Teachers Taking Tests?

I was very struck by the inherent flaws in our education system presented in this chapter and the reluctance of policy makers to make any positive change... the criteria set in place by George H.W. Bush during his term have not only not been accomplished, we've gone the opposite direction!

Assessment is a crucial element in reforming the education system and the examples Darling-Hammond gave of other counties' success make progress seem almost tangible.  However, in reality I believe that this aspect of education can hardly be addressed until the issue of equity in funding distribution for ALL schools across America is settled.  I agree with DH that education policy making should be done at the state level, but I think that funding distribution must be dealt with at a national level because of how long it has been ignored.

Do you agree that decisions should be made at the federal level or should there be national regulations that all schools must adhere to?

My favorite part of this chapter was reading about different methods of assessment and how these methods are proven to be fair and equal.  The best example was the system where the teachers had to first sit down and take the tests that students had to later take.  This seems like the most fair and reasonable way to double check the tests' efficacy, yet thinking back on my own experience, I don't think many of my high school teachers would have been able to do well on these standardized exams!

Reflecting on your own experience, can you think of ways teachers can take more responsibility for what their students are learning and being tested on?  What are some of the assessment methods that you found most interesting and would consider applying to your own practice?

Assessment, Quality, and Equality

I don't know about y'all, but every time I read the Linda Darling-Hammond book, I want to pack my bags and hop in a plane to Finland, Hong Kong, or Singapore. I'm left frustrated that the solutions described in the book seem so far off for American students. And, after reading this chapter, I was left wondering what I can do as a student and as a future teacher to create a positive change in the way our students are assessed, which would ultimately also have positive effects on teaching and learning. These are some of the questions that occurred to me as I read the chapter, that I would love to hear your thoughts on:

What can we, as students/teachers, do to help our students thrive within our stressful high-stakes, almost entirely content-based, assessment culture?

Do you think that the general American public would be receptive to a teacher-managed, school-based examination system, like those found in Finland and Hong Kong? Why or why not?

In Texas, do you think the move from the TAKS to the STAAR is a move in the right direction, according to the criteria set forth by LDH? Is it enough? Why or why not?

A Bumper Crop of Questions

For last week, we read about block scheduling in Best Practices and the handout, and about what happens when states invest strategically (or don't) in The Flat World and Education.  I was most fascinated by the idea of block scheduling.  I came from a high school where we had seven periods a day, five days a week, and I thought it was the best possible system.  But reading about block scheduling, it actually sounds much, much better to me.

What did anyone else think?  Ultimately, is one better than another?  When would it be better to have a traditional schedule, i.e. what demographics, and vice versa?  That is to say, would a block schedule be better for students who are disadvantaged somehow?  What do we value more, depth in a subject or breadth in a subject?  Should we have to choose?

Doing What Matters Most: Developing Competent Teaching

The section we read for this last class was about the teacher preparation and how that is important for the environment of a school. I think that what I most liked was the idea behind the prompt for last week’s reading response. The quote talked about how when you really think about it education should boil down to the actual learning that happens between the student and teacher in the classroom. More often than not when I talk to my friends about the education system in the United States they all try to chime in on how they think it needs to be changed. Either funding or size or location or jobs need to be changed or created and every time they give me advice as to what needs to be changed about our education system they never once mention the teachers or students in regards to the actual teaching and learning that takes place in the classroom. Now this always confuses me because I think that at the base of it all education in the United States should be about learning and not that the other things are not important or do not affect the learning, it just seems that people are so quick to find solutions within these areas except learning and teaching as to how we can better our education system.

My question is do you notice this whenever you talk about education? What is your reaction to this? What do you think that we can do as teachers to show people that the most important aspect of our job is the relationship in learning we develop with our students?

The Perception of Teachers and Teacher Preparation

This chapter on teaching and teacher preparation made me think of some of the comments that I have heard other people make about teaching.  When I tell people that I want to be a teacher, I get a wide range of responses from "Wonderful, that is such a worthwhile to profession" to "Why do you want to do that? You could do so many other things. Your starting salary as a _________ instead would be so much higher."  There seems to be this negative perception of teaching in certain places, and a view that teachers' jobs are easy.  The common phrase "if you can't do, teach," makes it seem like teaching is a person's last resort as a profession.  But, look at our classroom filled with aspiring teachers and the other education students at Trinity who want to be teachers before all of the other professions that other people might tell us are "better."

How might this idea of teaching as a last resort effect the many aspects of teacher preparation that are described in this chapter?  

How can future teachers be supported in the United States?  Do you think the view of the teaching profession is different in the other countries that are mentioned in this chapter?

Developing Competent Teaching (Chapter 7)

To start of this chapter's discussion:

I know when I was reading this chapter there were several instances when I thought "this is so unfair!" as I compared the U.S. treatment and preparation of future and current educators to other countries like Finland and Sweden.  What did you think were some of the most shocking (this can be shockingly good or bad) differences between the U.S. development of teachers and other countries' development of teachers?

Another question that arose while reading this chapter is can the United States actually change our current practices and implement Darling-Hammond's suggestions?  This chapter is filled with excellent practices that have proven to work in other countries like the mentoring of beginning teachers and analyzing of videotapes regularly. Which of the ideas presented do you think are the most doable within our school system and could start to be implemented in the near future?

All Men Created Equal?: Responses to "The Anatomy of Inequality" (LDH Ch 2)

So, starting off our first blog discussion: What did anyone find interesting or what questions arose from the reading? For instance, on page 65 near the bottom of the page I wanted to know: How can triggers of low expectations and stereotypes (which is a societal and cultural phenomenon) be explicitly removed and what would that look like in an individual classroom setting?

And to tie back to our best practices thread, what practices in this chapter did you see that were positive? Which practices were less positive and how might we work to change them? Or how might it be done better?