We will use this blogspot to follow issues in education, make announcements for class, and share interests related to your professional journey in education. Please read the articles and comment on the issues. Check out these links and comment.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/05/noguera.schools/index.html
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/08/30/129524957/-los-angeles-times-publishes-rankings-of-elementary-teachers-schools
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To start off, what is Noguera saying about education, teachers, and the current politics of education in the U.S.? What do you think- based on your readings of Cornell West and the first three chapters of Pugach? Be specific, write in complete sentences and make sure you touch on one or both of the articles from the perspective of the readings and or your experience.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, do you think teachers "value added" scores should have been made available online?
ReplyDeleteAs a former teacher, I have seen in person the destruction No Child Left Behind has done to our schools. The whole problem about education, in my opinion, is that people keep trying to quantify something that is not really quantifiable. Education is not about creating students that can score high on a test score, it's about aptly preparing individuals to the experience of human existence. And rating teachers based on the student test scores is even sillier. So many of the best experiences I have had in the classroom, and that I believe have educated both my students and myself the most, are the ones filled with humanity, not higher test scores.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion Noguera is saying that the current system we have in place is not doing a good enough job in educating kids in public schools. I agree with him that Obama cannot just make changes to no child left behind he needs to come up with a completely new strategy because now teachers are only teaching to the test. In my opinion just as Noguera says teaching to the test allows kids to graduate but be unprepared for college. I feel as if that was how my highschool years went. I came into college my first time around unprepared with no idea how to study or any idea on how tough and different college would be from highschool. Noguera I think was trying to express the idea that you cannot fix the nations education problem with a quick fix and shove a ton of money at it and expect the problems to go away. Instead leaders need to have a long term plan on how to fix and improve our nations education.
ReplyDeleteI don't agree with the value scores being put online for everyone to see because the scores don't always tell the whole story. The scores can be taken out of context. The scores don't always show the progess the students have made. The scores don't always show the student teacher ratio. The scores don't always give the background of the students home life. Many things could impact the scores that students get. scores should not automatically reflect the quality of the teacher.
I believe that Noguera is saying that currently, politics of Education in the US are completely backward. Schools don't necessarily need more money, they need highly qualified teachers. He is also saying that it is not the teachers faults that test scores are so low. Many teachers have not been given the proper training to prepare children for life. He is also saying that much of the current system is focused so much on preparing children for tests, that it doesn't reach the more important aspects of teaching and learning in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI personally agree with what he is saying. I've experienced teachers focusing solely on test scores, and the entire time all I was able to think was, "What's next?" So many teachers prepare us for the tests like they are preparing us for life, because there is so much pressure and emphases placed on test scores. I also agree with what he said about the ability education has to change the economy. Currently, we have a ridiculously high poverty and unemployment rate. This could all be avoided with education. It wouldn't happen over night, but in time, a highly educated population would lead to a smaller amount of poverty and unemployment.
I absolutely do not think teachers scores should be made available online. There is already a tremendous amount of pressure on teachers. If the scores were put online for everyone to see, the ramifications could be devastating. Test scores do not directly reflect the quality of the teacher. They only show a number, nothing else that shows what has happened in the classroom or the reasons for the test scores.
Mr. Noguera is saying that our public education system is in a state of obvious failure with, in many cases, a less than 50% graduation rate. He also states that NCLB has not worked properly, and that it has resulted in too great of an emphasis on standardized testing, which has shifted the aim of curriculum to passing tests while neglecting intellectual stimulation. Regarding teachers, he believes we should focus less on blame and more on supporting good practice. In general, he believes that the federal government should take a strong leadership role in the reform of the school system.
ReplyDeleteFor the most part I agree with his thoughts, especially the fact that more money is, by itself, not an answer. I believe it has been fairly well established statistically that some of the worst school systems spend the most per student. His focus on strong federal leadership could perhaps be argued against though, as traditionally our education system has been considered a local endeavor, and NCLB could be considered a good example of why too much federal mandating may be detrimental. He seems to straddle the fence a bit when he points out that charter school successes can be partly explained by, “increased autonomy, combined with site-based decision-making over the use of resources,” while at the same time calling for strong federal leadership.
I don’t see a big problem with the “value added” scores being posted as long as context is responsibly emphasized, which I am not sure that it was. They seem to have put nearly all of the emphasis on these scores, while the reader has to take the initiative on finding context. When you go to the LA Times FAQ on this report there is a question that reads, “Do value-added scores tell you everything you need to know about a teacher or school?” The answer to this question begins, “Not at all. Even advocates of the method say it should count for half or less of a teacher's overall evaluation…” So, as long as this point receives proper emphasis, it is fine to post the scores.
Noguera is completely correct that school systems do need help and a lot of schools need more money and funding. However, this is not as easy as it sounds because school systems need so much more that to just get handed a check. Schools need more teachers who are talented, dedicated and passionate about their students. He also mentions how the No Child Left Behind Act did not work as planned (it was supposed to be completed in 2014 which is clearly not going to happen). This all leads to an intelligent comment that Noguera made saying that the money put into schools needs to be more of a "strategic investment". Meaning money put into schools should not just go solely to technology and material things. Schools that are very much in need, need so much more than "things".
ReplyDeleteI definitely do not agree with teacher's "value added" scores being made available online. First of all because some people (like myself) are bad test takers. I am not a stupid person, but I do get nervous and tend to psych myself out before a test, especially before a big important test. I also agree with all the factors that Kriston mentioned in her post. The factor she mentioned that stood out the most is the students' home life. A student who may normally be a straight A student may have something serious happen at home the day of their test that may effect their concentration, therefore effecting their test score.
I think the focal point of Noguera's piece can be summed up by the following; In order to have a successful education system, not only do we need provide the basic funding for all schools in order to keep up with the current pedagogical tools available to assist teachers to be effective educators, but we need a strong leadership willing to invest time and effort into the education system; into reforming it for the 21st century. "Throwing billions at schools won't fix them", yes, but that isn't to say that the billions aren't sorely needed. Indeed, Noguera says that the stimulus package is an opportunity for the education system that is "not to be squandered". But it's all about investing in the right resources he seems to be saying. Noguera stresses that spending billions would ultimately be justified because of how integral our public schools are at integrating 21st century students into being the pioneers of the 21st century economy. In other words, if we get schools integrated with green and emergent progressive businesses, the schools could play a significant role in the economy's recovery.
ReplyDeleteThere is a sentiment in Noguera's piece that I felt also in Cornell West's piece; namely, that what is crucial is the Hope, the prophetic figurehead that is needed to earnestly seek out a long-term solution; to pursue Real reform, that inspires new generations of students to develop the 21st Century jobs and technologies, and all the things that will be needed to drive this nation (and perhaps this global civilization) forward.
As for the "value-added scores" i think it hits on something else Noguera touched on, which is the problem of making everything about a "score" i.e. test scores. When Noguera said that focusing too much on test scores can often lead to a very narrow and incomprehensive curriculum, I think it's equally problematic to judge a teacher's performance based solely on a score determined by assumed projections.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the scores can be useful for an academic analysis of teaching or the education system, but i think i'd have to agree that publishing it in a public forum i.e. the Times or online, it doesn't serve any positive purpose, since the article seems to suggest that these scores as simply misleading.
I think that Noguera's piece can be summarized as saying that yes our schools need these millions of dollars to help them to be successful but that isn't all that they need. The schools and teachers need programs to help better the students' educations and to help with individual problems. If the schools keep teaching to the standardized tests, they are leaving out extremely important lessons and values that the future generations need to be educated about. These students are the people who are going to be running our country in the next few decades and they need to be ready to go into the world with the knowledge that will let them succeed in a democratic society.
ReplyDeleteAs for the "value-added scores" I believe that the thought behind the idea was understandable, but the fact that they put them online just as statistics isn't giving the public the entire story. It's showing these teachers in the wrong kind of light and it isn't right. Rather than focusing on these as a means of rating the teachers, they should have posted the most successful programs or techniques used. I believe that that type of publication would have been much more useful for the public and for the school systems.
Pedro Noguera said in this article that the No Child Left Behind Act is no properly working any longer. Simple changes to the act will not make a difference in the depleting system we have now. Standardized testing across the country is starving our teachers and our students from the potential knowledge that could be brought forth. Although money is always needed in our school systems, billions will not just fix the problem we have here. Some studnets are not getting the education that they deserve and have a right to. Noguera is saying that as long as we keep pushing it aside it will continue to get worse. Where as if we spent much needed time and brain power on this continuing problem, we could in fact save our schools, our teachers, our students, and the economy. Noguera has a lot in common with Cornel West but most of all I agree with Casey when he said that they both have Hope.
ReplyDeleteThe "Value-added scores" is a mistake. For me, if they put this information on for everyone to see without proper history or context, then parents and guardians would move their students to schools with high values. These values can be altered depending on a variety of variables. Pretty soon teachers will be getting paid on commission of what their students test and then that will determine their salary. Absolutely ridiculous are the only words that come to mind after reading this article.
ReplyDeleteI think that Noguera is correct in saying the $15 billion education secretary Arne Duncan will recieve needs to be spent wisely. Some of our current education policies are clearly not working for the benefit of the students, therefore putting millions of dollars into these programs would be an insult to american education. I feel that he makes an excellent point in saying the money should be used to encourage public to create partnerships that encourage learning for the 'green jobs' of the future. Having grown up on a beef farm, I understand how green practices will eventually take over our economy and it is essential to prepare students for those jobs.
ReplyDeleteUsing improvements in student test scores to rate teachers. I have seen firsthand how some of the smartest students in a classroom struggle to perform efficiently on starndardized tests. Using a few days of testing to rank an entire years worth of experience in the classroom is just rediculous. Test scores are meant to rate the performance of a student not the performance of a teacher.
In Pedro Noguera's piece about education I think he is saying that real change is not going to happen unless our attitudes change about the importance of education. He mentions that President Obama spoke of the flaws with education in both his inauguration speech and his State of the Union speech, as presidents before him have. With new programs like No Child Left Behind (NCLB) or Race to the Top politicians invest money into education, but they don't address the real issues.Teaching students to pass standardized test is not the same as giving students a quality education. If we want to make real change in our educational system we need to address the national drop out rate, we need to train students and educate them for the jobs of tomorrow and the world of tomorrow. We need to do a better job of showing students how an education is valuable to them. If we can change the attitude about education from politicians, to communities, to parents, to students, then we can make real changes.
ReplyDeleteI don't agree with the Los Angeles Times publicly ranking teachers because there is more than one variable that goes into education. Every student is an individual, and each student may be at a different level in their education. By the end of the school year one student may not have learned as much as the next student, but he may have learned a lot from where he was at the beginning of the year to the end of the year.
ReplyDeleteI think that the first article about improving the schools was correct in the concerns they had about how it was to be done. However, it seems to me that you might need to go one step further. May of these children are not getting what they need to succeed in their home lives. I think if the school were to provide some kind of support to either remedy that provide a way to take care of some of the most basic need of the children at the schools, it might be helpful. I remember watching a video in one of my other education classes that touched n this. It was about teachers that taught in low income and underprivileged schools. In many cases the children had to worry about things like violence and not having any clean clothes. We also talked about Maslow's Hierarchy of needs and realized that these basic needs had to be satisfied before the children could focus on learning. SOme of the teachers in the school were incorporating almost like a type of therapy into their creative writing assignments and another school bought a washer and dryer for the school. It seems to me some of these more innovative was to circumvent a lot of the family problems would not only encourage learning, but also encourage the children going to school. I think that it would make school a welcoming place and may also decrease a lot of the attendance and drop out problems.
ReplyDeleteTo me, it seems like using the students test score to judge teacher value is not a particularly accurate way to assess a how much value a teacher adds. So many students struggle with standardized testing either because of the format or for whatever other reason that this does not seems to be a fair way to grade teachers. This also only considers one aspect of what the teacher may provide for the student.
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ReplyDeleteIn the article "Commentary: Throwing Billions at Schools Won't Fix Them", Pedro Noguera addresses that while the stimulus plan may send billions to schools, investing in education will not produce the results desired. He elaborates on how rocky the foundation of education as a whole is in the United States. He states the reality of American education, that dropout rates are at 50% or higher, that school districts do not prepare students who go on to college for the college-level course work required of them and that after the adoption of the No Child Left Behind law... majority of students are still left in the dust.
ReplyDeleteHis view on teaching, is that we as a nation must avoid the tendency to blame all problems in education; low-test scores, drop-out rates, etc on teachers. The problem is not unprepared, uneducated, or poor teachers. The problem can't and won't be solved by them, but rather by fixing our economy, national leadership, and union involvement.
The current political stance on education is that charter or private schools are doing outstanding and the problems lie within public schools. Considering 90% of our nation's children attend public schools, the issue is a priority to address and solve immediately. The government is throwing money at the problem in hopes to improve test scores, but we must first improve the environment of learning and teach and prepare students with all adequate 21st century skills for furthering their education.
After hearing Nogueras' commentary, I agree that we need the government and unions to work together, and that we should focus our attention and re-prioritize to put education reform at the top of our list. We need to prepare our future members of society to be more educated, more advanced and more willing to keep America operating to our full potential as a country.
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ReplyDeleteSecondly, I strongly advise against the online accessibility of teachers' "value-added" scores. Teaching is not about producing the highest test-scores but about producing the most effective and prepared students. I also found it interesting that they always test students' ability and performance at the end of the year, but they do not put into consideration the ability and performance of students' entering the classroom. Different factors play in, such as the learning environment, technology, funds, parental involvement, genetics, etc. A teacher can't and should not be judged or ranked. Rather we should look at the character, preparedness, and the skills students acquire from the influences of their teachers.
ReplyDeleteNoguera talks about some of the politics involved in education. He informs us that charter schools have much better test scores, yet 90% children attend public schools. If this is the case, there are a lot of students in great need of educational assistance in some way. One way suggested to assist these schools and students is money. Although some people money can just solve all the problems, it certainly can not. The title of the article says "throwing billions at schools won't fix them." With this, I have to agree. Yes, many schools need financial assistance, and this might improve the quality of education, but I think it is important to decide where exactly the money is going. I attended Toledo Public Schools and they recently started rebuilding all of the schools in the district, some of which really did not need it. I think we could have used this money to help with other things like supplies and up-to-date technology. I think Noguera is saying that we need to reallyu think about what each individual school needs and spend money on those certain things. just throwing money at a district, without an aim for the spending of that money, is certainly not going to fix our schools.
ReplyDeleteNoguera asserts that proper education is imperative to the well-being of both current and future generations. What he has seen in the past decade does not give him much hope, as schools are not making the kind of progress that the No Child Left Behind Act meant to spur. Because of the necessity of testing, teachers have focused all their attention on passing the students, but not teaching them. He believes that President Obama and Education Secretary Duncan are capable people with a big job ahead of them, but he doesn't want to see money "thrown" at the schools. Extra funding alone will not help. He argues that schools should become more individualized, much like charter schools, so that financial needs can be met with the funding at the site where those directly involved in the school are.
ReplyDeleteSeeing the scores of their children's teachers, parents would be more informed on the situation their children are in. However, it crosses a line because some information is meant to be kept private to protect teachers' reputations. That is not to say that teachers are absolved of their responsibility; rather, they need to improve themselves and their school, just as they always have needed to do, and even more so because of the dire needs of today's schools. The information might be better handled by school administration, who could then inform and instruct teachers on their strengths and weaknesses. Teaching is not just another job. It is a lifelong commitment. Those who have sincerely dedicated themselves to this profession will surely try to improve if they are made known of their failing to meet a certain standard.
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ReplyDeleteMr. Pedro Noguera writes that instead of just criticizing the public school system and charter schools, our leaders need to begin putting things into action. Instead of just tweaking the old system, our leaders need to implement an entirely new strategy.
ReplyDeleteHe writes that many schools have basically narrowed the curriculum for tests and evaluations preparation, which we had discussed last Wednesday in Mr. Ragland's class. When schools are so narrowed in their curriculum and teachings, it poses a huge threat to self expression and creativity. It becomes basic Cognitivism, or the memorization of facts. Cognitivism is ABSOLUTE and leaves no room for finding different paths to the correct answer, if there is one correct answer.
Mr. Noguera would like to see some of the funding to go to some of "rust belt" areas of the Midwest where the auto industry is suffering so much. He believes that education can lead to an economic recovery in these areas if schools are partnered with these auto industry leaders in creating the new "creative" minds from their own area.
Thus, this will allow schools to be more functional at a higher level. It will prepare the students to be part of the work force in their own area, which will function as a catalyst for economic recovery and growth in these specific Midwestern cities which are struggling.
Mr. Noguera is looking for these schools to be using more of a Constructivism style of learning, in which the students are taught in more of a problem solving type of learning. In Constructivism students are put in "real world" situations and problems and are asked to be creative in solving them. In this type of learning theory there is no absolute correct way of doing something. There are less standard tests and students can be more creative and can retain more knowledge than just memorization. It is more "hands on" and industrious, which Mr. Noguera seems to be conveying in his article.
If Constructivism is made the new teaching theory adopted for schools in this country, we again may be able to hold are heads up high as an industrially relevant nation. A nation that not only makes things again, but a nation that educates and prepares are youths again to be productive and not left behind the rest of the world.
Mr. Noguera talks about how the school systems need to improve. Noguera brings up points about the No Child left Behind Act; he talks about how this supposed to be inforced but the many schools are leaving their children behind. I like the idea about giving extra help to the children that might be really struggling in areas.
ReplyDeleteIt isn't always the child's fault about test scores and learning. Sometimes it can be the way the teacher teaches, because if the student doesn't understand something then it is the teachers job to change their way of teaching to something the fits the student better. I hope that Obama and Duncan can make some improvements.
With the article about the "los Angeles Times'" I believe that teachers should not be written out if some of their students do not have high test scores. It isn't about test scores it is about if the child is getting the proper knowledge and there are other ways of testing that. Also, it is at the end when the teachers are analyzed, so maybe they should do this at the beginning and see if the students improved from the beginning even if their test scores are not very high. There are other factors other than the teacher maybe not teaching in a way for all students to understand. It can be home life, genetics, many things that have nothing to do with the teacher. So teachers should not get the blame unless it is very obvious that they are not doing their job.
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