Preschool gains aren’t universal at Joanne Jacobs

Preschool gains aren’t universal at Joanne Jacobs

Preschools don't make lasting gains because they are poorly run. Their curriculum often boils down to nothing but a glorified Sesame Street episode.

To top it off, when the students reach elementary school, they are introduced to the world of fuzzy math, whole language, sight words, constructivism, all run by educators that despite four to eight years of "higher education", haven't even heard of Project Follow Through, or accurately define direct instruction.

Meanwhile, publishers make millions and millions of dollars off of text books that are nothing more than more colorful versions of the same antiquated way of teaching that was used twenty years ago.

Simultaneously, well meaning charter schools spend tens of thousands of man-hours developing programs to try and bring middle schoolers up grade level, all while remaining silent on the atrocious process our country calls "education".

Badass link of the day

Math Facts

I have been using this website to quiz my kids. It does multiplication, addition, subtraction, and division. It allows you to review missed questions, set time limits, etc, etc...

My kids love it. I have my 3rd grader reviewing her addition facts, and my fifth graders doing multiplication tables to review (get them in the groove after the summer). After they get through the sequence, I will start them on subtraction and division.

They normally run 3 minutes tests and see how many they can answer correctly. They love it. I normally have to kick them off to let another kid have a go.

"Everyday Math" teaches students about sequencing | islandpacket.com

"Everyday Math" teaches students about sequencing islandpacket.com



Via Math Without Tears

I am embarrassed for them.

Teaching Needy Kids in our Backward System by Zig Engelmann

I just received the book Teaching Needy Kids in our Backward System by Zig Engelmann. I will let you know how it is.

Prescriptive Schools

Eduwonk » Blog Archive » Eduwonk Charter Naming Contest Draws in More Celebrities, Fails to Find Clear Winner.

Richard Whitmire is looking for a catch phrase to refer to the KIPP, Achievement First, Match style of schools.

I nominate the phrase "prescriptive schools".

If your mortgage is through Indymac, you might want to stop paying your mortgage

FDIC: Loan Modification Program for Distressed Indymac Mortgage Loans

The streamlined loan modifications will be available for most borrowers who have a first mortgage owned or securitized and serviced by IndyMac Federal where the borrower is seriously delinquent or in default. IndyMac Federal also will seek to work with others who are unable to pay their mortgages due to payment resets or changes in the borrowers’ repayment capacities.

If you pay your mortgage on time, you're a fool. The government only helps out those who are irresponsible.

More "No duh"

Boys will be boys, girls will be girls from birth - CNN.com:

As a good postfeminist-era mom, I certainly didn't push my son toward trucks and my daughter toward tutus.

In one study, when 18-month-old boys and girls saw pictures of a doll and a vehicle, most girls chose the doll
If anything, I went out of my way to avoid giving them gender-stereotyped toys, offering glittery finger paint to my son and trains to my daughter. But it didn't matter: My son turned his doll's crib into a race car and my daughter was obsessed with shoes.

Calculators Okay In Math Class, If Students Know The Facts First, Study Finds

The researchers found that the calculator’s effect on subsequent performance depended on how much the students knew to begin with. For those students who already had some multiplication skills, using the calculator before taking the test had no impact. But for those who were not good at multiplying, use of the calculator had a negative impact on their performance.

New school year starts

Tomorrow is the first day of school, and I am very optimistic.

My 8th grader was a straight A student last year, and I fully expect her to continue her streak. She isn't in Algebra, but will be next year.

My 3rd grader has the same awesome teacher she had last year, the one who helped raise her reading 2.5 grade levels.

As an experiment, we are putting both of our 5th graders in the same class. Basically, we were sick of having two kids in the same grade with different amounts of homework, different assignments, different field trips, etc... This way we figure if one forgets something, the other one can help out. Besides, they are a boy and a girl and both pretty well adjusted and independent.

Forbes editors needs to go back to school

America's Best Colleges sorted by State - Forbes.com

Went to Forbes list of "best colleges", sorted by state and only two entries came up for Alaska; Hendrix College and John Brown University.

One problem, they are both in Arkansas, not Alaska.

UPDATE

Should of taken a screen shot. They changed it already. I did get this from my site meter.

15 Aug 18:55:23
http://webmail.forbes.net/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://parentalcation.blogsp ...

This Week In Education: "We Are Not Government Issued"

This Week In Education: "We Are Not Government Issued":

Russo linked to this article.

“If you go to some Manhattan schools or places where the families have a higher income, you don’t see the recruiters there,” said Ebony Thurman, 18, who was once approached by recruiters at the Atlantic Avenue subway station. “But if you’re in Brooklyn or in lower income neighborhoods, that’s where you really find them trying to recruit people. They tell you that you’ll get job skills or college money. And if you’re a girl they’ll flirt with you and say there a lot of cute guys you could meet if you enlist.”

Here is my response on This Week In Education.

"The military is proud of its diverse makeup and makes a conscious effort to have it's force mirror that of the civilian population, The military firmly believes that it is healthy to have all factions of the population represented in it's rank... for obvious reasons it would be unhealthy to have the military consist entirely of white men from Idaho (or any other group). The military also firmly believes that diversity improves performance and that a diverse group of members adds knowledge and flexibility and makes it stronger.

What many people don't realize is that the military is very selective. The military doesn't have problems finding people wanting to join... it has problems finding people wanting to join AND WHO ARE QUALIFIED. The medical requirements, educational requirements, moral/legal requirements, and ASVAB all disqualify a large (very large) part of the population.

Unfortunately given the poor HS graduation rate and low test performance by minorities, it is a challenge for it to find a proportionate number of minority candidates. It's the exact same problem that Universities and Colleges have.

To counter this struggle, the military uses affirmative action like it was originally meant to. It casts a wider net... it goes to schools to ensure that it can offer opportunities to populations that might not be aware of the benefits and privileges that the military has to offer.

Does this Art teacher protest against universities that recruit in minority schools?

I would wager that the teacher would probably protest if the military was disproportionately white, arguing that it was discriminatory.

I am a bit disappointed that you linked to this story, giving its false insinuation credence."

Edwards is a son of a ....

Edwards admits to extramarital affair - CNN.com

Edwards is a son of a something... besides for being a son of a mill worker.

Ironically, now I sort of wished I had voted for him. He could of totally been the second coming of JFK.

By the way...

By the way, Right Wing Professor totally looks like a biker, tattoos and all. He is just as interesting in real life as he is on his blog.

He didn't even make fun of me and my friend for being slightly left leaning.

Yuengling rocks

Official Yuengling Web Site: America's Oldest Brewery

Yuengling is the best beer in the United States. Several days of hardcore drinking, and not a single hangover.

Eduwonk has fish porn, I am officially starting beer porn.

Me and some friends enjoying a pint of Yuengling at a pub in Harrisburg, Pa. I'm the blurry guy on the right.

Gender and Math: Quiz

Jim scored a 97, Bob scored a 76, Dan scored a 45.

Jane scored a 81, Barb scoed a 78, Dana scored a 66.

Who is better at math, the boys or the girls?

Which gender has the worse performer?

Which gender has the top performer?

Originally posted in comments over at the Core Knowledge Blog.

Aim low, avoid disappointment

Alaska thinks(pdf) that 81.7% of its 4th grade students in 2007 were advanced/proficient in reading.

The NAEP says that only 29% of Alaskan public school 4th graders were at or above proficient. In fact the NAEP shows that only 62% of it's public school 4th graders were above basic, which is still a pretty big difference.

The NAEP expects 4th graders to read three syllable words; Alaska only expects 4th grades to read two syllables.

I didn't look at math scores, but I am guessing its the difference between counting to 10 and counting to 5.

Coming to the East Coast

I am going to be in Washington D.C. next week for a conference, and then spend the weekend of 1-4 August in Harrisburg, Pa hanging out.

I will be the short bald guy nursing a hangover.

Right Wing Nation

Right Wing Professors blog rightwingnation.com has gone missing. I suspect it's a domain registration issue.

Sort of bummed me out.

The American Scholar - The Disadvantages of an Elite Education - By William Deresiewicz

The American Scholar - The Disadvantages of an Elite Education - By William Deresiewicz:

"Elite schools pride themselves on their diversity, but that diversity is almost entirely a matter of ethnicity and race. With respect to class, these schools are largely—indeed increasingly—homogeneous. Visit any elite campus in our great nation and you can thrill to the heartwarming spectacle of the children of white businesspeople and professionals studying and playing alongside the children of black, Asian, and Latino businesspeople and professionals. At the same time, because these schools tend to cultivate liberal attitudes, they leave their students in the paradoxical position of wanting to advocate on behalf of the working class while being unable to hold a simple conversation with anyone in it.Elite schools pride themselves on their diversity, but that diversity is almost entirely a matter of ethnicity and race. With respect to class, these schools are largely—indeed increasingly—homogeneous. Visit any elite campus in our great nation and you can thrill to the heartwarming spectacle of the children of white businesspeople and professionals studying and playing alongside the children of black, Asian, and Latino businesspeople and professionals. At the same time, because these schools tend to cultivate liberal attitudes, they leave their students in the paradoxical position of wanting to advocate on behalf of the working class while being unable to hold a simple conversation with anyone in it."

Via Liam Julian at the Flypaper and John Derbyshire at the National Review, I came across this great article. Definately go read the whole thing.

#98 The Ivy League « Stuff White People Like

#98 The Ivy League « Stuff White People Like:

"Once you have determined that a white person did not attend an Ivy League School, you should try to give them the opportunity to explain why their school was actually a superior educational experience. Some easy ways to do this are to mention grade inflation, professors who value research over teaching, or high tuition costs. Any one of these will set a white person off on a multi-minute rant."

I am officially a white person.

You're kidding me, right?

Camp Education « Jay P. Greene’s Blog

"I think it’s worth thinking about what we can learn from camps to make schools more effective"

As a parent of 5 kids, let me give this some thought...

Is he crazy... my kids waste enough time at school on silly projects with no educational value.

My son's gifted class last year was a lot like camp. The teachers idea of math enrichment was having them do some crazy number wheel.

Creativity is a mantra, not an teaching tool.

More like camp... he seriously didn't say that did he?