DailyDirt: Ready Or Not... Back To School

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Mon, Aug 31st 2015 5:00pm — Michael Ho

Schools in the US vary quite a bit by location. A school in one neighborhood could be vastly better than another school just on the other side of town. There are obvious factors that play into this situation, and unsurprisingly, some political campaigns can cloud the progress towards solutions that might improve lagging schools. Clearly, not all schools can be created equal, but there could be some ways to close the "achievement gap" without simply knocking down the higher-performing schools.

Education research shows that there are specific things that have been tried in the past and that have failed to really improve education: smaller classes, higher standards, more money... do not provide guaranteed results. Some alternative strategies may be better. Instead of creating standards that penalize poor schools and reward good schools, the performance of each student could be tracked to monitor actual individual progress, avoiding the use of an average score over many students. Instead of more tests, better tests could give teachers actionable feedback on how/where to improve. Instead of choosing which school to go to, parents and students might be better off being able to choose which teachers are best. Throwing more money at education without targeting it at effective programs just wastes valuable resources. [url]
This American Life has a fascinating series on how de-segregation has affected some school districts. According to some observers, de-segregation is a solution that works, but that it's so politically unpopular, it's hardly ever given a chance. [url]
Digital education tools are coming. There's a lot of venture capital going towards "big data" approaches to developing better teaching tools. Online classes are still working out the bugs, but presumably, digital degrees (or nano-degrees?) may provide some advantages over traditional classrooms in the future. [url]
Segregation (or re-segregation as the case may be) is not so good for elementary schools. A study of five elementary schools in Florida that re-segregated performed horribly as the schools failed to get money and resources. Statistically, these schools were about average for a variety of socio-economic metrics, but after the school boards voted to effectively begin re-segregation plans, student and teacher performance plummeted. [url]

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Filed Under: achievement gap, big data, certification, classes, education, moocs, nano-degrees, school, segregation, teachers, this american life

16 Comments

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Anonymous Anonymous Coward, 31 Aug 2015 @ 9:43pm

Cut the crap!

"...but after the school boards voted to effectively begin re-segregation plans, student and teacher performance plummeted."

Sounds like a whole lot of discrimination going on down there, doesn't it?

They are children. They need education. What the hell difference does their skin color/ethnicity/national origin make?

The school boards need to be hit with a massive discrimination suit by the DOJ (yeah right) and the teachers fired.

I am disgusted.
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- Anonymous Coward, 1 Sep 2015 @ 5:15am
  
  Re: Cut the crap!
  Teachers have little to do with it and yet you want them fired - for what exactly?
  
  I suggest you look more closely at the school board, the district administration and their political ties. The school board will have to be voted out and the administration subsequently removed. As for those financial backers attempting to destroy education, the options become less clear but their motives are well known.
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  - Anonymous Anonymous Coward, 1 Sep 2015 @ 7:08am
    
    Re: Re: Cut the crap!
    I could be wrong, but the way I read the sentence I quoted, it appears that the teachers stopped teaching.
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    - Anonymous Coward, 1 Sep 2015 @ 8:22am
      
      Re: Re: Re: Cut the crap!
      And this is was determined via direct observation of teachers that refused to teach?
      
      or
      
      It was inferred via some nebulous metric which claims to predict teacher performance specifically as a way to determine compensation.
      
      or
      
      some other undisclosed method they refuse to acknowledge
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John Snape (profile), 1 Sep 2015 @ 12:36am

De-segregation
I can't find it now, but I do remember reading a news report about how de-segregation helped white students improve, but segregation helped black students improve.

And you'd think, with all the improvements in computers and databases, that creating one to track individual students' progress would be simple.
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- Anonymous Coward, 1 Sep 2015 @ 5:17am
  
  Re: De-segregation
  Of course you are unable to find it ....
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Sep 2015 @ 12:43am

back to brainwashing and conditioning the children with common core
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- Anonymous Coward, 1 Sep 2015 @ 5:21am
  
  Re:
  Yes, common core is exactly the same as brainwashing - not.
  
  Back to? Please explain. When was common core in place in the past?
  
  Of the many things wrong with common core, you have chosen brainwashing. Perhaps this indicates a lack of knowledge on the subject matter.
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  - Jim, 1 Sep 2015 @ 5:41am
    
    Re: Re:
    All education is, is brainwashing. Education is to appease a "master". To appease the master, one must do things in a certain order. A rite. The differences are from the master, and every master is different. Just as two peas in a pod are different. Then you have the students, no two are the same, but then you have changing goals every couple of years, that encourage change, so the master has to be re-educated, changing the master focus, and what they now feel are important to teach of a subject, that's now a political agenda, instead of a process of education, creating a weakening of standards, not looking good,but it can recover.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 1 Sep 2015 @ 7:04am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Are you serious?
      
      If so, please seek help
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Sep 2015 @ 9:31am

Digital education tools are coming.
... because analog education tools are so 20th century...
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- Anonymous Coward, 1 Sep 2015 @ 10:36am
  
  Re: Digital education tools are coming.
  But they sound so much warmer.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Sep 2015 @ 9:32am

Most of the educational thinking today in my opinion is pure political bullshit.

IMO, the most important determining factor of a schools success is the parents of the kids who attend that school. Its not money, its not technology, its not the teachers, its the parents and the support they give to their kids concerning education.

My kids go to a high school in NJ, we live in a town that receives zero dollars from the state so our facilities kind of suck. The teachers are not impressive (my son's AP Chemistry teacher told a group of parents at the meet the teacher night the 3rd week of class that he hadn't handed textbooks for a month because he had not numbered them yet (which means taking a black magic marker and physically numbering the books) and kids are taking Calc classes during the summer at the local community college because the AP Calc teacher blows.

We go to other, low income schools where everything is paid for by the state and their facilities are beautiful.

Yet, our school is ranked much better (although not in athletics.)

Low income usually equates to race, and politicians won't dance with that, so we have common core, we have technology, we have other things.

Unless you address the real problems (income and race) you can't solve the problem.
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- Anonymous Coward, 1 Sep 2015 @ 11:09am
  
  Re:
  A real problem is the concerted effort by monied interests to destroy public education - because their replacement, for profit private education, is $$$ooo much better.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 1 Sep 2015 @ 11:17am
    
    Re: Re:
    What makes you think public schools are not exactly the same?
    
    Who owns the SAT? Who writes the material for AP classes?
    
    Who provides training to take the SAT?
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    - Anonymous Coward, 1 Sep 2015 @ 6:45pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      You know what? You are completely qualifies to answer your own questions - please do so in a methodical and thorough manner, discarding obvious bias and seeking the truth of the matter.
      
      Oh wait ... that is not what you are about is it?
      Never mind.
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