Re: School Board

[John Clement <clement@HAL-PC.ORG>]

I believe some of this has been around, but unfortunately most evaluations
do not really test for the types of things that really show student gains.
The SAT is actually highly correlated to Socio Economic Status (SES).  An
economist showed that colleges could get a better predictor of success by
explicitly including SES.  The ideal predictor of college success would then
de-emphasize the SAT by quite a bit.  The easiest way of improving SAT
scores and college admissions is by getting the reputation of being a "good"
school, and then by attracting high SES students.

The high stakes state tests have been able to show rising scores at a
terrible price.  Teachers have been forced by principals to use test review
books and do daily test review until the tests are over.  The teachers are
then free for the remainder of the year (1 month) to have the students read
literature, and engage in real learning and not just rote test memorization.
Then of course there are the teachers who cheat on the high stakes tests.
This is more frequent than administrations would like to admit.  If your job
is on the line, and you know of no other way to save it, you cheat.

One of the big problems is that teachers have been buffeted by various winds
of reform, and they have learned that they all pass.  As a result, reforms
that might make a difference are ignored.  The teachers are often never
asked what they would like to see done.  If I were a board member, I might
try to see what the teachers would do, and get them on my side.
Unfortunately board members usually have limited power to influence what
actually goes on.  I would also try to get funds so that teachers could be
paid to train in pedagogies that work.

Unfortunately the types of tests that actually reveal student abilities are
not often used.  Piagetian tests such as Lawson's "Classroom Tests of
Scientific Reasoning" are very good measures of student thinking ability.
However they are fragile, and students can memorize the results if the test
is used as a high stakes test.  Tests do exist in physics such as the
FCI/FMCE and the various Tufts evaluations or electrical circuits and heat.
The situation in other fields is fairly bleak in that equivalent tests do
not yet exist.  Similarly the Piagetian reasoning test is essentially aimed
at students scientific reasoning.  Similar tests which might be recognized
in history or English have not been created according to Shayer and Adey in
"Really Raising Standards".  As a result we can not test the reasoning skill
in those subjects.

That improvement can be made is true.  That it is difficult to actually make
changes that result in improvement is also undisputed.  Anyone looking for
something that could be implemented with minimal disturbance should look at
Thinking Science by Shayer, Adey, & Yates http://www.case-network.org/ or
Feuerstein's Instrumental Enrichment (IE or FIE)
http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/ie/front_ie.htm .  Both of these
require teacher training, but they do improve thinking skills across the
board.  TS improves scores in science (18%), Math (18%) and English (15%) by
improving students' reasoning ability.

The ability of board members to actually make changes is so limited that I
suspect that the member who promised a more fun environment could actually
deliver much.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX

> A close friend was just elected to the local school board.   His major
> election promise is to enhance academics in the schools.  His opposition
> promised to make the schooling experience more enjoyable -- more field
> trips etc etc etc.
>
> My friend needs more ammunition!
>
> For those involved with HSs, how should a HS be evaluated?
>
> Admission to college?
>
> National SAT scores?
>
> BTW the local state SAT scores indicate that the local HS and MS
> and ES are
> about the same as those at Lake Woobegon.  Do other states have
> lower level
> testing -- I guess that by now they all have to.  How helpful are they in
> evaluating the school system?  What happens here is that 75% of the HS is
> on the "Honor Roll."  Maybe they do need more entertainment.
>
> National Merit Scholars?  I wonder if our local HS teachers have
> even heard
> of the NMSs
>
> What is the national  science competition sponsored by Intel or the like?
>
> Perhaps we should poll the students to see how happy they are with the HS
> experience?
>
> Other measurements?
>
> Comments???
>
> TX
>
>
>
> Jim Green

This posting is the position of the writer, not that of SUNY-BSC, NAU or the AAPT.