2008 October 09 Archive at The Core Knowledge Blog

Archive for October 9th, 2008

Yer Out!

Published by Robert Pondiscio on October 9, 2008 in School News. 0 Comments

Some baseball fans wear their hearts on their sleeves. Zachary Sharples, a Florida 7th-grader chose to wear his on his head, and that got him suspended from school. Zachary got a “Ray-Hawk,” a kind of Mohawk favored by some players on the Tampa Bay Rays, sprayed it blue and cheered on his team in the AL division series win over Chicago.

Before Zachary went to bed, the Bradenton Herald reports, he made sure to wash off the dye so he wouldn’t get in trouble at school the next day. Didn’t work. Zachary’s mohawk still earned him an in-school suspension for violating the school dress code. “I did nothing but sat there,” Zachary said Tuesday. “We couldn’t talk, it was stupid.”

His dad says school officials told Zachary he can either shave his head to be allowed back into his classes, or let his hair grow out - in in-school suspension. His family is moving to St. Petersburg instead, where the kid can presumably wear his hair however he wants.

[Hat Tip: The Gradebook]

“Days of Children Reading Books Are Numbered”

Published by Robert Pondiscio on October 9, 2008 in Research and Reports. 0 Comments

The days of children reading traditional books are numbered, says the man in charge of a campaign to improve literacy in Britain’s schools. Jonathan Douglas, the director of the National Literacy Trust says publishers must adapt titles for readers who spend more time on the internet if they want future generations to read.

Britain’s Independent points to new research that shows reading drops dramatically as children get older. “The typical eight-year-old reads nearly 16 books a year but, by the time they reach 15 or 16, this has dwindled to just over three books per year,” the paper notes. “The study, based on interviews with nearly 30,000 pupils aged seven to 16, also shows a growing trend towards reading comics, magazines, newspapers and online articles, and playing computer games, after the first year at secondary school.”

What this means, says Douglas, is that publishers must “reinvent the book.”

Did I Say I Got an A? My Bad!

Published by Robert Pondiscio on October 9, 2008 in Higher Education. 0 Comments

Rutgers University in New Jersey is no longer asking applicants to submit high school transcripts starting this fall. Instead, high school students will enter their own grades in an online application form, Inside Higher Ed reports. An official transcript will be required for every student who is admitted and plans to enroll, however.

As New Jersey high schools learned of the change, the question everyone has been asking is: Will this lead to a new variety of grade inflation, as applicants (accidentally of course…) somehow transcribe themselves into honors students? Rutgers officials say that won’t happen because the transcript checks of accepted applicants who plan to enroll will cover every single student. If you inflate your grades, your admission offer will be revoked — period.