Gifted: No Thank You!

Even though my 4th grade son was in the gifted program at his last school, I declined to have him tested for the gifted program here in Anchorage. I asked around and discovered that the gifted program here was exactly like I feared it would be.

It wasn't all that hard a decision. His experience last year in South Carolina was a waste of time. He colored more posters in his gifted class than he did in art class.

It seems like the supervisor of Anchorage's gifted program ran across my post, and is concerned (last comment), to quote her:

Last week there was a Gifted Parent Forum in Anchorage and its too bad you did not attend. There was much discussion about Gifted Education and the challenges educators face when trying to meet the educational needs of gifted children.

I am more concerned about the challenges that gifted children have, than the challenges of their teachers.

Except for the Individualized Acceleration (IA) Program at Rogers Park Elementary, Anchorage's IGNITE gifted program consists of "enrichment opportunities that incorporates universal themes with classroom learning in alignment with the district's standards and goals".

It seems to me that the biggest challenge that gifted teachers have is finding enough time wasting "enrichment" activities to spend time doing to prevent the kids from getting to far ahead.

Amazingly they have a different standard for the highly gifted. If you score in the 99.5 percentile on an IQ test you get to be taught at an accelerated pace, but if you score at the 96-99.4 percentile all you get is extra projects.

No thank you... I will stick to after-schooling.

p.s. I have spoken to several Anchorage teachers in several different grades and several different schools about the gifted program. Off the record, a few of them said it was a waste of time, while most were tactfully neutral. Not a single one praised it.

Disclaimer: it is entirely possible that my son would not qualify for Anchorage's gifted program, as the cutoff here is 2 percentile points higher, but I can't be bothered to find out.

Alaska, termination dust, and more homework

Have I mentioned how awesome Alaska is? The people are unbelieveably friendly, not fake friendly like in the south, really seriously friendly.

Last week we got "termination dust" on the mountains. When you see snow settling on the peaks of the mountains, you know that that it will be snowing in the city within a few weeks. It is natures way of telling us that summer is over, and winter is here. (There isn't much of a fall)

We have managed to get a handle on the four kids homework.

We used to make the kids do it as soon as they got home from school, but because school starts and ends late here (930 - 330), we let the kids play until dinner, and then do their homework. It gives them and us a break after school and work to relax and unwind before dealing with the tears...

Our biggest problem is that one of our 4th graders teachers gives more homework than the other one. It causes a few problems, but we usually supplement the homework to mitigate the problems.

In other news, a guy from work brought in some smoked salmon today... OMG was it good. I am so taking up fishing next year.

To Rightwingprofessor: No moose BBQ yet, but we have a family of three moose hanging out in our backyard.

I swear once I get settled in more, I will have more sarky commentary. For now go read D-Edreckoning... he had attitude and facts.

Don't laugh... major breakthrough

I was helping my 2nd grader read her decodeable books this evening and all of the sudden I noticed the helping e rule of thumb for whether a vowel is going to be long or short, except for "v" words. (i.e. the "i" in hide is long and the "i" in hid is short, long "a" in made, short "a" in mad. I don't know if there is an official name for it)

I told my daugher the rule, then practiced it for a bit, and it was amazing how quickly her reading improved in a matter of minutes.

Instead of guessing long or short vowel sounds, now she can figure it out most of the time. I swear her reading speed improved by 50% within half an hour.

I am an extremely fluent reader, and this simple rule of thumb never occurred to me consciously until tonight. I had somehow internalized the rule without being aware of it. What I can't figure out is why her 1st grade teacher never pointed it out to her. Perhaps she would be reading on grade level.

I also pointed out that "v" words are weird and don't always follow this rule. i.e. "ive" words can be short or long, and ave words are almost always short.

Teaching kids how to read is hard. You would think someone would come up with a systematic way to teach all the phonetic sounds and letter combinations, instead of relying on a parent to stumble on them by accident.

My (I mean my sons) first progress report

I got my sons first weekly progress report today, and he was missing one assignment.

Last Friday, he gave me a copy of his weekly home journal, which I read then promptly forgot.

I guess I was meant to not only sign it, but also write back comments for him to turn in on Monday.

So he did the writing, but because his father mess up, he gets dinged with a missing assignment.

I didn't realize I would be graded this year.

I sure hope I am not required to do a science project...

Don't worry though, I already did my assignment this Friday. I signed my name in my best cursive, and wrote a three sentence paragraph. The paper is already back in my sons folder.

p.s. to be fair, we love Alaska, and the school is pretty well run (except the whole curriculum thing, but you can't have everything).

Spelling Sentences

I have nightmares about writing sentences for spelling words. Helping 2nd and 4th graders write 15 - 25 (correct) sentences is tedius.

Why can't teachers split the sentences up through out the week... it aint rocket science.

Posted during hour 2 of 15 2nd grade sentences.

St. Paul school conquers the education achievement gap

St. Paul school conquers the education achievement gap

Great title for an article, except of course it isn't true. While the schools test scores are excellent for all demographic groups, there is still a significant achievement gap.

Approximately 90% of the schools white students are proficient in reading (according to the Minnesota state test), while 65% of its black students are proficient and only about 40% of its Native American students are proficient.

It has managed to eliminate the gap between Hispanic and white students.

Don't believe me? Check for yourself.

Do newspapers fact check education stories at all?

Homework... it's back! (and still sucks)

The kids (and schools) have hit the ground running. It's homework time again, and Aurora Elementary School on Elmendorf AFB, Alaska is no different than any other school in South Carolina (or any state for that matter).

4 school age kids = 3.5 hours of homework, of course the ironic thing is that it takes my 7th grader the least amount of time to do her homework.

Today only 3 out of 4 kids cried.

Frickin waste of time if you ask me. I guarantee, that except for learning their spelling words and about 15 minutes of reading, the rest of the stuff didn't increase my kids competence at all.

To any teachers out there, please remember that homework probably takes at least twice as long and causes at least three times the amount of stress at home than you think it does.

Rory

President of Parents United Against Useless Homework.

Still Alive...

- Moved in to new house (unpacking sucks)

- Kids all enrolled in school (Heath math, not Everyday math... yeah!)

- Attended two school open houses (bla, bla, bla... teachers need to learn to get to the point)

I am back online, but wont have time to post to much until later next week.

Mackenzie, BC, Canada

We are making great time, and are about 250 miles ahead of schedule. I am posting from Mackenzie, Canada, a little sleepy town in northern British Columbia.

You wouldn't believe how beautiful it is up here. Rivers, lakes, mountains, and trees, British Columbia has it all.

Tomorrow we will hit the Alaskan Highway, and head to Fort Nelson.

Here is a link to our updated map.

Another trip change!

We have decided to skip waiting for the Ferry and just drive to anchorage. We are anxious to get there, and we don't have to wait.

We figure we can do the trip in 7 days.

Link to our route.

When loving parents choose segregation - Opinion - USATODAY.com

When loving parents choose segregation - Opinion - USATODAY.com:

But a well-documented and powerful educational phenomenon known as the 'peer effect' comes into play. Simply put, Johnny stands a much better chance of academic success in a school filled with privileged kids whose parents value education and push them to excel. The likelihood of Johnny achieving at high levels plummets if you put him in a school where most students come from disadvantaged backgrounds and don't get enough encouragement and support from home. Even in the unlikely event that the two schools are exactly the same in every other way — including teacher quality — Johnny probably will fare much better where he is surrounded by affluent students. Will sending Johnny to school with disadvantaged kids make him a better person? Maybe. Will it make him a better student? Almost certainly not.

Save me some google time... does anyone have any links to studies documenting the "peer effect"? Specifically, do middle class kids do better when they are sent to upper class schools?

update: hat tip to Joanne

Disneyland (and USC)

So we took the four oldest kids to Disney yesterday, so there went $1,000K. It is so much more expensive than I remember it... then again it was my parents who were paying when I was a kid. What is it about amusement parks, airports, and sports stadiums that cause hyperinflation? Does it really cost 2 or 3 dollars more to prepare a hamburger at Disney than a mile away at the local fast food joint?

I saw approximately 127.5 people wearing USC Trojan shirts and hats, and only one person wearing a UCLA shirt (and I think he was a tourist).

Fight On!

housing bubble related to education

It occurred to me that education funding could be significantly impacted by a housing market crash, since as property values go down, so would property taxes which are a significant source of school district funding.

I imagine that this would hit inner city urban neighborhoods a lot more than wealthy suburban neighborhoods.

Here in SoCal, small one bedroom houses in Compton and East LA have been going for half a mil. There true value is probably somewhere around 100K.

Disclaimer: OK, compton houses might not have quite gone for 500K, but they were fetching 400K for pretty damm small houses, but for an example of what I was talking about see...

Real Homes of Genius

Off topic... housing bubble

We are enjoying our impromptu vacation here in Southern California, so much so that we have discussed moving back here after I retire. The only problem though is the outrageous price of real estate here in the bloated California market.

I am not that worried though. I have spent the last few days reading extensively on the housing market, and I am convinced that our country is going to have a massive real estate crash, even worse than the 90's. My prediction is that in 4 to 5 years, I should be able to pick up a decent house here for under $300K.

You only have to look around here at people earning maybe 80K - 90K a year living in million dollar homes, to know that they are overextended. Sub-prime loans are coming due, foreclosures are at record levels, housing starts are down, and the housing inventory is increasing.

Don't expect a soft landing... it is going to be harsh, and will probably put us into a deep recession.

Perhaps the most telling thing is seeing people paying for million dollar homes and then driving around in Saturn's and other mid-range vehicles. Something is obviously not jiving.

The only question is how low and how long. My prediction... 25% nationally, 40-50% in bubble markets, and for prices not to stabilize until 2011.

Just saying...

"achievement gap" - Google News

Search the term "achievement gap" on Google News any day of the year, and it will amaze you the number of dumb repetive articles that are posted around the country and the world.

The articles usually go something like this... (paraphrased)

Recent test results continue to show an achievement gap between whites and (select any other racial category except for Asian).

[Optional comment about slight improvement in test scores and reduction on gap, though its never a significant amount.]

>insert quote from education official saying that the closing the achievement gap is their number one priority<>

>insert quote from sociologist or educator who attribute the causes of the gap to (choose one: racism, school funding, crime, distribution of highly qualified teachers, expectations) to ensure that no one even considers IQ<

Education officials have recently started a new program/initiative to address (problem selected above).

Officials are optimistic because they have second hand knowledge of some school has made progress, even though there are rarely any facts to back up the assertion.

Seriously! Check out a few articles. It's almost like there is a fill in the blank template.

How much do you want to bet that the same template will still be being used 20 years from now?

Just for fun, here are the number of results for various google news searches.

• 83 for ("achievement gap" poverty)
• 60 for ("achievement gap" expectations)
• 55 for ("achievement gap" school funding)
• 27 for ("achievement gap" teacher quality)
• 5 for ("achievement gap" intelligence)
• Your search - ("achievement gap" IQ) - did not match any documents

Crap...

Tuesday night, while in Moab, UT on my way to Bellingham, Wa, I got an email from the Alaskan Marine Highway telling me my Ferry was canceled. My choices were to either drive to Alaska or wait 2 weeks for the next ferry. Unfortunately, we couldn't drive because all of our kids birth certificates had been sent away when we had ordered passports, and they weren't back yet.

Of course this presents two problems, what to do with the extra 14 days, and what to do about the kids school, since they won't arrive til 2 weeks after school starts.

We decided to head to my hometown of Los Angeles to visit family. We also decided not to worry about the school, since the first two weeks of school are usually nothing but review anyway, and as I have said before, the Alaska standards aren't as tough as South Carolina's anyway.

Just to be safe, we ordered copies of all the required birth certificates, just in case the next ferry is cancelled as well.

So it's LA Baby... beaches, Mexican food, and traffic!

p.s. Here is an upated route. Note the visit to the four corners, and the long detour to Los Angeles. If I am forced to drive to Alaska later, I will update the map. (click the map for interactive version)

We are right...

here

We get to Albuquerque, NM and everyone apologizes for the heat. When we left South Carolina, it was as hot as 111 degrees with loads of humidity. A dry 95 feels like a spring day to us.

My grandparents are both ex-educators... and of course we started talking about education. They are both fans of multiple learning methods, multiplication fact tricks (skip counting, finger tricks, etc...), and mo money. It was a nice little discussion, and my Grandpa might hit up my blog (Hey Gramps).

Tomorrow we head north towards Salt Lake City and Boise. It should be a much prettier drive, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas are pretty flat.

Our trip...

Just in case you are wondering... here is the continental part of our trip to Alaska.

Click for an interactive link.

Let me know if you are on our route.

School of the Future's first casualty...

How did I miss this from the Philadephia Inquirer?

Also in line for new leadership will be the district's flagship High School of the Future, which saw the surprise resignation of its principal. Shirley Grover, hired by the district in 2005, left for personal reasons this month, officials said.

There was also a single update to the School of the Future blog.

So where are we? Well, no matter where we go I get asked the same question. I find it very indicative of where we are as a country in our analysis of education… “What are the test scores showing” Well… while the learners will be responsible for taking the PSAA’s in their 3rd year, they are not taking the 6 week bench mark tests. So, from an assessment perspective? Each learner has a 17 page OneNote Assessment Portfolio. It documents and measures their work and competencies against a rubric. (Below)

Pretty convenient to not have to worry about benchmark tests. You can click over to read their whole child rubric if you want.

Perhaps the most interesting this is the way Mary Cullinane goes off about the system.

So what have been the biggest challenges?
Well… the system. And I’m sure this comes as no surprise. And I don’t want to suggest that people have not been supportive. They have. However the system prevents them from going to the edge. The system prevents us from being creative. The system supports the status quo, not innovation. The system gets in our way. The system is frustrating.(sic)

Hopefully she isn't complaining about the part of the system that insists the students learn how to read, write, and perform math without relying on computers.

For some real entertainment, read a commenter's rant about the "others."

And then there were The Others. I won't dwell on them, but I'm sure you have a pretty good idea of what and whom I'm talking about. And I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you had to deal with them while all of this was coming to fruition. I'll bet you could write an entire book just about these people, and your dealings with them. In a perfect world, people such as these would be relegated to the dustbin. But in our real world, this does not necessarily happen. Pity.

No matter what the project, whether in Philly, Boston, or Timbuktu - there are always The Others. And there will always be The Others. They are a given in this world. These are the people who withhold their cooperation for various stupid reasons. These are the naysayers - but you know this because you've experienced it all first-hand, though you may be too diplomatic and too nice to admit it.

It's like a conspiracy theory. Pretty dramatic stuff.

Also see this video news report on the SOF. Make sure you view the end where a professor from Temple University questions the practicality of the SOF.

On the road...

Sorry about the light blogging. I have spent the last week moving out of my house, and we are now living in a hotel. On Friday we hitting the road for our 13 day drive to Alaska via the Alaskan Ferry.

Unfortunately this means I haven't had time to follow the latest education news, meaning that my usually sarky comments are on a brief hiatus.

Be patient, and you will be able to follow my trials and tribulations in our new school district. I wonder how long it will be before I upset someone at the school?