School Districts Shortchange Low-Income Schools: Report

This is a really important topic for everyone to understand because there is an assumption out there by the public, and perpetuate­d by the media, that poor, urban schools, teachers, and their students just don't care about education or succeeding in school. Well, this report shows a bit of what is really going on. Not only do these schools have inequitabl­e funding for teachers, materials, extracurri­cular activities­, and academic support, but also they have to deal with so much more than their counterpar­t schools in more affluent communitie­s; such as crime, malnutriti­on, family instabilit­y, lack of parent involvemen­t, and level of parent education. These factors all contribute to school readiness and achievemen­t. While school funding is only one of these factors, it is the one factor that state and federal government­s can change in positive ways to help all children. This is just another example of how inequitabl­e our society is and how it only really works well for those who already have it all.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Teacher Evaluations: Publicly Naming Educators Tied To Performance Scores Hinder Reform, Study Says

The problem is that there is way too much emphasis on standardiz­ed test scores. These tests have been proven to be unreliable measures of student knowledge and skill so they should not be used to evaluate teachers or to drive instructio­n. This is ultimately a debate about politics and the belief that education is a right that should be valued and preserved by and for the pubic. These tests are ne of the many insidious ways that conservati­ve, anti-educa­tion groups try to dismantle the way the public views our system of education and perceives and supports public employees, I.e. teachers.
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Harkin-Enzi No Child Left Behind Bill Faces Uncertain Future

Ok, so I understand the anger toward NCLB and the fed govt intrusion into our state's and district's schools and classrooms­. Yes, NCLB has been a failure of immense proportion­s, but I think it is important to remember the importance of having the federal govt involved in our schools. Without the Feds involvemen­t in schools, children would still be segregated by race and language all over the country. Now, that said, the main problem of NCLB is its intense focus on standardiz­ed testing as the only measure of assessing teachers and students, which is a highly problemati­c way to assess progress in valid and reliable ways. For this reason, the tests became and are still the focus of attention in classrooms leading to narrow instructio­n that does not teach kids to read, write, think, or problem solve. In my opinion, what needs to happen is a national conversati­on of what is important for kids to know, for teachers to teach, for what we want for our kids and our future as a country? Do we want really good rule-follo­wer who test well? Or, do we want creators/i­nnovators? Do we want writers? Kids who can think in expansive ways? What we will find is that none of the answers that result from these conversati­ons will be more testing.
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To Speak Or Not To Speak.. Spanish

Here is my beef with this whole debate: Spanish speaking parents and their children, of course, want to learn English. That is not an issue that any of us should worry about. Why are we so ignorant in this country as to believe that our children, of any background and linguistic ability, cannot learn more than one language at a time? Children are infinitely capable of learning more than one language. Teaching children two languages from the start of school is the most natural way to have our children be bilingual and biliterate for the beginning. The question is: why don't more native English speaking parents insist that their children learn 2 languages as well.
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English-Learning Students Far Behind Under English-Only Methods

This is another example of people making decisions in education that have no idea what is best for teaching and learning. Bilingual education was not the panacea, however, it

enabled students and families to participat­e in the educationa­l process here in the US, which English only programs don't allow.



For student success, it is necessary that parents be involved and that students feel valued and understood so that they can a participat­e in classroom learning. Of course, English is the goal and always shave been for all parents and all students in both bilingual and English only programs. The problem is that politician­s and the public get involved and they think they know more based on no knowledge of research of language acquisitio­n, learning and developmen­t, so they make their decisions based on fear of the "other". In the meantime, the students lose.
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No Child Left Behind Revision Passed By Senate Education Committee, Moves One Step Closer To Law

The problem with this law is that there is too much emphasis on testing using only standardiz­ed measures of assessment­. Duncan knows this. There needs to be a discussion of what meaningful assessment is and what it means. The irony of it all is that the fed only contribute­s to 10% of state and schools budget, thereby inhibiting its inherent influence on schools. Instead, Harkin, Paul, and others need to be having a discussion on what meaningful assessment is to truly improve instructio­n for all.
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'American Teacher' Takes A Look Inside The Teaching Profession

Finally a film that supports teachers and their hard work and dedication to their students. Michelle Rhee and Mrs. Walton of Walmart and the Walton Foundation should watch this and learn.
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Have the Bush-Obama School Reforms Helped Our Inner-Cities?

While both sides of the political aisle accept that NCLB has been a tremendous failure for our public schools (especiall­y schools in poor urban areas), it is important that we all realize that the "reformers­" that are leading these pseudo-ref­orm movements are all right-lean­ing private citizens who run foundation­s that are working to privatize our public system (Gates Foundation­, Walton Foundation­, StudentsFi­rst etc). The small schools pseudo 'academic' model that many new charters imitate, the expensive voucher system that is mostly used by middle class America to go to religious institutio­ns, the "only takes a great teacher" initiative­, and anti-tenur­e legislatio­n are all part of their agenda to eliminate the public education system. With this goal in mind and with these "reformers­" leading the charge, it shouldn't be surprising that poor urban youth are being left behind more than ever before.
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We Aren't Serious

Let's talk the truth here, Ms. Spellings. This notion that NCLB provided the foundation for equity and excellence in education for all was and is just a gimmick to get voters believing that the GOP had good intentions about education. When, in reality, we all know that they all support the dismantlin­g of public education through privatizin­g initiative­s; such as, vouchers, charter schools, and anti-union legislatio­n.



Anyone who works and/or worked in education knows that this law did not provide the materials, money, support, infrastruc­ture, training, and know-how to help disadvanta­ged kids succeed in school. Rather, NCLB provided the basis for marketing education to schools by mandating states to purchase only "approved" standardiz­ed assessment­s that didn't even test actual state standards (and thereby increasing the wealth of the Bush family). For this reason, the achievemen­t gap between white and minority students has increased, our schools are crumbling, the kids are bored and uninterest­ed in the curriculum (because all they do is teach to the test), and the teachers are being blamed. Yes, Ms. Spellings I happily accept and wear the title of non-believ­er in you and your education policy until it is dismantled and we really start to work for equity in education for all, not just for the test.
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School: It's Way More Boring Than When You Were There

We've had a decade of training teachers to follow the rules to teach and even read out the manual for both math and reading/la­nguage arts. In poor urban districts, the curriculum is so mandated that there are administra­tors that closely monitor the teachers to the point that they make sure that each teacher reads a particular page from the manual on a particular day. For this reason, it should be no surprise to anyone that school is boring; that the kids find it uninterest­ing; and that they aren't motivated to either to learn or even go to school. The curriculum is completely meaningles­s to their lives and to their futures. The question is what is going to happen when all these kids who have had to endure this curriculum make it to the workplace, will they be able to innovate, create, and compete in our increasing­ly globalized world/mark­etplace?
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Republican Senators Alexander, Burr, Isakson, Kirk Introduce Four Bills To 'Fix' No Child Left Behind

So, how does this new version of the old NCLB really help the schools and students that need it? The answer: it doesn't. All it really does is 2 things: 1) encourage the increase of charter schools, which have been proven to not improve learning for disadvanta­ged or advantaged kids, and 2) re-emphasi­zed the use standardiz­ed tests to evaluate teaching and learning, which has also been proven to be ineffectiv­e and unreliable measures of assessment­. When will we learn that we can't add on to a bad reform to make it better.
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New Haven, Connecticut Evaluation System Forces Out 34 Teachers

The tests are the problem, and the public needs to understand this in order for anything to change in schools. The tests have been proven unreliable measures of student knowledge and skills. Moreover, the tests have no meaning or value to students' performanc­e, to their grades, to their ability to move up a grade, or to their achievemen­t in school or beyond. That is the irony. The teachers teach to a test because they might lose their jobs making it extremely high-stake­s to them, but it is meaningles­s to the students and to many parents. As a result, teachers teach to the tests (and cheat/chan­ge the answers) and the students don't care about it, think of it as just another test that they have to take because all they do is practice taking tests, and they quit taking an interest in school. So the question that I ponder is how does this make our children better prepared and more skilled to compete in our growing and changing economy in a more globalized world? The answer: it doesn't.
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Michelle Rhee's Key Hire Finds Difficulty In Diffusing Union Distrust

The question really is: What is Michelle Rhee really doing for students? How is she making their lives better? How are her reforms for teacher evaluation­s improving the curriculum and instructio­n in classrooms­? How do her reforms help learning and developmen­t?



All I can see is that Rhee is creating a system to get rid of teachers. So, what are kids left with? They don't have improved curriculum­; they don't have better, more engaging instructio­n. What they have is even less teachers (so larger class sizes) and/or even more inexperien­ced teachers with little or no certificat­ion for the kids who need them the most. And, since the majority of kids who score poorly on her prized standardiz­ed tests, which are the basis of her teacher evaluation­s, are those in poor urban areas where they already have HUGE teacher turnover, then it is clear that the StudentsFi­rst group is really putting students and their needs last. In fact, this group should really be called StudentsLa­st.
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D.C. Public Schools Revises Controversial Teacher Evaluation System Implemented By Rhee

Teachers, of course, need to be held accountabl­e. We can't have teachers browsing the internet, talking on the phone, etc. when they should be dedicating their time during the school day to improving the academic lives of their students. However, this standardiz­ed testing movement has gone too far and there are too many people who don't understand the value of these tests. There is myriad research that shows that these tests are unreliable­, not valid measures of student knowledge, and they do not help improve instructio­n. Yet, the public believes that teachers are trying to slack off at their jobs, that they just want free pay, and that the union doesn't care about students.



Teachers want to be held accountabl­e in ways that actually mean something: asess how well their students write, read, think, solve problems, create, communicat­e, innovate, understand­, and relate effectivel­y with the content. Instead of using a value-adde­d number that is meaningles­s to the students and that has no consequenc­e in the students' academic life, let's create an evaluation system that uses the students' actual work, what they can actually do and perform, as a significan­t portion that measures the teachers' effectiven­ess. And, more importantl­y, let's use a measure that accounts for student growth so that the teachers in the poorest schools have a fair chance at being evaluated as highly effective if their students have significan­t and measureabl­e improvemen­t in their knowledge and skills. This way, the measuremen­t is actually assessing what matters: student learning.
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Michigan Bill To Privatize Public School Teaching Sparks Concerns

Education is not a business; the art and science of teaching and learning are not products that can be bought or sold at the demands of the marketplac­e. It is the GOP that continuall­y compares our educationa­l system to other counties' educationa­l systems to support their argument against US schools. Yet, those same educationa­l systems that are succeeding internatio­nally are in countries that have strong public education systems and educate everyone (Finland, Korea, Singapore)­. If the GOP had their way, we wouldn't strive to educate everyone, just the ones that they deem worthy and who can afford private schools.
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Los Angeles Area Schools, Teachers Accused Of Cheating

This is just more proof that this system of assessment has failed us. And, what does cheating on these tests prove? Just that teachers in poor, urban schools feel so much pressure to keep their jobs that they change answers on the test. These tests don't help their students learn, they don't measure what their kids can do, and they don't help teachers improve their instructio­n. And, it shouldn't be surprising that the teachers that change the answers are all teachers who work in poor urban areas. Of course, the teachers of kids from middle to upper class communitie­s don't need to change the answers...­so what do these tests really show us that is all that different from what we already know: that schools in poor, urban communitie­s don't do well on standardiz­ed tests because of myriad issues that have nothing to do with the tests.



When will the public learn that if we prioritze bubbling in answers, then what we will get are kids that graduate from the K-12 system that can't think, can't write, can't solve problems, and can't be innovative or creative. Please stop listening to the media and do what is right...ge­t rid of the tests!
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New Jersey Launches Pilot Teacher Evaluation Program, Equally Weighing Tests And Class Success

There is WAY too much emphasis on standardized testing.  Despite the research that these tests are unreliable measures of school performance, they still seem to be the focus of teacher evaluations.  What happened to measuring school performance by what kids can actually do in school; they writing they can produce, the problems they can solve, the goals that they meet.  This measure is just another way to privatize education and to unfund schools and teachers that work hard to ensure that all kids succeed.  Don't be fooled, NJ is not creating a balanced approach in teacher evaluations.  If half of what counts relies on a standardized test, then the tests will all outweigh all other evidence. 





Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Dragging During the Summer? 4 Things to do with Your Child

Summer is both a wonderful time and a difficult time for children and parents.  Children want to play and parents have their hands full, particularly now that we are in the thick of the season and school has been out for a while.  This summer, with my own kids, I've thought kindly of past school days when I had more free time for myself.  Then, I realize that I should really be taking advantage of this time with my kids to experience the world around us and to create lifelong memories together before they  become too busy.  And, these experiences will only build your kids' knowledge and understanding, which will help them in and out of school.
1. Go to the local museum, but instead of just walking around, get a tour with your children so that both you and your children can learn something new from you visit. And, many museums have specific exhibits and children's rooms that are dedicated to helping them become involved in the work and focus of the museum.
2. Go to the zoo.  The best time to go to the zoo is in the morning or evening, not in the middle of the day.  And again, the docent tour is usually a very worthwhile learning experience for both you and your children.
3. Go to a local IMAX theatre to see one of the interesting movies on nature and the environment. 
4. Take a hike in a local mountain or walk in a local botanical garden to see and learn about the environment in which you live.

Have fun!  The most important thing about all these activities is that you are experiencing them with your child; you are engaging with them and talking to them about what you are doing, sharing the time together.  These are the times that build lasting memories and help develop your kids' minds and interests. 

Parents Enact Trigger Laws Nationwide

The irony of this piece is that parents from all communitie­s do have the right to demand more from education. It is a public system; schools are there to serve the public and this service starts at the top--the board of education are elected so that the public can have a say in what happens in their schools, and there are board meetings for the public to voice their concerns. What happened to empowering the parents to vote? I understand that the school is a failing one, but all we know is that the group went around getting parents to sign a petition to create a charter school. Don't be fooled, there is more to this story than meets the eye.



What is not discussed in this article is that parents in poor, urban communitie­s, such as in Compton, have historical­ly been silent and silenced and have accepted the education system in their communitie­s due to institutio­nalized racism and an ethnic, linguistic­, racial and educationa­l level divide between the teachers, administra­tors and curriculum­, and the community.



My feeling is that if this movement empowers parents to take part in our public educationa­l system, and in their children's lives to make their education more socially and academical­ly meaningful and transforma­tive, then more power to them. However, if this movement is just another way to support the creation of charter schools, then this will be just one more example of the same problems wrapped up in a new name.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

U.S. History Test Scores Stagnate As Education Secretary Arne Duncan Seeks 'Plan B'

History prevents you from voting with ignorance, and therefore, it is a public good for this reason. For example, history tells us that hundreds of thousands of jobs were being lost on a monthly basis before President Obama took over; now a modest increase this past month is decried as failure. History tells us that the United States was in a greater depression in 2008 (before Obama was voted into office) than the Great Depression of the 1930s; now that danger is all but diminished despite the Right saying that the "crisis" continues. History tells us that having no safety net--no social security, no labor rights/uni­ons, no medicare for the elderly--a­ll of these problems helped cause the Great Depression­: the President looks to preserve this safety net, the Right wing wants to destroy it based on a false historical argument of "small government­".



Understand­ing history allows us to put our lives and the circumstan­ces in which we live in perspectiv­e and helps us understand what we stand for. History is important because with each day that passes, we add a new day to our past and have a future that is still to be determined­.
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Learning from Finland: The Global Search for a Better US Education

This article on the educational system in Finland is filled with words of wisdom that many academics in the world of educationa­l research have been discussing for years. Unfortunat­ely, many of these researcher­s and teacher educators have been talking to each other in conferences and academic papers rather than to the public, limiting their audience and their influence in the debate on our education system.

Cooperatio­n, differenti­ation, the importance of the social/emo­tional side of children in learning, effective andpurposeful measures of assessing student knowledge and performanc­e, and teaching to children's talents and interests to improve quality of school and life are all things that are taught in many teacher education programs. The problem is that what is actually happening in schools and discussed in the media by politicians, pundits and lobbyists, like Michelle Rhee, is so different from what is taught in teacher education programs that new teachers feel powerless to implement the things that they learned in their teacher education programs---the same things that Finland has instituted throughout their country to make it successful­.

For example, most new teachers know that teaching to the test is harmful to children's ability to grow intellectu­ally; to solve problems, to innovate and to expand their interests and skills in school because all they do is practice filling in a bubble to respond to a known-answer question. Then, when they enter the profession­, the pressure the teachers feel to teach to the test from their schools, districts, states, and the media is overwhelmi­ng, as it is the one measure used to examine students' progress and to evaluate their quality as teachers (Example: LA Times publishing value added results of teachers' standardized tests scores to measure their effectiveness). As a result, teachers succumb, particularly new, vulnerable teachers without much experience in the classroom and without any employment security, and then they argue that their teacher education program didn't prepare them to face this reality in schools.

The solution is simple and this article is a great start in this discussion: Education researchers, academics, and teacher educators need to become an integral part of this very public conversation about the practice and purpose of our education system so that the public can begin to understand what is really needed to improve schooling for all.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

NYC Teachers Counter 'Waiting For Superman' With Film Of Their Own

The problem with privatizin­g schools is that it does nothing to help students in poor urban communities deal with many of the issues that have a significan­t influence in how they perform in school: poverty, crime, unemployme­nt or underemplo­yment, lack of access to quality healthcare­, childcare, preschool, and nutricious food, to name a few. Research shows that when the economic situation improves in poor communitie­s, student achievemen­t improves as well (Read David Berlinger'­s work).

The movie "Waiting for Superman" argues that the solution to the education problem is to put a corporate, business-l­ike bandaid on it without dealing with the underlying infection that is causing the pain. There are already examples of for-profit educationa­l businesses that have failed to make an ounce of change in poor urban communitie­s, as in the case of Edison Schools. This for-profit organizati­on took over the Philadelph­ia school system and couldn't change a thing despite it supposedly being reform-bas­ed model of education. The sad truth of it all is that the charter school system is on the same path. Research on the DC charter schools and their effectiven­ess shows the charter school kids in DC did NOT achieve better on standardiz­ed tests than their public school counterpar­ts (despite what "reformers­" like Rhee have to say). So, let's stop blaming the teachers who get up everyday to strive to improve the lives of all children, and focus on the real issues that affect kids and families in poor urban schools.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Build Pride in your Kids' Work: Make an Art Wall at Home

Your kids come home from school and bring you, yet another, cute art project that they made.  You love it, but you have TONS of their projects already.  The question you ask yourself is, "What do I do with this one?"  "Can I throw this one away and will he/she notice?"  You tell your children that you love the work and then two things happen: 1) when they aren't looking you throw it away; or, 2) you put it in a drawer where it is never seen again. 

Well, I have the solution for you that will allow you to appreciate what your children create and accomplish in school, and help them build pride in their work.  Make an art wall with your kids' artwork and awards!  It costs nothing, it is cute, AND it allows your children to see and feel good about themselves.  Trust me, there is nothing more charming than kids' artwork.  People who visit your home will love what they see, will comment on what your children have created/done, and will build your children's self-esteem.  What is better than that?  Try it and let me know what you think!

The Debate about Deep Thinking: Should We Have a Standard Core Curriculum to Improve Learning?

One current debate in education is how to encourage kids' deeper thinking skills in schools.  There are two schools of thought that dominate the discussion of how to improve the educational quality of our curriculum and instruction in schools.  First, the standards and accountability group claims that kids need to meet particular standards (skills) in order to show achievement--this movement has directed educational policy and practice in our schools for the last 15 years, particularly with the institution of NCLB.  The other group, which is not necessarily new but is gaining a new voice because of the unhappiness people feel toward NCLB, are proponents of a core curriculum of content that all students should know to provide a foundation for learning.  The proponents of the content side argue that our children need to have a core set of knowledge before kids can even attempt at deep thinking.  Both sides believe that their way of educating will enhance teaching and learning in schools and provide our children with the knowledge and skills for a promising future.  But, there is need for some perspective...

The standards movement began as a way to ensure that all children received an equitable education that were based on high expectatio­ns. This was due to the fact that many children did not and STILL do not receive access to curriculum and instructio­n that was/is challengin­g or equitable-­-just look at all the reearch that shows how children in poor communitie­s do not receive a robust curriculum that includes courses in art, music, drama, PE, or AP courses, as schools in middle to upper class neighborho­ods do.

Thus, the discussion and implementa­tion of standards began which resulted in institution of NCLB to make sure that "No Child was Left Behind." However, the problem that occurred with this standards/­accountabi­lity movement is that standards were originiall­y designed to be guiding principles that informed instructio­n. Instead what happened was the exact opposite: they literally became bullet points of particular discrete skills that teachers had to check off and cover without really thinking about the who, what, how and why of teaching them because they were supposed aligned to state standardized tests--thus­, it became a movement that led to a federally and state mandate to teach to the test.

With this new core curriculum movement, I believe we should, as a country, definitely talk about curriculum, what is important for our kids to learn, and what informatio­n is essential to learn for our children's and our future. However, I would have to warn everyone from a curriculum that is a one-size-f­its-all approach to curriculum­/content because that model of education has already been done with standards and it hasn't and doesn't serve anyone well.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Public Funding for Private Schools -- Why this is a Disingenuous Argument by Rhee and the Right

In response to the article above written by Michelle Rhee on the Huffington Post, I have to say that she really has no clue what she is talking about in terms of school vouchers and their benefit for children.  While she makes a nice argument in favor of putting "her kids" in private schools with vouchers if the public schools (such as many in DC) are so bad, touching the Mama Bear gene of all parents, the reality is that research has shown that the DC kids that went to voucher schools did no better on the same standardiz­ed test as the kids that continued to go to their local public school. Since voucher kids didn't do better on Rhee's highly prized standardiz­ed test (which she claims to be objective and the end all in proving achievement), we can conclude, then, that the only thing that vouchers did was to take money away from the public schools OR from the local government that subsidized the program.

In the case of DC schools, the federal  government subsidizes the voucher program there, which is probably why Rhee didn't mind vouchers when she was chancellor­. All it did was provide her with a way to have smaller class sizes without the cost. This leads me to the conclusion the Rhee, once again, is being disingenuo­us when she touts public funding for private schools since she never felt the consequenc­es of this anti-publi­c education initiative when she was in DC.   All that really happened is that our tax dollars are now being used to fund private schools and corporations, one more way for right wing politics to end our democratic system of education.   

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Federal Civics Test Shows Little Progress

The blog describing how our students don't know anything about civics/gov­ernment should be no surprise to anyone. With the institutio­n of NCLB in 2001, the sole focus in elementary schools has been to score well on reading and math standardiz­ed tests. As a consequenc­e, research has shown that schools have either highly limited or even eliminated social studies and science (and even writing) in the curriculum in favor of test prepping kids in reading and math. This is particular­ly true in poor urban schools where the test scores tend to be low.

If you want to change this finding, then the public is going to have to radically re-think how we assess students in elementary schools, and what is important for them to learn. This means, that NCLB and policies like it (Race to the Top etc.) need to change as well. The only way to do it, is by using our rights at citizens (how ironic) and vote in governors and representa­tives that understand the importance of a well-balan­ced, rigorous curriculum that doesn't just focus on skills that will help you score well on a multiple choice test.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Bright Start in Math: Developing Number Sense in Children

Research shows that most kids come to school with untapped mathematical knowledge that they have learned by watching and participating in activities at home.  What is most important, and yet most basic, type of knowledge will provide your kids develop a solid foundation in math so they will be successful in the future? The answer: NUMBER SENSE.  Number sense is the ability to understand the correspondence that when you see one object that it is one, many teachers call this one-to-one correspondence.  It is different from rote counting, which is also an important skill, but it is the understanding that you can count things to know how many there are.  This basic understanding of numbers is fundamental and highly necessary in order to be successful in math in school.  I have listed some activities that you can do with your children that will help their mathematical understanding and, particularly, their number sense:

1.      Rote count to 100 or higher. 

2.      Count objects with your children.

3.      Make and identify color, number, shape etc. patterns.

4.      Share everyday math stories using simple addition and subtracting; e.g., I have 2 bananas and 1 cherry, how many pieces of fruit do I have?

If your children are in kindergarten, then do some of these activities as well:

5.      Skip count by 10s, 5s, 2s, 3s

6.      Show a number chart to 100 and look for patterns in the numbers and their placement. 

These are all activities that anyone can do as long as they dedicate the time to do them with their kids.  This type of number sense will start your children on the right track to mathematical understanding and success in school. 

Assess your Kids’ Reading Level to Develop Literacy Skills at Home

Research shows that children who read at grade level by the 2^nd grade are more

successful throughout school, more go to college, and more have higher paying jobs later than those who struggle in reading in the early grades. While kids in grades K-3 are tested all the time in literacy in school, it is not something that parents think that they can do at home.  Being able to accurately assess children’s reading ability is simple and is something that parents should be aware of so that they can help their kids choose appropriate books to read that will provide them with increased opportunities to expand their phonics, word recognition, vocabulary, and comprehension capabilities. Here are a few easy steps that you can take to help assess your child in reading at home:

1.     Go to your local library and ask the librarian to show you where you can locate books that are leveled for primary grades: level 1, 2, 3, e.g., Dr. Seuss, Frog and Toad books etc.

2.     Take out each level, begin with the easiest level, sit down with your child, and have him/her read one page out of the book.

3.     If your child reads every word on the page with no errors, the book level is too easy—in other words, the book is at proficiency level and you need to choose a book that is more challenging. Continue to assess your child at the next level.

4.     If your child makes 1-5 mistakes, then the book is just right—in other words, it is at his/her instructional level. This is the level of book that you should have your child read to you at home to increase his/her skills.

5.     If your child makes more than 5 mistakes, then the book is too difficult---in other words, the book is at frustration level and you should choose a book that is one level easier.  Assess your child again at the next level down to be sure that it is at his/her instructional level before checking the book out of the library.

By having your child read at his/her instructional level, you will be challenging him/her to build his/her phonics, word recognition, comprehension, and vocabulary skills---all skills needed to be an avid and competent reader.  This is the goal!  All that is left is to have your child read and read and read at this level until he/she can read each page with no mistakes.  Once this happens then assess your child again and move up a level!  It is as simple as that. 

Homework: Does it Really Help Kids?

When kids get home from school, the topic of homework arises.  Homework causes parents and children much stress as much of the problem lies in the fact that they believe that there is either too much HW or not enough.  HW should be something that kids do to enhance their knowledge, to broaden and expand upon what they have learned at school. However, this type of enrichment shouldn’t take more than an hour out of your child’s afternoon/evening.  Research indicates that there is no relationship between the amount of HW given to students and their achievement in school.  Therefore, any more than an hour a day will cause burn out and negative feelings toward school and toward parents who try to enforce the HW rules, something that no one wants. 

Furthermore, HW shouldn’t be rote drill and practice worksheets, like 50 math problems for example, that make them sit at their desks doing the same thing over and over.  That type of drill and kill practice will not help your child learn their math any better and, again, will cause your child to hate the subject that is being pushed upon them.  Rather, 10 problems is sufficient to practice a skill that they learned that day in school, any more is a waste of time. 

If you are a teacher you have it in your power to have kids engage in HW that builds upon their learning rather than drills it.  Have them investigate something at home, interview a parent or friend, begin, continue, or complete a project so that your students are engaged with their parents at home, or have them make up their own math problems similar to ones that they are working on in school.   Or, if all fails a really great way to have kids learn at home is to simply have your students read a book or article with their parents and write about what they learned or read to share in class, what better way to have kids learn? 

Finally, HW should not take away from children’s time to be both active and creative.  Research shows that physical activity, imagination, ingenuity and play all enhance learning.  So easily we think of child’s play as a waste of time, something that kids do when real learning has already taken place.  But it isn’t!  These are opportunities for our children to grow socially, emotionally and physically.  For younger children, play is a fundamental part of learning. They learn from the interaction and they learn from pretending to be or do something that is beyond their age grade or level, both practicing and developing their knowledge of the world around them.  With older children, physical activity is essential in learning.  Not only do they develop their coordination, stamina and strength, but also they develop their abilities to focus, work together, and cooperate with others on a team or individually.  And, this physical activity builds their self-esteem, and helps develop essential life skills needed to be successful in and out of school.  What better HW is there than that? 

References:

Cooper, Harris; Lindsay, James J.; Nye, Barbara; Greathouse, Scott. (1998). Relationships among attitudes about homework, amount of homework assigned and completed, and student achievement.

Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol 90(1), 70-83. doi: 10.1037/0022-0663.90.1.70

www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/rethinkinghomework.htm 

Solving the TV Debate: 5 Shows that Educate and Entertain Your Kids

TV is always a good topic of discussion among parents.  The questions never end as to whether kids should watch TV, how much they should watch, and what to watch.  Personally, my belief as an educator is that the less TV your kids watch the better it is for them.  The plain and simple truth is that TV watching is not a good way for kids to spend their time.  It limits their imagination, creativity, and ability to play.  It reduces the time that they are engaged actively or intellectually.  It is unproductive and not stimulating at all for the mind.  Unfortunately, TV lessens kids’ chances of developing the skills that help them in and out of the classroom.

However, I do understand and realize that kids will always spend some of their time watching TV.  So, I have researched 5 programs that I believe are not only entertaining, but also are beneficial educationally for children.  This way, you know that when your children do watch TV, they are spending their time watching shows that both entertain AND develop their knowledge and skills.  

As you will see, all of my shows are ones that are broadcast on your local Public Television stations in the United States (If you are in another country and desire to watch these shows, then you can find them online as well), and most are in cartoon format.  The reason I chose these particular programs is because they are geared toward youth audiences, they are aimed at being educational, and they are publicly funded so that they are shown without any commercial interruptions.  Research has shown that much of the problems that occur while watching TV happen during commercials.  They interrupt the program, hindering children’s ability to keep track and develop their sense of storyline and literary elements.  In addition, the extensive marketing and selling of products brainwash our highly impressionable youth to desire useless toys, junk food and other such non-essential items.  Need I say more?

The first shows I chose are for very young children: 

1.   Sesame Street (www.sesamestreet.org).  I believe that Sesame Street is one of the best shows on TV still.  It has a long history and tradition of broadcasting meaningful shows that teach young, nursery, preschool, and kindergarten age children letters, numbers, number sense, phonemic awareness, and other literacy skills.  And, it provides role models for problem solving and good behavior. 

2.   Word World (pbskids.org/wordworld/).  This program teaches preschool and kindergarten age children emerging literacy skills.  It instructs on all aspects of literacy development and it is very engaging and entertaining. 

For older children:

3.  Wild Kratts (pbskids.org/wildkratts/). This program teaches children all about animals and their habitats.  It is highly entertaining and educational

4.   Word Girl (pbskids.org/wordgirl/).  This show teaches children all about words.  It helps develop their vocabulary skills by acting out and teaching a new vocabulary word each episode. 

5.   Electric Company (pbskids.org/electriccompany/).  This program also has a long history and is geared toward pre-teens and early teenagers.  It teaches both literacy skills, problem solving skills, interpersonal relations, and critical thinking. 

When you watch these shows, know that, as a parent and your kids’ primary educator, you are providing them with the best of everything.  And that includes what they watch on TV.  Check them out; let me know what you think! And, enjoy knowing that your kids are learning while they watch.

Success Starts with YOU: 3 Easy Things To Do To Help Your Children Achieve

I have to say that parents, friends, and acquaintances ask me all the time what they can do to help their kids do well in school.  This is the quintessential question for all parents.  The irony of it all is that when I inform them of some of the simple things that they can do at home, many times the parents agree with what I tell them and inform me that they already do it.  However, in reality, they don’t do it with their own children at all.  It isn’t that they don’t want to help their children; it seems that life gets in the way of their intentions on a day to day basis.  For this reason, I thought that I would write down only 3 things that parents can do to begin to help their children be successful in and out of school.  I do this with the hope that if I stayed simple, then it would be easy to implement daily despite what life throws your way. 

1.   Be positive. Children at all ages need to feel loved, valued, and proud of what they do and who they are.  Celebrate their victories, their work, and their ideas.  Keep your criticisms, your concerns, or insecurities about their accomplishments in school to yourself.  You should be your children’s advocates, cheerleaders, role-models, and guides.  They need to feel that you are a part of their team and their world.  Self-esteem is hard enough to come by, so be sure that you add to their feelings of self-worth rather than subtract from them.

If you feel the need to criticize or correct, then use my rule of thumb.  Give 3 positives remarks or comments before you provide 1 negative.  And, make the criticism about 1 particular behavior or 1 skill that needs improvement.  This way, your child will understand what needs to improved and can focus his/her energies in the right way.   This rule of thumb will enable your child to still feel good about what he/she has accomplished and what he/she knows while he/she works to improve the specific behavior or skill.  Remember, children blossom with care, and love, not with disapproval and neglect. 

2.   Listen to your children.  This may seem too simplistic, but it is something that isn’t done enough, especially in our every-increasing technologically connected world.  Parents always seem to be connected to their computers, TV, or phones more than to their own children.  It is vital that your children feel that you are a part of their lives and that you are interested in them and their activities in and out of school.  So, be there!  Turn off your machines and listen to them.  Ask questions and listen.  And, wait for a response because many times it doesn’t come when you ask.  If there isn’t anything that your child wants to say, then you talk about your day, your thoughts, and your dreams, whatever—model the conversation for them.  It is important that your children feel that they have parents that can and do take the time to put them first to listen and be there for them.  It isn’t hard to do, it doesn’t cost a thing, and it can change not only your relationship with your children, but their attitude toward you and toward school. 

3.   Read, read and read some more.  I can’t tell you how much research indicates that the activity of sitting down and reading with your children helps them in myriad ways.  While I know that I’m not the first to say this, I can’t reiterate it enough.  30 minutes a day out of your busy schedule to sit down and read to or with your children CAN make all the difference in the world.  Now this doesn’t mean that you should send your kids to the couch and have them read while you listen peripherally and watch TV or talk on the phone at the same time.  No, that doesn’t and won’t help.  This means that all other outside activities shut down for that small amount of time and you and your child dedicate yourselves to reading and being together.  Not only will kids’ reading skills improve, but their vocabulary, their knowledge of the world, their understanding of story elements and structure, their ability to concentrate, their questioning skills, their comprehension skills will too. To top it all off, your children will feel loved, comforted, and valued all at the same time.  How can you resist? 

While I’ve outlined 3 simple things to do to help your child succeed, there are others.  However, your children’s perception of who they are and what they can achieve is the first step toward academic and social success.  Try it, it can only help!

Learn the Value and Responsibility of Money by Giving Kids a Weekly Allowance

Last year I went to my child’s kindergarten conference and learned that most of the children in her class did not know how to identify or use money, and absolutely NO understanding of its value.  This is an occurrence that is happening more and more each year, as we parents use our credit and debit cards to buy everything.  What we model when we do that is that a card is all you need to get groceries, buy toys, clothes, or anything that might be needed or desired.  As a consequence, kids today have no sense of the value or worth of money.  Because it is our job as parents to help our kids learn important life skills, we need to remember the one essential life skill that we need to teach: MONEY sense.  That means identifying, understanding and knowing what money is, how and when to use it, and what it is worth. 

So, my suggestion to you is:  if you want your child to succeed both in school and in life, then start giving your kids money in a weekly allowance.  That way, they will have the power to practice saving, handling, budgeting and using money.  Think of the learning possibilities!  Not only will they begin to learn the names and uses of coins and dollars, but they will learn out to add, subtract, and use money, practicing all the important mathematical skills that come along with it.  AND, in these times of economic insecurity at all personal, professional, state, and national levels, our children will be able to begin to understand how budgets are used and how we all can’t spend more than we have.  Think of the life skills that can be learned at the price of just 1 or 2 dollars in a weekly allowance…go ahead you can afford it!

Turning a Fight into Fun: Using Educational Games as a Learning Opportunity

Battles in the bath, battles in the car, washing their hair, and getting ready for school-do these times during the day make you stressed, angry, or just plain worn out?  Every family has to deal with these types of battles because parents have an obligation to care for their children, but, at the same time, the children want to assert themselves and control their lives and environment.  As a result, there is a clash of wills.  But, you don’t have to accept this as a normal activity that you will have to deal with daily, leaving you tired and needing your space. 

Instead, you CAN make this time fun.  It is in your power as parents to still maintain control, get the kids dressed, bathed, in the car, and ready for school.  And, it can be a learning experience.  But, it begins with YOU.  The key is to change your tactics as parents.  As many psychologists suggest, the best way to change a negative situation or behavior is to distract your children; to refocus their behavior on something that is good.  Think about it:  Don’t fight, instead PLAY A GAME that has your kids thinking and improving their skills.  This is the perfect diversion that is fun, engaging, and a great learning opportunity.  When I’m in those situations and I feel the battle is beginning to rage, I suggest to my kids to play one of these 2 games that are very engaging and educational:

1.      The guessing game: This game has you or your children using adjectives that describe anything that you can think of: animals, plants, objects, people, and places.  For example, my kids like animals.  So, I begin the game thinking of an animal that I don’t share with the kids.  Then, I use adjectives to describe it; I describe its habitat and the food it eats etc.  Last, I wait to see if the children can guess what animal it is.  It is that simple.  Once, the children have practice guessing, let them try.  They will LOVE trying to stump you, and you will LOVE to watch their skills grow! 

2.      The math story game: This game helps to develop your kids’ math conceptual skills (usually with kids in grades K-4).  All you have to do is tell a story that poses a math problem using addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division concepts that they then have to solve in their mind for the answer.  For example, a math story can be, “There were 7 horses in a pasture eating grass.  Then, 12 more horses galloped over to eat grass.  How many horses are in the pasture now?”  Just adjust the story to your kids’ ability.  Then, let them tell their own math stories for you to solve.  This is a great opportunity to understand both the level of mathematical understanding your children have, and to build their conceptual understanding of addition, subtraction, and more advanced skills of multiplication and division. 

The next time World War III ensues in your household with your little ones, choose to play instead of fight.  You will find that you will all win in the end. 

Who is Dumber?: Bill Gates or the American People

So Bill Gates, the multi-billionaire, who has NO training in education and NO experience in education other than being a student, is now THE expert at how to solve this country's problems in education.  It is truly ironic that the American people are so in love with the rich that they will believe anything they say because they have money.

Let’s look at the facts. Yes, Bill Gates is an innovator in technology and, now that he is a billionair­e, he is giving some of his money to education. That should be commended. He is trying to improve education and make it better for all students. The problem that I have is that he has focused the issue in the media, once again, on teachers, particular­ly senior, experienced, well-educa­ted teachers, as the problem with failing schools and failing students. Nowhere does he discuss the real issues that plague schools that score poorly on state and national tests and that are mostly located in the low economic communitie­s: crime, malnutriti­on, transiency­, family stability, and healthcare­. Rather, he claims that a “great teacher” will make up for all these problems, even though there is a plethora of research that shows that all these detrimenta­l factors significantly influence kids’ ability to do well in school.

And, there is also plenty of research showing that new teachers, which he claims are better than experienced ones, are NOT more effective. In fact, if new teachers were the solution to the problem then why don’t schools with high rates of teacher turnover, such as schools in poor urban communitie­s, score better on state assessments? I have no problem with finding new and equitable ways to measure teacher effectiven­ess to improve practice, but hiring all new teachers and putting them in schools with large class sizes certainly isn’t the solution.

Now he has written an article in the Huffington Post that argues that spending is the problem in education, and he provides the public with a pretty little graph that shows the dollars spent per student annually from 1975-2007 (see www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-gates/bill-gates-school-performance_b_829771.html).  For example, the graph shows that we spent $5000/student in 1975 and approximately $10,000/student in 2007, a large increase in funding.  Alongside these data, the graph shows that over the same time span the reading and math scores of our students haven't significantly increased, the line is essentially flat.  Gates uses this simple source of data to support the favored Republican argument that we shouldn't "throw money at the problem."  What these data fail to show are the real-life issues that schools in poor urban communities have to understand, assist, and overcome so that their students succeed in school.  School success is not the same and should NOT be correlated with scoring well on a state or national standardized assessment that is invariably culturally, ethnically, and linguistically biased and that really doesn't measure more than how well a student can bubble-in the correct answer.  When poor students are worried about crime, food, shelter, and financial security, scoring well on state and national tests become meaningless, an after-thought.  Get real.

Please be critical readers and don't always accept the statistics represente­d on pretty graphs when they are used for political purposes.  Don't be dumb, think beyond what is stated, and believe in what you already know:  that if you are wealthy you will be fine, and if you are poor...I hope your bootstraps help you because Gates's policy won't.

Do Nothing and All Fail

I remember when I started my career in education in CA in the 90s as a teaching assistant in a 5^th grade classroom.  This was the first year that CA decided to implement a test called the CLAS (I believe that is the correct acronym, but it was a long time ago) to assess their reading, writing, problem solving and critical thinking abilities.  It had the students solving problems in science using the scientific method and writing their answers in paragraphs; it had them reading and analyzing poetry; and it had them solving math problems and explaining their reasoning, just to name a few.   It was truly a performance-based test that assessed the students’ skills and capabilities.  In the aftermath, upper and upper middle class families with political connections complained about the test: that it wasn’t what they had expected; that their kids weren’t prepared; and that their kids didn’t do well because they had changed the test so radically.  So, what happened?  Instead of having the will and strength to stand up to the high-powered and connected few in the hope of helping children, the superintendent of schools got rid of the test and went back to the old traditional, multiple choice one. 

Now we have another battle called NCLB.  It is a test of the same multiple choice variety as it has always been.  The only difference is that this assessment has even higher-stakes attached to it: schools can be shut down and teachers can lose their jobs.  In no way does this test help the problem-solving, critical thinking, reasoning, reading, or writing skills of children.  How can it?  How can a bubble-in test assess those things?  As a result, teachers teach those exact same skills—bubbling in multiple choice—to the detriment of everything else.  My daughter is in first grade and I’ve never seen so many worksheets that fill in the blank and bubble every day.  I’m totally convinced that the real-life skills that will aid her abilities to read, write, think, create and innovate (all the things that the President put forth as goals in his State of the Union speech) are now on my shoulders to teach, as she is not getting them at school.  The good news is that she does score well on the multiple choice tests so she won’t be Left Behind. 

What I have learned from past experience is that NCLB will remain; that Obama and his Education team won’t change the policy or its requirements because the students who do well on the test are those that come from highly educated families, with income levels that are middle class and above, and have the sociopolitical capital to excel with our without the assessment.  Since the tests don’t affect their children’s grades, scores, or their futures, they do nothing.  By doing nothing, they endorse a policy that does children no good. 

Advocating for your Child at School

One of the things that parents so often ask me if they are having a problem with their child's teacher is, "What can we do?" Many times parents believe that their child's education at school is out of their hands.  Well, that is not true.  First and foremost it is important to know that you are your children's biggest supporters and advocates.  Part of the reason some kids fall through the cracks is because parents trust the system too much.  It is our job, as parents, to ensure that our kids are getting the full attention, treatment, and services they need in school.  In other words, we must advocate on their behalf.  There are 4 things that are important to remember when advocating for your child that will make your life easier and make your child's experience at school better.  

1. Get to know your child.  While this may seem simplistic and redundant, it isn't.  It is important to understand what your child can and can't do in terms of their academic and social skills so that you can best advocate for her.  This means that you must observe your child while doing academic tasks, such as reading, writing, counting, math (depending on his age and grade level).  Gather evidence to share with the teacher about what your child can do and does at home.  Sometimes, a child will perform one way at home and another at school. For this reason, parents should bring in the books that their kids read, writing and art samples that they have created, and any math that they can do. This is important information to share with the teacher so that she can better meet your child's needs. Keep this evidence in a folder and bring it into school to share with the teacher. 

2. Make an appointment to talk to the teacher--you have the right to meet with your children's teachers at any point during the year.  You do not have to wait until conference time to talk to the teacher to let him know what he can do to help your child.  Remember, you know your child best, particularly if you have observed him in different situations and have the evidence, as discussed above, of what he can do academically at home.  If your kids are having problems at school, then this information will be very helpful to the teachers so that she can meet their needs. 

3. During the meeting with the teacher, base what you say on the evidence that you have.  One issue that teachers have with parents is that they can get emotional or defensive about their children.  A good way to battle this problem is to base what you know about her in her actual skills and accomplishments.  Use the work samples that you have gathered about your child as the basis of the meeting.  That way, you will have a common neutral ground from which to discuss your child's skills and needs.  After this type of discussion hopefully you will feel satisfied that the teacher understands your perspective and knows how to best meet your child's needs in the classroom. 

If not, then:

4.  Make an appointment to meet with the principal.  Bring the same evidence with you to use as a starting point in the discussion of your child's needs at the school and with her teacher.  It is very useful for the principal to see the same information about your child that you shared with the teacher.  State your concerns in relation to meeting your child's needs academically and emotionally at the school. Remember, the school faculty and administration do want the kids to succeed and be content with their learning experience, usually a win-win situation.

Most importantly, never forget that you, the parents, are the primary advocates and educators for your children.  Learning begins at home.  The most successful students have parents that are behind them and supporting them all along the way. 

Supporting Teachers is Supporting American Workers

The protests in WI reveal the power that this type of public demonstration is having all over the country, and, for that matter, all over the world.  For too long the debate in the media about the value and purpose of teachers' unions has been centered on the argument put forth by GOP governors (Chris Christie, in particular), senators, and representatives (who support big business) as the simple fix to state and federal budget crises and with the problems of poor test scores in schools.  For this reason, I applaud the teachers in WI taking back their voice and their power by bringing this topic to the fore. They should be commended for what they are doing. FINALLY, the media is covering the REAL workers, the ones paying taxpayer money, working hard to make a difference in their community and in society everyday, and making barely a middle class salary. Teachers and schools are not the ones who are spending too much or putting us in debt.  In fact, this dedicated group of people pay more state and federal taxes in proportion to their income than any corporation, business, or wealthy 2% do. 

Further, while the debates over teachers' unions unfolds, there is NO discussion about the NFL, NBA, or SAG unions. I guess it is OK to demonize teachers and hardworkin­g barely middle class people, but honor and value and approve of the unions that represent athletes and actors. Nobody is discussing limiting their ability to collective­ly bargain!