Education Thoughts
I feel the need to articulate some of my educational thoughts.
For example: There has been a huge swing into standardized testing and “accountability.” Now I believe that standardized tests (ST) test only how well one takes a standardized test. I agree that there needs to be “accountability” in education but I think that out way of going about this is wrong. Teaching to the test and by extension cutting other programs (or telling a music teacher that they must teaching reading skills as well as music) is not doing our students any services.
To expand further: A standardized test is at this time not a fair test. It asks many questions that are based upon experiences that assume a upper-middle class upbringing (things such as asking 2nd graders to do a math word problem based on the price of vegetables… some students may not know what a vegetable is) or have other biases.
Second thought: “Accountability” in education has turned into looking at one student cohort (say the 2008-9 5th graders) of ST scores and saying the next cohort of 2009-10 5th graders have to do 10% better. On the surface that sounds fine, we have to improve the performance of our 5th graders. However one group of 5th graders is not directly comparable to the next group of 5th graders. Cohorts are inherently different. A more accurate measure would be to track a single group of students over time, such as taking the 09-10 group of 5th graders and tracking how they do throughout middle and high school and see if they improve over time. That would be a more accurate indicator of effective teaching that comparing two totally separate groups of students.
Third Thought: Teaching to the test is a hot button phrase and is greatly hated among educators. Unfortunately many educators are forced to do so. My roommate who is a music teacher to be was told that he will HAVE to teach reading in his class. Not reading music… but basic reading skills. This is not his job. Math teachers are being told they will need to teach reading in their classes. This type of forcing a teacher to teach things that aer A) not their subject and B) not their job is taking away from learning the subject at hand. That is of course if there is a music program left at the school.
This axing of “unnecessary” programs is harmful to students. First off the psychologist in me is screaming multiple intelligences and different people learn in different ways. Secondly studies have shown (I will try to find them and post links) that adding in music or art education into the school day increases ST math and reading scores more than an equal amount of math and reading instruction. With evidence like this it still amazes me that schools are cutting these programs and screaming for higher scores.
So those are three quick thoughts on education please comment and let’s discuss.
Cheers!
Lucas