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August 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment

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Filed Under: Education History

Hands-on Teaching for Children with ADD

July 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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Too many students today are expected to sit still and pay attention. These are good attributes for kids, but only for limited periods of time. It’s too much to ask a kid to sit still for 8 hours a day with only a couple breaks for lunch and recess.

This is even truer when it comes to kids with ADD and ADHD. Many teachers don’t understand how difficult it is for these kids to pay attention. For many, kinesthetic learning is the best way for these kids to learn concepts because it keeps their hands busy and allows the students to learn by actually practicing what is being taught.

Reading about plants, for example, isn’t nearly as meaningful as seeing the plants, feeling the leaves, and examining the petals. Teachers with students that have ADD will find that these students are more successful at retaining the knowledge when the lessons are hands-on. If possible, evaluations (such as tests) should also be done with hands-on activities. If that’s not possible, then teachers can help ADD students in other ways such as allowing him or her a scribe, allowing the student to stand while taking the test, or allowing the student to take the test verbally.

The important thing when it comes to teaching students with ADD is to be understanding. Listen to your students when they explain the difficulties of having ADD; this will help you know how to help and what it’s like to deal with this disability.

Filed Under: Government Rulings, Student Rights Tagged With: , ,

Could Vouchers Be the Answer?

July 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

It’s been shown through history that one reason this country is great is the market system economy. It’s also caused some problems, but it’s what has made our economy strong and our products desired throughout the world. We see it in education as well. Universities and colleges thrive on the market system economy. It forces professors to improve themselves in order to keep jobs and it forces these colleges to spend the money they have well so that they can offer their product for the cheapest price possible.

And yet, for some reason, we think that public education is the best route. Some of the Founding Fathers even promoted the idea of free education for all, even though it wasn’t mentioned in the Constitution. The idea of giving everyone the opportunity of learning is a good one, but public education has shown to not be the best solution. Too many teachers are able to gain tenure (often after only a few years of teaching) and then become lax on teaching. They stop showing they care for their students and even state comments to difficult students such as, “You’re mother should be paying me to babysit you.”

But what is the right solution? If we are purely on the market system, then parents will have to find money to pay for schools and children of lax parents won’t be educated. The solution is school vouchers. With vouchers, parents choose the school (making it a market system) and yet the government provides the funds for the student.

Filed Under: Parental Involvement, Student Rights Tagged With: , ,

Is Standardized Testing the Best Way?

July 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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Most can agree that there is something wrong with the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. The idea is that children won’t get further and further behind their classmates. The hope is that their abilities would be raised to others their age, but what is happening instead is that the standard is lowered to the least common denominator instead. Schools are required to be to a certain level by 2014, but it’s just not going to happen. There are few schools in this country that meet the criteria set by NCLB.

The question is, should standardized testing be the way to evaluate children? Every child learns differently — visual, kinesthetic, auditory — and yet they’re all being tested the same way. For those who need a hands-on approach, reading a question and filling in a bubble is not the best to evaluate whether that student understands the concept.

And that doesn’t even take into account those students with disabilities. These could be slight frustrations, such as dyslexia or ADD, or they could be serious disabilities such as cerebral palsy (and these students are required to take the tests just as much as mainstream students).

If we’re going to require testing for students in order to set a baseline of where the schools are at, then the testing needs to reflect the differences in the children. In the classroom, teachers don’t just use tests. As they’re teaching lessons, they’re walking around and evaluating students as they work on assignments. There needs to be a reflection of this in standardized testing as well.

Filed Under: Government Rulings, Student Rights Tagged With: , ,

Turning Around an Underperforming School

June 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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Many parents don’t realize that they can have an impact on their children’s school simply by being involved. It does turn into a bit of a political game play, but ultimately the parents have a vested interest in their child’s education. Throwing a hat into the local school council ring can start a poorly performing school on its way back to good scores.

There are any number of reasons as to why a school is doing poorly. It could be that the teachers are having to parent instead of teach, budget cuts has eliminated certain programs, or the administration is just plain incompetent. Parents can do much to ensure that changes are made by exposing the problems.

Employees of any school district are paid by tax dollars. Therefore, they are employed by the public to do a job. And it is a parents right to demand that the job is performed to par, if not better. Start by attending the open school council meetings and obtain any literature that shows the breakdown of where dollars go to. If a school district has a top heavy budget, IE the administrative staff gets paid the most, and the schools test scores are poor, it’s time to demand a change.

The unfortunate part of trying to get a school out of the doldrums is that political games have to be played. Getting anything accomplished may require the assistance of the local government. However, the effort is well worth it when the schools and your children benefit from the work of parents.

Filed Under: Education History Tagged With: , ,

No Child Left Behind is Leaving Children Behind

June 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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The No Child Left Behind act was passed with good intentions, but the road to you-know-where is always paved with just that.  Good intentions. What has really happened with NCLB is that test scores have become heavily weighted as a measure of education. Instead, a large percentage of school children are falling behind and even failing under the requirements of the act.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan is pushing to significantly alter the No Child Left Behind act. States have taken on the task to change NCLB as well. President Obama is also working to push through legislation that would relieve the burden on schools to succeed at all costs.

Children are not the only ones who suffer under NCLB. Schools do as well. A handful of under performing students drag down the entire school, triggering the NCLB. The school has to hire extra tutors to help with those students. However, the school is burdened with the cost of paying for those tutors, even though the requirement is a federal mandate. The schools then have to tap their local tax base to find the funds, and hope that the tutoring will bring the under performers up to speed

Couple this with the fact that 40 percent of students are not passing the tests, it’s a recipe for disaster. Children who would most likely perform at the average or above are victims of a poorly designed piece of legislation. Requiring that students perform to a set of restrictive standards is almost a guarantee of failure. Changing or eliminating NCLB only helps, not hurts.

Filed Under: Student Rights Tagged With: , ,

Advantages of Virtual Labs for Students

June 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Advanced Programming lab of SASTRA 

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Going to school and receiving an education is easier than ever now. Virtual labs that are made available to students by the school, and with the use of the internet and PC combined, people can go to school no matter where they’re located. This advantage has benefited both individuals and schools. Students can attend class without the worry of ever being late. They have the ability to receive all their necessary school work through the internet.

By implementing a virtual computer lab many schools have found the benefit of saving space. Most schools traditionally have one or two computer labs on campus for the convenience of the students. Some schools even find they have no need for a physical lab if they’ve found success with a virtual one. Teaching methods are made easier on instructors because they are able to extend curriculum to online students across the board. Students can utilize programs available on the virtual labs to connect with other students and teachers.

Most virtual computer labs contain specific file sharing software that the student has to download on their computer. This allows them to access the virtual lab, share files and use other school programs the lab so long as they’re enrolled in that particular school. Files can also be shared between the student and teacher. Homework can be accessed from anywhere. Students don’t have to worry about their homework being elsewhere, or missing a deadline. They can pull their homework from the online lab and make use of it when necessary.

Filed Under: Student Rights Tagged With: , ,

What do Standardized Tests Really Demonstrate?

June 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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It seems like every year there are more and more tests to determine a child’s intelligence, performance level and understanding of study materials. These tests are used by schools as a form of advertising and as a way to bar entry by all but the most “gifted” of students. Parents eat these scores up as if they are the end all, be all for getting their child into the top schools of the land.

But do they? In reality, not so much. Tests only acknowledge the fact that a student has learned a pattern and how to answer the question correctly. No standardized test can probe the intelligence and reasoning capabilities of an individual. And there are those who understand the material forwards and backwards, but do not test well because of restrictive answers.

Ultimately the problem with standardized testing is that it is inherently unfair. Those who succeed are those whose parents can afford to send them to better schools. Children who live in poverty, have disabilities, or are simply female test much more poorly, usually failing altogether. Unfortunately, the system is set up to punish these children as opposed to uncovering weaknesses and strengthening them.

Parents should start thinking outside the box and start demanding that the educational system stop relying on test scores. Get rid of No Child Left Behind as it has made the schooling system worse than it ever has been. Expectations of performance need to be based on how the individual is progressing according to their age and educational expectations, not a standardized test.

Filed Under: Education History Tagged With: , ,

What is “No Child Left Behind?”

May 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was initially inked by the administration of George W. Bush, shortly after he took office. It is a U.S. Act of Congress that oversees the public education of children. The general goal of this Act is to help all children within the public educational system, reach their full potential by having them meet academic standards.

The Act was co-authored by the late Senator Ted Kennedy and was widely supported and passed by the Congress.

The goal of the No Child Left Behind Act is for standards-based reform of the educational system. The basic premise is that if high standards are set, along with measurable goals, it will improve the outcomes for individual all throughout the educational system.

The Act calls for requirements that will assess student progress in basic skills. All students will be given these tests or assessments at certain grade levels. If schools are receiving federal educational funding, these assessments are a requirement for continued funding. While this is a federal Act, the education standards are set by the individual states.

The Act also gives parents more options as to the schools their children can attend. It also promotes a more focused approach to math and reading skills that children must attain.

There are four main parts that addresses items such as programs for disadvantaged students, neglected and delinquent youth, additional resources for principals and teachers, and the use of technology in schools. It also addresses providing resources for drug-free and safe environment for students.

Filed Under: Student Rights Tagged With: , ,

Understanding Standardized Tests

May 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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It seems that the educational system is in a constant state of flux, We’ve seen the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act, to the recent announcements of changes that will be made to that Act.

One thing that does seem to remain is the standardized test as a way to gauge both student and educational institution performances. In addition, how do we go about determining or interpreting the results of our students test scores?

It’s important to, first, realize that not every student will test at an above average level. And it is also important to be able to use those test scores to improve student performance.

Know which tests are being given at what times. For instances, some tests are standardized and given across the nation at the third, fifth and eight grades. Next, make sure you understand the norms of the test. An individual students performance is measured against the “normed” or baseline group. Your individual student’s scores can be interpreted differently depending on which norm the results are compared with.

Identify the reporting methods of the scores. These can be stanine, grade equivalents or percentile rankings.

Make sure you understand how the results will be used. Some school districts use the data as a measurement of academic policy or effectiveness. Scores of individual students should not be used to make decisions on remedial programs or other such programs.

Finally, understand that these test scores measure performance, not your student’s potential. The test basically determines how much a student knows on a particular date, but not about future learning potential.

Filed Under: Government Rulings Tagged With: , ,
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