or some students studying Chinese at Memorial High School, their summer assignment was intense: Spend three weeks in China, conversing with natives and exploring their culture.
“What surprised me is how different the rural area of China is from the big cities,” said Alison Knickelbine, 18, who plans to major in Chinese when she begins college this fall at the University of Hawaii in Manoa.
Nine young people and six adults who made the trip gathered recently for their first reunion, sharing a cake decorated with a Chinese proverb and laughing at memories such as sampling exotic food and planting bamboo in a panda reserve.
Ten young explorers from Sun Prairie’s two middle schools returned last month from the Amazon rainforest in Peru, where they expected to meet pink dolphins, spot umbrella birds and catch piranha.
“The kids learned an enormous amount of science,” said Geri Stenstrup, a teacher at Royal Oaks Elementary who led the trip two summers ago. Next year, she’ll take older teens to Serengeti National Park in Tanzania.
The China trip cost about $3,200 per person. Two students received full scholarships and one a partial scholarship, supported by fundraising projects such as selling Chinese dumplings and egg rolls in the Memorial lunchroom.
The Center for East Asian Studies at UW-Madison paid most costs for the accompanying teachers, and a grant will pay for developing curriculum from the trip.
Monthly Archives: August 2006
On the Public-Private School Achievement Debate
Paul E. Peterson and Elena Llaudet:
According to the NCES study, the performance of students attending private schools was superior to that of students attending public schools. But after statistical adjustments were made for student characteristics, the private school advantage among 4th-graders was reported to give way to a 4.5 point public school advantage in math and school-sector parity in reading. After the same adjustments were made for 8th-graders, private schools retained a 7 point advantage in reading but achieved only parity in math.
However, NCES’s measures of student characteristics are flawed by inconsistent classification across the public and private sectors and by the inclusion of factors open to school influence.
Utilizing the same data as the original study but substituting better measures of student characteristics, improved Alternative Models identify a private school advantage in 11 out of 12 public-private comparisons. In 8th-grade math, the private school advantage varies between 3 and 7 test points; in reading, it varies between 9 and 13 points. Among 4th graders, in math, parity is observed in one model, but private schools outperform public schools by 2 to 4 points in the other two models; in 4th-grade reading, private schools have an advantage that ranges from 6 to 10 points. Except when parity is observed, all differences are statistically significant.
Blackboard Inc. files first course management patent suit
Huge news that will affect universities and K-12 schools in a big way, so far ignored by the media:
Blackboard Inc. has sued Desire2Learn Inc. asserting that they infringe upon a patent for course management systems. Blackboard was awarded the patent in the US in January and has filed similar patents in many nations.
The US patent, 6,988,138, reads in incredibly broad terms. No doubt the defendant and rival learning management companies such as Angel are checking into prior art and obviousness defenses.
Course management systems (aka learning management systems) are de rigueur in higher education now, and fast spreading across K-12 education. Students find the syllabus, read the course reading materials, collaborate, and take tests, all online. They are used for on-campus and distance education applications. This is a huge market and this is likely to be a huge and ugly battle.
Nathan Dintenfass discusses prior art.
Good, Bad News on the Math Front
When results are broken down by race, just 10 percent of black and Latino sophomores in Colorado schools are proficient in math; 90 percent are not.
Those scores are “scary,” said Jenna Fleur Lin, a math teacher who tutors high school students in the Cherry Creek School District and runs a free week-long math and science camp at an inner-city Denver church.
“What it means is you have a huge population that’s not going to function properly,” Lin said.
Moloney said one problem is that, unlike elementary and middle school students, high schoolers have the freedom to choose many of their own courses.
“Are minority youngsters being channelled into challenging programs or are you being (steered) to diminished programs?” he said.
Lin said she believes many students don’t have a solid foundation in math in elementary school.
They are just learning to do calculations but they don’t understand how to
Tasting Freedom’s Simple Joys in the Barnes & Noble
Nearly a decade ago, hanging out in a bookstore would have seemed so corny. Back then, Mr. Edwards was a high school dropout, known as Kat on the streets of Paterson, and Top Cat on his arrest record, the one that described his itinerary for the evening of Nov. 12, 1997. With a friend, a stolen car and several weapons, he robbed nine people within an hour. He wound up with a few dollars, some jewelry and, ultimately, a prison sentence of 9 years, 10 months and 4 days.
All that time gave him a chance to reconsider the virtues of corniness. He had gotten his first dictionary in prison, from a friend serving 30 years for homicide. Mostly, Mr. Edwards took it to the law library, doing a felon’s version of homework. Only later, after he was transferred to a halfway house in Newark, had someone suggested to him that reading had purposes beyond filing an appeal.
National Geographic’s My Wonderful World Combats Geographic Illiteracy
My Wonderful World for Educators, Parents and Kids/Teens:
Geography is more than places on a map. It’s global connections and incredible creatures. It’s people and cultures, economics and politics. And it’s essential to understanding our interconnected world.
But sadly, our kids aren’t getting enough of it. A new National Geographic-Roper survey shows half of young Americans can’t locate world powers like Japan and India. Twenty percent can’t even find the Pacific Ocean. (More about the survey.) Without geography, our children aren’t ready for the world.
That’s why we started My Wonderful World. It’s a National Geographic-led campaign—backed by a coalition of major national partners—to expand geographic learning in school, at home, and in the community. We want to give our kids the power of global knowledge.
Black Star Project Encourages Parents to Walk Their Children to School
Chicago’s Black Star Project launches the “Million Father March“. Molly Snyder Edler has more:
Chicago’s Black Star Project launched a nationwide event called the “Million Father March” that encourages African-American fathers, grandfathers, stepfathers and foster fathers to “march” their kids to their first day of school to demonstrate their commitment to education and their kids’ futures.
Even thought the “Million Father March” is based in the Windy City, it will take place all over the country. Almost 50 cities are on board with the project, including Milwaukee.
Local organizers Phillip Bridges and Todd Pierce hope to see thousands of dads escourting their kids to class on the first day of school. Milwaukee Public Schools start Tuesday, Sept. 5.
“Research has shown that when a father takes an active role in the educational and social development of a child, the child earns better grades, gets better test scores, enjoys school more and is more likely to graduate high school and attend college,” says Bridges.
In Milwaukee, only 24 percent of African-American males graduate from high school, and 54 percent are unemployed. Also, it’s speculated that by 2007 the incarceration rate of black men in Milwaukee will be over 65 percent.
Madison School Board Progress Report for the week of July 31st
Via a Johnny Winston, Jr. Email:
Is it me or is the summer going by way too fast? Very soon the school year will arrive for our students and the board action will mark some changes. On July 17th the Board approved a wellness policy that will prohibit the sale of soft drinks at local high schools in favor of milk, diet sodas, bottled water and 100% juices. In addition, it will stop the sale of junk food during the school day that put school cafeterias in competition with school stores or vending machines. Some of our students and staff believe that this will hurt school fundraising efforts, however, our board believes that our students are resourceful and will find alternative means for funding. This policy was developed in part because of a federal mandate that all schools nationwide must have a wellness policy…The board also approved advertising and sponsorship policies. These policies have very clear parameters. Examples of where ads and sponsorship could occur include the district website, newsletters and announcements at sporting events. Given our fiscal challenges, I believe that this is an appropriate policy that I hope will help preserve some of our extra-curricular, arts and sports programs which are often vulnerable to budget cuts… On August 7th the Board will vote on the proposed Animals in the Classroom policy and begin the process of evaluating the Superintendent
On August 14th the board will discuss the November 7th referendum and have our regular monthly meeting.
Continue reading Madison School Board Progress Report for the week of July 31st
High School Rigor: Iowa AP Index and a Michigan School Board Member
Every May a large number of high school students across America take AP exams. In May 2005 over 1.2 million high school students took over 2.1 million AP exams. AP allows students to pursue college-level studies while still in high school. Over 3000 colleges accept AP exam scores for either college credit or placement in higher level courses. AP was developed by The College Board and is one of the most successful and respected academic programs in the nation.
There have been numerous studies and articles proclaiming the advantages of AP. AP test scores have been found to be very good predictors of college grades and college graduation. A National Center for Educational Accountability study (2005) indicated that passing AP exams shows a strong and consistent relationship to college graduation rates. Recently, there has been considerable reporting on the benefits of AP courses and exams for minority students and students from poverty backgrounds. Such students exceed their educators’ expectations on AP (when given the opportunity). AP tests and minority students were made famous with the movie “Stand and Deliver” portraying the high success of inner-city Latino students on the AP Calculus exam.
While there is some controversy over AP (e.g., too much material covered in a short time; more breadth than depth) there is strong agreement (backed by research) by educators that AP courses and exams are a rigorous and meaningful indicator of academic preparation for college. Also, AP exams provide a uniform standard of academic accomplishment across geography, economic status, ethnicity and school size. AP exams cover 34 subject areas and exams are scored on a scale of 1-5, with 5 considered top level work (a grade equivalent of an “A”) in a corresponding college course. A score of 3 or better is often accepted for either college credit or placement.
Continue reading High School Rigor: Iowa AP Index and a Michigan School Board Member
Georgia District’s Schoolchildren Already Back in Class
While many students around the country still have weeks left of vacation, the school year began today in Rockdale County, Ga. The early start is part of a trend in pockets of the country, as summer breaks get shorter.
Schools are under pressure to raise test scores, and experts say a shorter break can help kids retain what they’ve learned in the previous year. But parents are split over whether that’s worth sacrificing their childrens’ summers.
Rockdale County, 20 miles east of Atlanta, is one of a handful of school systems that are opening up in July. And an early August start date is now common in Georgia. The trade-off for the short summer break comes in the form of two week-long breaks through out the year.
“Big Mother & Kids Lunches”
While programs like these have a solid premise, we envision kids making friends for more than just social reasons as middle-school cafeterias turn into fast-paced trading blocks to circumvent the system as connector children smuggle in junk food from the outside world. Or maybe we’re just letting our imaginations get away with ourselves again.
Kids Come First
And child-centered we indubitably are, like no other people at no other time in history. A major enticement for parents to move, for example, is good schools. Private schools, meanwhile, flourish as never before, heavy though the expense usually is. Parents slavishly follow their children around to their every game: soccer, little league, tennis. Camcorders whirl; digital cameras click. Any child who has not been either to Disneyland or Disney World by the age of seven is considered deprived. Serious phone calls are interrupted because Jen or Tyler needs Mom or Dad now. Attention must be paid.
Nor does it end in childhood. A friend wrote to me about his 16-year-old: “My daughter Hope is a serious rocker, and I’ve been taking her and her girlfriends to a lot of concerts recently. The latest was at a biker-bar-like club in a suburban Virginia strip mall next to a Korean grocery store to see a Swedish metal band called Opeth. It was about 95 degrees in the place, and when I got home at 1:30 a.m., my clothes were still damp and smelled of smoke.” He wasn’t complaining, please understand, merely describing.