[regional_school] Re: How well does the standards movement stack up?
- From: Neilcho <neilcho@xxxxxxx>
- To: regional_school@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 26 Dec 2010 11:22:40 -0500 (EST)
I agree Bill.
One of the things that worries me about many suggestions for reforming
curriculum by all sides of that ongoing argument is the "either or" notion of
new skills versus old (traditional) skills. Literacy and numeracy, among other
traditional skills, are not only foundational for effective learning of new
skills, but they also condition the mind in a way that is useful in more subtle
ways re. the texture of being a thinking, critical person......in daily life as
well as anything we traditionally think of as intellectual activities.
The key, it seems to me, is to ensure the learning of traditional skills
happens in a way that ties them to a wider context of understanding as broad a
range of life as possible, including emotional/social realms of being and
modern/new areas of skill and stimulation. Not easy, but there in lies the art.
It may not be testable, but it's what matters in the end.
Best, Neil
-----Original Message-----
From: William Cala <wcala@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: regional_school <regional_school@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wed, Dec 22, 2010 3:43 pm
Subject: [regional_school] Re: How well does the standards movement stack up?
Media literacy is extremely important and must become an integral part of
teaching and learning. I would not want to see, however, a diminution of
traditional literacy as I view it as a path to media literacy. Perhaps Brian
Bailey can weigh in.
Bill
From: regional_school-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:regional_school-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Keith Rankin
Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2010 3:06 PM
To: Regional School
Subject: [regional_school] Re: How well does the standards movement stack up?
When you think of Sir Kenneth Robinson's assertion that we live in the most
stimulating era in history (with iPods, PCs, video games, tv, internet, etc.)
it seems clear that illiteracy and aliteracy would be issues. I can also tell
you that Frank Romano, who is the guru in the Printing/Publishing industry, has
been tracking this phenomenon for more than a decade, as it is having a quite
an impact on the magazine, newspaper, and traditional publishing industries.
There is some good news. The first paragraph in Barnes & Noble's 2010 Annual
Report states:
2009 will stand as a major turning point in the history of bookselling. Rivaled
only by events such as the invention of the printing press itself and the
advent of
the mass market paperback, the digitization of book content promises to open up
and expand the marketplace for books and other written works to unprecedented
levels.
Might we be placing too much import on traditional literacy versus overall
media literacy?
Keith
Keith W. Rankin
44 Creston Court
Rochester, NY 14612
585.734.7295 cel | txt
Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2010 09:37:40 -0500
From: stell5@xxxxxxx
To: regional_school@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [regional_school] Re: How well does the standards movement stack up?
From the standpoint of students, teachers, education, and society the standards
movement has been harmful and destructive, achieving no progressive goals. But
it has been a huge success from the standpoint of "education reformers" and the
corporate world. The use of standards, tests, data, and metrics over the last
20-30 years has allowed these forces to successfully usher in many of the new
arrangements they want under the veneer of high ideals.
s
----- Original Message -----
From: William Cala
To: regional school
Sent: Wed, 22 Dec 2010 09:23:47 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [regional_school] How well does the standards movement stack up?
Excellent study!
Bill
Articles
——–
How Well Does the Standards Movement Measure Up? An Analysis ofAchievement
Trends, Academic Course-taking, Student Learning, NCLB, and
Changes in School Culture and Graduation Rates
Lawrence C. Stedman
Abstract
This is the first of two papers examining the standards movement. In it, I
review data from NAEP, the SAT, the international assessments, transcript
studies, and NCLB assessments, as well as surveys and case studies of changes
in curriculum and pedagogy. The picture is a bleak one. Over the past quarter
century, achievement has stagnated, dropouts and aliteracy have grown, and
large minority achievement gaps have persisted. The quality of student learning
remains poor. School changes, stratified by class and race, have constricted
instruction and harmed students and teachers. NCLB has made things worse, not
better. Even in the two areas where the movement has achieved some
success—lower grade math achievement and high school academic enrollments—the
gains were largely superficial, other forces such as teaching-to-the-test and
social promotion contributed, and serious deficiencies remain.
In the second paper, “Why the Standards Movement Failed,” I examine the
educational and political reasons for the failure—including its misconstruction
of pedagogy and links to the neoliberal reform project—and propose a
progressive alternative.
__._,_.___
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