[Grovenet] No Child Left Behind?

[Steve Jerrett]

Jeff,

Your thoughts here produce an interesting dichotomy. You state with pride 
that you mastered your times tables in 2nd grade and lament the current 
standards as appallingly low. Then you eschew the very  practices that 
enabled you to learn your math facts, namely rote memorization.  "Atavistic" 
practices, currently labeled as 'drill and kill," are the reason that you 
and I and most people over 40 learned and still remember our muliplication 
tables. And the abandonment of rote memorization of essential facts is one 
reason that you and many others  lament the fact that standards are 
deficient.

If you recall, there was much discussion of eduacation theory here on 
grovenet about ten years ago. A previous superintendent forced a 
district-wide adoption of a teaching philosophy designed by an individual to 
reach delinquent (his term) students that he was in charge of. These 
students were virtually unreachable through conventional means, so he 
decided to abandon prescribed curriculum and adopt a "child centered 
approach," adapting curriculum to the needs and interests of the students he 
was dealing with. I believe, as a last resort, that this was the proper 
course of action. Unfortunately, this individual decided that this method 
was appropriate for all children, and he wrote a book and went on the 
lecture circuit to promote it as such. A handful of school districts bought 
in to it, and, unfortunately, Forest Grove was one of them. It was abruptly 
adandoned with the departure of that superintendent in 1999.

Also, circa 1989,  the NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) 
proposed a radical departure from past teaching practices.  They  declared 
practices such as rote memorization of facts as destructive and a waste of 
time. They adopted a method called "integrated math'" where instead of 
learning math sequentially, they recommended spending a small amount of time 
on many subjects each year.

At long last, they have revised their recommendations to a practice that" 
integrates the standards, building on background knowledge and creating a 
solid foundation for high school mathematics."  In other words, a move back 
toward fact based, sequential practices.

It is difficult to pinpoint the effect of individual practices when 
researching achievement levels, so we may never know the full effect these 
practices had on two decades of children. I can say with some certainty 
that, had the NCTM adopted their philosophy 20 years earlier, you probably 
wouldn't be sharing your early math achievments today.

Steve



> Kellie Pickler is a ditzy singer, not an intellectual (obviously). Kudos 
> to the kid who not only knew that Europe was a continent (and not a 
> country) but that Budapest is the capital of Hungary.  However, I >really 
> doubt that that is a 3rd grade standard anywhere.  Indeed, the standards 
> based curricula of NCLB really takes our country backwards with our 
> students.  Knowing "stuff" is all well and good... but >the stuff our kids 
> are learning when aligned to the NCLB standards is appallingly low.  4th 
> graders now just start learning their times tables (and math is one of 
> *the two major subject areas addressed by >NCLB).  I learned my times 
> tables in 2nd grade.


> Tech is currently *not* a standard in K-12 and is unlikely to become one 
> in the near future for a variety of reasons.  It is still viewed as a 
> supplemental tool to enhance standard curriculum rather than a method of 
> transforming curriculum.  One reason that tech isn't a standard is because 
> that means that schools would need to adequately support it.  It bothers 
> me to no end that the K-4 schools in FGSD all have four computers per 
> class (which is excellent), yet has no real plan or support for 
> appropriate use other than SuccessMaker (a high priced drill and kill type 
> of technology).  Furthermore there is minimal computer access in the 
> middle and high schools for students.  Intel recently granted NAMS a 
> number of whiteboards, but there aren't computers to hook them up to so 
> they lie fallow.  The list goes on regarding how FGSD in particular and 
> our country in general resists the use of technology in schools.
>
> I'd much rather see students actively engaged with their own learning than 
> being bored with dull repetitive assignments year after year.  This 
> requires the administration to cut loose atavistic approaches to 
> education, which is very difficult for the status quo to do.  The current 
> charter school offers some hope, as does the fact that FGSD now considers 
> setting up its own limited charter school. Let's hope that these are steps 
> in the right direction.
>
> --Jeff Cooper
>
>
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