SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT

John Stossel Show

The John Stossel Show tonight tackles school choice. It promises to be feisty!

Shooting Students in the Foot

You know the old joke about the man who murdered his parents and then begged for mercy on the grounds that he was an orphan? In a similar vein, ten Ontario school boards are begging for money on the grounds that they have more and more students with special needs. As it happens, by far the greatest increase in special education students is in the category of “communication disorders”, which is sort of code for “learning-disabled”. The majority of these students might more appropriately be labelled “never-been-taught” or “teaching-disabled” or “victims of dysteachia”. If school boards started using proven teaching methods and materials, like systematic phonics and sequential math, the number of their “learning-disabled” students would be drastically reduced. 

The Ontario government would be foolish to give away even more money for special education, thereby encouraging its educators to generate even more students with special needs. Perhaps the Ministry should look at changing its incentive structure so that school boards that generate the fewest special needs students are rewarded with additional funding!

JUMP For Joy

JUMP (Junior Undiscovered Math Prodigies) is a Toronto organization that is demonstrating every day how all children can excel at math, even children who are failing math or are labeled slow learners. JUMP is holding a conference on March 5 in Toronto at the University of Toronto Fields Institute. There will be plenary sessions on math literacy and linking cognitive science with learning, as well as a number of workshops on topics such as the striking success of the JUMP programs and JUMP Math and the learning-disabled student. Click here for more information.

On Thick Ice

The latest news from England should give pause to educators who are teaching their impressionable students that global warming is underway and scary.

Phil Jones, until recently a key scientist on the climate change bandwagon, now admits that there has been no warming since 1995 and that temperatures may have been somewhat higher during the recent Medieval Period (warming obviously not caused by human activity).

In other words, Dr. Jones is quite lukewarm on this topic!

Give Your Child a Superior Mind

Click here to access the newly-abridged version of Give Your Child a Superior Mind by Siegfried Englemann. Explaining how children learn (and how to teach them) in a clear and interesting way, this book makes the case for teaching very young children formal lessons. At the end is a fairly detailed description of what and how to teach babies during their first 18 months.

Today’s Survey

It’s Not All Greek to Them

A frequent commenter to our blog wonders "how the Chinese and Japanese ever learn to read since their characters are whole words and they have no phonics". However, a closer look at both Chinese and Japanese writing systems reveals that both are largely based on symbol-sound correspondences, just like every other writing system in the world. It turns out that it is essential for languages to be phonetic, as the human brain has difficulty remembering more than about 2,000 symbols.

Taking Chinese first, this writing system is based mainly on its syllables, and about half of all Chinese words are only one syllable long. Tellingly, beginning Chinese readers are taught the individual sounds of their language using a Roman alphabet, and it is only after the students have mastered the sounds that they begin to memorize the 1,277 syllable signs. For a while, each syllable character is written alongside its Roman alphabet equivalent to help the students remember.

Japanese is more complicated, as it has three different writing systems. Only one (kanji) is non-phonetic, although even kanji has many characters that contain phonological clues. Japanese children learn the two phonetic systems before tackling kanji, and they are expected to know about 1,600 kanji by the end of grade 9. Japanese writing is arguably the hardest system in the world to learn because of the load it imposes on memory but, if the kanji were eliminated, the Japanese writing system would be one of the easiest systems in the world.

The Finnish Finish

There has been a lot of discussion in our blog comments on the reasons behind Finland's first-place standing on the PISA international comparison. One frequent commenter sent us a link to a column that cites an improved curriculum, the elimination of external standardized testing except for a national matriculation examination, an emphasis on inquiry learning, improved teacher training and increased teacher collaboration time, small schools, and strong social support.

Of course, success is never attributable to only one factor, and no doubt most of these things play a role in Finland's educational success. However, the column either ignores or under-emphasizes some possible factors, and some of the column's contentions are even open to discussion. For example, some sources say that the main teaching approach is "ex-cathedra" (teacher-directed), not inquiry-based. As well, the fact that parents can choose to have their child attend any school they wish (although in practice the freedom of choice is relatively limited) may play a role. In addition, Finland has long, dark winters which have spawned a culture of reading. With only a few TV programs in Finnish, and programs in other languages being given Finnish subtitles, children are forced to learn to read fluently if they want to understand their programs. What's more, the Finnish writing system is very simple: every sound corresponds to a single letter and every letter has a unique sound - allowing the vast majority of Finnish children to learn to read after a few months of instruction.

However, the most important reason for Finland's success may be the support provided within schools for struggling students. If a child experiences difficulty with a new concept, he or she immediately receives extra help - first from the classroom teacher and then from a specially-trained teacher if necessary. And if this support is not enough, the school team takes on the problem. Every year, about 17% of students receive special tutoring or small-group instruction. The goal is to nip problems in the bud before they can grow into large learning deficits that are difficult to eradicate and which are emotionally hard on the affected students. In combination with the small school size and intimate educational setting, the result is that all of the children feel valued and competent. The positive school culture creates a virtuous circle.

KIPP Responds

A few days ago, a frequent commenter wrote the following in response to our blog posting "It Can Be Done".

"KIPP is a fraud. Geoffrey Canada of the Harlem Children's Zone would not work with them because he said "they are into creaming." They make parents sign behaviour contracts, they kick out all their misbehaving kids (public schools cannot do this), their teachers are unionizing at a rapid rate because they burn them out working 6:30 AM to 9PM on call. Their entire secret is longer days, more days per year. They do not operate on less money, they operate on less public money, they get endowments from the likes of Eli Broad, Bill Gates, etc. It is not first come first serve basis it is a lottery. First you have to be motivated to put your name in the lottery which already separates the kids. Even the low achieving kids are pushed out close to test time. You seem to believe the KIPP spin rather than the rapidly accumulating facts." 

Here is KIPP's response.

MYTH 1 - KIPP "Creams" Students
KIPP's mission is to set underserved students up for success in college and life and to prove that demography does not need to define destiny. KIPP schools are tuition-free, open enrollment public schools. Students are enrolled in KIPP schools regardless of background or academic record ona first-come, first-served basis. If more students apply than spaces are available, students are admitted by lottery. Nationally, over 80 percent of KIPP students are eligible for the federal free and reduced price meals program, and more than 90 percent are African American or Hispanic.
Last year, 80 percent of KIPP students entered a grade level behind in reading or math. To quote the KIPP Executive Director in Philadelphia, "Of incoming fifth graders this year, only two started at grade level for reading and none for math. If we're creaming, we're terrible at it." - Marc Mannella, Philadelphia, PA  (December 2009, Philadelphia Public Schools Network)

MYTH 2 - KIPP is Facing Heavy Unionization
Pursuing union membership is a decision that is driven entirely at the local level, as all KIPP schools are independently governed and each state has different laws regarding teachers' unions and charter schools.
To date, we have had staff at only one school nationwide try to unionize - KIPP AMP (Brooklyn). A majority of teachers at KIPP AMP voted to seek union representation in early 2009. KIPP AMP and the UFT are currently engaged in negotiations over a union contract. As a result, KIPP AMP teachers are not yet union members and do not pay union dues.
There are currently four KIPP schools within our 82 school network where teachers have paid union dues from the beginning (in Maryland, the charter law requires teachers to be union members):  (1) KIPP Academy (Bronx, NY); (2) KIPP Tulsa College Prep (Tulsa, OK); (3) KIPP Ujima Village (Baltimore, MD); (4) KIPP Harmony (Baltimore, MD).
While each KIPP school is locally run, KIPP school leaders are committed to ensuring that the teachers have clear avenues for resolving issues that arise, and to providing teachers with a working environment that supports their needs as professionals and the needs of their students.
KIPP teachers are generally paid a higher salary than surrounding school districts to recognize the additional time and effort required to meet KIPP's high expectations. KIPP teachers also have numerous avenues to take on leadership roles, and engage in professional development.

MYTH 3 - KIPP Spends More Than the Average for District Schools
KIPP schools receive only 70 to 90 percent of the operational revenue and none of the capital expenditure revenue of district schools. As a result, KIPP schools have to use operating funds to pay for other costs such as facilities and busing, which are typically covered for district schools. It costs on average about $1,200 more per KIPP student to fund KIPP's extended school day, higher staff salaries (KIPP teachers typically earn 15 to 20 percent more than traditional public school teachers) and other KIPP extras, such as field trips and enrichment classes. To make up for this gap, KIPP schools raise independent funds to help cover their costs.
However, even with this structure, KIPP schools generally spend less per student than many large schools districts due to their low overhead. For example, the KIPP schools in New York City spend less per-pupil educating their students than the average New York City middle school per-pupil expenditures.

Chartering Success

Most charter school studies focus on student test scores, but here's a new study that investigates what happens to charter school students later on. Controlling for students' background, the researchers looked at students who had attended a charter school in grade 8 in Chicago and Florida, and then compared the outcomes of those students who went on to attend charter high schools with the outcomes of the students who went on to attend conventional high schools. It turns out that attending a charter high school was associated with a much greater likelihood of graduating from high school and attending a post-secondary institution.