In “Pre-K Can Work: Needy kids could benefit, but only if we use proven pedagogy and hold programs accountable,” Shepard Barbash of the City Journal describes the conditions he sees as required if pre-kindergarten programs are to benefit the US. Actually, he devotes several paragraphs to describing what’s wrong with pre-k education. Noting that many children from relatively less-advantaged home environments come to pre-k with substantially lower verbal repertoires than their more-advantaged peers, Mr. Barbash indicts the perspective of many early childhood educators about these deficits:
Central to the typical early-childhood educator’s worldview are three ideas: that it’s better for young children to learn through play than through work; that children learn best and are happiest when they can help direct the pace and content of their own learning; and that a child’s mental abilities develop at a natural pace that adults cannot do much to accelerate. If a child fails to learn something, it’s not because the teaching is faulty, in this view; it’s because the child is either “learning disabled” or not yet “developmentally ready” to learn it—a notion derived from the theories of Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget, who believed that mental abilities developed in age-determined phases.
From these premises flow a host of others. Pre-K teachers learn that it’s not “developmentally appropriate practice” to seat children at desks; to give them worksheets; to make them work to master the alphabet, letter sounds, and math; to assess their academic skills (medical, dental, and nutrition assessments are okay); and to group them by skill level for instruction (because all children should receive equal treatment and because children learn as much from one another as they do from adults). Many things that parents would call common sense are, for the preschool professional, high-risk activities.
The alternative, Mr. Barbash proposes, is to provide Direct Instruction. He illustrates with anecdotes from his own observations of pre-k lessons. And he goes further, arguing in favor of consistent, systematic assessment of children’s competence during the pre-k years.
In the chat section of Education Week there is a transcript of a discussion of the implications of response to intervention (or instruction; RtI) for classrooms. Although the questions they answer cover much broader scope than classroom instruction (e.g., roles of administrators, counselors, and psychologists), Judy Elliot and Doug Fuchs provide responses to many instructional matters in the transcript. Continue reading ‘RtI implications’
After the recent posting of another Weapon of Math Destruction cartoon, I wondered how many I’d linked to from Teach Effectively, so I checked. There’ve been only seven posts. Here’s a set of links to those posts (in reverse chronological order; fifo):
Over on Weapons of Math Destruction, Oak Norton and Bob Bonham have another fun cartoon. It shows a police officers examining an outline on (presumably) a street; the caption begins, “Common sense was seen fleeing the crime scene….”
Jump over there and have a look at it in a higher resolution.
The US What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) announced the availability of three additional intervention reports. In none of the three cases was there sufficient evidence to permit the WWC to draw conclusions about the benefits of the practices.
Breakthrough to Literacy is a curriculum for students in preschool through third grade that introduces them to a book-a-week throughout the year. The book serves as a focal point for classroom activities with whole group and small group instruction. The curriculum also offers independent learning activities, including computer-based instruction, that allow students to progress at their own pace. Read the WWC’s Breakthrough to Literacy intervention report at http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/early_ed/btl/.
Mathematics in Context is a middle school mathematics curriculum for grades 5 through 8. The curriculum teaches students to explore the relationships among different domains of mathematics (such as algebra and geometry) and to develop strategies for reasoning through problems, encouraging students to collaborate on problem solving. The WWC’s Mathematics in Context intervention report is available at http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/middle_math/math_context/.
The New Century High Schools Initiative is a program designed to improve large, underperforming high schools by transforming them into small schools with links to community organizations. The schools choose a curriculum that has a theme or career focus, such as engineering, health science, or theater. Each school partners with a community organization that can participate in curriculum development, school management, after-school activities, or other operational aspects of the school. To read the WWC’s intervention report on the New Century High Schools Initiative go to http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/dropout/new_century/.
My colleague Dan Willingham produced a brief video explaining why basing instruction on learning styles is bologna. Here it is:
Here’s the YouTube link for Dan Willingham on Learning Styles and here’s a link to Dan’s Web site where one can learn plenty of useful things. Also, see the extended discussion on D-Ed Reckoning.
Two organizations interested in improving the quality of education in the US have joined together to solicit support for their efforts. The organizations—Great Schools, and ED in 08—created a quiz that challenges parents to take a quiz about their knowledge of math or science (or both) and compare their results to those of students in the US and other countries. They’re using it to promote their agenda that they dub “Strong American Schools.” The image at the right opens a pop-up window from Ed in 08 for you to take the quiz.
Links for the sponsors: Great Schools (“the parent’s guide to K-12 Education”; interesting that they used the singular possesive) and Ed in 08.
The Division for Learning Disabilities (DLD) of the Council for Exceptional Children holds a conference annually in late October or early November. This year it is in Philadelphia (PA, US) and it features a batch of presentations that promise to be helpful to teachers, coaches, and administrators interested in learning how to implement evidence-based instructional practices.
Check the agenda for the next Fall Conference 24 and 25 October 2008 and then register! Learn about DLD’s “Bridging the Gap Between Research and Practice” and learn how you can participate in this outstanding professional development opportunity.
Please note that I am connected with DLD (long-time member, former president, currently executive director and co-editor of the Web site), but I’d be pushing this conference even if I wasn’t affiliated with it.
Teach Effectively provides news and commentary about evidence-based instructional practices. We focus on educational methods that have proven track records; that focus allows us to spend time lampooning some pop-ed fads, whims, and bologna-based innovations.
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