Pushing Three-Year-Old Students to Learn before Kindergarten
The New York Times recently wrote an article about a new learning center called Kumon which is emerging on the horizon of U.S. education. Kumon is similar to a Sylvan learning center as it gives students individualized sessions to meet their areas of need. They also help school aged children (K-12) become more advanced in math and English skills. Some controversy surrounds the learning center because they accept three-year-old students or any child “out of a diaper [that] can sit still with a Kumon instructor for 15 minutes”, states Joseph Nativo, the CFO for North America. Many parents believe that a child that young should learn by exploring and playing instead of the drilling methods to learn letters and numbers that Kumon uses. Kumon believes that learning basic skills increases children’s self esteem which leads to success in their learning. To read more about this article, see the following links: http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/16/pushing-kids-in-public-and-private/ and http://www.nytimes.com/pages/education/index.html “Fast Tracking to Kindergarten”.
Want To Know Where Trump Stands on Education?
Donald Trump’s lack of political correctness is refreshing in a culture where political correctness is the mode of operation in the political arena. Who knows? Maybe a lack of political correctness is just what America needs a jolt of. Reading the blunt truth of Trump’s views of education couldn’t help but bring a smirk across my face. He says what other politicians seem to avoid–the cold hard truth. Here is one of his quotes from his book The America We Deserve, “Our schools aren’t safe. On top of that, our kids aren’t learning. Too many are dropping out of school and into the street life-and too many of those who do graduate are getting diplomas that have been devalued into “certificates of attendance” by a dumbed-down curriculum that asks little of teachers and less of students. Schools are crime-ridden and they don’t teach. How long do we think the U.S. can survive schools that pretend to teach while our kids pretend to learn? How can a kid hope to build an American Dream when he hasn’t been taught how to spell the word “dream”? To read a few more of his quotes visit: http://www.ontheissues.org/celeb/donald_trump_education.htm.
Does Wanting What’s Best for Your Child Warrant Jail Time?
That is what the city of Norwalk Schools seems to believe. This past week a homeless woman was charged with larceny and conspiracy for sending her six year old to the Norwalk school system in Connecticut. She may suffer the consequences of up to 20 years in prison and a $15,000 fine for using the false address of a friend to send her child to a better school system. Follow this link to read the rest of the story: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/04/26/2011-04-26_homeless_woman_tanya_mcdowell_due_in_court_on_charges_she_illegally_enrolled_son.html
If You Are a Parent or Teacher, You Must See This Movie
I watched Waiting For Superman last weekend, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it for days. The well informed movie documents public education failing in America through personal interviews, history, animations, and statistics. While poor teachers continue to hold teacher credentials and ruin children’s chances at success, quality education stands imprisoned by “the system” which is guarded by teachers unions with their own selfish interests. When someone comes along with a passion to change the system to make education better, teachers’ unions silence them. Several urban and suburban families are pictured with children who want quality education but are unable to afford it for their children . These families are hanging in suspense hoping for a chance at a slot in a charter school for a better education. Waiting For Superman leaves you thinking…if something isn’t done to reform education in America, what will happen to our nation?
Which Nation Boasts the Highest Student Achievement?
America muddles through education reform, No Child Left Behind, and endless testing all the while still flailing globally to be ranked one of the top effective education systems. We should stop to take a look at someone who has walked in our shoes–Finland. Today Finland is ranked as the top educational system in the world. They were not always so highly admired. In the early 1970’s they struggled with education reform similar to the U.S. Today, they are doing several things which have produced amazing results. Teaching is an honored profession–only 10 percent of teachers applying for an education degree are accepted. Finland has a national common curriculum which is closely adhered to. They emphasize creative problem solving. Struggling learners are assigned tutors for remediation. Because a number of students in grades 7-9 begin to struggle, more time and money is spent with these students. Having the bottom 10 percent of the nation dominate students from any other nation in the world. The world should take the time to study the strategies of Finland’s educational system especially because the lowest 10% of their students exceed other students globally.
This Kindergarten Teacher Made $44,000 in Addition to Her Salary
While I am a fan of the Teachers Pay Teachers website because of the opportunity they give teachers to make extra money, I have no where come near the earning potential that this teacher can boast. Deanna Jump has 78 materials listed on Teachers Pay Teachers and many of the materials are Kindergarten and 1st grade thematic units. She has a 3.9 out of 4 rating for the quality of her materials which has earned her $44,000 in one quarter. The income she has made from selling her materials on teachers pay teachers beats the salary of $54,000/year she is making as a classroom teacher. This can only encourage one to sell more of her own materials. You can find Mrs. Jump’s blog at http://mrsjumpsclass.blogspot.com/.
Only 55% of Students Graduate in this School System…What Is Being Done About it?
Washing DC public schools are ranked 51st in the nation. Only 14% of students are proficient in reading by the 8th grade, and only 55% graduate high school. Because the schools were failing, the Opportunity Scholarship Program was initiated which gave 3300 low income students a scholarship to attend a private school and to escape the failing DC public education system. The results from this voucher program were astounding. Ninety-one percent of the low income students graduated who obtained a voucher as compared to the 55% of students who attended the DC public schools. Sadly, although the program had amazing success, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) in 2009 decided against allowing any new students into the program. President Obama was also not in favor of giving funds to this program and claimed the scholarship had not shown successful results. To read more about this …http://blog.heritage.org/2011/03/31/morning-bell-an-opportunity-to-throw-kids-a-lifeline/
Improve Your Students’ Engagement During Reading/Writing Workshop
Visiting with a colleague, she passionately shared with me the amazing difference that a book called The Daily Five had made in her literacy instruction. My colleague, who is a veteran teacher, learned about this at a differentiation conference, and she tried using the methods for the first time this school year. Other teachers have come into her room during her reading workshop and see the quality of student engagement. They insist that she share what she is doing to have students so engaged. The Daily Five improves students’ stamina to read voraciously on their own and to independently work on their own while the teacher pulls small groups. The small groups are more targeted to individual needs because the teacher spends less time with each student and doesn’t have to attend to students who are working independently. To read more about “The Daily Five” visit this link: http://www.thedailycafe.com/public/department38.cfm.
Is Money the Answer To Failing Urban Public Schools?
Gerry Garibaldi, a former Hollywood screenwriter and now an English teacher at an urban high school in Connecticut, authored an article in the local newspaper. Garibaldi has witnessed the wealth of funding that is lavished upon low income population schools (Title I funding) which translates into books, modern tools, and facilities such as Smart Boards, Elmo document cameras, computerized libraries etc. However, one problem money cannot solve in Garibaldi’s classroom is teen pregnancy. In Connecticut unwed mothers are bestowed with many state and federal benefits–medical coverage when the mother is pregnant, medical coverage for the baby and mother after birth, child care, Section 8 housing, Nutrition Assistance Program, cash assistance, and a $35/hr. tutor before and after the baby is born. These mothers often drop out of school reading on a 5th grade level yet more money is spent on these services, and the bureaucracy wonders why the system continues to fail. To read more of Garibaldi’s article visit: http://www.city-journal.org/2011/21_1_teen-pregnancy.html
Is Testing Practice Beneficial to Your Students?
Educators, at this time in the year, you and your students are most likely tired of preparing for testing. If you work in an under performing school, you are certain to have spent much time teaching your students test taking strategies and having them practice test taking formats. All the while as teachers, we feel that we are “burning students out” on test taking and wonder if they will be so tired of test taking that they neglect to perform on the real state test. A new study shows that test taking practice actually helps students learn. The data from this test shows that the more often information is recalled from the memory, the easier it is to remember and thus improves learning.
If you would like to read more about this study, follow this link. http://www.foxnews.com/health/2010/10/15/sorry-kids-tests-help-learn/.
