What can parents and teachers do to fix the serious problems noted in the article below? Easy. Talk to kids!

"Conversation is gold. It’s the most efficient early-learning system we have. And it’s far more valuable than most of the reading-skills curricula we have been implementing: One meta-analysis of 13 early-childhood literacy programs “failed to find any evidence of effects on language or print-based outcomes.” Take a moment to digest that devastating conclusion."

The New Preschool Is Crushing Kids

Today’s young children are working more, but they’re learning less.

Edmon de Haro

• Erika Christakis
• The Atlantic
• Jan/Feb 2016 Issue

...The academic takeover of American early learning can be understood as a shift from what I would call an “ideas-based curriculum” to a “naming-and-labeling-based curriculum.” 

Not coincidentally, the latter can be delivered without substantially improving our teaching force.

[Maura Larkins comment: It seems clear that most people have given up hope of improving the quality of our teachers. But it could easily be done--without firing any teachers. All you need to do is evaluate teachers effectively, and then assign each teacher to an appropriate job. The best teachers should be used in a completely different manner than they are today--rotating for short periods of time each day among several classrooms.]

Inexperienced or poorly supported teachers are directed to rely heavily on scripted lesson plans for a reason: We can point to a defined objective, and tell ourselves that at least kids are getting something this way...

...New research sounds a particularly disquieting note. A major evaluation of Tennessee’s publicly funded preschool system, published in September, found that although children who had attended preschool initially exhibited more “school readiness” skills when they entered kindergarten than did their non-preschool-attending peers, by the time they were in first grade their attitudes toward school were deteriorating. And by second grade they performed worse on tests measuring literacy, language, and math skills. 

The researchers told New York magazine that overreliance on direct instruction and repetitive, poorly structured pedagogy were likely culprits; children who’d been subjected to the same insipid tasks year after year after year were understandably losing their enthusiasm for learning.
That’s right. The same educational policies that are pushing academic goals down to ever earlier levels seem to be contributing to—while at the same time obscuring—the fact that young children are gaining fewer skills, not more.

Because so few adults can remember the pertinent details of their own preschool or kindergarten years, it can be hard to appreciate just how much the early-education landscape has been transformed over the past two decades. The changes are not restricted to the confusing pastiche on classroom walls. Pedagogy and curricula have changed too, most recently in response to the Common Core State Standards Initiative’s kindergarten guidelines. Much greater portions of the day are now spent on what’s called “seat work” (a term that probably doesn’t need any exposition) and a form of tightly scripted teaching known as direct instruction, formerly used mainly in the older grades, in which a teacher carefully controls the content and pacing of what a child is supposed to learn.

One study, titled “Is Kindergarten the New First Grade?,” compared kindergarten teachers’ attitudes nationwide in 1998 and 2010 and found that the percentage of teachers expecting children to know how to read by the end of the year had risen from 30 to 80 percent. The researchers also reported more time spent with workbooks and worksheets, and less time devoted to music and art. Kindergarten is indeed the new first grade, the authors concluded glumly...

Teachers get dumbed-down education and easy A's in credential programs

Maura Larkins' note:  Previous studies have noted that colleges accept into their school administrator training programs a large number of low-scorers on the GRE. The vast majority of these candidates are teachers who want to become administrators.  (Physical Education programs also accepted students with low scores.)  Clearly, high-scoring individuals are choosing professions other than education.  Perhaps if we paid more to teachers we would have candidates with more ability applying to education programs.

For Immediate Release                                         Contact: Lisa Cohen, 310-395-2544 November 12, 2014                                               lisacohencomm@gmail.com NCTQ Report Finds That Teacher Prep Coursework Is Easier Than That of Other Majors on College Campuses “Easy A’s and What’s Behind Them” Highlights Lack of Rigor in Teacher Preparation; Report Finds That 44% of Teacher Candidates Graduate With Honors While Only 30% of All Undergraduate Students Do So Washington, DC — A new report from the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) documents that education majors are significantly more likely to receive high grades and graduate with honors than students in other majors on the same campuses. The report, Easy A’s and What’s Behind Them, argues that the persistent lack of rigor in teacher education coursework is a disservice to future teachers and their students. By failing to signal the challenge and complexity of real teaching, these courses send too many graduates into the classroom woefully unprepared, thus diminishing the value of their investment in preparation.   The report can be found here. NCTQ looked at graduation data for students from more than 500 institutions—where nearly half of all new teachers are prepared—and found that education majors are almost half again as likely as all graduating students to graduate with academic honors. “Teaching is one of the most difficult and demanding jobs there is,” said Kate Walsh, president of NCTQ. “Yet for reasons that are hard to fathom, it appears to be one of the easiest majors both to get into and then to complete. Our findings are provocative and disturbing, helping to explain why most new teachers are overwhelmed when they walk into the classroom. The situation is not fair to the kids who get assigned to new teachers, nor is it right to shortchange the teachers themselves— who through no fault of their own are not sufficiently prepared.” Easy A’s is the latest installment in a series of reports by NCTQ, each focusing on a different aspect of teacher preparation. These reports supplement NCTQ’s much broader Teacher Prep Review, which rates the quality of teacher preparation programs and is published by U.S. News & World Report. Easy A’s findings:   Based on spring commencement brochures from 509 institutions, a teacher candidate is half again as likely to graduate with honors: on average, 44 percent of teacher candidates versus only 30 percent of all students in graduating classes earn academic honors. This 14 percentage point average differential between graduating teacher candidates and other graduating students (44%-30%) masks the much larger difference found at many of the institutions in the study. At about a quarter of the colleges and universities, the gap stands at a disturbing 20 percentage points, climbing as high as 40 percentage points in 14 (3 percent) of the institutions. At a minority but significant number of institutions (42 percent), teacher candidates are not much more likely than their campus peers to earn honors. At these institutions, there are few, no or even reverse differentials—proof that it is possible for grading standards in teacher preparation to align to campus norms.   (Individual findings for the 509 institutions can be retrieved from the NCTQ website, http://www.nctq.org/teacherPrep/review2014.do, and are found in Appendix A of the report.) NCTQ’s analysis did not stop with an examination of grades, but also investigated why teacher candidates at so many colleges and universities might receive such high grades in professional coursework, even as many surveys report that new teachers frequently struggle to be effective despite their high grades. Ruling out a number of explanations, the analysis ultimately focused on the kinds of assignments that the candidates must complete. NCTQ analyzed the types of course assignments for 1,161 courses, both education and non-education (including business, psychology, history, nursing, economics and biology) across 33 institutions, finding two basic types of assignments. NCTQ termed these two types of assignments “criterion-deficient” and “criterion-referenced.” The prevalence of one type of assignment over another proves to be a powerful predictor of whether a course is more or less likely to lead to high grades. (This relationship was determined using a subsample of 499 courses for which the average grade is publicly available.) Courses where it is relatively easy to earn an "A" rely primarily on criterion-deficient assignments. Such assignments tend to be generally quite broad in nature, do not require demonstration or mastery of particular knowledge or skills, and are often subjective, asking only that students express an opinion. Courses where it is harder to earn an "A" tend to base grades more on “criterion-referenced” assignments, honing in more narrowly on specific knowledge and skills. These assignments are more objective in nature, with an understanding that some strategies are more effective than others in the classroom. (Examples of the two types of assignments can be found at the conclusion of the press release, with many examples taken from teacher preparation coursework in Sections 2 and 4, and Appendix D of the report.)  “Criterion-deficient” assignments are overwhelmingly more common in education coursework than in the courses in other majors. In the average teacher preparation course, criterion-deficient assignments account on average for 71 percent of the grade, but in non-education coursework such assignments account for only 34 percent of the course grade. Based on this research, NCTQ makes a number of recommendations. Among them, teacher preparation programs need to examine teacher candidates' grades on their own campuses to align their grades with other majors, set common standards for what it takes to earn top marks, shift the balance of assignments from criterion-deficient to criterion-referenced, and award honors to only a limited percentile of top-performing candidates. About the National Council on Teacher Quality The National Council on Teacher Quality is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research and policy organization located in Washington, DC.  Founded in 2000, the National Council on Teacher Quality is committed to restructuring the teaching profession, led by our vision that every child deserves effective teachers. NCTQ is committed to lending transparency to and increasing public awareness of the four institutions having the greatest impact on teacher quality: states, teacher preparation programs, school districts and teachers unions. Funding for NCTQ's Teacher Prep Review and related reports is provided by over 50 foundations, located in 22 states. What Others are Saying About Easy A’s and What’s Behind Them Dina Rock, a 5th grade language arts and social studies teacher from Ohio who was an advisor to the project, said, “Too often new teachers don’t know what they didn’t learn until they’re on their own, facing classrooms of children. Easy A’s explains what’s behind the painfully frustrating experience of too many new teachers.” ​Celine Coggins, Executive Director of Teach Plus, whose focus is ensuring that urban children are taught by effective, experienced teachers, said, “Every year thousands of bright college students go into education, committed to working specifically with children in poverty. Then we drive them away from the profession because we didn’t train them well. Kids who desperately need these new teachers’ energy and passion are the losers. If we want to be successful at educating at-risk children, we have to teach their teachers well.” Examples of Criterion-Referenced and Criterion-Deficient Assignments The distinction between these two types of assignments is not unique to teacher preparation coursework, but we focus on examples that could have been taken from teacher preparation because of the focus of NCTQ's work.  In order to show that it is not difficult to add criteria to an assignment that is criterion-deficient to ensure that both teacher candidates and their instructors can focus more on critical content and skills, the two criterion-referenced are modifications of the criterion-deficient examples. An explanation of how the assignment has been improved to provide a better foundation for strong training is provided.   Criterion-Deficient Assignment Criterion-Referenced Assignment Indicate on the checklist that will be provided to you the techniques that the teacher whom you are observing in your field placement class uses to engage all students in discussion.  Indicate on the checklist that will be provided to you in class the techniques that the teacher whom you are observing in [your field placement class] the video we will view in class uses to engage all students in discussion.  How is this improved?: By selection of a video, the instructor can ensure that candidates view particularly significant techniques and demonstrate the skill to discern the techniques. After teaching a lesson in your field placement, analyze the results of pre- and a post-teaching quizzes and interpret how the results would inform your instructional planning if you were teaching the next day.  [After teaching a lesson in your field placement,] Analyze the results of a the pre- and post-teaching quizzes that I have provided and interpret how the results would inform your instructional planning if you were teaching the next day.  How is this improved?: By analyzing results from quizzes that the instructor has developed,  the instructor both ensures that candidates are examining results that contain important content about student misconceptions and  common errors or difficulties, and that the candidates have the skill to discern both what has not been learned and what can or should be taught next.

Schools fire some of their best teachers while keeping less effective teachers

California's quality-blind layoffs law harms teachers and students
LA Times
Opinion
March 24, 2010
By Timothy Daly and Arun Ramanathan

Over the last several weeks, in what has become a dismal rite of spring, nearly 30,000 teachers throughout California received layoff notices. Knowing how crucial teachers are to student success, you might wonder how schools make the difficult decision of which teachers to cut. After all, if layoffs are unavoidable, you would think that it would be in the interest of everyone to keep the best teachers and cut those who are least effective.

Unfortunately, the only tool that California schools can use to make these decisions is a calendar. That's because of an outdated state law that prevents schools from considering anything other than how long a teacher has worked in the school system to decide who stays and who goes. Schools have no choice but to ignore teacher quality. Newer teachers are always laid off first, regardless of how well they do their jobs.

The result? Even top-performing teachers may be cut. Last year, "teacher of the year" award winners in Santa Barbara, San Diego and Los Angeles were among those who received layoff notices.

Forcing schools to fire some of their best teachers while keeping less effective teachers is just one of many perverse side effects of California's quality-blind layoffs law. Most notably, this approach also disproportionately harms schools that serve the poorest students, English-language learners and students of color, who are more likely to have newer teachers.

What's worse, evidence from other parts of the country suggests that teachers themselves do not support these rules. ..

5 Ways to Improve Basic Education

by Shannon Wills

If there is one asset that stands us good at all times, it is education. It opens the door to opportunities and paves the way to success in nearly every sphere of life. The majority of people agree that it is important for children to receive the right kind of education early on, so that the foundation for their future is well laid. But in spite of all the efforts that are being taken to improve education at its roots, there are problems that crop up every now and then and upset the applecart. In general however, there are a few aspects that determine the quality of education a child receives, and they are:

• The calibre of teachers: The best way to develop an interest for even your worst subject is to have a really fantastic teacher handle your class. When the right person teaches you the subject, you feel a passion that you never felt before and learning becomes much easier and less of a chore. When the teacher is lackadaisical and remote, the entire class suffers too, and the subject becomes more of a drag. To improve education, it is imperative to hire teachers who not only know the subject, but also how to teach it in an interesting way that is easily understood by their students.

• The attitude of fellow students: A naturally brilliant child tends to slack off when there is no real competition from the rest of the class. He or she is satisfied with scoring grades that are higher than the rest of the class and never really strives to achieve their best. Students who are naturally talented are tested and pushed to do their best only when there is tough competition from their peers, so if children are perceived to be much more capable than they seem to be, it is up to their teachers to egg them on to perform to their best.

• The standard set by the school: Some schools set high academic standards and offer their students incentives to reach certain goals. Others however, focus on other activities and leave it to the children to do what they can academically without really encouraging them to do their best. When schools set the bar high, they tempt students who are naturally brilliant and hard workers to aim higher and achieve much more.

• The attitude towards education at home: When parents don’t set much store by education as the foundation for success in later life, the children follow suit. They go to school because they must, but beyond that, they are not too interested in lessons and exams. While education authorities cannot change parental attitude, they can identify promising children and encourage them to do their best at school by making them aware of all the opportunities that await bright achievers.

• Initial academic performance: Think of a record being set in a sports event, say long jump. Now would a champ who has set a world record want to do less the next time round? That’s how it is with educational achievement too – when you do well in your early years, you’ve set a standard for yourself, one that you hope to equal or beat in all the years to come. So encouraging children to live up to their potential in their early years could give them the much needed boost to perform well later in their life, when it matters the most.


This guest post is contributed by Shannon Wills, she writes on the topic of Online Engineering Degrees. She welcomes your comments at her email id: shannonwills23@gmail.com.

Most states are holding tight to policies that protect incompetent teachers

AP: States struggle to keep top teachers
Jan. 29, 2010
By Dorie Turner, The Associated Press

ATLANTA — Most states are holding tight to policies that protect incompetent teachers and poor training programs, shortchanging educators and their students before new teachers even step into the classroom, according to a new national report card.

The study from the National Council on Teacher Quality— being released Friday — paints a grim picture of how states handle everything from pay to discipline for public school teachers. States are using "broken, outdated and inflexible" policies that ultimately hurt how children learn, according to the report...

Has teacher quality gone down over the past forty years?

I looked for some data on the subject of teacher abilities. I found this:


In their hiring of teachers, do the nation's public schools get what they pay for?
By Virginia Postrel
The New York Times
March 25, 2004

...The best female students -- those whose test scores put them in the top 10 percent of their high school classes -- are much less likely to become teachers today.

''Whereas close to 20 percent of females in the top decile in 1964 chose teaching as a profession,'' making it their top choice, the economists write, ''only 3.7 percent of top decile females were teaching in 1992,'' making teachers about as common as lawyers in this group.

So the chances of getting a really smart teacher have gone down substantially. In 1964, more than one out of five young female teachers came from the top 10 percent of their high school classes. By 2000, that number had dropped to just over one in 10.

SAT scores of teacher wannabes
Sept. 2, 2008
tampabay.com
High school graduates who say they intend to major in education score in the bottom third compared to 36 other intended majors, according to the SAT data released last week. Nationally, intended education majors finished 25th in reading, 27th in math and a combined 57 points below the national average in both...Students often change majors, of course. But is it a stretch to suggest the SAT scores are another sign the best and brightest don't want to teach?...




There was a rise in SAT scores of prospective teachers recently, but that's not saying much. Basically, teacher test scores are not as bad as they had been in recent years.


New York Times
Report Finds Better Scores in New Crop of Teachers

Dec. 12, 2007
"Teaching is attracting better-qualified people than it did just a few years ago, according to a report released Tuesday by the Educational Testing Service...
The SAT scores of prospective teachers who took the licensing tests in elementary education and physical education, however, were significantly below the average for all college graduates, it said..."



Selectivity - revisited
Posted November 5th, 2008 by Dave Saba
Joanne Jacobs has a great post pointing the way to Carpe Diem. It turns out that Education PhD’s have the second lowest GRE scores compared to any other academic focus. SAT scores are the same – in 2006, the College Board reported that only 2 majors had lower SAT scores than teachers – public relations and family studies.

'A Great Recession in Public Education'

Scott Mullin was the 2007-08 teacher of the year at The Language Academy. He is a current member of the San Diego Education Association (SDEA) Representative Council.


Guest Blogger: 'A Great Recession in Public Education'
January 28, 2010
Voice of San Diego

Guest blogger Scott Mullin grew up and attended public schools in San Diego County. He has been teaching for 17 years -- including two in Costa Rica -- and is now working in San Diego Unified schools. He holds degrees in anthropology and Latin American studies from San Diego State University. Mullin has two children attending public schools. These are his reflections, not mine, so if you have burning questions or comments, please contact Scott via email at quoniambebe@gmail.com.

There is a darkening image of teachers that many in our society work hard to mint as the prevailing picture of those who labor daily to educate the young. It stands out in stark contrast to the image of teachers that I grew up with.

Our leaders have -- I suspect with self-serving ideological and financial motives -- intentionally sought to damage the respectful image we had of teachers. The formation of this gray cloud over public education goes back to 1983, when President Reagan published "A Nation at Risk."

...Instead of paying teachers based on education and experience, the self-described innovators hold merit pay to be a key solution. By dangling dollars before the teacher, creativity would flourish. Test scores would soar and achievement gaps disappear...

-- SCOTT MULLIN

US Dept of Education waters down teacher quality guidelines in NCLB

US Dept of Education waters down teacher quality guidelines in NCLB

San Francisco, CA – A coalition of parents, students, community groups, and legal advocates today sued the United States Department of Education...
A major loophole in NCLB defies the will of Congress and harms students nationwide by defining teachers still in training as “highly qualified."
... More than half of California’s interns are teaching in schools with 90­% students of color compared to only 3% of interns in schools with the lowest population of students of color...