2007 October Archive at The Core Knowledge Blog

Archive for October, 2007

Person County schools top North Carolina average in reading

Published by CKF on October 31, 2007 in School News. 0 Comments

By Phyliss Boatwright, C-T Staff Writer

… At Bethel Hill Charter School, 93.8 percent of students in grades three through six were at or above grade level in reading and 75.8 percent of BHCS students were proficient at math, well above the state averages in both categories.

BHCS Principal John Betterton said, “If you look across the spectrum, our students are from five to 10 points above state, but at fourth grade, they are 15 points higher. And our reading is generally about 10 points above state,” he said. “I think we’re beginning see the effects of a strong phonics program — and I am not a phonics advocate,” said Betterton, “and also the effects of the Core Knowledge curriculum, which is very rich in classical literature.”

Phonics give kids the skills to figure out how to attack words, Betterton said, so that they can better learn new words and the Core Knowledge curriculum, he added, gives students “a broad knowledge base with which to do the reading.”

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‘Core knowledge’ gives cultural depth

Published by CKF on October 30, 2007 in School News. 0 Comments

By Jennifer Nitson

Franklin School’s curriculum fills in cultural, historical context for learning

If a child learning to read has no prior experience with wolves in sheep’s clothing, the Land of Nod or letting the cat out of the bag, he may have trouble understanding when these phrases come up in books or tests.

Likewise, if an eighth-grader lacks a basic grasp of Middle Eastern oil politics, she might have difficulty understanding the ramifications of many of the news stories and conversations she hears each day.

The “Core Knowledge” curriculum adopted in the 1990s at Franklin School is designed to offer an integrated, broad-based education intended to help students in academics, literacy, testing and in life. The curriculum was developed by a group of parents, teachers, scientists, professional curriculum organizations and experts on America’s multicultural traditions who worked to establish a learning model that would include historical and cultural knowledge to help students succeed. Each year of the curriculum builds on what was taught in prior years.

A key facet of the curriculum is giving children an understanding of the facts most educated people take for granted when reading, writing or talking.

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Our Schools: She’s above grade level but underchallenged

Published by CKF on October 29, 2007 in Parents. 0 Comments

Question: We don’t think our daughter, Nadia, is learning very much even though she has good grades. She is in sixth grade and still reads aloud haltingly. Her writing doesn’t seem to have progressed. She can’t name 20 of the 50 states. No one at school seems worried because she’s “above grade level.” This doesn’t add up for me. Should I be worried?

Answer: You’ve put your finger on one of the paradoxes of today’s test-driven school-improvement movement.

In the era of No Child Left Behind, students whose scores show “proficiency” are often left to themselves. These students can sail through elementary testing and arrive in middle and high school with just enough “content knowledge” to pass the tests but not enough to do well in the rigorous courses you might expect them to take.

They haven’t stretched their abilities because there’s little incentive for teachers to require them to.

This is a pervasive problem, says New York City elementary educator Robert Pondiscio.

… Consider what to do at home.

… The series of Core Knowledge books, “What Your Sixth Grader Needs to Know” (Delta, 2007), edited by E.D. Hirsch Jr., are a valuable resource for parents concerned that their kids are simply not learning enough, says Pondiscio.

“Hirsch believes that there is a shared body of knowledge that’s important for everyone in our culturally diverse country to have as a foundation for higher learning.”

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KCRW Radio Podcast: To The Point: Is It Time to Reform Education Reform?

Published by CKF on October 22, 2007 in Educational Policy and Podcast and Video. 0 Comments

Valarie Lewis, Principal of P.S. 124 — Osmond A. Church School in South Ozone Park, NY, a Core Knowledge Visitation School, was a guest on a California NPR talk show about NCLB and school reform. This podcast is offered in full by permission of KCRW.

Time to Reform No Child Left Behind?

No Child Left Behind is called President Bush’s crowning domestic achievement, and it passed five years ago with support from liberal Democrats in both houses of Congress. NCLB is supposed to make every American kid “proficient” in reading and math by 2014, but after five years that sounds like a pipe dream. Proficiency standards differ wildly from state to state, and some tests are being made easier so that scores will improve. Schools that have not improved are not being held accountable and angry parents in many places have gone to court. Is it time for national standards? Are test scores the best measures? What about merit pay for teachers?

Guests:

David Hoff: Associate Editor, Education Week
Jeff Kuhner: Communications Director, Fordham Institute
Karin Chenoweth: Senior Writer, Achievement Alliance
Valarie Lewis: Principal, Osmond Church School
Monty Neill: Co-Executive Director, FairTest Coalition

The discussion follows news about the California wildfires, starting 17 minutes into the podcast.

Is it time to reform education reform? [50:56m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (10)

Third grade teacher for American Academy Charter School in Lone Tree, CO

Published by CKF on October 18, 2007 in Employment. 0 Comments

American Academy is a K-8 charter school in Lone Tree, Colorado. We are a high academic-focused school with an emphasis on math, science, technology, and engineering. We ability group for math and reading.

Get more information on the Core Knowledge Jobs page.

Editorial: A Beacon in the Bronx

Published by CKF on October 8, 2007 in Opinion. 0 Comments

This article first appeared in the New York Observer on Oct. 8, 2007. It is reprinted in full, by permission.

Six years ago, in a poor, ill-served neighborhood in the South Bronx, the Carl C. Icahn Charter School opened its doors for the first time. The school, named for its founder and chief funder, is part of a nationwide attempt to create a new kind of public school, freer to innovate and experiment but with a strong sense of mission.

Fifty-nine percent of the school’s 278 students are African-American; 41 percent are Hispanic. Eighty-nine percent are eligible for free or reduced-price school lunches, meaning that they come from poor families, many of whom live in high-rise apartment buildings near the school.

The U.S. Department of Education recently discovered that those children and their teachers are working miracles in the South Bronx. Every student — every one of them — met state standards in language arts and mathematics in the 2004-05 school year. In 2005-06, 100 percent of the school’s third and fourth graders — 100 percent! — were judged proficient or better on state math tests.

Those results led the Department of Education to designate the school as one of only seven charter schools nationwide, and the only one in New York City, to receive the agency’s “Closing the Gap” award. The reference is to the stubborn achievement gap between white students and minority students on standardized tests.

At the Icahn school, the so-called achievement gap hasn’t simply been closed. It has been obliterated. No child is being left behind; indeed, the children at this charter school are surging ahead of their peers.

All credit goes to the school’s students, their families, their teachers and principal, and to Mr. Icahn, whose generosity and vision made so much of this success possible. Also deserving of congratulations are the school’s board members, including legendary school innovator Seymour Fliegel, who heads the Center for Educational Innovation and who has been a strong advocate for public school reform.

The charter school is one of many that have sprung up around the city. It is located in one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods, in an area, the South Bronx, that remains associated with all of the ills that add to the burdens of poverty. And yet, despite the formidable obstacles placed in the way of the school’s students, they are flourishing.

So what, exactly, is going on here?

It starts with leadership. The school’s principal, Jeffrey Litt, is a fixture in the community and a tireless advocate for his students. But he is more than an administrator: He is an educator. The school’s curriculum is based on author E.D. Hirsch’s concept of core knowledge, which identifies content in the humanities and the sciences that every American child ought to know.

Teachers are expected to hold their students to high standards, and are accountable if their students fall behind. Apparently, the students — who are chosen by lottery, except for those who have a sibling in the school — love the challenge. Many of them attend special classes on Saturday mornings to work on the skills they learn during the week.

That hard work is paying off and creating a model of achievement in the South Bronx. The Department of Education’s award is a fitting tribute to the students, faculty, staff and board members of the Carl C. Icahn Charter School.

Thomas B. Fordham Institute Report: The Proficiency Illusion

Published by CKF on October 4, 2007 in Research and Reports. 1 Comment

“The Proficiency Illusion” reveals that the tests that states use to measure academic progress under the No Child Left Behind Act are creating a false impression of success, especially in reading and especially in the early grades.

The report, a collaboration of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and the Northwest Evaluation Association, contains several major findings:

States are aiming particularly low when it comes to their expectations for younger children, setting elementary students up to fail as they progress through their academic careers.
The central flaw in NCLB is that it allows each state to set its own definition of what constitutes “proficiency.”
By mandating that all students reach “proficiency” by 2014, it tempts states to define proficiency downward.
Although there has not been a “race to the bottom,” with the majority of states dramatically lowering standards under pressure from NCLB, the report did find a “walk to the middle,” as some states with high standards saw their expectations drop toward the middle of the pack.
In most states, math tests are consistently more difficult to pass than reading tests.
Eighth-grade tests are sharply harder to pass in most states than those in earlier grades (even after taking into account obvious differences in subject-matter complexity and children’s academic development).

As a result, students may be performing worse in reading, and worse in elementary school, than is readily apparent by looking at passing rates on state tests.

Read the report

Get Congress Out of the Classroom

Published by CKF on October 3, 2007 in Opinion. 0 Comments

By Diane Ravitch

Despite the rosy claims of the Bush administration, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 is fundamentally flawed. The latest national tests, released last week, show that academic gains since 2003 have been modest, less even than those posted in the years before the law was put in place. In eighth-grade reading, there have been no gains at all since 1998.

The main goal of the law — that all children in the United States will be proficient in reading and mathematics by 2014 — is simply unattainable. The primary strategy — to test all children in those subjects in grades three through eight every year — has unleashed an unhealthy obsession with standardized testing that has reduced the time available for teaching other important subjects. Furthermore, the law completely fractures the traditional limits on federal interference in the operation of local schools.

Unfortunately, the Congressional leaders in both parties seem determined to renew the law, probably after next year’s presidential election, with only minor changes. But No Child Left Behind should be radically overhauled, not just tweaked.

… No Child Left Behind can, however, be salvaged if policymakers recognize that they need to reverse the roles of the federal government and the states. In our federal system, each level of government should do what it does best. The federal government is good at collecting and disseminating information. The states and school districts, being closer to the schools, teachers and parents than the federal government, are more likely to be flexible and pragmatic about designing reforms to meet the needs of particular schools.

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18 Savannah-Chatham schools recognized for academic excellence

Published by CKF on October 2, 2007 in School Honors and School News. 0 Comments

[Heard Elementary, a Core Knowledge Visitation School, was among] 18 Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools recognized by the state as Title I Distinguished Schools. To qualify, a low-income school must make adequate yearly progress for the past three years.

Heard Elementary has made adequate yearly progress the last seven years — longer than any of the other local schools recognized Monday.

At Heard, 65 percent of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch, one of the key poverty indicators.

Six years ago, the school began using the Core Knowledge curriculum, which sets specific guidelines for what a child should learn at each grade level.

Teachers and parents embraced the program, [Nordy] Meguiar [,the academic coach at Heard Elementary] said.

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Superintendents Suggest Fixes For ‘No Child’

Published by CKF on October 1, 2007 in Educational Policy and Testing. 0 Comments

Some Support National Testing Standards

By Jay Mathews, Washington Post Staff Writer

The superintendents of the Washington area’s two largest school systems say national standards are needed to measure achievement among public school students, a sharp contrast to other educators who are asking that the federal government have less involvement in the schools, not more.

The support for national tests from the superintendents in Fairfax and Montgomery counties, as well as the superintendent and School Board of Arlington County, is one of the most surprising messages being sent to Congress by area educators hoping to influence efforts to revise the five-year-old No Child Left Behind law.

…”I’ve never figured out why in the world we wouldn’t have a national education standard,” said Montgomery County School Superintendent Jerry D. Weast. “We have standards for toys and everything else.”

Congress might vote on whether to revise No Child Left Behind this year. With criticism of the law ratcheting up, changes are likely.

Jack D. Dale, superintendent of Fairfax County schools, called the current system “incoherent, contradictory and inconsistent.” Arlington’s School Board, using an argument advanced by Superintendent Robert G. Smith, said No Child Left Behind “provides neither high consistent standards nor consistent measures for accountability.”

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