Educational Readings - By Allan Alach
The usual potpourri this week. The quantity of valuable educational
articles available online is an excellent illustration of how the internet is
being used to sidestep traditional communication sources, leading to the
internationalisation of educational developments and activism.
I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it
to me at allan.alach@ihug.co.nz.
This week’s homework!
Tests
and grades are just tools -- it's how they are used that matters most.
Two articles from Canadian teacher Joe Bower
who is always on the ball. Here’s a quote from an earlier article:
“When learning is enslaved by the quantifiable, we
fall victim to the MacNamara Fallacy which refers to the quantifying of success
while ignoring other variables - particularly variables that are inconveniently
difficult to measure.”
The
end of testsandgrades
Our Numbers Obsession
Will Kill Us
Will Richardson is yet another very valuable commentator
on matters educational. Here he reviews the problems with quantifiable
assessments that fail to record what really matters.
Nineteenth Century English Schools for the Poor in Yuma,
AZ: Only the Monitors Have Been Swapped Out
The great neo-liberal
dream for education is for computer based instruction, using online delivery -
hence their raves over the Khan Academy. Here is our ultimate GERM future,
unless the forces of rightness prevail!
Five-year-olds put to the test as kindergarten exams gain
steam
“A national push to make public schools more rigorous and
hold teachers more accountable has led to a vast expansion of testing in
kindergarten. And more exams are on the way, including a test meant to
determine whether 5-year-olds are on track to succeed in college and
career.”
Is further comment
required?
Studies
Find Payoff in 'Personalizing' Algebra
Thanks to Bruce Hammonds for this link about
algebra. Can’t argue with the findings, however - did it need research to work
this out? Personalising any learning is going to make it more relevant to the
learners.
The future is a big place
Another article from
Steve Wheeler, discussing topics from a recent Windsor Debate he attended.
Seems the consensus was that the future is going to be much different from
today and so we need to be preparing for that. Obvious, yes? Then why are GERM
minded governments taking education back to the late 19th century?
From
Metaphor to Global Nightmare: The World Bank’s Influence on US Education
Reform Policies
Want to know where GERMs breed? Not just USA
GERMs but international GERMs.
Socio-economic
conditions determine educational under-achievement
This is an analysis of New Zealand ‘national
standards data’ but the message is valid elsewhere.
Background information on Mike Feinberg and KIPP
(Knowledge is Power Programme)
As part of the agenda
to promote charter schools in New Zealand, power brokers calling themselves
“The Aotearoa Foundation” (comprised of business etc) brought Mike Feinberg
from USA to extol the virtues of the KIPP schools. Here’s an article on the
Quality Public Education Coalition website (NZ) that explains the other side of
KIPP.
2 comments:
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