2008 July 21 Archive at The Core Knowledge Blog

Archive for July 21st, 2008

Delaying School is Potentially Bad for Kids

Published by Robert Pondiscio on July 21, 2008 in Research and Reports. 0 Comments

Waiting until children are 6 to enroll them in kindergarten is having a negative impact on academic achievement, and potentially the U.S. economy, according to a new Harvard study. The New York Sun makes front-page news of it:

The practice has grown substantially: In 1968, 96% of 6-year-olds were enrolled in first grade or above. In 2005, the number had fallen to 84%, according to the paper by the Harvard researchers, part of a series issued by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

“Children across the country are entering primary school at older and older ages — and opening themselves up to a likelier possibility of dropping out with less education,” report the Sun, which also notes that public school kids are much more likely to be affected by “redshirting” than their private school peers. It also means one fewer year that the children, once they are adults in the workforce, will pay into America’s Social Security system, the authors report.

Spare the Rod

Published by Robert Pondiscio on July 21, 2008 in Education Practice. 1 Comment

A Georgia school board has reinstated corporal punishment. Misbehaving students in Twiggs County can now be spanked to curb misbehavior–with parental permission and witnesses in the room.

Amazingly, 22 states have not explicitly banned corporal punishment. “Sometimes these little ones are hard headed and you have to show them you mean business. “I haven’t used it often, but I have used it,” says one principal.

The Unlived Life Is Not Worth Examining

Published by Robert Pondiscio on July 21, 2008 in Curriculum and Higher Education. 7 Comments

Why do colleges insist on personal essays with applications? Could changing the requirement create better prepared students?

The Associated Press ran a piece about college admissions essays over the weekend and the sturm und drang associated with them. Since the die is already cast on SAT scores and grades, the essay gets a disproportionate amount of attention from students and families, the AP notes, spawning a veritable industry with books and counseling and editing services.

Does it matter? “Applicants and their families have somewhat of a belief in the redemptive value of the essay,” Barmak Nassirian, of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers said. “It’s an urban myth that a student who has goofed off his whole academic career can get in with a come-from-behind epic struggle in which the essay serves as the primary tool. It’s not a substitute for a rigorous curriculum, good grades and evidence that you’re going to do well,” he said.

What if applicants were asked to write or submit a research paper instead? Which is more predictive of college success, past academic work, or a personal essay, where students labor to make themselves seem well-rounded, fascinating and irresistible to schools?

Dropping personal essays could have an interesting trickle-down effect as far down as elementary schools. The “curriculum” in my elementary school (the tedious and content-free Teacher’s College Writer’s Workshop), forces children as young as third grade to grind out endless personal essays, “small moment” stories and memoirs (!) designed to plumb the depths of their eight-year old souls. But it seldom, if ever, called for kids to write anything approaching a simple five-paragraph expository essay, let alone a research paper. That might change if doing so became a requirement for college admissions.

Last year’s common application, used by scores of colleges and universities around the country, asked students to discuss an issue of personal concern, a person, fictional character or historic figure who influenced them, a life experience or a topic of their choice, the AP notes. At the risk of sounding churlish, the unlived life is not worth examining. Rather than require 17 year old to unburden themselves of their life experiences, how about three pieces of actual academic work, graded by the student’s high school teachers?

Teenage Waistline

Published by Robert Pondiscio on July 21, 2008 in Research and Reports. 0 Comments

Kids who were averaging three hours of moderate to vigorous activity when they were 9 barely manage to get more than a half-hour of daily exercise by the time they reach 15, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. “Kids’ activity is decreasing dramatically between 9 and 15,” said study author Dr. Philip Nader, of UC San Diego, who points to several factors behind the shift.

Loss of phys ed and recess in schools.
Fewer open spaces and parks
Changes in the way kids live

“Kids used to just run around and ride their bikes everywhere, and kids used to walk to school. Now, parents drive them,” Nader noted.

Teaching to the Tex

Published by Robert Pondiscio on July 21, 2008 in Assessment and Testing. 1 Comment

A section of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) is coming under scrutiny. Even Texas’ best students struggle with a section of the test that asks students to express themselves and back up their claims with evidence, revealing either faulty tests or preparation.

Three short-response questions require students to stretch their brains by generating clear, reasonable ideas from a reading selection, the Dallas Morning News reports. Then they must support those ideas with evidence from the text in a well-written response. ”Students are passing the ninth-, 10th- and 11th-grade language arts TAKS at higher rates than ever, the paper notes. “Some even post near-perfect passing rates. But on the short-response portion, fewer than half of North Texas students pass.”

Texas Education Agency officials say the short-response questions provide a better window into how well students can think, communicate and write. ”This paints a much different picture for teachers and parents than the multiple-choice test,” Victoria Young, a testing official with TEA tells the paper. “You’re finding out two very different things about kids.” Richard Kouri of the Texas State Teachers Association said curriculum doesn’t have the depth it used to because teachers are pulled in so many different directions by the TAKS demands.

Here’s the scoring rubric for the short-answer reading section of the test. Seems a reasonable set of tasks for high school students.