June 1, 2008 - June 7, 2008 Archives

Like countless other students across the country, my youngest cousin just graduated from high school. His march toward commencement was hardly a struggle. A brilliant student and talented athlete, Scott breezed through his high school years, earning accolade upon accolade for his academic and athletic achievement.

Scott was never in danger of failing or of not graduating on time, as some 10,000 Maryland students are next year. Starting with the Class of 2009, high school seniors will have to pass four end-of-year course tests in algebra, American government, biology and English in order to earn a diploma, as part of new state graduation requirements.

Anxiety is already building within schools, though state officials believe the new rules won’t adversely impact the graduation rate. The state board did provide a concession, of sorts, by allowing students who failed the test to complete a project.

But some local educators have already expressed concern that the alternative projects are even harder to complete than the tests and would require a substantial amount of supervision and coordination between the student and teacher.

Meanwhile, Rhode Island is getting quite a bit of attention for what promises to be a more effective and accurate way of determining what a student knows before letting him or her walk down the graduation aisle.

Unlike the 23 states (Maryland included) that use high stakes tests solely as a barometer for whether or not to graduate students, Rhode Island, beginning this year, is looking at three different measures: the students grades for their last four years, the scores for state tests taken in their junior year, and “performance-based assessments” like senior projects and portfolios.

“I believe Rhode Island is the wave of the future,” Ray Pechone, co-executive director of the School Redesign Network at Stanford University, told the Providence Journal. “The state is really a pioneer.”

Naomi Dillon, Senior Editor

One of the dumbest purchases I ever made….. Let me qualify that: One of the dumbest purchases I ever made as a parent was a certain book about imagination.

Some background: We live in the Washington, D.C., suburbs, in a leafy green neighborhood with beautiful old-growth trees; nice (but not ostentatious) brick homes; and, if you can believe the parents, a genius child on every block.

I’d like to say I’m immune to the hyper competitiveness of the D.C. region, but that’s not true. And so it was that about a year ago, in the course of my job, I read about an American Psychological Association book on stimulating your child’s imagination, and something in me snapped.

“Got to have it -- or else!” the frantic parent in me said. And so I bought it: Twenty-five bucks down the drain.

Now, not to dis the APA or anything, but was this really necessary?

Sample conversation with my 3-year-old:

“OK, Alison. Time to stop being a kitty and get on your imagination exercises.”

But these things are necessary for many low-income parents. The idea that the rich (or well-educated) get richer is as true in cognitive development as it is in general health. (Our pediatrician, for example, said the kids whose parents buy them vitamins are the ones who don’t need them.)

And, as you well know, many poor children do need help when it comes to language development. We all know the importance of reading to your children. But, according to two thought-provoking articles in the Harvard Education Letter, it’s also important to talk to them.

Among the programs that help is the “Let’s Talk -- it Makes a Difference” campaign in Cambridge, Mass. The program shows new mothers how to encourage their children’s language development with “talk workshops” and “reading parties.”

“Parents want to do best by their children,” says a literacy coordinator. “But the talking and reading don’t come as naturally to some parents as others.”

In some cultures it’s not polite for children to “speak up,” yet conversation is critical for developing strong reading skills. Also, there’s the problem of time. Few parents say they have enough of it, but it’s even tighter for low-income families. If you’re poor and struggling to pay for housing, medical care, and groceries, having long conversations with your children may be low on the list of priorities.

Most children in the affluent Washington suburbs -- my children -- will do just fine, even if they don’t get into the University of Virginia or Virginia Tech. Certainly, these children should be given every opportunity to reach their potential.

But don’t forget -- I know you don’t forget -- the children for whom just reading at grade level will be a struggle. Programs like the one above may offer more tools in your effort to see that these, and all children, get the education they deserve.

Lawrence Hardy, Senior Editor

I just finished my last day of the school year as a tutor at Jefferson-Houston Elementary School here in Alexandria, Va., and while I was just as happy as the students to be done for the year, I left with a nagging worry that I’d learned more from my students than they had learned from me.

Just dropping in once a week to read a book with my assigned student gave me a glimpse of the challenges faced by this school, which despite having a new principal, experienced staff, and a preschool program has repeatedly missed NCLB targets and is largely regarded as the “worst” school in the district.

Jefferson-Houston serves a population that doesn’t see the benefits of the gentrified historic area surrounding it—its boundaries include million-dollar townhomes in the swank Old Town section, as well as housing projects and apartments near the subway lines. The few school-age children living in the nicest areas aren’t attending Jefferson-Houston, though. In fact, most real estate listings for these homes don’t advertise the assigned schools.

Last year, I sometimes dreaded the hour that I spent with a boy who, frankly, needed far more help than I could offer. He was reading about three years below his grade level and let me know several times that he would have much preferred to be with his classmates in P.E. His teacher, who was young, enthusiastic, and overwhelmed, continuously thanked me and assured me that he enjoyed our sessions, even though he didn’t know my name.

In this month’s ASBJ, communication columnist Nora Carr outlines the ways school staff can create a more welcoming environment and better train their volunteers to understand the challenges of working with at-risk children—something I wish I had read before venturing into this school. She describes how the superintendent of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg (N.C.) district brought in thousands of volunteers by working with leaders of local churches and then providing extensive training and outreach. And she correctly points out that volunteers need steady communication and may be intimidated at first.

But perhaps the best advice for volunteers came from a middle school principal: “At-risk kids don’t warm up immediately to people they don’t know,” he says. “They’re going to test you first to see if you’re serious about sticking around.”

I eventually learned that the boy I tutored last year lived with his grandmother, who refused to take calls from the school, and numerous other young relatives in a chaotic house, which explained why he was often sleepy. And toward the end of the year, we discovered a series of books that he enjoyed. I can only hope that when he moved on to his next school, that there was a volunteer willing to take time to get to know him.

Joetta Sack-Min, Associate Editor

Words are my specialty, not numbers. Of course, I can count change, balance my checkbook (haven’t done that in awhile) and split a bill five ways … I’m not that bad, c’mon. But when it comes to advanced mathematical concepts, particularly those involving unknown variables, I’m lost.

And it seems the higher I climbed in school, the more confused I became. I barely passed calculus in college, though I was a regular in the tutoring center. Not everyone is as inept as I am in math. But still I am just a little bit concerned by an increasing trend in schools to push upper-level math courses into lower grade levels.

I understand it’s in response to a (valid) fear that the U.S. is losing its competitive edge, but here in the shadow of our nation’s capital, school districts are taking it too far, too fast … and some parents are asking for someone to step on the brakes.

As the Washington Post reports, nearly a third of elementary students in Northern Virginia’s Fairfax County schools are on the fast track to hit algebra by the seventh grade. And in the largely affluent Maryland suburb of Montgomery County, the district is pushing to have 80 percent of its students finish Algebra I in middle school by 2010 -- an aggressive goal, considering about 56 percent of their students currently accomplish that feat.

While some parents are happy about the accelerated pace, many others aren’t. More telling, however, are the teachers’ reaction. In a November forum, dozens of Montgomery math teachers said students were coming into advanced math courses ill-prepared.

Several years back, I was implored by my parents to help them understand algebra, a required course in their quest for a Bachelors degree. To my surprise, I proved invaluable. Who knew that after time, I would finally comprehend the subject? Sometimes, that’s all it takes for something to click: time.

Naomi Dillon, Senior Editor