61–70 of 99 posts
Is this the same gates foundation that I saw on 60 minutes pumping GMO seeds and fossil fuel fertilizer to third world countries to "help" them out of their food crisis? In fairness, I think I heard they realized something like "what works in america doesn't work everywhere" (bit of a cop out to save face) and moved toward more sustainable organic methods, but I'm not completely sure. All I know is, if its that hard…
It's common for people who received good educations to say that test scores aren't an acceptable indication of learning. It's probably true that if you already have an acceptable level of education, test scores shouldn't be too important, but it seems like the people criticizing test scores haven't experienced what education is like for the children being "left behind." In middle school, the last three weeks of each…
Where did you go to school? How does this happen?
I'll add to this since I think these types of stories occurs more often than people think. I went to Baker High School in Mobile, Alabama (that might be your first clue).
In the 8th grade I took a required course called Earth Science, also of course taught by a coach. I recall that the last question of one of the exams was "The Universe was created by _____________". Odd. I thought this was a fairly complex answer for a simple fill in the blank question, especially for tests which were typically always multiple choice or fill in the blank. So I just assumed that the empty space below it (since it was the last question) was for writing a short answer.
So, I did my best to mention the Big Bang Theory and associated information about red shifts and such for scientific evidence. In the end, my answer was about a paragraph long, and I felt really good about my answer.
I did get full credit, but I noticed that other students also got full credit but wrote only in the blank itself. So I checked with the teacher for how I could have been more concise. Turns out that the correct answer that he was looking for was "God".
I guess the question was a simple fill in the blank after all.
at which the latest project report can be found. I've got some reading to do before I think about what else to add to the discussion already underway here. I get the impression that one observation that has motivated much of this research is how persons educated overseas have fared in United States society after immigrating here in early adulthood. My own experience living in another country (twice, in two different three-year stays) does much to prompt my interest in education reform, which is what drew me here to Hacker News.
It's common for people who received good educations to say that test scores aren't an acceptable indication of learning. It's probably true that if you already have an acceptable level of education, test scores shouldn't be too important, but it seems like the people criticizing test scores haven't experienced what education is like for the children being "left behind." In middle school, the last three weeks of each…
Except that even those things don't predict later success. Any kid with a family that can afford books will score higher on "can this kid read English". Any kid who's been drilled can learn to multiply two numbers together. Without cognitive skills behind them, though, those are not useful abilities. The best predictors of future success are self-control, emotional intelligence and a grasp of functional algebra (whic…
I don't think this is true. Those who can't afford books can goto the public library and get them.
Is this the same gates foundation that I saw on 60 minutes pumping GMO seeds and fossil fuel fertilizer to third world countries to "help" them out of their food crisis? In fairness, I think I heard they realized something like "what works in america doesn't work everywhere" (bit of a cop out to save face) and moved toward more sustainable organic methods, but I'm not completely sure. All I know is, if its that hard…
There's nothing wrong with using GMO seeds to increase yield.
On the biodiversity thing, viewing your website leads me to believe you appreciate nature, so I'm just scratching my head that you haven't made the connection. Ohh well, downvote me all you want buddy. You are entitled to your opinion also.
There are many important factors which teachers (no matter how good they are) can't control: 1. How wealthy, poor, educated, or uneducated a child's parents are. 2. How many resources the school and teacher are given. 3. Whether a child's parents are abusing them at home. 4. Whether a child is witnessing violence, hopelessness, despair in their neighborhood. 5. The attitude of a child's family and friends towards edu…
And at my job, there are many factors out of my control. I don't control the home life of my engineers. I don't control my customers' decision making processes. I don't control my competitors' actions in the market. But yet I'm judged on the small slice of that overall pie that I can control. What this study indicates is that there are teachers who can reproducibly create success levels given the control of the situa…
As an aside, it occurs to me that those teachers who are most effective in underprivileged schools may be totally different than those in wealthier schools.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a very legitimate question. How can teachers do the best with the resources they're given and the the children they're working with, no matter how threadbare the resources are, and no matter how traumatized and disadvantaged their students are? Whether standardized tests have a role in answering that question or in evaluating teacher performance is hotly debated right now. But the purpose of my original post w…
How can society as a whole ensure that every child gets the best education possible? Step one, define "best education possible". Step two, learn to measure whether or not a child is getting one (or the closest you can come to it). Step three, maximize some aggregate or regionalized version of your measurements through restructuring of school systems, rewards for good schools and teachers, etc. The study in this artic…
What happens when you find the bad teachers? Fire them and hope the fresh-faced college grads do a better job?
So much of this debate on teachers is leans towards the carrot or the stick. Wanting to reward the best teachers because it makes you feel like you're helping is fine, but don't fool yourself into thinking it'll hugely improve instruction. Teachers aren't going to suddenly go, "Oh, wait, you'll pay me more if I'm a good teacher? I'm going to start trying!" (One or two might, but those outliers exist in any field, and are hardly the issue.)
In every district I've taught, very little time is given for teachers of the same subject to collaborate, observe each other, and improve their own teaching. Every year, we have to get 20 hours of professional development. Tell me, are 6 minutes and 20 seconds of development per teaching day going to improve instruction?
I can't say whether the findings are correct or not, but I like this: >> The teachers who seemed to be effective were, in fact, able to repeat those successes with different students in different years, the researchers found. Their students not only scored well on standardized exams but also were able to handle more complicated tests of their conceptual math knowledge and reading and writing abilities. To everyone wh…
Then why not use standardized tests for job interviews, or why don't decent universities use them? Standardized tests have serious disadvantages to consider, and aren't normally considered best-by-default. There at least a couple obvious groups qualified to rate educational quality: teachers and students. If they happen to choose a standardized test to evaluate the education, then fine. Otherwise, I don't see standar…
Universities do use standardized tests: they use the SATs and the ACTs, the GREs, LSATs, MCATs, Miller Analogies. They use AP exams to determine who gets college credit for courses the school never administered. They use their own standardized entrance exams for placement.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
And at my job, there are many factors out of my control. I don't control the home life of my engineers. I don't control my customers' decision making processes. I don't control my competitors' actions in the market. But yet I'm judged on the small slice of that overall pie that I can control. What this study indicates is that there are teachers who can reproducibly create success levels given the control of the situa…
That's a very legitimate question. How can teachers do the best with the resources they're given and the the children they're working with, no matter how threadbare the resources are, and no matter how traumatized and disadvantaged their students are? Whether standardized tests have a role in answering that question or in evaluating teacher performance is hotly debated right now. But the purpose of my original post w…
I know that the funding the schools get is blamed for a lot of their problems, and I understand where people who talk about how hard it is to teach kids with behavioral issues and histories of abuse are coming from.
I sympathize, but I also think that's a cop-out. I had bad teachers in both places. In Winthrop, I had horrible teachers. They took away advanced classes because an outside contractor thought it created elitist attitudes and putting smart kids in the regular classes would boost overall performance.
I had science teachers that just had us play with legos all day and gave A's to all the basketball players. I had math teachers that would lose assignments and blame the students. These were not well-meaning teachers that just had it hard trying to teach these poor kids. These were people that shouldn't have been teaching at all, but could not be replaced.
My parents actually went up to the school a few times to try and talk to the administration and teachers about what was going on. A lot of people did. They got push-back and were asked not to meddle.
There were 2 great teachers there and that's why I didn't completely screw up my life at that point. I've spoken to a lot of people with similar experiences; 1 great teacher that pushed them to be successful. That's why it's so maddening to me when people say that it's not the teacher's fault, that they can't do anything about it. I know that's not entirely what your intent with your post was, but focusing on external environmental issues and bemoaning the poverty of the student body can come across that way.
While poverty is a major issue, and teaching is hard, I don't think you can solve the problems by just changing the student's home environment. You have to change the teachers as well.
Lots of jobs are hard. Doctors have to deal with unruly patients who refuse to change their diet or exercise. Don't they get blamed when their patients don't improve?