Why Finland’s schools are great (by doing what we don’t).
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Why Finland’s schools are great (by doing what we don’t).
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Re: Why Finland’s schools are great (by doing what we don’t).
#2This article contrasts well with the failure of No Child Left Behind in the U.S. That program has failed to deliver any statistically significant impact on the skills and knowledge of students. What is has done is pushed teachers towards teaching the test rather than teaching critical thinking.
Standardized tests are multiple-choice questions and don't leave room for critical thinking, or help demonstration how a child reached a certain conclusion.
The Finnish method of empowering teachers through education and training to allow them to teach and help their particular students seems to be a much better way to help individual students succeed as opposed to trying to stick everyone in a box defined by an academic or bureaucrat.
Re: Why Finland’s schools are great (by doing what we don’t).
#3Here is my worthless .02c:
One sure way to know you have failed at managing a process is when you measure employee performance by their adherence to rules rather than their record on delivering results.
NCLB is all about rules...
... as are most US institutions, public and private....
It isn't that rules and standardized processes don't have their place, but (1) if rules have to be enforced regularly, you have totally f'ed your incentive structure and (2) if you build "standardized processes" the right way, employees "naturally" follow (and contribute to) them because they are the best way to deliver results (see above), not because some hardass is enforcing them.
So, we should reward teachers who have good results, collectively and continuously make their best processes into standards, and punish the teachers with bad results (by which I mean fire them, and eliminate tenure, at least in the extreme).
Not so easy to do, but I think we need to get away from more and more rules, while never rewarding individual results.
Re: Why Finland’s schools are great (by doing what we don’t).
#4From TNR:
Today, teaching is such a desirable profession that only one in ten applicants to the country’s eight master’s programs in education is accepted. In the United States, on the other hand, college graduates may become teachers without earning a master’s. What’s more, Finnish teachers earn very competitive salaries: High school teachers with 15 years of experience make 102 percent of what their fellow university graduates do. In the United States, by contrast, they earn just 65 percent.
-- http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/82329/education-reform-F...
Re: Why Finland’s schools are great (by doing what we don’t).
#5Perhaps "they did not understand the idea of 'merit pay'" because many of the teachers in Finland are of a different breed than many of the people who end up teaching in the US:
"McKinsey's work with school systems in more than 50 countries suggests this is an important gap in the U.S. debate, because the world's top performing school systems--Singapore, Finland, South Korea--make a different choice. They recruit, develop and retain what this report will call 'top third+' students as one of their central education strategies, and they've acheived extraordinary results. These systems recruit 100% of their teacher corops from the top third of the academic cohort, and then screen for other important qualities as well. In the U.S., by contrast, 23% of new teachers come from the top third, and just 14% in high poverty schools, which find it especially difficult to attract and retain talented teachers. It is remarkably large difference in approach, and in results." [1]
Taking this into account, it's silly to argue that since they have tenure, too, tenure isn't the problem here. They already have the right people teaching. We need to fire many of the people who are currently teaching.
Also, the U.S. spends a higher percent of GDP on education, so blaming spending seems odd. [2]
Finally, I'm really sick of the way Diane Ravitch constantly slams Teach For America. The U.S. needs better people teaching. TFA makes some of those people think about teaching. It's getting teaching in the same ballpark of prestige as consulting, banking, law school, medical school, etc for students coming out of top colleges. Nothing else comes close to doing that on the same scale. Even if it is true that TFA teachers aren't noticeably better in years 1-2 than a typical experienced teacher (and I don't believe that is the case), it's still a great program.
[1] http://www.mckinseyonsociety.com/downloads/reports/Education...
[2] http://www.mckinseyonsociety.com/downloads/reports/Education...
Re: Why Finland’s schools are great (by doing what we don’t).
#6From TNR: Today, teaching is such a desirable profession that only one in ten applicants to the country’s eight master’s programs in education is accepted. In the United States, on the other hand, college graduates may become teachers without earning a master’s. What’s more, Finnish teachers earn very competitive salaries: High school teachers with 15 years of experience make 102 percent of what their fellow universi…
Gaining a master's degree doesn't automatically make you a better teacher. I'd much rather be assured that a teacher has other basic abilities (e.g. good communication skills, patience, fairness, organization skills, and even some creativity).
Re: Why Finland’s schools are great (by doing what we don’t).
#7From TNR: Today, teaching is such a desirable profession that only one in ten applicants to the country’s eight master’s programs in education is accepted. In the United States, on the other hand, college graduates may become teachers without earning a master’s. What’s more, Finnish teachers earn very competitive salaries: High school teachers with 15 years of experience make 102 percent of what their fellow universi…
Gaining a master's degree doesn't automatically make you a better teacher. I'd much rather be assured that a teacher has other basic abilities (e.g. good communication skills, patience, fairness, organization skills, and even some creativity).
no, but its a good way to gate on intelligence
Re: Why Finland’s schools are great (by doing what we don’t).
#8Finland's schools are great because they are full of Finns, in the same way that schools with many Finns in the US do very well.
Hong Kong and Singapore's schools are great because they are full of Chinese, in the same way that schools with many Chinese in the US do very well, even in poor neighborhoods:
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jul/16/local/me-lincoln16
To begin with, the eight students agreed on a few
generalities: Latino and Asian students came mostly from
poor and working-class families.
According to a study of census data, 84% of the Asian and
Latino families in the neighborhoods around Lincoln High
have median annual household incomes below $50,000. And
yet the Science Bowl team is 90% Asian, as is the Academic
Decathlon team.
Re: Why Finland’s schools are great (by doing what we don’t).
#9Perhaps "they did not understand the idea of 'merit pay'" because many of the teachers in Finland are of a different breed than many of the people who end up teaching in the US: "McKinsey's work with school systems in more than 50 countries suggests this is an important gap in the U.S. debate, because the world's top performing school systems--Singapore, Finland, South Korea--make a different choice. They recruit, de…
I would think that people in Singapore and South Korea considers education very important and thus students in these countries try very hard to get really good grade.
Re: Why Finland’s schools are great (by doing what we don’t).
#10Finland's schools are great because they are full of Finns, in the same way that schools with many Finns in the US do very well. Hong Kong and Singapore's schools are great because they are full of Chinese, in the same way that schools with many Chinese in the US do very well, even in poor neighborhoods: http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jul/16/local/me-lincoln16 To begin with, the eight students agreed on a few gener…
This article does consider that though:
They insist that Finland cannot serve as a model because it
lacks racial diversity; but they fall silent when one
points out that Finland has the same demographics as
Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, and Norway, yet gets superior
results. I am troubled by this “lacks diversity” argument,
because it implies that African-American and Hispanic
children cannot benefit by having highly experienced
teachers, small classes, and a curriculum rich in the arts
and activities.