DaveShearon

Rockette Blog - Why?

Second from Left is a featured site for Typepad right now.  It's the blog of a rookie Radio-City Rockette.  It's extremely cool looking -- in fact, too cool.  The site is way professional, but it's by a 25-year-old psychology graduate.  She seems to stay completely on topic -- no wandering off into politics, culture, etc.  This looks like some kind of marketing effort, but I cannot imagine for what -- Radio City itself?   Don't know.  Maybe some of the viral marketing gurus will weigh in.

Contest or Fishing Expedition?

This contest to develop a video game that teaches a middle school subject seems like a good idea.  It's hard to tell how much action it is creating, but the Intellectual Property provisions have raised some concerns.  I cannot think of a basis for requiring even the winner, much less all finalists to turn over IP rights.  I doubt the Ansari X prize is on this basis, and it's for way more than $25,000.  That seems cheap for such a major development effort.  The entry period is almost up so I assume the sponsor is getting enough participation or they would have changed the rule.

Structured Knowledge Application

Individuals and organizations face the challenge of bringing their best knowledge to bear on tasks and challenges.  I use Map Parts from MindManager X5 Pro as a tool in this regard.  For example, if I'm beginning work on a presentation, I click on the Presentations map part I created, and inserted in my map is a set of topics grouped at level 1 like this:

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These major categories organize the best suggestions I've come across for thinking about a presentation.  In it's full complexity, it could be overwhelming at first glance:

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And, as I gain new perspectives, I can add it in, as seen in the subcategory for persuasion shown below.  It contains information from Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.

Notice the power of this tool to propagate an understanding or technique through an organization.   Or, even for an individual, to help best practices to bear consistently, even to tasks that arise sporadically.

Schools to Blame for Overconfidence?

Prince Charles:

"What is wrong with people nowadays? Why do they all seem to think they are qualified to do things far beyond their technical capabilities. ... This is all to do with the learning culture in schools. It is a consequence of the child-centred system which admits no failure and tells people they can all be pop stars, High Court judges, brilliant TV presenters or even infinitely more competent heads of state without ever putting in the necessary effort or having abilities. It's social utopianism... ."

This from an interesting column by Mickey Kaus (hattip Instapundit).

My impression is that the British are sometimes even harder on their  educational system than Americans.  Let's see, of the possible messages for schools to send to students, which is best:

A.  You can be anything you want to be.

B.  You have strengths and opportunities and, with optimism and effort,  you can have a productive and happy life.

C.  You have weaknesses and shortcomings, and these are the most important things about you.

D.  You are a victim of your culture and deserve more than you are getting.

Ok, ok.  These are a bit skewed.  But, of all of them, I'd suggest "B" is the one we send less often.  It's also the one that carries the greatest implicit demand on schools and teachers, and on all of us to support them.  Causal connection?  I think so.

The Great Software List

Do NOT go to this site if (a) you like great software tools and (b) you really need to get something done right now!

Access to TVAAS Data

This powerpoint slide show prepared by Ben Brown and Mary Reel of the TN State Dept of Ed for a conference of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) gives a peek at some of the detailed resources now available to TN teachers, principals and administrators.  It also suggests ways schools can study the data to focus on improving learning for all students.

And here's an example of how the data can facilitate evaluation of an instructional program -- in this case, the famous (or infamous) Success for All:  Roots and Wings.

Background information on TVAAS is available here.

UPDATE:  This article by Hershberg, Simon, and Lea-Kruger talks about the value of value-added analysis, how it could help NCLB, patterns of teacher effects.  It also summarizes the powerful information in June Rivers doctoral dissertation.

When ShearonforSchools went online in early June, 1998, the value-added analysis site I had caused to be started was online separately, but was pulled into my site within a year.

When I first started seeing value-added data in the early 90's , my strategy-sense went wild.  This just seemed incredibly important.  I made the effort to get with Dr. Sanders and question him early on.  I became convinced it was solid and could help educators improve schools.  Almost a decade of continuous study of this topic hasn't changed my mind.  It's nice to see educational professionals starting to develop a common view in agreement with that position.

Peter Drucker on Leadership

Rich Karlgaard has a rare recent interview with management savant Peter Drucker, interestingly done at the request of the pastor of the fastest growing church in the country, 15,000 memeber Saddleback Community Church in California.  These two points struck me the most, but read the article.  It's a keeper:

What Needs to Be Done

Successful leaders don't start out asking, "What do I want to do?" They ask, "What needs to be done?" Then they ask, "Of those things that would make a difference, which are right for me?" They don't tackle things they aren't good at. They make sure other necessities get done, but not by them. Successful leaders make sure that they succeed! They are not afraid of strength in others. Andrew Carnegie wanted to put on his gravestone, "Here lies a man who knew how to put into his service more able men than he was himself."

Creative Abandonment

A critical question for leaders is, "When do you stop pouring resources into things that have achieved their purpose?" The most dangerous traps for a leader are those near-successes where everybody says that if you just give it another big push it will go over the top. One tries it once. One tries it twice. One tries it a third time. But, by then it should be obvious this will be very hard to do. So, I always advise my friend Rick Warren, "Don't tell me what you're doing, Rick. Tell me what you stopped doing."

Or, as W.C. Fields said, "If at first you don't succeed, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it.

Good Grades?

Matthew Yglesias is in favor of paying kids to stay in school and get good grades.  Eduwonk rightly invokes Alfie Kohn.  I'm not a big fan of Mr. Kohn's, but I have chosen not to emphasize grades with Tyler and Patrick.  Why?  Because, I don't want them focusing on getting grades (frankly, I think their school has a student culture too oriented that way now).  I want them to focus on being interested and learning and learning how to learn.  Unfortunately, this is much tougher if the primary reason a teacher expects a student to engage is to get a grade.  In that case, there's a need for Philip Schlechty's insights (here and here).

Teacher Math Knowledge

The Answer:  Lesson Study

The Question (from Boston.com, hat tip Chris Correa:

A recent study of Chinese and American teachers demonstrated that few American teachers could successfully offer an explanation of the meaning of 1 3/4 divided by 1/2. In contrast, all of the Asian teachers could easily do so.

Instead of arguing about which curriculum to use and how it relates to the MCAS, school officials and state policymakers should focus on how best to support teachers to learn the mathematics and teaching approaches necessary to teach the subject well.

Worrying about curriculum without addressing the content and teaching needs of teachers is akin to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

KATHERINE K. MERSETH
Professor
Harvard Graduate School
of Education

The Big, Bad NCLB

Tim at AssortedStuff  links to an anti-NCLB propaganda piece in the form of a multiple choice test. (How clever!  Who would of thought of that?)  I'm not going to take up for the AYP provisions in NCLB.  I suggest everyone call Senator Kennedy and tell him you want them changed; their current form was his idea.  But, the rest of this piece is pretty bogus.  For example:

5. Examples of NCLB"s impact on classrooms include:

A. In Maine, teacher-made, classroom-based assessments are being replaced by standardized tests.

This is necessarily bad?  You mean the fact that black kids in urban schools get A's for work that would be handed back for re-work to white kids in suburban schools is a good thing?  As Philip Daro said, your standard is what it takes to get a "B" in Mrs. So-and-so's room, and the students know what that standard is and how it varies from teacher to teacher.  Anyone want to argue it's a good thing to hold some students to lower standards just because they happen to come from poor homes?

B. Philadelphia fourth graders read fewer books.

If so, it's not because of standardized tests.  Reading raises standardized test scores.  Say, about 25 books per year.

C. Maryland schools are spending 20% less time on social studies.

And the problem is?  Remember, these are schools where children are not learning to read, write and do aritmetic.  So the answer is social studies?

D. Oregon is cutting foreign-language and music classes and spending more on testing.

In the first place, Oregon has huge budget problems for schools and they're cutting lots of things, regardless of NCLB.  As for spending more on testing, the cost in TN is for the Terra Nova test is about $2-3 per child per year.  This is too much for accountability?  And how much foreign-language or music teaching does that buy, anyway?

E. A significant reduction in arts-education programs, particularly in urban schools with large numbers of students of color.

See the comments to "C" and "D".  Lots of administrators, board members and politicians are going to blame lots of things on NCLB.  But, go back 5 years, 10 years, 20 years and you'll find stories of "cuts" in various programs being blamed on all kind of things.  So, it addition to the strong concern we should have about schools that want to give finger-painting classes to poor kids that they haven't taught to read and write , we should also be highly skeptical that this, that, or the other "cut" or curriculum change  is "because" of NCLB.

F. All of the above.

Hmmm... poor test design.  Probably not done by a professional psychometrician!  Where's "G.  None of the above"?