[regional_school] Geneva Gay
- From: Brian Bailey <bbailey2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: regional school <regional_school@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2010 15:00:32 -0400 (EDT)
Geneva Gay, one of the leaders on Culturally Relevant Pedagogy is coming to
Rochester on April 8th to speak at Nazareth College.
See the link below:
Geneva Gay in Rochester
Brian Bailey, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Adolescence Education
Nazareth College
4245 East Avenue
Rochester, NY 14618-3790
585-755-7503
----- Original Message -----
From: NSMULTER@xxxxxxx
To: "regional school" <regional_school@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, March 23, 2010 3:20:57 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: [regional_school] Re: Why Boys Fail - Pre-K & Primary
Thank you for the update Hussain! I knew a school for boys was in the works,
but hadn't heard anything recently!
I totally agree with your position! We all need to be the change we desire, or
at least interface with those who have access to mechanisms for changing
systems and practices we know are not in the best interest of our children!
Over the past three years I've committed myself to facilitating workshops for
early childhood educators (Pre-K, K, 1st, 2nd) that provide information based
on research studies, and my own direct experiences, that promote how we can -
and why we must - address what our very youngest boys need for learning. The
information and experiences I share through "BOYS: Brains & Behavior," "What
Young Boys Need for Learning," "Literacy Skills & Affective Learning f or Boys
Through Interactive Storytelling," "Wired To Be Warriors," etc. have assisted
many early childhood educators in re-thinking how they approach and respond to
the young boys in their classrooms.
But this work is just a pebble on the shore without the work of people with
more clout than me who can motivate the powers that be at the State level to
consider the injustice we are imposing on young boys by expecting them to
operate at a developmental stage that their brains have not yet reached at ages
5 and 6!! Although more than a few major changes have evolved over the past 20
years in terms of what children now experience in their first few years (or
don't experience), the status of gender brain development has not changed in
millions of years!! It's the fallout from modifications of academic
expectations of young boys that we've allowed - and taking away the very
experiences they most need for learning - that are causing the failing and
falling behind boys are experiencing! Too many boys loose their motivation and
sense of purpose within their first three years of formal education!!
Also, in sharing my excitement regarding Richard Whitmire's statements about
the discrepancies
between formal education expectations and what the innate wiring of boys'
brains is ready for at age five, I didn't mean to overshadow or downplay all
the exceptional work being done by experts in the field such as Michael Gurian
and Lenard Sax, etc. They and others have provided us with invaluable
scientific validation regarding gender brain differences that we need to be
taking into account when major decisions regarding curriculum are being made.
If we don't apply this information to the requirements for young boys to meet -
developmentally inappropriate requirements - that are imposed on administrators
and teachers, how are our classroom environments to support what our boys need?
All the professional development we can pile on our early childhood educators
isn't going to help them address what boys need for learning when the
curriculum requirements being demanded are developmentally and neurologically
inappropriate!
Hope all progressives smoothly with the School for Young Men! I'll follow your
updates!
Nancy
In a message dated 3/19/2010 4:14:06 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
hussainbahmed@xxxxxxxxx writes:
My research and familiarity with this subject is why I am a co-founder and
co-applicant for the University Preparatory Charter School for Young Men,
scheduled to open in Sept 2010, here in Rochester, NY. Check out the website
at: www.Upreprochester.org. I belief we each can make a difference by doing
something and not be paralyzed by the games people play with labels when it
comes to the important issue of educating our young people. No matter how much
we talk about the issues, if we do not act, nothing will change; for the future
will not wait for us to figure it out!! And in turn, we cannot sacrifice the
future. Thanks for sharing, good reading. Peace.
Hussain B. Ahmed, Ed.D.
--- On Thu, 3/18/10, NSMULTER@xxxxxxx <NSMULTER@xxxxxxx> wrote:
From: NSMULTER@xxxxxxx <NSMULTER@xxxxxxx>
Subject: [regional_school] Why Boys Fail - interview with Richard Whitmire
To: regional_school@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Thursday, March 18, 2010, 8:40 PM
Wish I knew how to forward this interview video - you'll have to put the web
address in your browser.
It's definitely worth it!
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/whyboysfail/2010/03/cep_report_on_gender_gaps_released.html?print=1
Also: in the EducationWeek piece below, Jack Jennings, president and CEO of the
Center on Education Policy - a Washington-based research and advocacy group
that just released results of their gender gap study, says: “Something is going
on in our schools holding back boys.”
Yes, yes, yes!!!! And the why is so obvious to those of us with knowledge about
brain development who've been closely observing PreK and Kindergarten
classrooms over the past 15 years! Finally someone is speaking out and has
found a national audience!! According to Richard Whitmire, it all started about
20 years when the Governors got together to upgrade standards! (Sound
familiar?) Moving second grade literacy standards into Kindergarten back then
did not take into account the hard wiring of the male brain! And it's just the
tip of the iceberg!
Education Week
Published Online: March 17, 2010 Boys Trail Girls in Reading Across States
By Erik W. Robelen
A new study on gender differences in academic achievement, offering what it
calls “good news for girls and bad news for boys,” finds that, overall, male
students in every state where data were available lag behind females in
reading, based on an analysis of recent state test results. At the same time,
in mathematics, a subject in which girls have historically trailed, the
percentages of both genders scoring “proficient” or higher were roughly the
same, with boys edging out girls slightly in some states and girls posting
somewhat stronger scores in others.
In certain states, such as Arkansas, Hawaii, New Mexico, and Vermont, the
gender gap for reading proficiency was 10 percentage points or higher, based on
2008 test data.
“The most pressing issue related to gender gaps is the lagging performance of
boys in reading,” says the report, released today by the Center on Education
Policy , a Washington-based research and advocacy group.
In a conference call with reporters, Jack Jennings, the group’s president and
chief executive officer, noted that whether looking at student outcomes at the
elementary, middle, or high school level, male rates of proficiency were lower
than for females across all states studied in 2008. (Forty-five states had data
available for all three levels.)
“There is a consistent achievement gap,” he said. “Something is going on in our
schools holding back boys.” The report does offer some encouragement for boys
in reading, suggesting that as a group, they are making some gains over time,
and that the gender gap has narrowed in many states.
For instance, in 38 out of 44 states, the percentages of 4th grade boys scoring
proficient or higher climbed between 2002 and 2008. Also, in 24 out of 44
states, the gender gap for 4th graders in the percentage of students scoring
proficient or higher narrowed over that time period, though it widened in
another 14 states.
When looking at the data another way, however, based on changes in the average
of test scores, the gaps between boys and girls in reading “widened across all
three grade levels [elementary, middle, and high school] as often as they
narrowed.” ‘Clear and Startling’ Differences
The new report from the Center on Education Policy is part of a series of
studies the organization has been conducting that examine trends on state tests
since 2002, when the federal No Child Left Behind Act was signed into law by
President George W. Bush.
Math
Percentage of Female and Male Students Proficient in Math on State Tests, 2008
Reading
Percentage of Female and Male Students Proficient in Reading on State Tests,
2008
SOURCE: Center on Education Policy
The center notes that one reason for the report’s focus on the rate of students
deemed “proficient” is that the designation is the key indicator used to
determine whether districts and schools have made adequate yearly progress
under the federal law. However, as the report emphasizes, each state uses its
own tests to gauge proficiency and also sets its own cutoff score for what it
judges proficient.
The report says that research has long noted historical differences in the
achievement of boys and girls in reading and math, though considerable recent
research suggests there is no longer a gender gap in math achievement.
With its state-by-state analysis, the report is able to identify those states
that appear to struggle the most with gender gaps in reading. In Arkansas, the
gap was 13 percentage points at the elementary level and 14 percentage points
at both middle and high school in 2008. On state tests in Hawaii that year,
boys came in 14 percentage points behind at the elementary level, 13 in middle
school, and 16 in high school.
In the conference call, Mr. Jennings noted that even Massachusetts, a state
known for its strong academic standards and performance, has a sizable gender
gap, at 13 percentage points for elementary students in 2008.
Some other states, however, such as Florida, Kansas, Nebraska, and Virginia,
had much smaller reading gaps at all levels. In Virginia, for example, the
gender gap for boys was 3 percentage points at the elementary and middle levels
and just 1 percentage point in high school.
In most cases, the gender gap in state math achievement did not exceed 5
percentage points, the 2008 data show.
Susan B. Neuman, an education professor at the University of Michigan who
specializes in literacy development, called the new study “an extraordinarily
important document.”
Ms. Neuman, a former U.S. assistant education secretary under President Bush
who was invited to participate in the conference call but was not involved in
the study, emphasized the findings with regard to boys’ achievement, noting
that it is a relatively recent trend.
“We’ve been talking about closing the achievement gap in so many different
ways, ... but we have not focused on the gender gap, which is very clear and
startling in this report.”
She added, “I think we have to re-evaluate our curricula, re-evaluate how we
are managing our classrooms.”
Vol. 29, Issue 27
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/03/17/27gender.h29.html?tkn=QUWFFACOCp9dRJixqIXUzDtAjsWu8TC2Ewmg&cmp=clp-edweek
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