Education Language Explained

So every area in academia and politics has specific language and jargon.  Sometimes this helps aid the clarity of those who work in such fields, like education.  However, sometimes it's used to get support for things that people wouldn't support.  So here's an explanation of various educational terms (with a slightly comedic interpretation).

Accommodation = Changes in teaching practices and assessments/tests that allow for equality for children with differing abilities (disabilities) or who speak English as a second language. As I've said elsewhere, they don't go far enough.

Accountability = TESTING!!!!  All the tests ever!!!  Whether they're talking about teacher, student, or school accountability they really mean high stakes test that decide student advancement, teacher and principle pay and employment, and school funding.

Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) = How schools do on the high stakes tests.  It's the minimum amount of achievement needed to meet NCLB (No Child Left Behind) and get Title I funding.

Alignment = How well curriculum, assessment, instruction, and tools (like text books) meet and reinforce the goals of the educational program or government.  In practice it often means teaching to the test so that teachers and principles keep their jobs and the school doesn't lose funding.

Assessment = A way to see if students have actually learned what they were taught. It can involve essays, portfolios, and various forms, currently it means TESTS!!!!

Benchmarks = Detailed descriptions of what students should know and be able to do at specific ages, grades, and/or development levels.

Categorical Aid = Federal and State funds that go to schools to help them in specific areas, such as making accommodation for kids with special needs, transportation, class size reduction.  Money must be spent on the area if was granted for.

Comparable Growth = certain subgroups of children (like English as a second language, or kids with special needs) within a school who have different requirements for standardized tests. Generally expected to achieve 80% of the predominate group, generally only 10-15% of the students in any school can be in comparable growth subgroups, which is a big old problem when 20% of students have some type of special need, and in some areas almost half of the students are ESL (English as a Second Language).

Core/Common Core - The new tests address these over the previous NCLB tests and standards.  Always includes English and Math, along with Science and History/Social Studies for older students.

Differentiation = Used mainly in academics, haven't seen this term in politics yet.  It means class curriculum and assignments being geared towards the differing abilities of the students within one class.

Disaggragated Data = Comparing students and their stats within their subgroups, instead of the entire school population. Generally segments include students with special needs, living below of near poverty, are a racial or ethnic minority, and are ESL.

ESL/ English as a Second Language - Extra classes or aids to help children who comes from countries or homes where English is not spoken.  Children have only two years of ESL classes before they are expected to take high stakes tests in English without any accommodation or inclusion in a comparable growth subgroup.

Enrichment = Additional courses and programs outside of what is needed for graduation or the high stakes testing. What I do, and because it's not about TESTING! it's severally underfunded, and generally left to after school and outside volunteer groups to perform.

GATE/ Gifted And Talented Education = Program that provides enrichment, differentiated lessons, and supplemental instruction for children that are identified as intellectually gifted and talented and thus test/achieve academically above the majority of children in their grade.

High Priority = Schools/students/what have you that test in the lower half, generally the bottom 10% based on state and school standards.

Inclusion = Also known as mainstreaming.  Kids with special needs are in the standard classrooms instead of a Special Ed. classroom.

IEP / Individual Educational Plan = Plans made to meet the various needs of students with differing abilities.  Designed between the student's parents, teacher, the school special education specialist, and school administrators.  The participation levels of the student depend on their age and abilities.

Integrated Curriculum = Involves using one theme to teach a variety of subjects and skills.  English teachers using Health and biology to teach reading and essays while the students are also learning about the human body is an example.

Intervention = Refers to funds schools get to meet the needs of students who are not achieving at grade level.  Cannot be used as schools general funds, but specifically for the needs of the students its allocated for, so a type of Categorical Aid.

Magnet School = School that focuses on a specific discipline like science, technology, the arts, etc and it recruits students from other parts of the school district.

NCLB/ No Child Left Behind - The educational reforms that became law under George W. Bush in 2002.  Brought the TESTING! mania to the national level.  Has since been reformed with Race to the Top and the idea of the common core.

Proficiency = Ability to do something at grade level.  Determined by high states standardized tests.

Pull Out = Students who need special assistance are pulled out of class for small group activities/learning.  Unlike the sex kind of pull out, these programs are effective.

Rubric = A set scoring or grading system that is supposed to set criteria and the quality for those criteria.

Standards = These really mean state and federally crafted standards that are often created and/or influenced by politicians are opposed to educators. Because politicians are experts on everything!

John Stewart and Education.

Nothing could make me happier than John Stewart talking about teachers and education.  His mother is a teacher, he knows a variety of teachers, and whenever Stewart talks about education he makes sure to address what teachers say, instead of only focusing on political officials or lobbying groups.

Yesterday he had Arne Duncan, the current Secretary of Education, and again, he made sure to stand up for teachers and what they say. You can see the video of the interview here on Hulu.

Education Comic

Direct Action in the System of Education

First a video from NYC - Occupy the Department of Education

Maryland State Board of Education - Search for the new State Superintendent of Schools
Superintendent's dramatically shape the way education happens in schools.  They can support or suppress the Arts, focus on testing to the exclusion of other programs, support or end extended day programs, and so much more.  Maryland will soon hire a new State Superintendent, but first they're giving everyone a chance to voice what qualities they think the Superintendent should have.  People interested in directly participating in this can go online and complete the survey by November 18 2011, or attend a series of open forums held at 2:30 pm and again at 7pm at each of the following locations.

11/3 - Seneca Valley High School (Montgomery County) 19401 Crystal Rock Drive, Germantown, MD 20874

11/7 - Huntingtown High School (Calvert County) 4125 N Solomons Island Rd, Huntingtown, MD 20639

11/7 - Mountain Ridge High School (Allegany County) 100 Dr. Nancy S. Grasmick Lane, Frostburg, MD 21532

11/9 - Edgewood High School (Harford County) 215 Willoughby Beach Rd, Edgewood, MD 21040

11/10 - Baltimore Polytechnic Institute (Baltimore City) 1400 West Cold Spring Lane, Baltimore, MD 21209

Atlanta School Cheating Scandal

I'm sure most U.S. residents with an interest in education have heard about the cheating scandal in the Atlanta school district.  I've been meaning to write about it for several weeks, but I've been unable to form coherent thoughts that address what happened in Atlanta.  Part of that is how the administrators and press discuss the issue verses the way I (and everyone I know who works in education) see the matter.

The facts are these:
In the beginning of July Georgia Governor Nathan Deal released a report that found that erasure cheating on the 2009 state tests occurred in 44 out of 56 elementary and middle schools. Erasure cheating is when teachers correct wrong answers on a test after students have finished, by erasing wrong answers and filling in the correct ones.  The cheating was discovered when test graders noticed suspicious patterns in erasures what were not found in other districts. 178 teachers, principles, and administrators are charged with actively cheating, encouraging it, or ignoring the signs of cheating.  An Interim Superintendent, Erroll B. Davis Jr, has been appointed.

Davis, and most of the media*, suggest that the cheating was caused by a lack of ethics in individual teachers coupled with the pressure exerted by then Superintendent Dr. Beverly Hall to have high test scores or face termination.  From reports it seems that Davis thinks ethics training and "a more open, transparent and empowering culture," will fix the problem.

When I think about the issue and discuss it with my friends in education we all reach the conclusion that teachers' salaries and retention were based on test scores.  When more then 3/4ths of the schools are effected its a systemic problem, and unlikely to be created by one bad superintendent and some unethical teachers.  In fact, when taken in context, with the economy being what it is, if test scores are tied to a teacher keeping their job cheating, instead of being the easy option, might seem like the only option.

After all it isn't only in Atlanta schools where cheating on high stakes test occurs, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania,  are under investigation as well.  And erasures aren't that most common form of cheating.  Teachers are much more likely to help students while the test is going on by correcting their answers in class or allowing them to have calculators when the test specifies otherwise.

The system (with No Child Left Behind) has set impossible goals, like the requirement that 100% of students are "proficient" by 2014.  Teacher and principle salaries, bonuses, and retention are often determined largely on Adequate Yearly Progress in state test scores.  Furthermore school funding is also tied into AYP.  Campbell's Law states that "the more any quantitative social indicator is used for social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it was intended to monitor." 

I've heard teachers in this country likened to delivery people.  The standards, curriculum, and assessment methods are determined by the state and federal government.  Many teachers have little time to educate students in areas of interest or provide special lessons or help to students who need them.  Strict schedules and teaching to the test are what education has become in the United States.  The test themselves rarely go beyond assessing rote memorization and a students ability to quickly fill in bubbles.  There's no deeper meaning or higher level learning, and since it's not on the test it isn't being taught in classrooms either.

The countries with the best elementary and secondary education in the world don't oppperate this way.  Scandinavian countries are some of the highest performers on global education assessments.  Currently Finland is the highest. 

• All three Scandinavian countries have quality public pre-schools that stress social behavior and personal responsibility, as well as pre-numeracy and pre-lieracy skills.  This helps students develop intrinsic motivation, which experts agree is generally better then enternal motivation (which is what high stakes testing does in the U.S). 
• Students don't begin formal schooling untill they are seven (the age when most children have mastered gross motor skills and can now sit and focus for longer periods of time.)  They also have limited grading and don't track students untill they are in 9th grade.  After this about half the students attend academic heavy high schools (with the idea of going on to college) while half attend vocational and trade schools.  Also, Finland does not negatively judge people who attend vocational schools.
• Universities and polytechnics run by the government provide free higher education for any student who completes high school and/or passes the traditional matriculation exam.
• Finlands curriculum, as defined by the state, totals 10 pages.  Future teachers attend a rigorous and exclusive program and at the end are trusted to know how to educate their students and to pick the appropriate material for age and grade level. 
• All schools recieve the same amount of funding.  In the U.S. (local and state) funding is determined by property taxes of an area and voter turnout.  Areas with more expensive property and higher voter turnout have more money to spend on education.  The differences can be several thousand dollars per child.

We need to change the education system in the U.S. Right now far to many children are falling through the cracks.  But the way to do this isn't yearly state standardized tests that determine student achievement, and teacher ability, and teacher and principle saleries and retention, and federal funding.  We need to have the people determining education standards, curriculum, and assessment methods to be actual educators instead of lawmakers. Margaret Spelling, the one time Secretary of Education who helped creat NCLB, did not study education or child developement and has never worked in that field.  Yet the State of Texas and U.S. government somehow found her qualified to reform education. 

We need to go back to trusting teachers to know who to teach without the government beathing down their backs.  We need to stop seeing students and education as products.  We need to stop applying capitalistic and corporate principles to schools.  If we can do this, and take a lessons from Finnish schools, we might (30 years down the road) have a populace with knowledge, creative thinking skills, and personal responsibility.  Think about how much better the U.S. would be like that.

*Not all the media does this. The Huffington Post and The Week address the systemic issues.

Levels of Learning

A lot of schools and organizations talk about what level children are learning at or the need to increase higher level learning.  There are several options for exactly what they might mean, but probably they're discussing Bloom's Taxonomy.  Benjamin Bloom, with the assistance of several colleges, created levels of goals for the learning process for three different educational domains (Knowledge, Attitude/Emotions, and Physical Skills).  These levels start with the simplest skills and work up to the harder/higher levels.  Most educators, especially in regards to classrooms and testing, focus on the Knowledge Domain, so that's what I'll be explaining today.

Bloom's Taxonomy has been updated with some parts renamed or positions changed.  The image is of the original Taxonomy, but I'll discuss all the changes.  The first levels are at the bottom of the pyramid, these lower levels are necessary for the upper ones to be reached.

Knowledge/Remembering: This is the first and lowest level and has to do with recalling information. This means that a person is able to take in data, remember it and recite it back. The Key Words to describe this level of learning are defines, identifies, knows, lists, matches, recalls, recognizes and states.  For the other levels to build on this one it is necessary to remember this information for a long time.  Of course using this knowledge at a higher level helps with retaining it for a longer period of time.

Understanding/Comprehension: For most people to truely understand something they must be able to explain it in their own words.  So it's not just reciting a poem or reading a story but being able to explain the meaning of it. An example in math would be translating a word problem into a number problem. The Key Words are comprehends, converts, defends, estimates, explains, gives an example, infers, predicts and summarizes.

Application: This level is about using a concept or information in a new way.  Often this can mean an unprompted use of something a person already knows and understands.  Examples of this level in action are reading a recipe and changing the amounts of ingredients to fit the desired outcome or finding the theme of one story in class and continuing the find the themes of other books, movies, or TV shows without being asked to. The Key Words for this level are applies, changes, constructs, demonstrates, discovers, modifies, operates, produces, relates, shows, and solves.

Analysis: Refers to being able to break information into component parts. Examples are being able to learn the meaning of a new word from the context it's used in, recognizing logical fallacies and telling the difference between fact, opinion and inference.  The Key Words that describe this level are analyzes, breaks down, compares, contrasts, desconstructs, differentiates, distringuishes, identifies, illustrates, infers, relates and seperates.

The last two levels are sometimes switched in order, I'll be explaining them in the order they appear on the graphic. However, I think Evaluation comes before Synthesis.

Synthesis/Creation: This level is basically the opposite of  Analysis.  It is the taking of different parts/information and building a new structure/pattern/meaning.  Examples would be writing new classroom rules, designing a machine to complete a specific task, using information from history/politics/science to explain an author's intent or a book's theme in a reading class.  This is one of the more openended levels and a very difficult one to test for, especially on standardized tests.  The Key Words are catagorize, combines, creates, devises, designs, explains, generates, plans, rearranges, relates, revises and (re)writes.

Evaluation: This level involves making judgements about the value of information, ideas or materials.  In my opinion it is closely tied to Analysis.  Examples in action are selection the most effective solution to solve a math problem or science experiment, judging the worth/importance of historical documents, and being able to explain if the effect of a poem or story matches the author's intent. Key Words to describe this level are appraise, compares, concludes, critique, defends, discriminates, evaluate, interperets, judge, justifies, relates and supports.

Some acts or skills span two levels and some learning levels can be taught or performed at the same time as others.  For examples with reading, a person and read a book and gain knowledge and comprehension at basically the same time.  Likewise, a person can analyze information and evaluate it's worth in basically the same action.  This is because the higher levels are built on top of the lower ones.  So to learn at a higher level means you have already learned/or are currently learning at all the lower ones as well.  The importance of learning at all levels, and the difficulty in using Standardized Tests to assess the higher levels, are some of the main reasons for my dislike of High Stakes Testing, but that's another post.