CAROL’S SUMMARY:

It has been common belief that children under five could not learn math because their brains weren’t ready, but recent research is challenging that assumption. Cognitive neuroscience is working to define exactly when it is best to introduce fundamental concepts to young brains. Some such studies have found that most children entering preschool are able to perform rudimentary division and that, contrary to current curricula, the brain may not be fully able to link letters to sounds until age 11. Recent research also suggests that infants are able to distinguish one object from two and two objects from three.

According to the article below, “By preschool, the brain can handle larger numbers and is struggling to link three crucial concepts: physical quantities (seven marbles, seven inches) with abstract digit symbols (“7”), with the corresponding number words (“seven”).” These lessons are crucial for basic math comprehension in kindergarten. Studies in geometry have found that kids as young as 18 months start recognizing shapes and that by preschool the brain can start to understand informal geometric definitions. Sharon Griffin, a psychologist at Clark University in Worcester, MA says, “If children have games and activities that demonstrate the relationship between numbers, then quantity becomes a physical experience. Counting, by contrast, is very abstract.”

How can current curricula incorporate cognitive neuroscience research? How can teachers be more versatile integrating math learning with basic physical activities?

In what ways can math curricula be formatted around physical experiences?

How can parents emphasize mathematical concepts at home before formal schooling begins?

ARTICLE

The New York Times
December 21, 2009
Brain Power
Studying Young Minds, and How to Teach Them
By BENEDICT CAREY

BUFFALO — Many 4-year-olds cannot count up to their own age when they arrive at preschool, and those at the Stanley M. Makowski Early Childhood Center are hardly prodigies. Most live in this city’s poorer districts and begin their academic life well behind the curve.

But there they were on a recent Wednesday morning, three months into the school year, counting up to seven and higher, even doing some elementary addition and subtraction. At recess, one boy, Joshua, used a pointer to illustrate a math concept known as cardinality, by completing place settings on a whiteboard.

“You just put one plate there, and one there, and one here,” he explained, stepping aside as two other students ambled by, one wearing a pair of clown pants as a headscarf. “That’s it. See?”

To view this entire article visit www.nytimes.com

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

Chancellor Michelle Rhee is on an abrasive mission to improve Washington D.C.’s public school system. She is currently working on a proposal to pay District of Columbia teachers based on the aca¬demic achievements of their students. Such an accomplishment would revolutionize the way public school systems are run throughout the nation and possibly have implications for higher education where tenure is still practiced. Her proposal boils down to evaluating teachers on a combination of their students’ test scores, aca¬demic gains, and classroom observations. Successful teachers are then rewarded with higher salaries.

According to the article below, “Rhee’s original proposal for Washington’s schools would have allowed educators to choose between two pay models. In exchange for giving up tenure and sur-viving a one-year trial period, teachers could make up to $130,000 in merit pay based on their effec¬tiveness. Alternately, they could keep tenure and ac¬cept a smaller raise. All new teachers would be placed on the tenure-free track.” While this is a major attempt at education reform, Rhee states that the important thing is to find ways to accurately evaluate teacher performance. Rhee’s business-minded approach to education is commendable and holds promise for models that can be established in other districts across the country.

Education reform has been a popular topic of debate for the U.S. and while Rhee’s methods may seem rash or harsh, the essence of her drastic measures captures just how imperative it is to our economy and the future of our country to reform the dire state of America’s public education system. If American students continue to perform below the level of their counterpoints around the world we can only expect that our economic future will be compromised. We won’t have the people with the skills to do the complex work required.

What bold actions can districts take to improve student and teacher performance?

How can parents get involved to encourage teacher and faculty professional development?

How can more schools and districts apply business principals to measure results and get higher level outcomes from students and teachers?

ARTICLE:

U.S. News and World Report
December 29, 2009
D.C. Schools Chief Michelle Rhee Fights Union Over Teacher Pay
The chancellor’s efforts to enact a merit pay system could ripple across the nation
By Lauren Smith

In her quest to revive Washington’s public school system, Chancellor Michelle Rhee is pushing innovative but con¬tentious ideas, one of which has garnered her national at¬tention: whether teacher pay can be tied directly to stu¬dent performance.

“So far, nobody has really been able to do it on a large scale,” says Jay Greene, senior fellow at the Man¬hattan Institute’s Center for Civic Innovation. “She is a pathbreaker in pushing it as far as she has.”

The repercussions of Rhee’s succeeding, even in an incremental fashion, are far-reaching. If she is able to pay District of Columbia teachers based on the aca¬demic achievements of their students, she could revolutionize the way public school systems are run across the country.

To view this entire article visit www.usnews.com

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

The “achievement gap” has been a popular term in educational reform discussions, but some schools are finding ways to achieve. Although the odds are against them with high enrollments of low income minority students, the schools in the article below are finding that sitting back and looking at what their students are struggling with and then collaborating to remedy it has a large impact on student success. One school noticed their students struggling with vocabulary and word recognition while reading. Most of their parents were immigrants and the language spoke at home was one other than English. The lack of fluency and background knowledge lead to a disconnect in the classroom. So the staff got together and devised a plan to have every teacher in every classroom, regardless of subject taught, find ways to implement new words and ways of practicing these new words for absorption into the curriculum. Then they debriefed about the results and set new goals for further observations.

Collaborative efforts in American schools are rare. Each teacher is typically left to fend for themselves when figuring out how to help their students master the material they teach. Yet it’s these kinds of efforts that seem to be what sets the disadvantaged schools beating the odds in the article below apart. It really should be no surprise that collaboration may be the key to improving America’s public education system since the 21st century skills experts feel are the most important for preparing today’s students for tomorrow’s global marketplace are skills that transfer across the disciplines. For example, one must be able to problem solve no matter the subject matter and creative thinking helps both in art class and with science experiments.

Important questions to consider:

How can school districts across the nation create a culture of collaboration and support?

What type of curriculum will teach students 21st century skills within all the core subjects?

How can teachers build their teamwork and leadership skills through working with each other?

ARTICLE:

Monday, December 28, 2009
U.S. News and World Report
Many Schools Find Ways to Close the Achievement Gap
From New York to Arkansas to California, many schools have found ways to help disadvantaged students learn better
By Karin Chenoweth

For years, Americans have been pounded by bad news about public education: Students can’t do math as well as Japanese and South Korean kids, high school graduation rates are below those of most other developed countries, and many of the kids who do graduate need remedial courses before they’re ready for credit-bearing classes in college.

The news is even worse for low-income and minority children, whose academic performance generally lags so far behind that of middle-class white students that the “achievement gap” is a staple of every school reform discussion.

So what about the schools where low-income students and students of color do as well as their more privileged peers?

To view this entire article visit www.usnews.com

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

Labor experts say that the new American jobs of the future will be hybrids. Most likely combining computer sciences with other fields, yet not many students are interested in computer science these days. According to the article below, “Educators and technologists say two things need to change: the image of computing work, and computer science education in high schools.” Janice C. Cuny, a program director at the National Science Foundation said, “Today, introductory courses in computer science are too often focused merely on teaching students to use software like word processing and spreadsheet programs. We’re not showing and teaching kids the magic of computing.”

Teacher groups, professional organizations and major technology companies hope to explain the important advances in many career fields due to computing. Along with technological advances, introductory courses in computer science teach “computational thinking,” which takes a difficult problem and reformulates it so that a person can solve. This skill is not only applicable in computer science careers, but in others as well – any time a difficult problem needs to be solved. Attracting more students to study and go into digital careers is important to America’s economic future in the global marketplace.

How can student success publishers lead the way by attracting more students to this dynamic career field?

How can teachers integrate information on the advances computer science careers have created in all fields into their core subject curriculum?

Could computational thinking be taught within other disciplines or classes?

ARTICLE:

The New York Times
December 21, 2009
New Programs Aim to Lure Young Into Digital Jobs
By STEVE LOHR

Growing up in the ’70s, John Halamka was a bookish child with a penchant for science and electronics. He wore black horn-rimmed glasses and buttoned his shirts up to the collar.
“I was constantly being called a geek or a nerd,” he recalled, chuckling.

Dr. Halamka grew up to be something of a cool nerd, with a career that combines his deep interests in medicine and computing, and downtime that involves rock climbing and kayaking.

Now 47, Dr. Halamka is the chief information officer at the Harvard Medical School, a practicing emergency-ward physician and an adviser to the Obama administration on electronic health records.

Hybrid careers like Dr. Halamka’s that combine computing with other fields will increasingly be the new American jobs of the future, labor experts say. In other words, the nation’s economy is going to need more cool nerds. But not enough young people are embracing computing — often because they are leery of being branded nerds.

To view this entire article visit www.nytimes.com