American Kids Are Still Testing Below the Fifty Percentile

Here is a great article that highlights some of the issues plaguing education and why we continue to have sagging reading scores. The chart below is relatively misleading. Imagine if the 100% was visible in this chart as opposed to having it stop at 60%, and then imagine if it were turned to represent a horizontal depiction as opposed to vertical. The results are actually staggering!

Percentage of U.S. students proficient in reading

My Immediate Response:

It is still shocking that only 36% of our nation's 8th grade students are reading at grade level. That reality has not changed very much since 1974 when nationalized testing began. Here are a few thoughts on that issue:

School has become about far more than giving our kids the basics necessary to survive in a world dependent upon common symbolic representations of language. When Nationwide testing began in the early 70's it was discovered that in theory the majority of the USA was illiterate or maybe, the testing did not really measure the actual ability of the 3rd/5th grade test taker. Nothing has changed! At that time millions - now billions of dollars has been invested into research to understand that our 3rd/5th grade students have not really progressed over the past 40 years, because the research is ignored!

First and foremost, all teachers need to be diagnosticians with the time and support needed to help identify our struggling learners. Additionally, we need to eliminate or at the very least reduce the quantity of standardized testing and all the many tests that do not diagnose issues, but merely give a level of data that only shows a commonality among the students. Assessments must be meaningful, pertinent and purposeful.

It is an imperative that parents along with teachers and association/unions come together to fight the insanity that has become standardized education. I have said for as long as I have been in education "follow the money" therein lies your answers." Then, listen to the warnings out there about the overuse of mobile devices, internet and social media, unless it is purposeful and advancing a student's learning. Failure to do so is setting our kids up for failure. The overuse of testing is taking away from our student's ability to progress. Remember - "Tests do not teach," only one on one time focused on what needs to be learn teaches humans. Data can be used to identify growth, but only when a person is actually being measured specific to what has been taught and that is not necessarily appropriate by way of standardized testing.

https://www.apmreports.org/story/2018/09/10/hard-words-why-american-kids-arent-being-taught-to-read

The Cost of Failure: Why failure is not an option

After spending 2 years as a High School, educator/mentor in a Credit Recovery/e-Learning program as well as over 12 years as a public school educator, I have made some observations, some of them disturbing, some of the hopeful. I want to begin by making a disclaimer in that I did not do any absolute scientific discovery and there may be components that are in fact missing. My attempt at improving the well-being of our students and the financial health is at the forefront of my following commentary.

Cost of Failure

Emotional Cost

“Our desires for our future determine what our past would have been.” m.rapier

That idea came to me in 1998 while I was doing an pre-service observation at  local HS. I noted that the achievers were focused, engaged, and goal oriented, with their goal being college. I also noted that the under-achievers were focused, engaged and goal oriented with their goal being in the "moment." Both had a purpose, a goal, but, their goals were fundamentally different. Student “A” had established a habit of completion, most likely an above average passing - mindset. Whereas student “D” or “F” was led to believe that he/she was a failure and not as smart as "A," long before the second or third grade. Far too often this is also associated with minorities or the marginalized populations. Children are indoctrinated into a belief that they are their circumstance and become focused on the failure aspect of society, even their home life. The emotional strain on children and families who fail courses in school is long-lasting. While we cannot avoid it, we need to circumvent it. How do we avoid failure? We avoid failure by focusing our efforts on failure avoidance, individualized instruction, blended learning, and most importantly holistic, the "whole" child, instruction which identifies “Highly Effective,” “Proficient,” “Working.” (it is also time to focus on multiple intelligence and sound research, which was thrown out with NCLB and a push for increased standardization)

Financial Cost

Simply put, when you fail a course, you throw money out the window. While NCLB eliminated the act of “holding” children back a grade, it did not impact the secondary reality. Secondary school, also known as high school, is a credit based approach towards graduation. Many schools have even gone so far as to segregate students based upon what courses they take and how many credits they can cram into a four year period of time.

How many credits a student needs is independent state to state. You can see anywhere from 38 required credits in Michigan, to a proposed 48 in Indiana. According to the NCES, “Nation’s Report Card” students today now need 3 more full credits to graduate than their millennial peers in 1990. Compare that to Baby Boomers and you are looking at the equivalent of almost an additional semester of school. The very people who are governing have been able to do so on less education than they are requiring of generations behind them. This is in fact putting an undue financial strain on taxpayers and families.

Cost Analysis

By looking at an average required courses needed in order to graduate and the annual average cost per HS-student we can begin to breakdown the overall cost of failure. The average cost in 2014 to educate a college student nationally was just over $9,000. While the cost to educate a high school student nationally is just over $11,000. Every district has a different cost per students. Let's take a look at a school district in Indiana, since that is where I reside. This school corporation had an average cost per pupil of $11,000 in 2009. It is currently at over $15,000 per pupil, based upon their own statistics. High School students are required to take 44 to get an Academic Honors diploma. So, divide that over four years. Students need at least 11 credits per year. That breaks down to: $15,000/11= $1,363.63 per credit. Or should they keep the cost to $15,000 over a 4 year period of time, $60,000/44-$1,363.63 per credit, but as you can see, the costs do not stay stagnant. So, every time a student fails a course $1,363.63 is lost. Taking the example from a school where over 450 students failed math in one semester, that school district lost 450 x $1,363.63 = $613,636.36 in funding. That is just one content area. Now multiply that over 4 years, considering the failure rate in the math department remains steady: 4 x $613,636.36 = $2,454,545.45.

In the past two years I have had the pleasure of helping students overcome those failures through a blended, e-Learning approach towards recovery. In each case when given enough time and proper resources they were able to overcome their failure identification and attain proficiency status or higher. The number of credits that my department recovered equals over 800. But, it barely scratches the surface. Many times we see students entering their senior year with credit deficits. The law says that all children must attend school. NCLB attempted to ensure that all would graduate. Without significant changes in education we will not break down the failure fence that keeps our kids constrained in a belief that they are failures.

Why Standardized Testing Does Not Prevent Failure

Standardized testing costs the states over $1.7 billion a year. That is money that could be used to significantly impact approaches that work, that prevent failure. Standardized testing does only one thing: It looks at how districts are doing from a comparative perspective, not individualizing learners or their educators. It is a measurement that has no real purpose.  The information gleaned from Standardized testing could be done in increments of every 3-4 years. Standardized testing should only be used to identify an overall census, not an annual analysis. Rather, money should be used to look at the statistical rate of breakdown in learning bases upon teacher and program efficacy. While I do believe their needs to be checks and balances, the current trend which believes more is more effective, the grim reality is, most of our curriculum is outdated, misses the point of State standards-based curriculum and does not ensure strong pedagogical approaches.

The cost of failure is a huge problem and it continues to plague taxpayers from local communities to the federal level. How do we move beyond an antiquated approach towards educating our children at the same time identifying what the cost is when we fail them.  

Sleep Deprivation and Low Test Scores

Say NO to Standardized Tests; Ignoring Science Spreads Ignorance!

My response to an amazing educators comments on Florida's newest standardized test. "All of the billions of dollars of research over the past 100 years has been thrown out by bureaucracy. It is amazing, while they fight tooth and nail to get everyone immunized before going in to school because science has proven that immunizations prevent the spread of disease, they continue to ignore scientific evidence that standardized testing causes failure, It diminishes and steals away from all of the scientific research over thousands of years stretching back to Socrates. The way we reach our kids to make them better educated, better humans, better people is not housed in a standardized tests. There is only one purpose for standardized tests and that is to make those who have studied economic science...it makes a lot of publishers from Marzano to McGraw Hill very wealthy individuals. Funny, one of the first test subjects, the very person who helped to establish Stanford tests became a leading destroyer of artistry in the classroom.: Madeline Hunter 1930. At the same time that Hitler was putting into play his mind control over the youth in Germany, Madeline Hunter was helping devise the very tests that would help to turn our nation into automatons. Thankfully the human spirit is stronger than a nation ruled by those would molest our children for their financial gain." https://crawlingoutoftheclassroom.wordpress.com/2015/03/01/an-open-letter-to-my-students-i-am-sorry-for-what-i-am-about-to-do-to-you/

A Must Read on Education Reform, "Rhetoric Trumps Reality"

Market-oriented education reforms’ rhetoric trumps reality

"Reforms fail when they ignore the poverty related causes of achievement gaps."

:High turnover rates harm students." As is evidenced under Michelle Rhee's leadership in DCPS. Tom Carroll, The National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future indicates that like in any profession, experience matters. "As Tom Carroll, president of the commission, notes, this figure ignores “what may in fact be the largest costs of teacher turnover: lost teaching quality and effectiveness”

Commentary by, MELaLuna, the greatest problem that I have with Michelle Rhee, the reformers, congressional leaders, publishing companies all the way to Marzano, Hunter, and the other "leaders in education" is that if you look deep into their portfolios, financial supporters and CV/resumes, you will discover that they spent little time in the classroom and/or have not been in the classroom for so long that they have lost touch with what a classroom today looks like. Then follow the $$$.Many of them have never felt or seen poverty first hand. I equate it to someone I knew who was on her 3rd marriage in 15 years. She had known her new husband for less than a year before they married. They had only been married for less than 2 years. They had both been married 2 times before and all 4 marriages between them had failed. As I was sitting eating dinner with them one night they shared that they were going to write a book on marriage, what works. I had to keep myself from choking on my food as I wanted to laugh hysterically. I had been married for 17 years at that time, and had known the man I married 3 years before we married. I knew then that there was no way these 2 could possibly write the perfect "how to" book. They never wrote the book, and 8 years later their marriage ended tragically as she discovered he had been cheating with her contemporary for over a year. The moral of the story is...people who have little working knowledge of the profession have no business imposing their concept of reform on a system that has been evolving for over 200 years in the United States and for centuries before that. If you want to know what teaches human beings, spend some time with Moms and Dads who are their children's first teachers. Go back in history and explore how the greats before us and without formal education evolved to become president, scientists, discoverers and leaders. Then look at our classrooms and ask if we are possibly doing anything to develop the next generation.

In short, do a reality check, the reform is not all you think it is. The scandal that Michelle Rhee was involved with is not unusual and has happened in numerous school districts under fire, seeking to prove that their way works. I witnessed it happening at a school I worked and I had to report it. It is a huge part of the problem and maybe one of the reasons why so many schools seek inexperienced, alternatively trained teachers. Those of us who when through traditional programs were developed over time to keep to a certain standard and we have years to figure out what school looks like.

NCLB: No Change, Learning Backpeddles...

Tonight I was reading Michael Deshotels, Louisiana Educator article discussing the one thing wrong with President Obama's education lack of reform, and I was hearkened back to a set of articles that I wrote immediately after Obama took office. The series of 5 blogs outline what was in my opinion the only way to really move us away from a failed NCLB and into a new era of reform. What has happened is that NCLB has been strengthened, fewer educators are involved in making an impact and it seems that the greatest of change has come in the way of what our kids would be allowed to eat! Sadly, this major reform did not even come by way of Arne Duncan, but rather the woman behind the man! In truth, we are further behind and we are yet again facing failure and it is not on our kids report cards, but, rather Washington DC, is more appropriately Washington D-F!

If you have nothing better to do, and you are curious about what this educator had to say in January of 2009, then go for it!

Article One: 1/14/2009

Article Two: 1/16/2009

Article Three: 1/16/2009

Article Four: 1/18/2009

Article Five: 1/24/2009

I apologize if there are any major errors in spelling or in grammar as I am unable to access my own blog through wordpress. Due to some bizarre change over at some point my account was compromised and now it sits with my branded/copyrighted name, ArtSees Diner attached to it. This preceded the development of PBL3. 

Mary E. LaLuna's resume and philosophy can be found here.

Bridging the Achievement Gap through PBL3 and a PC!

Bridging the Achievement Gap through PBL3 and a PC! Increasingly with the inception of multi-facted technological advances, both parents working outside of the home, single-parent homes, and movement away from the parental family nucleus, (logistical concerns) children are coming to school deficient in not only language acquisition, as a result of rich experiential language sharing, but, deficient in simple problem solving strategies, hand's on development, in some cases deficient in learned skills such as riding a bike, skipping, in short kinesthetic, hand-eye developed skills. Schools must fill this void or like a child who walks before crawling, must go back and learn to crawl or suffer developmentally. NCLB and governmental imposed standards have diminished the plausibility of this taking place in the early developmental period. In the place of show and tell, skipping 101, hopping 101 and tumbling 101, finger painting, etc., is Alegbra Readiness and standardized test prep. Teachers of pk-3 know the importance of play. They chose to go into that level because in their souls they are still remembering the with fondness the time when they began to play at “school.” They wanted to continue this approach. Their Professors reminded them of the importance of “playing school” with their soon to be students. Instead they are quickly swept into the bureaucratic nonsense of the day. Along with this reality is the ever increasing achievement gap. While there has always been an achievement gap predominately due to the generational poverty both economically and academically, the reality of our current cultural demise has greatly contributed to this particular culture group. The need for play based learning to take a lead in educating all children, but most especially those who are suffering, who are caught in the achievement gap-hose is more important now than ever. Children play at growing up. School should feel like they are playing at becoming who they want to be when they grow up. Children should be playing at becoming doctors, lawyers, they need to be playing at who they will be, because that alone infuses goal based learning, success determined play. More importantly during some of my recent inquiry into advancing my research I discovered something quite telling about the “great divide” in academic outcomes. While we continue to glory in the technological advancements of our day, we ignore this simple fact: NOT everyone is advancing with it! In 2003 we were introduced to youtube, that was only 10 years ago. When I entered my first classroom as an educator in 2000 very few people had cell phones. Very few people had laptop computers. Many were still saying goodbye to their antiquated “machines.” While the academically inclined, the upper middle class were making room for their home computer systems, many were still hoping for a place to live for more than 6 months at a time. We have advanced rapidly, however, our school systems and our average urban home has not. They still fight to keep their lights on, let alone have a PC on their living room tables, or wifi accessibility for their kids to apply for jobs, do their homework and yes, take an online survey. A prior Post on Paper and Pencil = PC As long as that divide is in place we will not advance all populations, thereby closing the achievement gap. How is this for an idea? Bill, why don't you and all the other IT giants get together with Arne Duncan and instead of ensuring that everyone has an free phone, ensure that everyone has a pc, wifi (which should be free now anyway) and teach them how to use their pc's as a phone? It is a win-win situation. That is a start. Now, let's go play!

Finally, Someone is Saying it! Schools Diminish the Love of Learning...Some of the Time.

I came across Kelly Gallagher's new book "Read-i-cide" today and the timing was perfect. I stumbled upon yet another glorious attempt to engage our children and advance their love of STEM by way of guess what? A Video-game! Yep, publishers, higher ed (well intentioned, I think) but out of touch directors of education believe that they are going to reach children and encourage them to be active learners by sitting them in front of yet another mind-numbing, push a button and learn process, when the one thing that kids are missing is Whole, Real, Authentic, Meaning Centered education. The multitudes of computer programs that test our kids, teach them meaningful reading, advance their vocabulary, math scores, etc. miss out on a huge piece of the puzzle;NONE OF THEM ARE REAL! While there is some benefit in a computer program, giving a kid a smart phone and letting them play at their own pace, their own time, their own exploration (did you read all that I just wrote? Their time, understanding, pace, exploration, THEIR is the key) Giving a kid one day a week and limited time on a computer (most computers in our schools are archaic and do not function well, and typically not accessible in our struggling communities) does little more than frustrate. To lock a kid in a stationary positioning while staring at a screen, is not different then putting them in a classroom with a teacher in front of them telling them to take notes. Engagement is in the mind of the beholder. There is something to be said about self-selected activities, exploration, holding a book in your hands, or a comic book, or whatever happened to the success of "Reader's Theater?" Oh, wait, I know...it could be created by teachers for their students and did not make any publishing companies or software developers any money. You know the only way to make money in education is to either write a textbook, or produce yet another pie in the sky approach to elevating scores. Hmmm, billions of dollars after the first NCEA, and decades after a "Nation at Risk" we still have not bothered to do what is right. Spending more money on bells and whistles is equivalent to the "snake oil" sellers of days gone by. "Buy this elixir and you will learn quicker." Sorry, but after being connected to education for over 30 years, in many capacities, I have seen the forest, the trees, and have even explored a few snails. As far as Kelly Gallagher goes; "The systematic killing of the love of reading, often exacerbated by the inane, mind-numbing practices found in schools," and well, the ever-expanding choices of electronic entertainment. (including computer games created by gamers who one must question how many books they read in school)he is calling it as he sees it. Move over Marzano, there is a new guy in town, and simplicity is his game. Read-i-cide n: The systematic killing of the love of reading, often exacerbated by the inane, mind-numbing practices found in schools. Reading is dying in our schools. Educators are familiar with many of the factors that have contributed to the decline — poverty, second-language issues, and the ever-expanding choices of electronic entertainment. In this provocative new book, Kelly Gallagher suggests, however, that it is time to recognize a new and significant contributor to the death of reading: our schools. In Readicide, Kelly argues that American schools are actively (though unwittingly) furthering the decline of reading. Specifically, he contends that the standard instructional practices used in most schools are killing reading by: valuing the development of test-takers over the development of lifelong readers; mandating breadth over depth in instruction; requiring students to read difficult texts without proper instructional support; insisting that students focus solely on academic texts; drowning great books with sticky notes, double-entry journals, and marginalia; ignoring the importance of developing recreational reading; and losing sight of authentic instruction in the shadow of political pressures. Kelly doesn't settle for only identifying the problems. Readicide provides teachers, literacy coaches, and administrators with specific steps to reverse the downward spiral in reading—steps that will help prevent the loss of another generation of readers. - See more at: http://www.stenhouse.com/shop/pc/viewprd.asp?idProduct=9158&r=eu12411&REFERER=#sthash.emC5mpKy.sJ9gvMr0.dpuf