tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25541994.post114665808809043768..comments2024-03-26T14:44:37.985-04:00Comments on D-Ed Reckoning: Carnival of EducationKDeRosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06853211164976890091noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25541994.post-1146770630521267842006-05-04T15:23:00.000-04:002006-05-04T15:23:00.000-04:00Education research is particularly troublesome sin...Education research is particularly troublesome since most of it is rotten. Whenever serious researchers take a look at ed research they invariably are forced to throw out about 90% of it since it doesn't even meet the loose standards we permit for social science research.<BR/><BR/>Project Follow through was one of the few decent studies we have in education. And, the results were not popular among educators. The wrong model won. Today, the losing model continue to be in widespread use despite the fact that they underperformed the control group.<BR/><BR/>This is a <A HREF="http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~adiep/ft/adams.htm" REL="nofollow">good article</A> on Follow Through.<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.nifdi.org/issues.htm" REL="nofollow">Here</A> are the results of a well-implemented and stabilized version of the winning model in use today in Baltimore City. See the City Springs School data.KDeRosahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06853211164976890091noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25541994.post-1146759022686682152006-05-04T12:10:00.000-04:002006-05-04T12:10:00.000-04:00Thanks for the response, and for highlighting the ...Thanks for the response, and for highlighting the area where my thinking breaks down. Clearly parents can't give what they do not have, and I glossed over (ignored?) that fact in my post.<BR/><BR/>I'm a firm advocate of evidence-based decision-making and appreciate your thinking on the matter. One of my favorite quotes is from David Ogilvy, who said that "most people use research the way a drunk uses a lamppost for support rather than for illumination."<BR/><BR/>To that end, I also appreciate the references to Project Follow Through - I did some digging and was stunned to see the degree to which people were/are ignoring valid data in favor of their own beliefs/preferences. (I'm not a naive person, but the scope is breathtaking.) Just one more reason to take the debate directly to the parenting/voting public and out of an area where it's difficult to find an honest dialogue.<BR/><BR/>Thanks again.Brett Pawlowskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12975091738110736912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25541994.post-1146689061759272662006-05-03T16:44:00.000-04:002006-05-03T16:44:00.000-04:00Hi Brett,Thanks for the research links. It's not ...Hi Brett,<BR/><BR/>Thanks for the research links. It's not so much that parental support doesn't help when given by parents who are capable of giving it, but there's not much benefit when we require the parents who aren't giving it to provide the support. The Parental Support model in Follow Through actually trained parents to be able to provide better support, but as you can see from the results that it wasn't very effective.<BR/><BR/>Your research is directed at preschool age kids. Most of these preschool gains are lost by the third grade in most cases (once SES is accounted for).<BR/><BR/>See my post on the language deficits of low-SES preschoolers. Many low SES have serious language deficits coming into school. Unfortunately, their parents seem to have the same deficits. This is an IQ issue, which is inheritable.<BR/><BR/>Instead of focusing on getting parental support, I believe we should be focusing on providing more effective instruction for these kids, starting at the preschool level if necessary.KDeRosahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06853211164976890091noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25541994.post-1146684695048083432006-05-03T15:31:00.000-04:002006-05-03T15:31:00.000-04:00Hi there,Thanks for referencing my post on parents...Hi there,<BR/><BR/>Thanks for referencing my post on parents' role in education. Just wanted to share the source of my information on the research basis - thought you'd be interested. <BR/><BR/>The basis for my post was an article on family literacy in the "Research Link" column in the 3/04 issue of Educational Leadership. A snippet:<BR/><BR/>"In The Condition of Education, 2003, [NCES] describes survey results showing that literacy activities in the home contribute to early reading success. For example, the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study measured children's home literacy activities using an index that counted parents' reports of how often they read to their children, sang to them, and told them stories, as well as the number of children's books and audiotapes or CDs in the home. The children who ranked higher on this home literacy index also scored higher on reading and literacy skills when they entered kindergarten. The positive relationship between a home literacy environment and children's reading knowledge and skills held true regardless of the family's economic status (NCES, 2003, p74).<BR/><BR/>"Another analysis of NCES survey data by Nord and colleagues (1999) confirmed that children whose family members read to them three or more times a week were more likely to know their letters than where children whose family members read to them less frequently. In addition, their research found that children whose family members read to them frequently were more likely to be able to count to 20 or higher, write their own names, and read or pretend to read."<BR/><BR/>I can see that this may actually be correlation, not causation, but it's certainly presented as a cause/effect relationship here. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts - thanks.<BR/><BR/>BrettBrett Pawlowskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12975091738110736912noreply@blogger.com