MGTutoring.com. A Rational Perspective on Education.

September 3, 2009

Teacher Training: Mired In Bad Philosophy

Filed under: Culture,Education — Administrator @ 9:13 am

In “New Guidelines for Teacher Training: A needed attempt to reform the accreditation of teacher education schools lacks substance” (Clarion Call
, September 01, 2009), Sandra Stotsky writes:

On June 23, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), the organization that accredits most of the nation’s education schools, announced a revision of its accrediting guidelines. It’s the first major revision in ten years.

…
The problem with NCATE’s white paper is what it doesn’t say.

One reads the paper in vain for any mention of increasing academic coursework requirements for K-8 teacher candidates. As the National Mathematics Advisory Panel found, the common characteristic of effective teachers is a deep knowledge of the subject they teach. But nothing in NCATE’s new guidelines ensures that prospective teachers, especially for elementary and middle school, will have the academic background necessary to teach the subjects they will be expected to.

An even more serious problem we face is raising the academic caliber of those who want to become teachers. Finland, a nation with very high student achievement levels, draws its teachers from the top 10 percent of its college graduates, and its teacher training programs admit only 15% of those who apply. In contrast, America draws its elementary teachers mostly from the bottom 30 percent of high school graduates who go to college.

…Even though the new guidelines aim at increased knowledge about “what works to improve student learning,” there’s nothing in the new NCATE standards about using what is already known about what works. That’s especially true in beginning reading instruction. The research evidence is clear that techniques such as phonics and direct instruction are effective, but they don’t tend to be taught in education schools.

NCATE implies that attainment of a body of knowledge about what works lies somewhere in the distant future, with its development contingent upon a heavy and regular stream of funding of education school faculty in research-oriented universities. But optimism about breakthroughs from educational research is misplaced. Educational researchers have an extremely poor track record of producing quality work that can improve teaching practice. For example, the National Mathematics Advisory Panel’s 2008 report found little value in the vast majority of studies it examined.

…

The absence of subject matter experts on review teams keeps constructivist, anti-content theories about teaching dominant in our education schools and makes it easier for NCATE to avoid criticizing academically weak teacher preparation programs.

Copyright © 2009 The John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy

“Constructivist.” Another signal that John Dewey is at work. We see this, and I say this, time and time and time again…

The failure of mainstream modern education is ultimately philosophical. Only an educational philosophy of reason — following the (scientific, logical, and epistemological) ideas and traditions of Thales, Archimedes, Sir Francis Bacon, Gilbert, Galileo, William Harvey, Newton, John Stuart Mill (re Mill’s Methods), Montessori, Aristotle and Rand — will give rise to a proper, successful system of education.

September 1, 2009

More on the Death — the Murder — of Science Education

Filed under: Culture,Education,Physics,Science — Administrator @ 12:23 pm

In “Science Workshop: Building a Lifelong Love of a “Boring” Subject” (Core Knowledge Blog, August 30, 2009), Robert Pondiscio quotes a newspaper article:

The Future of Science: ‘Science Workshop’ Approach Lets Students Learn What They Want

The New York Times  
By Motoko Rich
   August 30, 2009

JONESBORO, Ga. — For years Lorrie McNeill loved teaching chemistry.  She taught her students the periodic table of elements, the ubiquitous classroom staple that many Americans regard as a scientific rite of passage.

But last fall, for the first time in 15 years, Ms. McNeill, 42, removed the periodic table from her classroom.  Gone, too, were assigned lab partners–and even the laboratory tables themselves, bunsen burners and all. Instead she turned over all the decisions about what science to learn to the students in her seventh- and eighth-grade science classes at Jonesboro Middle School in this south Atlanta suburb.

Among their choices: building model volcanoes, setting off smoke bombs, making sundials from modeling clay and popsicle sticks, and creating “geysers” by dropping Mentos candies into 2-liter bottles of Diet Coke.

The approach Ms. McNeill uses, in which students choose their own science projects, discuss them individually with their teacher and one another, and keep detailed journals about their observations, is part of a movement to revolutionize the way science is taught in America’s schools. While there is no clear consensus among science teachers, variations on the approach, known as science workshop, are catching on.

John Dewey rears his corrupting head and raises his cognition-destroying hand. Again.

Without induction, integration, and hierarchy, it is not science. It’s just a Feynmanian cargo cult (Feynman’s speech is also on GasResources.net, UIowa.edu, and elsewhere on the Internet).

Reading Pedagogy: The Old is New

Filed under: Culture,Education,Language,Reading — Administrator @ 12:08 pm

In “Glorifying Indifference to Literature” (Core Knowledge Blog, August 30, 2009), Diana Senechal writes:

The New York Times story on the “reading workshop” method glorifies indifference toward literature.

…

This so-called movement is led by people who don’t love literature enough to defend it, and who don’t care about history enough to find out that their revolution is nothing revolutionary. It glorifies a certain indifference.

The movement writes off the literature itself. It writes off the teachers who teach it well and inspire their students to love it. It writes off the possibility that literature will affect students’ entire lives and stay in their minds, in ways that teen novels cannot do. Proponents say, “Look, the kids are reading; this is working!” They do not stop to think that reading 20 pages a day is not the same as grappling with literature. The chicken coop is not a palace. (Oops–no one teaches Dostoevsky anymore.)

I taught Sophocles’ Antigone (among many other works of literature) to my eighth grade ESL students. We had heated debates in class. Students wrote thoughtful essays. I thought, “How much more they will understand when they read it in high school!” Then I realized they probably wouldn’t read it in high school. They would probably never have it assigned to them again.

Amen.

Mr. Robert Pondiscio says in “New York Times Discovers Reader’s Workshop” (Core Knowledge Blog, August 29, 2009 ):

Update: “Progressive schools let kids pick their own books in the 1920s and 1930s. Now it is supposed to be a major innovation. Ha!” tweets Diane Ravitch, who is quoted in the piece.  The paper “applauds the death of any version of a common culture.”  Just desserts of the NY Times,” she adds.  “By encouraging the death of reading, they doom the NY Times.”

“Progressive schools.” That’s John Dewey’s baby…

A Comment on Mainstream Modern Education

Filed under: Culture,Education — Administrator @ 11:59 am

I’d pretty much agree with Robert Pondiscio in “Observations on Observations” (Core Knowledge Blog, August 27, 2009). He writes, for example:

Of all the “best practices” that have migrated to education from the business world, the one that didn’t make the trip is the idea that good managers hire excellent people, empower them with real decision-making authority, then get out of their way.

…

Indeed, this is the thing the every teacher knows, that every armchair expert does not: it is simple (but time-consuming) to create an environment that gives all the appearances of being a high-functioning classroom and still be a lousy teacher.  Among the very first survival skills a new teacher learns, either through the advice of a kindly colleague or through a series of administrative reprimands, is the art of the dog and pony show.   In some schools, it’s the quid pro quo that earns you the right to close your door and practice your craft.  In more punitive environments, it’s the tail that wags the dog.   But the aim of observation-by-checklist is not great teaching, it’s plausible deniability–and it’s the enemy of accountability, for both teachers and administrators.  Miss Jones’ classroom demonstrates a high degree of student engagement and all of the indicators of high quality teaching, but her students are still not making progress.  Why? Miss Jones’ energy is misdirected.  She’s learning to play the game, not become a great teacher.  After a few years, she gets tired of it and quits.  Mediocrity wins again.

This all comes back around to the philosophy of John Dewey, as I’ve discussed many times before.

August 28, 2009

Unprepared For College and Reasoning, 2

Filed under: College,Culture,Education — Administrator @ 7:46 pm

In “Not Much: What Will They Learn in College?“  (August 26, 2009), Walter Williams writes:

Employers complain that graduates of colleges lack the writing and analytical skills necessary to succeed in the workplace. A 2006 survey conducted by The Conference Board, Corporate Voices for Working Families, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, and the Society for Human Resource Management found that only 24 percent of employers thought graduates of four-year colleges were “excellently prepared” for entry-level positions. College seniors perennially fail tests of their civic and historical knowledge.

The American Council of Trustees and Alumni graded the 100 surveyed colleges and universities on their general education requirements.

Forty-two institutions received a “D” or an “F” for requiring two or fewer subjects. Twenty-five of them received an “F” for requiring one or no subjects. No institution required all seven. Five institutions received an “A” for requiring six general education subjects. They were Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, Texas A&M, University of Arkansas (Fayetteville), United States Military Academy (West Point) and University of Texas at Austin. Twenty institutions received a “C” for requiring three subjects and 33 received a “B” for requiring four or five subjects. ACTA maintains a website keeping the tally at Whatwilltheylearn.com.

Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University. To find out more about Walter E. Williams and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2009 CREATORS.COM

Unprepared For College; Untrained In Reasoning

Filed under: College,Culture,Education — Administrator @ 2:44 pm

In “Many Dallas-Fort Worth graduates struggle in college” (The Dallas Morning News, 08:36 AM CDT, Sunday, August 9, 2009), Holly K. Hacker writes:

They passed their TAKS exit exams and collected their high school diplomas – yet a troubling number of Texas students struggle their first year in college.

At some North Texas high schools, half or more of graduates who go to college earn less than a C average their first year, based on a Dallas Morning News analysis of state data.

And college students who stumble in their freshman year are more likely to call it quits.

“It’s a serious problem, and it’s not something you can dismiss casually because a lot of students are stunned when they arrive on a college campus,” said Raymund Paredes, the state’s higher education commissioner.

Paredes and others see a major disconnect between expectations set in high school and those in college. State lawmakers and education officials say new rules, laws and programs should help bridge that gap – but there’s still more that public schools and colleges can do.

© 2009, The Dallas Morning News, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Not a problem for students of the Leport Schools, the VanDamme Academy, Falling Apple Science, Powell History, and MGTutoring, where students are trained in reasoning and objectivity!

Note: The Dallas Morning News provided a link to a “full state report” (as a pdf) with the article.

Update (8-31-09, 3:20 PM): Forgot to add to the “not a problem” list Elizabeth O’Brien‘s English Grammar Revolution!!

August 27, 2009

SAT and ACT Score Trends

Filed under: College,Culture,Education — Administrator @ 10:24 am

In “SAT Down and Cried Today” (Core Knowledge Blog, August 26, 2009), Robert Pondiscio writes:

The Class of 2009, who were in 5th grade when No Child Left Behind became the law of the land, and were not yet born when A Nation at Risk ushered in the era of education reform, have posted SAT scores that summon to mind a flatlined EKG.  Math unchanged at 515.  Writing down a point to 493.  Critical reading, down a point to 494.  The results are of a piece with last week’s ACT scores, which showed only one of four high school graduates are prepared to do C level college work in English, math, reading and science.

“Completing a core curriculum remains strongly related to SAT scores,” the College Board notes in a news release.  ”Students in the class of 2009 who took core curricula scored an average of 46 points higher on the critical reading section, 44 points higher on the mathematics section, and 45 points higher on the writing section than those who did not.”

“The College Board, as always, hung a smiley face on it, but the latest SAT results are a real bummer,” writes Checker Finn at Fordham’s Flypaper blog.  Looking at years of stagnant NAEP results, last week’s dispiriting ACT scores and flat high school graduation rates, Finn says “please sing out if you’ve spotted any good news regarding the readiness of American adolescents to face successfully the challenges of higher education, the workforce, adulthood and citizenship. I can’t find it.”

August 26, 2009

“AP” Courses Often Aren’t “Advanced”

Filed under: College,Culture,Education — Administrator @ 5:55 pm

In “Advanced Placement: A detour for college fast track?” (USA TODAY, 3/20/2006 11:02 PM), Mary Beth Marklein wrote:

Admissions officials at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, like those at most colleges nationwide, like to see Advanced Placement courses on high school transcripts. And like many colleges, they typically exempt students who have passed AP exams from taking certain introductory courses.

But in recent years, a troubling pattern has emerged. Increasingly, admitted students who boast AP credits “really weren’t in many ways ready for the rigor of our college curriculum,” says Edith Waldstein, vice president for enrollment management.
…

Like Wartburg, a number of colleges are re-evaluating whether to exempt students with AP credit from certain classes. Already, several highly selective schools, including Harvard, Yale and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, require many students to take introductory courses in certain subjects, even if they passed an AP exam in the same subject.
…
[T]he California study also found that taking AP (and honors) courses bore “little or no relationship to students’ later performance in college” and suggested that institutions reconsider the use of AP as an admissions criterion.

Meanwhile, in a just-released update of a 1999 Education Department study showing that the “academic intensity of the curriculum” is a predictor of bachelor’s degree completion, researcher Clifford Adelman found that, by itself, AP coursework did not “reach the threshold of significance.”

Copyright 2008 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Our Educational System is Broken: An Anecdote

Filed under: Culture,Education,Philosophy — Administrator @ 6:59 am

In “Arne Duncan, Among the Scientists” (Curriculum Matters Blog on Education Week; August 25, 2009 12:21 PM) Sean Cavanagh writes:

[Secretary of Education Arne Duncan] also stressed the potential for the money to help states and schools recruit new teachers in math and science. Today, too many students are taught by educators who don’t know the content in those subjects, the secretary noted. He made another pitch for differential pay for math and science teachers, as well as for teachers in other high-need subjects, possibly spec-ed and foreign languages. He also mentioned the importance of increasing access to AP programs, and singled out a teacher-training program, the University of Texas’ “UTeach,” for helping produce the “next generation of great leadership” in schools. Interestingly, those remarks came on the same day that the Dallas-based organization that’s seeking to replicate the UTeach model and expand AP access said that its participating schools have seen a major increase in AP passing scores.
…
Overall, American schools need to churn out students with better math and science skills, said Duncan, who, as he has previously, cited mediocre U.S. scores on international tests as a source of worry.

“We’ve become complacent,” he told the audience. “We’ve sort of lost our way. This is huge challenge for us.”

© 2009 Editorial Projects in Education

And they are looking to be complacent in the future.  Sean Cavanagh, in “Grounded in Content” (Published Online: December 4, 2007, Published in Print: December 5, 2007)  gives us an illustration of the fact that UTeach seems to be the same old John Dewey-influenced mess:

(more…)

Anecdote on the Death of Writing…and Thinking

Filed under: College,Culture,Education,Language — Administrator @ 6:43 am

In “What Should Colleges Teach?” (New York Times by way of EducationNews.org, August 25, 2009), Stanley Fish writes:

A few years ago, when I was grading papers for a graduate literature course, I became alarmed at the inability of my students to write a clean English sentence. They could manage for about six words and then, almost invariably, the syntax (and everything else) fell apart. I became even more alarmed when I remembered that these same students were instructors in the college’s composition program. What, I wondered, could possibly be going on in their courses?

I decided to find out, and asked to see the lesson plans of the 104 sections. I read them and found that only four emphasized training in the craft of writing. Although the other 100 sections fulfilled the composition requirement, instruction in composition was not their focus. Instead, the students spent much of their time discussing novels, movies, TV shows and essays on a variety of hot-button issues — racism, sexism, immigration, globalization. …

As I learned more about the world of composition studies I came to the conclusion that unless writing courses focus exclusively on writing they are a sham, and I advised administrators to insist that all courses listed as courses in composition teach grammar and rhetoric and nothing else. This advice was contemptuously dismissed by the composition establishment, and I was accused of being a reactionary who knew nothing about current trends in research.

Copyright 1997 – 2009  EducationNews.org

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