Today’s article from Intellectual Takeout Dale Farran spent a decade studying over 1,000 kids who went to a state-run pre-kindergarten—and a control group of kids that wanted to, but didn’t get in. She is shocked and dismayed by what she discovered: By 6th grade the pre-K kids were doing worse all around: worse reading, math and science scores; more learning disorders; and more discipline problems, including serious ones that got them suspended. “It really has required a lot of soul-searching,” Farran told Anya Kamenetz on NPR. Now she’s pondering “what were plausible reasons that may account for this.” One theory she has is that the free pre-K doesn’t look like pricey … [Read more...]
A top researcher says it’s time to rethink our entire approach to preschool
When did we (did we?) decide children could no longer be children and take their time growing up? When did we decide (who is we?) that time to play, socialize and explore the world wasn't ok for pre-K and kindergartners? The article is long so grab a cup of coffee or tea or your favorite beverage and take a few minutes to read and ponder. Today we bring you as story worth reading. Coming to you from NPR and written by Anya Kamenetz. Dale Farran has been studying early childhood education for half a century. Yet her most recent scientific publication has made her question everything she thought she knew. "It really has required a lot of soul-searching, a lot of reading of the … [Read more...]
Is NPR Pushing Propaganda about the Benefits of Preschool?
If you've been following our blog you've seen the materials we've shared about the costs and impact of pre-K programs. We've told you about the cost, how it's a way to start gathering data on your child, how they begin pushing learning too early, how children are not allowed to be children, how by 3rd grade it's almost impossible to tell who went to pre-K and who didn't...all of this and how some additional information. Today we bring you a story from Intellectual Takeout (Annie Holmquist) where she shares some information about NPR's apparent attempt to convince parents pre-K is good by leaving out information. You be the judge. The other day, NPR published an article on … [Read more...]
Why High School Students Need More Than College Prep
From NPREd an interesting article - writer is Claudio Sanchez I step up to the counter at Willy's Cafe at Willamette High School in Eugene, Ore., and order a latte. There's a powerful scent of fresh coffee in the air, and a group of juniors and seniors hover over a large espresso machine. Carrie Gilbert, 17, shows how it's done: "You're going to want to steam the milk first," she explains. "Then once you have the coffee, dump it in and use the rest of the milk to fill the cup." She hands over my order. Not bad. Yes, this is a class, and these students are earning credit. But I can almost hear parents and students, for whom college is the only option, saying: Credit towards … [Read more...]
A Picture Of Language: The Fading Art Of Diagramming Sentences
Our friends at NPR Ed bring us the lost art of diagramming sentences - do you remember what that was? The design firm Pop Chart Lab has taken the first lines of famous novels and diagrammed those sentences. This one shows the opening of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis. When you think about a sentence, you usually think about words — not lines. But sentence diagramming brings geometry into grammar. If you weren't taught to diagram a sentence, this might sound a little zany. But the practice has a long — and controversial — history in U.S. schools. And while it was once commonplace, many people today don't even know what it is. So let's start with the … [Read more...]
Should the Education System Embrace ‘Subsidiarity’?
Intellectualtakeout.org has another interesting article...what say you? Reports of failure in public schools tend to be systemic. Stories of success tend to be localized. Is this a reason to promote subsidiarity in the public school system? Subsidiarity is a principle that calls for decision-making power and responsibility to be held at the lowest level as much as possible. Applied to schools, this would loosely mean that the district does not do or decide things for an individual school that the school can manage for itself, that the state does not unnecessarily interfere with districts, and that the federal government does not unnecessarily interfere with states. It’s … [Read more...]
Washington State Testing Revolt
Take a read: From NPR of all places! Other states are doing the same. The wave is picking up size and speed. http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/07/16/420837531/testing-revolt-in-washington-state-brings-feds-into-uncharted-waters? … [Read more...]