tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25541994.post3853509818754897551..comments2024-03-26T14:44:37.985-04:00Comments on D-Ed Reckoning: Survey says: regular people aren't as foolish as educatorsKDeRosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06853211164976890091noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25541994.post-87032886339530438302007-01-02T20:26:00.000-05:002007-01-02T20:26:00.000-05:00The fundamental flaw is that they think that there...<I>The fundamental flaw is that they think that there is a way to teach all kids at their own levels in mixed-ability, child-centered groupings.</I><br /><br />Don't you understand that the struggling kids are supposed to learn from the advanced kids during group work while teachers mill about the room and facilitate? Back to ed school for you!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25541994.post-14297518775257403402007-01-02T12:16:00.000-05:002007-01-02T12:16:00.000-05:00I understood that mainstreaming was the (older) pr...I understood that mainstreaming was the (older) process of bringing up lower-ability kids to the grade-level expectations of regular kids. Full-inclusion is the (modern) process of mixing all kids together at any level of ability. For full-inclusion, there is no assumption of grade-level expectations. Each child moves at his or her own speed. This is a nice idea, but it doesn't work in practice.<br /><br />What full-inclusion does is to eliminate almost all grade-level expectations. Schools use spiraling techniques in the hope of keeping all same-age kids together. To make this work, they have come up with the idea of differentiated instruction or learning. This is what our public schools do and they can't seem to get it to work, but they are working on it. The fundamental flaw is that they think that there is a way to teach all kids at their own levels in mixed-ability, child-centered groupings. It just doesn't happen.<br /><br />The only way to get this to work is if you lower or eliminate specific goals for content knowledge and mastery of skills.SteveHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03956560674752399562noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25541994.post-8962303656334216512007-01-02T10:41:00.000-05:002007-01-02T10:41:00.000-05:00I'm 0 for 2 today. I didn't mean to imply that I ...I'm 0 for 2 today. I didn't mean to imply that I thought that the top half of the curve was necessarily receiving a good education. But, limping by on depressed student achievemnet is not quite the same thing as outright academic failure. The former is a minor annoyance known only by the education wonks; the latter is a very visible display of school failure that gets parents and politiians riled up.KDeRosahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06853211164976890091noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25541994.post-74192108140698209712007-01-02T10:29:00.000-05:002007-01-02T10:29:00.000-05:00I disagree that the "fundamental" problem is "the ...I disagree that the "fundamental" problem is "the inability of schools to educate the bottom half of the curve to an acceptable standard."<br /><br />This is a restatement of the "Washington consensus," which I've come to feel is not only wrong, but harmful.<br /><br />No group of children is being systematically educated to an acceptable standard. The decline in SAT verbal scores happened at the top, not just in the middle and the bottom.<br /><br />As long as we carry on assuming that wealthy white schools are "good" and that poor black schools should live up to the "standards" set by wealthy white schools we'll undermine reform efforts with wrong analysis.<br /><br />Perhaps most importantly, this analysis reinforces the universal belief that "better students/parents = better schools." Thus reform efforts center on "getting parents involved in the schools" as the answer because affluent white parents are involved in their kids' schools.<br /><br />(The idea that parents are "involved" is an especially unpleasant irony for us. In our district parents are locked out, literally. We can't even come in out of the cold to pick our kids up after school. Our "involvement" is limited to donating money, chaperoning field trips, and sending emails to the Board of Ed.)<br /><br />The notion that affluent white schools are good obscures the fact that a very large amount of the learning in good-white-schools is happening at home, not at school.<br /><br />Until we do value-added analyses of our "good" white schools, policy analysts will carry on thinking that the problem with black & Hispanic schools is the parents & the students, not the schools.Catherine Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25541994.post-24528236540407376652007-01-02T10:11:00.000-05:002007-01-02T10:11:00.000-05:00"Interesting. I've never met a teacher who didn't ..."Interesting. I've never met a teacher who didn't hate it."<br /><br />Well, I have. <br /><br />I've seen teachers who love it and others who just silently accept it but aren't sure they buy it (based on results, no doubt.)<br /> <br />I think the tendency to like it breaks down according to the age of the kids being taught. Early childhood teachers probably feel more successful at it than middle or high school. Kids seem more alike in earlier years because of the general lack of academic knowledge that all of them missing at that stage. <br /><br />Also, no one wants to lock anyone in at that point. It's a hopeful, but foggy time.<br /><br />Administrations, otoh, seem to love it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25541994.post-47709965467157060132007-01-02T10:05:00.000-05:002007-01-02T10:05:00.000-05:00I should have been clearer-- those educators respo...I should have been clearer-- those educators responsible for policy decisions. Understandably, front line educators aren't going to like it.KDeRosahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06853211164976890091noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25541994.post-12173474790097368802007-01-02T09:01:00.000-05:002007-01-02T09:01:00.000-05:00Educators, who are all about egalitarianism, love ...<i>Educators, who are all about egalitarianism, love it.</i><br /><br />Interesting. I've never met a teacher who didn't hate it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com