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| The reading room: education and edification See my Resources pages for additional articles and resources on education.
Test prep
" Study Finds Little Benefit in New SAT" (NYT 6/18/08): "The revamped SAT, expanded three years ago to include a writing test, predicts college success no better than the old test, and not quite as well as a student’s high school grades..." Still, “[t]he 3-hour, 45-minutes test is almost as good a predictor as four years of high school grades, and a better predictor for minority students.” Specifically, "for black, Hispanic, Asian and American Indian students — and for girls — SAT scores are slightly more predictive of college success than are high school grades." " Doubts Cast on ACT Drills" ( Chicago Tribune 5/27/08): Cramming for the ACT does not work; it's all about developing substantive skills in reading, writing, problem-solving, and critical thinking and analysis. "ACT scores were slightly lower in schools where teachers spent at least 40 percent of their time drilling students than in schools where teachers spent less than 20 percent of their class time on similar preparation." The ACT, says a University of Chicago researcher, "requires students to integrate skills across different classes . . . you're only going to get that by working hard in your classes and developing those deep cognitive skills. It's not the type of test you can cram for." "They think it's all about gaming the test and learning test strategies, but in fact it's not at all about test strategies; it's strongly related to doing deep good work in classes. There's no quick fix; everyone wants a quick fix, but it's not there."
College admissions
"Advice from Students Who Have Been Through It" (NYT 02/23/10) "On a general level, the seniors had these valuable words of wisdom to share with the younger students:
- Remember that there is a school for everyone.
- Start the process early.
- Do not to stress about the SAT.
- Put yourself in your application and essays.
- Do not wait until Dec. 31 to file your applications.
- Don’t waste high school just trying to get into college."
The 9/30/07 issue of the NYT Sunday Magazine is devoted to the college experience. Although I recommend perusing the entire issue, the following articles are particularly important: Excellent, must-read article on college admissions (case studies of real students) ("Tense Times at Bronxville High")
College students rate their undergraduate experiences ("Don't Worry, Be Students")
School policies, educational news and trends, and other educational issues
"Building
a Better Teacher" ( NYT Magazine 03/02/10): "But what makes a
good teacher? There have been many quests for the one
essential trait, and they have all come up empty-handed. Among the
factors that do not predict whether a teacher will succeed: a
graduate-school degree, a high score on the SAT, an extroverted
personality, politeness, confidence, warmth, enthusiasm and having
passed the teacher-certification exam on the first try." "A
Tougher 'A' at Princeton Has Students on Edge" ( NYT 2/1/10):
" Lisa
Foderaro writes in The Times’s Metropolitan section that efforts
by Princeton University to curb grade inflation are “now running
into fierce resistance from the school’s Type-A-plus student body.” "Harvard Receives Record-Breaking Number of Applications" ( The Harvard Crimson 1/14/10): "Over 30,000 students—a record-breaking number—have applied for admission
to the Harvard Class of 2014. Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons ’67
attributed the increase—which represents about 5 percent more applicants
than last year’s 29,114—to three factors: Harvard’s commitment to
generous financial aid in an unpredictable economic climate, the
continued effects of the elimination of early admission, and Harvard’s
heightened reputation for excellence in engineering." "As
Honor Students Multiply, Who Really is One" ( NYT 12/31/09):
"There have been so many honor societies created at Commack High School on Long Island
in recent years that some students ended up in six or seven of them,
racking up memberships like so many merit badges or thanks-for-playing
trophies." "The Advanced Placement Juggernaut" ( NYT 12/20/09): "Advanced Placement classes, once open to only a very small number of
top high school students around the country, have grown enormously in
the past decade. The number of students taking these courses rose
by nearly 50 percent to 1.6 million from 2004 to 2009. Yet in a survey
of A.P. teachers released this year, more than half said that “too
many students overestimate their abilities and are in over their heads.”
Some 60 percent said that “parents push their children into A.P.
classes when they really don’t belong there.” Does the growth in Advanced Placement courses serve students or
schools well? Are there downsides to pushing many more students into
taking these rigorous courses?" Cash for grades -- A's, B's, and even C's ( Chicago Sun-Times 9/12/08): Under the new CPS program ( Chicago Sun-Times 9/11/08), freshmen at 20 high schools will earn cash for passing grades. "Every five-week reporting period, each A will yield up to 5,000 eligible freshmen $50, a B will bring $35, and a C will net $20 in English, math, science, social science and physical education. Kids will get half the money each marking period and the other half at graduation." The program is intended to level the playing field to an extent by giving disadvantaged students the same sorts of "carrots" that students from affluent families typically receive. But not all wealthy parents believe in paying their children for good grades, as this article explains ( Chicago Sun-Times 9/12/08). Do you think students should earn monetary rewards for good grades? " The Next Kind of Integration" ( NYT Magazine 7/20/08) -- diversity based on socioeconomic class: "Richard Kahlenberg makes the case for shifting integration policies primarily or solely to being class-based over the next decade or two. What’s fair, he asks, about giving a spot in a coveted magnet program to the son of a South Asian college professor or an African-American politician over the daughter of a white waitress? Over time, such injustices threaten to sour white parents on the whole diversity enterprise, whereas giving poor kids a boost, whatever their color, is far less controversial. Polls at the time of the Supreme Court’s 2003 decision in Grutter v. Bollinger, which concerned affirmative action at public universities, showed public support running 2 to 1 for giving poorer kids a leg up in going to college, as opposed to 2 to 1 against race-based preferences. In her majority opinion in the case, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor famously said she thought that racial preferences would continue only for another 25 years. Barack Obama has said, looking ahead to his daughters’ college applications, that they don’t deserve an admissions break — an acknowledgment that the mix of race, affirmative action and privilege is a complicated one." " Big Paycheck or Service? Students Are Put to the Test" ( NYT 6/23/08): At Harvard, "about 20 percent of this year’s graduates were heading into financial services and management consulting." Administrators at top colleges are taking steps to encourage more graduates to consider careers in public service. The issue: What do graduates of elite colleges owe the world? NYT readers, including a judge who laments her decision 25 years ago to go into public service, offer their opinions here (6/29/08) and on this comment board. And in "The Disadvantages of an Elite Education" ( here), William Deresiewicz argues that "Our best universities have forgotten that the reason they exist is to make minds, not careers." Should valedictorian status and class rank be eliminated? ( Chicago Tribune 5/30/08) In the past, some schools have had as many as 21 valedictorians -- and 21 valedictorian speeches! Here is an excerpt from the Tribune article: Katie Goldrath admits to few regrets that she and two other students will lower the curtain on a proud tradition when they deliver the last valedictorian addresses at Friday's Barrington High School graduation.
"The whole thing is a game," Goldrath said. "You have to keep challenging yourself to get to that next rigorous class. Then you miss out on taking classes that you really want to take because you want to keep your standing."
Many other competitive high schools in the Chicago area also have done away with class rank and with it, the prestigious valedictorian title. Ranking students, officials say, creates unnecessary competition and can be deceiving at a competitive school where high grade-point averages are common. A recent New York Times article also explores the " frenzied battle to be valedictorian." "[A]s the path to that honor has intensified over recent years, some administrators are beginning to question the valedictorian tradition. Several factors — including the increase in the number of high school students, grade inflation, intense competition for college acceptances and a savvier student body — have changed the game. Some students strategize to win, taking on a heavy load of A.P. courses, which are weighted when grade point averages are calculated. Some avoid more creative courses, like art or photography, where grading can be subjective and a B could ruin their shot at the top spot. There have been conflicts about how to measure the transcripts of transfer students who come from schools with different grading systems. In a handful of cases, the zeal for valedictorian honors has led to lawsuits." "The Web makes us antsy readers, not deep thinkers" (Leonard Pitts, Chicago Tribune 6/18/08): "I am finding it increasingly difficult to read deeply, to muster the focus and concentration necessary to wrestle any text longer than a paragraph or more intellectually demanding than a TV listing. You're talking to a fellow whose idea of fun has always been to retire to a quiet corner with a thick newspaper or a thicker book and disappear inside. But that has become progressively harder to do in recent years. More and more, I have to do my reading in short bursts; anything longer and I start drowsing over the page even though I'm not sleepy, or fidgeting about checking e-mail, visiting that favorite Web site, even though I checked the one and visited the other just minutes ago." " Report Sees Cost in Some Academic Gains" (NYT 6/18/08). "A new study argues that the nation’s focus on helping students who are furthest behind may have produced a Robin Hood effect, yielding steady academic gains for low-achieving students in recent years at the expense of top students." The profound, life-changing impact of a "gap year" between high school and college ("In a Year Off the Beaten Path, a New Direction for Life," NYT 6/15/08). (Personal note: I did a gap year, and I wish every student would. I was more successful and focused in college because of what I did during my gap year.) David Brooks (NYT 6/13/08) explains the two major approaches to educational policy-making and Obama's stance on education so far. What should happen to a high-school principal who plagiarizes? (Eric Zorn, Chicago Tribune 5/27/08) "Naperville Central High School Principal Jim Caudill delivered a speech last week at a school ceremony that included significant passages lifted without attribution from another source. And worse, his explanation is as shabby and dismaying as the deed itself." Zorn says, "[W]ith greater position comes greater accountability," and he urges that Caudill be fired. "Anything less -- token discipline, a formal tut-tut -- won't do. Allowing him to remain as principal would send the message that the more powerful you are, the more slack you get when you mess up." Follow-up -- and more plagiarism: the Naperville Central principal was fired ( Chicago Tribune 5/30/08), and the Naperville Central valedictorian was stripped of his medal. "School District 203's superintendent moved to reassign Naperville Central High School Principal Jim Caudill next school year, while student Steve Su is being asked to return his valedictorian's medal, after each plagiarized portions of speeches they gave during commencement events last week....That announcement came just hours after the superintendent of another highly rated district, Oak Park and River Forest High School District 200, apologized to U.S. Sen. John McCain for passing off the presidential hopeful's account of an incident in a Vietnam prisoner-of-war camp as a story told by his brother."
" Hope In the Unseen" (Thomas Friedman, NYT 5/25/08): "Every once in a while as a journalist you see a scene that grips you and will not let go, a scene that is at once so uplifting and so cruel it’s difficult to even convey in words. I saw such a scene last weekend at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland in Baltimore. It was actually a lottery, but no ordinary lottery. The winners didn’t win cash, but a ticket to a better life. The losers left with their hopes and lottery tickets crumpled." Food for thought -- and a reason for privileged students to be extra-grateful. Do you skip lunch so that you can take extra classes or study? Some high schools (NYT 5/24/08) are taking steps to enforce lunch-eating. "In the Chicago suburbs, New Trier Township High School also considered mandatory lunch but dropped the idea after students protested that it would limit their chances to take electives like music, art and drama." One psychologist says, "Kids who are not eating, or eating under stressful circumstances, are not cultivating healthy eating habits. We want to send the message that a big part of growing up is [learning] how to manage yourself and not just getting good grades." In response to Bob Herbert's recent NYT column on the critical importance of high-school education, readers shared their thoughts (5/21/08) on the tremendous role that home life plays in determining the self-motivation and ultimate success of every student. " Giving Disorganized Boys the Tools for Success" (NYT 1/1/08): This article should resonate with many of my students, disorganized boys and girls alike (the ones with the backpacks full of papers, the ones who bring the wrong books to class, the ones who "forget" to complete homework or leave their essays or binders at home). " Girls' Gains Have Not Cost Boys, Report Says" (NYT 5/20/08): A new report says the largest disparities in educational achievement are not between boys and girls but between those of different races, ethnicities, and income levels. " Saving the World in Study Hall" (Nicholas Kristof, NYT 5/11/08): teenagers are helping to change the world, and it's not just about impressing colleges! " I Know What You Did Last Math Class" (NYT 5/4/08): Helicopter parents have a powerful new tool for monitoring their children's academic performance. But can there be too much of a good thing? Why do we read? Less reading, lower test scores: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/19/arts/19nea.html?pagewanted=all | |
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