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I was told once by the principal of an elementary school in a very affluent town: "There's nothing we're doing at our school that can top what these kids get at home in their background. We could not teach them a thing in third grade, and at the end of year they'd still score above grade level."
I feel as if Jenny D has just handed me the smoking gun!
12 comments:
Of course the trouble with this is that when a school coasts on the kids' high-SES background, it is spending their intellectual capital. The kids are declining each year vis a vis where their peers in a genuinely high-achieving school are.
I know parents of kids in expensive public schools who've had their kids rejected by high-end private schools because the children are too far behind in their studies.
It's the achievement gap on the other side of the tracks.
Here's another damning admission:
''It doesn't matter how good or bad the school system is,'' said Gary Natriello, a professor at Columbia University's Teachers College, who took his own son to Sylvan. ''They're organized to produce bunches of kids. They're just not organized to really address the needs of particular kids. They're not organized to help a kid catch up.''
From NY Times, 8/2/98, Why Johnny's Doing Calculus: The Booming Education Industry.
Hmm. They're not "organized" to teach individual kids, just "bunches" of kids. Sounds like a recipe for mediocrity.
Can someone help me with this? I must be mis-understanding the English:
"Out of a total of around 800 individual purchases that the subjects made in the course of the study, just over 200 involved some arithmetic ... On average, 16% of purchases involved arithmetic."
I get 200/800 = 25%. Not 16%.
Any ideas?
-Mark Roulo
Interesting observation at the end of the article:
"Incidentally, though a number of the AMP shoppers did carry a calculator with them, only on one occasion during the entire project did one shopper take it out and use it in order to carry out a price comparison. And no one ever used a pencil and paper to carry out a calculation. When the calculation became too hard to do in their heads, they simply resorted to other criteria on which to base their decision."
Neither the "paper and pencil" traditional math approach, nor the "calculator" fuzzy math approach seem to be relevant for the daily math they were tracking.
-Mark Roulo
I'm surprised you're surprised. Consider that the kids in affluent communities come to school so supercharged with Kumon math and parents with high expectations and trips to Europe, etc. Teachers don't have to worry about kids' background. Most of them are well-nourished, well-traveled, have a house full of books, and parents who manage all aspects of their lives.
A school doesn't have to produce great teaching to get results. Earlier you posted about the terrible Earth Science teacher in Scarsdale and how parents whose kids get this teacher all hire tutors. Thus its easy for this district not to do anything. Hey, all the kids in the class do well, but nobody really talks about why.
I think there might be really powerful teaching going on in schools where students come from homes that are impoverished and learn a lot more just to become proficient.
I think there might be really powerful teaching going on in schools where students come from homes that are impoverished and learn a lot more just to become proficient.
I've been thinking this for about two years now - ever since we hit the middle school here.
My core hypothesis at the moment is that very wealthy schools and very poor schools have a number of factors in common, most notably a belief that the kids' natures are simply fixed and given.
There is nothing to be done.
I don't think I said I was surprised.... did I?
This is classic slide and glide.
I would make a SMALL wager that if and when real value-added finally comes to Westchester, Scarsdale will prove to be a slide and glide school.
Consider that the kids in affluent communities come to school so supercharged with Kumon math and parents with high expectations and trips to Europe, etc.
That's not true.
At least, it's not true around these parts.
I took C. to KUMON for about a year, and I'm one of only two parents I know here who did so.
Moreover, I don't see a lot of books in people's homes - and I want to stress that I'm not saying that as a criticism. It's simply a fact. (There's an interesting comment threat on the old ktm where people chimed in about househunting - Bernie, Carolyn's husband, once looked at dozens of houses, iirc, and none of them had books!)
We have hundreds of books, but I can barely persuade my own kid to read.
All kids need good schools and good teachers.
Your "background" doesn't teach you math; nor does it teach you how to write.
One's background does seem to have a strong impact on reading, assuming you're lucky enough to be in the 60% of kids who can learn to read using balanced literacy.
That's another thing.
Wealthy schools have the money - and the default parent teaching & testing - to use whatever curricula they want.
In CA it's the affluent communities that can afford to turn down state money and buy their own constructivist math textbooks.
My own school carries on using balanced literacy because it can.
When I say "strong effect on reading" I mean reading comprehension.
I haven't seen that affluent parents know how to teach phonics - or that they do teach phonics.
'It doesn't matter how good or bad the school system is,'' said Gary Natriello, a professor at Columbia University's Teachers College, who took his own son to Sylvan. ''They're organized to produce bunches of kids. They're just not organized to really address the needs of particular kids. They're not organized to help a kid catch up.
It's true.
I have to FINALLY put up some posts about Princeton Charter School.
That was one bloody battle.
Princeton Charter remediates instantly and individually. They track all the kids all the time to see who's in danger of falling off the track.
Princeton charter school fascinates me. In one of NJs most educated and affluent towns, parenbts rebel against the well-funded and seemingly successful public schools to start a charter school. Interesting.
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