| Author |
Message |
    
Joan Auer
Citizen
Username: Joan
Post Number: 40
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 9, 2004 - 9:03 pm: |     |
Some sites on bridging the achievement gap.
www.brookings-institution.org/dybdocroot/press/books/chapter_1/bridgingtheachiev ementgap.pdf
www.ossiningufsd.org/achievement_gap.htm
www.seisummit.org/gapresources.htm
www.nhcs.k12.nc.us/title1/nineschools.pdf
www.annenberginstitute.org/mediacenter/gap_casestudies.html |
Joan Auer
Citizen
Username: Joan
Post Number: 42
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 10:50 am: | |
A paper on the achievement gap and class size.
www.irs.princeton.edu/pubs/pdfs/451.pdf |
Montagnard
Citizen
Username: Montagnard
Post Number: 472
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 8:18 pm: | |
From the Brookings Institution paper, describing three successful schools in the poorer districts of L.A. There are a lot of problems with this approach, beginning with its mind-numbing effect on brighter children.
quote:The three elementary schools mainly resist faddish, cutting-edge approaches to teaching and relentlessly focus on teaching the core skills of reading and mathematics. Teachers instruct students on this knowledge and test regularly to make certain that pupils have learned it. In other words, the teachers in these schools teach students solid content. They do not facilitate, guide, or explore. Whole language is out; phonics is in. Calculators and National Council of Teachers of Mathematics math reform are out; arithmetic is in. Process approaches to writing are out; grammar, spelling, and punctuation are in.
|
jfburch
Citizen
Username: Jfburch
Post Number: 1334
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 8:54 pm: | |
And lest that be taken as some kind of definitive truth, the intro to the chapter (from which that example is taken) notes:
"Disparate in approach and involving relatively few students, these efforts are nonetheless important. They are potentially replicable...."
And most or all of the other citations above look at other approaches. |
Cynicalgirl
Citizen
Username: Cynicalgirl
Post Number: 474
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 9:22 pm: | |
Wish to heck I'd saved it, but today's NYT had an article on this topic, and cited some NYC charter kinds of schools. What struck me was that a feature was (1) longer school day, (2) some Sat and some summer. More time, more structure in the environment for some populations who were falling behind. I believe the idea was that this would reinforce the school culture over any peer culture that might be impeding progress...And a lot of pinpointing/testing as they go to detect exactly whe the child was not getting some concept |
nan
Citizen
Username: Nan
Post Number: 1196
Registered: 2-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 6:07 am: | |
Cyniclgirl,
I don't think the answer is lots more testing because that will lead to lots more test prep. The teachers know, from multiple assessments, which students need more help. Why make the whole class do lots of test prep just to find out what everyone already knows anyway?
I also think the idea that at risk kids just need more structure is overly simplistic. Research does link more "time on task" with higher achievement levels, but just making sure everyone is working like a quiet drone all the time is no guarantee of learning. Kids that find the work more meaningful to them will be less resistant and more cooperative. This is less likely if the curriculum is driven by practice of isolated skills on worksheets.
I do agree that low achievers need extra help and also think factors outside of school, such as summer reading loss for poor kids, should be considered. Here in Maplewood, our public libraries are closed on the weekends in the summer (the old librarian was very resistant to changing that. He believes kids need phonics more than books).
Below is an article on the topic:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bridging the Summer Reading Gap
A break from books can mean big losses for at-risk readers, but schools can help keep pages turning and minds sharp
By Anne McGill-Franzen and Richard Allington
June is fast approaching — you can feel the heat of summer in the hallways. Days are longer, attention spans are growing shorter, and everyone is ready for a break. Teachers are planning for their vacation time. Children are ready to shrug off the mantle of "student" for the three-month break, along with the backpacks, the math homework, and the quizzes and tests. But just because school is out, it doesn't mean that reading and learning should stop. Teachers know that many children can't afford to take such a long break. Young readers who don't continue to read over the summer — especially those who are reluctant or at-risk — are likely to lose crucial ground. One summer off can sometimes mean a whole school year of struggling academic performance.
Summer Reading Loss
Regardless of other activities, the best predictor of summer loss or summer gain is whether or not a child reads during the summer. And the best predictor of whether a child reads is whether or not he or she owns books. While economically-advantaged kids often have their own bedroom libraries, poor kids usually depend heavily on schools for books to read.
Understandably, summer reading loss or "summer setback" is a bigger problem for children from low-income families. Their reading achievement typically declines an average of three months between June and September, while that of typical middle-class students improves or remains the same. This means that a summer reading loss of three months accumulates to a crucial two-year gap by the time kids are in middle school, even if their schools are equally effective. It suggests that focusing all of our efforts on improving the schools isn't going to work.
Children need to read outside of school. Research clearly shows that the key to stemming summer reading loss is finding novel ways to get books into the hands of children during the summer break.
Libraries Fall Short
With schools and their libraries closed for the summer, public libraries might seem like a logical solution. However, those located in poor neighborhoods are often the first to close or restrict hours in a budget crunch. Even when public libraries are open, poor children may lack transportation. Research shows that public library use among poor children drops off when a library is more than six blocks from their home, compared with more than two miles for middle-class children.
Middle-class children might ride their bikes to the library, but poor kids often aren't allowed on the streets by themselves because it's considered too dangerous. And in rural areas, public libraries may be too far away for children to enjoy regularly. Hefty fines for late books can also deter children and their parents from using the public library. Families with little money to spare may not perceive a library that fines as "free."
We also know that teachers and librarians in the poorest communities, are the least likely to allow children to check out books because these schools can't afford to risk the loss of the few books they have. While economically-advantaged schools are able to buy multiple copies of favorite books, poor schools face serious limitations. High-poverty schools use what money they have to buy test-preparation packages, while middle-class schools buy books.
Motivation Matters
Limited access to books is only part of the reason for summer reading loss. While we know that the more children read, the better their fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension, it is less clear how to motivate children to read. Put simply, children whose reading skills are not strong — who have a history of less-than-successful reading experiences — simply aren't as interested in voluntary reading as are those children with a history of successful reading experiences.
Lower-achieving readers are typically asked to read books that are too difficult. Without books that can be read easily with good comprehension, these less-skilled readers will not improve. All of their cognitive energy is devoted to trying to figure out unknown words — which produces a dysfluent, word-by-word reading with little understanding of, or engagement with, the books in their hands.
These disjointed reading experiences fail to help children consolidate skills, and perhaps most significant, such experiences make children feel unsuccessful. They offer little incentive to persevere and, ultimately, participate in the world of readers. Children don't just need books; they need the right books. Providing children with books that fit — books that match their skill levels and their interests — is an important first step in encouraging voluntary reading.
Holding Their Ground
While the statistics on summer reading loss seem discouraging, there are answers. Studies suggest that children who read as few as six books over the summer maintain the level of reading skills they achieved during the preceding school year. Reading more books leads to even greater success. When children are provided with 10 to 20 self-selected children's books at the end of the regular school year, as many as 50 percent not only maintain their skills, but actually make reading gains.
Summer School Reading
In our current research, we are looking for the most effective ways to support the summer reading of children who struggle with high-stakes assessments and are at risk of failing their grade in school. Many of these children attend mandatory summer school, yet have few opportunities to read extensively in books that are at their level and about topics that truly interest them. Our work suggests that if children have opportunities to listen to, discuss, and read books on topics that they select, or books about characters that they love, they develop extensive background knowledge that can scaffold their independent reading and sustain their engagement. Summer school must provide interventions that accomplish these goals.
Getting the Books Out
School book collections are typically the largest and nearest supply of age-appropriate books for children. When teachers and school libraries can find ways to share books with students over the summer, the gains can be notable. This low-cost, low-intensity intervention obviously can't address the many and varied reading needs of all students. But it it is a starting point. With planning, there are simple ways to ensure that books become available to any child at any time of year — but especially in the summer, when the reading should be easy.
http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/instructor/summer_reading.htm
|
Cynicalgirl
Citizen
Username: Cynicalgirl
Post Number: 475
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 6:29 am: | |
nan, it wasn't big time, big scale testing that they referred to I don't believe (though I am on the run right now). It was more like almost weekly skill monitoring. Kind of reminded me of the sort of reality-check testing/progress monitoring that older individualized instruction programs suggest. And the longer school day, time in school on weekends seemed to have more to do with modelling the culture the child emulated, replacing a possibly anti-academic peer culture the child might list towards after school, weekends, summers with a more pro-academic peer culture that the school would/could provide.
Hey, I'm no expert on this stuff. I was just pointing towards an article on some charter schools in NYC that (per the article) seemed to have rescued some kids! And I certainly appreciate that the expense of longer days at school, etc. is hard for some districts to swallow. I just found interesting the conditions that some found key to these schools' success. Seemed to point to the importance of good after school+ programs for kids at risk. |
nan
Citizen
Username: Nan
Post Number: 1197
Registered: 2-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 8:12 pm: | |
I would agree about the good after school programs and lots of attention for at risk kids. I'm just wondering about what the definition of "good" should be.
I think a greater emphasis on summer reading programs would be a start. Maybe we also should check out what's going on in Ossinging, NY.
Ossining is a heterogeneous population, similar to MW/SO. Heck, they even have tax problems too!
Joan Auer's link to the Ossining School District, (www.ossiningufsd.org/achievement_gap.htm ) suggests an approach with more preschool programs, pullout programs, enrichment activities, and family reach out programs.
They also use block scheduling with classroom theme-based units emphasizing the connection between language arts and social studies.
|
William Ralph Gifford III
Citizen
Username: Williamgif
Post Number: 4
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - 7:19 pm: | |
Hello, my name is William Gifford. I am a senior at Columbia High School and I am running for the Board Of Education. As another year passes, Columbia High School seems to be falling apart quicker and quicker. Our public education needs more support and more funding. More than ever we need our community to support the public schools.
As a student in Columbia, I am very knowledgeable of the problems that our schools face. Everyday I walk the hallways and I hear the hardships of the janitors who have to pay for there own supplies and I see the students who hesitate to read aloud in class, because sadly they can’t. I see the low level classes filled with black students and I see the high level classes filled with white students. We need to make changes!
First we must admit that Columbia High School is not the school it was years ago. Right now the district is trying to maintain educational excellence, when we really need to be making changes so that we can achieve it. For years Columbia has been known for its variety of choices for students: now elective classes are being cut by the dozen. We need to restore the privilege of choice to the students of our district.
As a candidate for the Board of Education, I want to work harder on closing the achievement gap in the district. Not enough is being done to solve this problem. Also, I want to restore Maplewood and South Orange’s reputation for having excellent public schools. To do this we will need greater support from the larger community so that the needs of our schools are adequately funded.
If elected I promise to work hard on the issues and gain the support of a community so all children are given the chance to succeed. On APRIL 20th VOTE WILLIAM GIFFORD FOR THE BOARD OF EDUCATION
Yours,
William Gifford
If you have any questions please contact me at Qsociety@hotmail.com
|
|
Closed: New threads not accepted on this page