A subcommittee in the US House of Representatives plans to hold a hearing about the effects of inadequate education on the economy. I’ve gotta wonder whether someone will be able to perform the calculus to ascertain the relative benefits of teaching effectively. Let’s see, if students on average benefit as little as 10%/year from receiving effective instruction, after 13 years—without compounding—they would have 1.3 more years of concepts and operations. I wonder what that would do to the workforce.
The House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies will hold a hearing discussing the “Opportunities Lost and Costs to Society: The Social and Economic Burden of Inadequate Education, Training and Workforce Development.” The hearing is slated for 14 February at 2:00 p.m. and will be held in 2358-C Rayburn HOB. Contact Cheryl L. Smith, Subcommittee Clerk, Room 2358-B Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515, (202) 225-3508
Temporary link.
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Orac, whom regular readers will recognize from a few earlier posts, has a lengthy-but-informative piece about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) that I read a day or so ago. In “The infiltration of woo into mainstream academic medicine: The media notices,” Orac explains that he is glad that some news media are recognizing the fluffy nature of some popular medical treatments.
Along with Dr. R.W. and few others, I’ve made a bit of a name for myself in the medical blogosphere by bemoaning the infiltration of non-science- and non-evidence-based medicine into academia. It’s not a particularly popular viewpoint. The prevailing attitude seems to be: Why be so negative? It’s all good. Moreover, with a credulous media eager to publish stories of “healing” and “humanistic” medicine, those of us who remain skeptical of applying unproven and/or untested remedies in an academic setting, thus giving them the imprimatur of academic medicine and the respect associated with it, are easily painted as dinosaurs, unable to get with the plan, unaccepting of the new order of medicine.
Continue reading ‘Bologna takes a lick’
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The Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy continues to promote investment in research-proven programs. The coalition proposes a $3 billion investment in grants permitting scaling up of evidence-based social interventions.
Continue reading ‘Emphasizing excellence’
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In its current newsletter (No 63, Winter 2007: “The Great Reading Disaster; Beware BSF”), the UK Campaign for Real Education alerts readers to a dozen contemporary concerns about the quality of education. There are sections recounting the “great reading disaster,” concerns about the government program called “Building Schools for the Future,” notes about how English students scored on the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, recognition that the Department for Children, Schools and Families has now (finally?) published guidance on teaching synthetic phonics, and much more. Link to the newsletter here.
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The British press is reporting on changes in the direction of special education in Great Britain. Mary Warnock, the individual most responsible for promoting inclusionary policies and practices in Britain, has said that the effort to include students with disabilities in mainstream schools has “Has gone too far. It was a sort of bright idea of the 1970s but by now it has become a kind of mantra and it really isn’t working.”
The architect of England’s special needs education system has condemned the way it works, it was reported today. Baroness Warnock reiterated her view that moves to include children with special needs in mainstream schools had proved to be a mistake.
Speaking 20 years after she produced a report which began the drive towards greater inclusion, Lady Warnock said it caused “confusion of which children are the casualties”.
The reversal of directions by Baroness Warnock comes in the context of political pressure on the current (Labor Party) government to end closing of special schools. According to Mike Baker of the BBC:
First, we had the unusual sight of special needs education becoming an election issue. Tony Blair was tackled by a mother who felt her son’s special school was under threat from a government policy, which was tilted in favour of educating children in mainstream schools.
Then the Conservatives picked up the issue of the closure of special schools and have kept pushing it since the election.
Mantra: The important question, in my view, is whether the educational services students are receiving—regardless of where they are receiving them—are effective.
Links to coverage by the Times Educational Supplement, by the Telegraph, and by the BBC:
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