Tulsa Schools and New Standardized Testing & Common Core

[TheArtist]

Here is an article in the BBC today about US maths education and has states ranked compared to other countries in the world per "Maths".

"US in denial over poor maths standards"

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-27442541

[sgrizzle]

Here is an article in the BBC today about US maths education and has states ranked compared to other countries in the world per "Maths".

"US in denial over poor maths standards"

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-27442541

Proper business names are plural on that side of the pond. ie. "Google are buying Twitch"

[Conan71]

And those differences that accrue due to the separation is what is causing a huge amount of trouble now....that will only get worse.

I don't think my private school education is leading to the erosion of society. 

Nor do I think my daughters with public school educations were short-changed with $8000/year spending or whatever.  From purely socio-economic and family participation issues, failure of either child was a very, very small possibility, regardless what was allocated on their education.  They always seemed to have teachers who were very engaged and interested in the education process.  As well, they were in a peer group with very high parental interest and participation.

[TheArtist]

I am really surprised at the uproar over Fallin's Veto. 

For far too many years teachers and parents have been shuffling through way to many students who should have been held back, (or schools have not been teaching up to snuff, for whatever reason, yet still have been moving students on who are not ready). 

I do not get why people are so upset over the idea of students being held back.  I was held back in first grade, and by the time I was an adult I could see that my school life would have been much easier and happier if I had been held back even a second year before middle and high school.  I know other students, and perhaps you do as well, who also should have been held back and were not.  That happens far more often than there are students held back who should not have been. Which side is it better to err on? 

Yes there are certain special needs students who should not be held back for they may never read, for instance, above a 3rd or 4th grade level, but those students would fall under one of the available exemptions. 

[AquaMan]

You mean the exemptions in the legislation that was vetoed?

If the opinions of teachers, administrators and reading specialists are of less value than the states ideologue leader then why do we listen to other experts in engineering and health?

[AquaMan]

The delicious irony. The outrageous hypocrisy. Folks who don't want intrusion by the state or feds in their lives are willing to yield the destinies of their offspring to party idealogues without a whimper.

[Conan71]

A $60 million high school stadium?  Serious?

Talk about mis-placed financial priorities.

Nation's most expensive prep football stadium closes two years after its built

Allen (Texas) High officially closed its new $60 million stadium for the fall season due to unsafe conditions at the nation's most expensive high school football stadium, according to The Dallas Morning News.

As previously discussed on Prep Rally, the discovery of cracking concrete on the concourse level of the state-of-the-art facility shut down Eagle Stadium in February. According to the paper, an engineering analysis is expected to be completed in June and has already revealed structural issues in the stadium.

"The stadium is not safe for public assembly," Allen suprintendent Lance Hindt told the Morning News.

The nation's most expensive high school athletic facility at a taxpayer cost of $60 million, Eagle Stadium opened in August 2012 to national fanfare. Around the same time, Allen officials had already discovered cracks in the concrete, notifying design firm PBK Architects and building company Pogue Construction.

While PBK and Pogue executives originally cited "normal concrete shrinkage" and estimated repair costs at $1 million, according to the Morning News, an early Nelson Forensics report detailed structural flaws and building code violations that could eventually require completely rebuilding the affected areas.

"Once a repair solution has been agreed upon, PBK and Pogue Construction will implement the repair at no cost to the district," PBK wrote in a statement to The Dallas Morning News on Monday. "At the end of the day, our goal is to provide the taxpayers of Allen exactly what they paid for."

Meanwhile, Allen officials had orginially hoped the two-time defending state champion Eagles would be able to return to the football field this fall, but they and any fans who hoped to fill the building's 18,000 seats will have to travel to neighboring Plano for home games this fall — at a cost of $5,300 per game for Allen ISD.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/highschool-prep-rally/nation-s-most-expensive-prep-football-stadium-closes-two-years-after-its-built-220058771.html

Stillwater High has one of these mini pro fields as well.  Don't get me wrong, I believe high school athletics is an important part of the educational experience, but kids don't need a Taj Mahal to play in.

[TheArtist]

You mean the exemptions in the legislation that was vetoed?

If the opinions of teachers, administrators and reading specialists are of less value than the states ideologue leader then why do we listen to other experts in engineering and health?

I can see the frustrations and failures on both sides.  When the "opinions of teachers, administrators and reading specialists" have in the past been shunting through so many children that should not have been moved up to the next grade and have suffered academically because of it....

I remember a kid that sat next to me in my senior high school english class that could barely read.  He graduated.  He shouldn't have even been in my class, period.  There were likely others as well.  Really nice guy, but the teachers, administrators, parents, etc.  "failed him" by shuffling him up the system year after year when he should not have been.  They failed me by not holding me back another year as they should have before high school as well. This was back in the 80s.  And I know danged well they do the same thing today. It's easier to push them on to the next grade and make it someone else's problem.

[Conan71]

I can see the frustrations and failures on both sides.  When the "opinions of teachers, administrators and reading specialists" have in the past been shunting through so many children that should not have been moved up to the next grade and have suffered academically because of it....

I remember a kid that sat next to me in my senior high school english class that could barely read.  He graduated.  He shouldn't have even been in my class, period.  There were likely others as well.  Really nice guy, but the teachers, administrators, parents, etc.  "failed him" by shuffling him up the system year after year when he should not have been.  They failed me by not holding me back another year as they should have before high school as well. This was back in the 80s.  And I know danged well they do the same thing today. It's easier to push them on to the next grade and make it someone else's problem.

I excelled at English, History, Social Studies, etc. because those were areas I was really interested in and I loved to read.  I really suffered with math and advanced sciences like chemistry and physics.  It literally took me three tries to get through Algebra I and only then because I took a really intense tutoring program along with my third try as a Junior (there were 8th graders in my class, I felt like Jethro Bodean).  I also finally had an instructor (the tutor) who seemed to understand whatever cognitive issue I had in getting algebraic concepts.  I breezed pretty easily through geometry in summer school prior to my senior year as I could not risk not getting my second math credit needed for graduation.  Cascia Hall required you take math all four years so I suffered through Algebra II/Trig as a senior but actually managed to eke out a C for the class somehow.

College accounting courses were a snap.  College algebra was a biznitch.

Turns out, I figured out the problem later on in life from career and hobby pursuits.  I apparently am a very kinetic learner.  If I can see something or picture it, I can learn how to do it.  If it's a series of problems on a page, it almost looks blurry to me.  I have the same problem when I first look at a wiring blueprint but if I slow down and simply look point-to-point or I understand what the sequence of wiring is supposed to do, I settle down, relax, and it all makes sense.

Racing cars and flying airplanes taught me more about physics and geometry than I ever learned in class.  Managing and owning businesses as well as doing all sorts of calculations in my current career have taught me more about algebraic concepts than I ever learned in school. 

Unfortunately, there simply is not a Tom Thiel (my algebra tutor) for every Conan71 that's out there.  Whether it was a personal connection that clicked, his understanding of my struggle, or what, I will never really know.  He was beyond bright and I'd had instructors like that before who were simply too hard for me to follow.  They had their field of study so down pat, they had a difficult time communicating it to slower learners in the field like myself.

I suspect many "poor learners" aren't stupid by any means.  Rather they can be quite high-functioning, they simply are not being reached in a way they can relate.  I credit the years my daughters spent in a Montessori program prior to moving on to public schools for a lot of their later academic success because they had guides who took the time to understand a child's weaknesses and strengths and they helped them learn in a way that would best appeal to them at their own pace.  I believe an approach like that for kids who are struggling could be worth implementing in public schools.

[nathanm]

I credit the years my daughters spent in a Montessori program prior to moving on to public schools for a lot of their later academic success because they had guides who took the time to understand a child's weaknesses and strengths and they helped them learn in a way that would best appeal to them at their own pace.  I believe an approach like that for kids who are struggling could be worth implementing in public schools.

Problem is that most parents freak out when their kid is the one that decides they'd rather wash the dishes than learn what they're supposed to be there to learn. A couple of weeks later, everybody is adjusted and all is well, but a lot of parents don't keep their kid there long enough to see what it's really about.

[Conan71]

Problem is that most parents freak out when their kid is the one that decides they'd rather wash the dishes than learn what they're supposed to be there to learn. A couple of weeks later, everybody is adjusted and all is well, but a lot of parents don't keep their kid there long enough to see what it's really about.

You definitely need to have strong parent buy in.  At least at Undercroft, the guides tended to be on the more liberal side which would be a turn-off to uptight fundies.  That didn't seem to have an impact on either of my kids, they both are to the right of me on the political scale.

They would allow prospective parents to sit in so they got an idea how the structure worked and were really good at explaining to us up front what to expect.  The only reason we pulled them out is they started taking gymnastics at Jenks so it kind of made sense from a cash-flow and logistical POV to move closer, buy a larger house, and enroll them at Jenks. 

[Gaspar]

You definitely need to have strong parent buy in.  At least at Undercroft, the guides tended to be on the more liberal side which would be a turn-off to uptight fundies.  That didn't seem to have an impact on either of my kids, they both are to the right of me on the political scale.

They would allow prospective parents to sit in so they got an idea how the structure worked and were really good at explaining to us up front what to expect.  The only reason we pulled them out is they started taking gymnastics at Jenks so it kind of made sense from a cash-flow and logistical POV to move closer, buy a larger house, and enroll them at Jenks. 

Both of my sister's kids go there and they love it. Both boys (4th and 6th grade I believe) are so far advanced compared to their public school counterparts that it's not even funny. Great program.

[Conan71]

Both of my sister's kids go there and they love it. Both boys (4th and 6th grade I believe) are so far advanced compared to their public school counterparts that it's not even funny. Great program.

They will have great survival skills when they move on.  The scary part for us when my daughters moved on to Jenks was that Undercroft was sort of a sheltered environment and we didn't know what to expect.  Fortunately, they both went to Jenks SE where there was very, very high parental participation at the time and they had great teachers as well.

[Red Arrow]

I excelled at English, History, Social Studies, etc. because those were areas I was really interested in and I loved to read.

I was just the opposite.  I did well in math and science.  I did OK in English, History, and Social Studies but they were a chore for me.  I actually kind of liked reading about history but puking up dates and names of events on a test were like math was to Artist.  I liked to read until the school started telling me I should be reading "good literature".  I didn't care for a lot of it, especially the assigned summer reading.

My SAT English scores were good enough to skip the first semester grammar course at college pending at least a C in the first semester literature course.  I did OK so I took two literature courses.  Several of us Engineering students got B's so we signed up for the same Prof for the 2nd semester of literature.  I took a history course in college pass/fail as an elective.  The Grad Student TA and I disagreed on whether I was using enough historical facts in my test essays.  I was passing but not doing great.  I  promised that I wouldn't take the final exam (optional) if he would guarantee a pass on my report card.  He agreed. Most of my college semesters were 18 hours so I was busy with Engineering stuff.

I almost forgot..  I had to go to summer school after 5th grade to get to 6th grade.  I had to take creative writing.  Blech!

[Gaspar]

Governor vetoed giving teachers and parents control over their child's education.  Of course the legislature overruled her veto. 

She has proven to be a worthless statist.