than your classroom/school/district problems. That one graph represents a multitude of social/educational issues that cause it. As teachers, we gotta just give the kids we got the best we can deliver. Otherwise, we’d go insane.

By: "C"

"C" — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 03:46:59 +0000

@Chris – In British Columbia we have a provincial test given to grades 4, 7, 10 each year. The results are then sent to each school and to the parents. At the school level the results are used to plan school wide literacy and numeracy yearly goals, classroom instruction etc… But then a wonderful think-tank, The Fraser Institute, gets a hold of these results and prints a list that rates schools against each other in the province which causes a flurry of Union backlash, parental letters to the editors…Beware what you wish for!

@Ben – our most notorious inner city school is a community service centre in its area and this has seemly proven helpful on a social level, but it hasn’t improved it much academically. Those “extras” you talked about are being put into place here too. Here it is for our Aboriginal students. We have had town-hall style meetings with Aboriginal parents and school board officials, and teachers. The District has hired an Aboriginal Principal and there is talk of an Aboriginal/Non-aboriginal dual-trac school or separate school. We also have Aboriginal curriculum. Too soon to say whether it is helping, but my concern is it may create the “them” and “us” mentality. Not exactly helping institutional racism. What’s the solution? Maybe just the courage to keep trying and adjusting as we work our way along this journey.
@Dan – I’m glad this data exists too. What if we focused on our little corner of the world and taught our best to our students making the most significant difference possible for them – is it possible bit by bit the achievement gap may close? Ah, maybe I’m still too idealistic. PS: I would have given that hypothetical student the “A” too! You made my entire day over that and my ADHD son thanks you too. Apologies for the length of this comment.