Florida's FCAT results. Lowering standards instead of raising them?

The state of Florida just released the results of the FCAT writing scores. Only 27% of fourth graders earned a passing score. The state commissioner is proposing to reduce the passing score from 4 (out of 6) to a 3.5 (out of 6). Lowering the standards to make it appear the students are doing better than they actually are. Is this the solution? I say no. Share your thoughts in the comments section.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/14/2799146/fcat-writing-scores-plummet.html

Here's a YouTube video talking about this issue as well:

Valuing Quality Teachers

Education Secretary Arne Duncan talks with NBC’s Andrea Mitchell about the state of the country’s education system and the importance of good teachers.

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Reach out and Read

How often do you read to your child? Reach Out and Read is a non-profit organization that "promotes early literacy and school readiness in pediatric exam rooms nationwide by giving new books to children and advice to parents about the importance of reading aloud."

John Stossel on ABC's 20/20, did a story on the American school system. This report on the state of the US education was done back in 2006.  It has been 5 years since the 20/20 news report and not much has changed.  Most of the problems addressed in this report are the same exact problems that are covered in the the recent documentary Waiting For Superman.  Why do you think it is taking so long for education reform/change?

TWO MILLION MINUTES: A GLOBAL EXAMINATION

This groundbreaking, controversial documentary film takes an in-depth look at how students in the United States allocate their high school years (approximately four years or two million minutes) compared with India and China. The film forms a picture of the various levels of global education and addresses the implications of these differences on the 21st century global economy.

Also check out this USA Today article about the film. 


Even though this documentary was filmed back in 2008, do you think the issues are still prevalent here in the USA?

Peter Thiel Gives Whiz Kids $100K To Quit College, Start Businesses

It sounds like a reality show pitch: The legendary Facebook investor, PayPal founder, and thorn in the side of college deans everywhere announces what happens when 24 people, picked to live among mentors and innovation experts, stop going to school and start getting real--in business.

One climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. Another started college in third grade. Another opened a business at age 9. And yet another scored 5580 on the SATs (on a total of 5 tests, but still).

Now they're all getting two years of mentoring from a network of tech and entrepreneurial experts and $100,000 to start a business. The benefactor? PayPal founder, early Facebook investor, and Stanford's least favorite alumnus, Peter Thiel. Least favorite because Thiel has been making waves by arguing that college is an overhyped, overpriced bubble, and that the world needs better ways to recognize young talent. It's all been great fodder for debate, but little more.

Read more here

Algebra on the IPad

Students in Riverside, CA are learning algebra on iPads and the school is saying their grades are improving.  Check out the video clip.  

Mental Math

One of the huge benefits from learning math using the abacus, is the ability to calculate mentally. Inception Learning is bringing all the benefits of abacus learning integrated with new online technology. The company will be launching their product this fall. Check out www.abacusprodigy.com and also check out our Facebook page for giveaways and latest news updates. In the meantime, check out these videos of children learning mental math utilizing abacus learning.

KNO Tablet

There's a company named Kno that is creating a tablet for students.  It appears the textbooks are loaded onto the tablet and the student can take notes and highlight things right on the tablet.  It looks really cool!  Check out the videos.  www.kno.com

Changing Education Forever from Kno Tablet on Vimeo.

9 year old starts web business

Maggie Huang, a 9yr old living in Alabama, has started her own web business and is considered a young math whiz.

Her web site is http://smartmaggie.com/

Operation Backpack

A friend in Japan posted this link.  Local boy scouts and girl scouts of Camp Zama, Japan are putting together "care" backpacks for the kids of Japan that were affected by the earthquake and tsunami.

According to the site:
"Our mission is to provide comfort and a message of love to the kids of Japan who have lost everything in the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.  We will distribute the packs after transportation and mail delivery becomes available in the affected areas.  Members of our community are in Sendai, Japan, directly helping with relief efforts.  They will personally help distribute the backpacks for our Scouts."

They are accepting donations up until April 30th, 2011.  If you are interested in helping out toward this good cause, check out the website for more information on what you can donate.

The problem with Math...

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I completely agree that most parents expect the schools to teach their kids everything. In fact, I know a lot of parents who don't go through the homework with their children, expecting their children, who are as young as 6 or 7-years-old to be independent when it comes to school work. Children need to be nurtured and it needs to be of a combined effort of both parents and teachers. As your child see that you value their education, they too will come to place their education of a higher importance.

In the case of Math, I see a couple problems in the U.S. education system. First, our schools do not have enough qualified teachers to teach Math. Since Math teachers do not get paid any more than other subject teachers, the ones who are qualified to teach Math often head into other Math-related industries to seek a higher paycheck. I believe that college students in the elementary and secondary education majors need to have specific emphasis in the areas and subjects they teach. Just as doctors, lawyers, and engineers have specific specialities, the same should go for teachers.

Second, we are not engaging our students in a systematic approach of teaching Math. We are also not using the best methods and technologies that are available to teach them Math. There are countries out there who are constantly seeking the best approach to teaching Math. I believe this is due to the lack of Math expertise our teachers hold.

Third, many parents and children alike are "afraid" of Math. Ask any adult out there, and you will get the majority telling you they were bad at Math or hated Math when they were in school. Since there are very little tools out there to assist parents to teach their children Math, this subject is often times shoved aside as a "difficult" subject everyone just has to go through to pass it not excel in it.

We need to change the way we teach Math in the United States. Already, we are seeing the downside of not teaching Math properly in our schools and homes. We have a shortage of Engineers, Scientists, technology-related personnel, and so on. Any thoughts on what we should do?

Are schools embracing technology?

I found this news piece to be extremely interesting. In a society where apps, iphones, androids, and most of anything that has to do with technology has become more or less a norm, it is appalling to see many school districts still using traditional methods to teach our children. Kids today are more insync with technology than ever before. I remember I was probably 6 when my dad got us our first computer. Sure, perhaps it was a little later than most; but back then, technology actually cost a lot more. I remember it being a DOS platform computer - highly "ghetto"! Now, having a computer at home is second-nature to most households. Today's younger generation speak a different language from when we did when we were children. Leaving technology out of the classroom will disengage our children from learning and reaching the best of their potential. As I read this headline, the first thought that came into my mind was that this was probably the result of the lack of funding. It was great to hear from the panel that this was actually the opposite. It's only a matter of rearranging funds and redirecting them towards a technology-based classroom.  It makes sense that our school systems are shelling out more money by not embracing technology. Think about it...everything could be done electronically. Books could be downloaded, homework submitted online....we could even do away with purchasing school supplies. In reality, most kids will only need a netbook to begin with. The options are endless!!! I am so excited that MSNBC brought up this pressing issue. Hopefully, we will start seeing a change in our teaching methods! What about you guys? Are your kids adequately prepared for a technologically-infused future?

NBC News Education Nation

Education Nation is a nationally broadcast, in-depth conversation about improving education in America. During an interactive summit on Rockefeller Plaza, parents, teachers, and students will come together with leaders in politics, business, and technology to discuss the challenges and opportunities in education today. In addition, NBC News will turn Rockefeller Plaza into a “Learning Plaza," a series of five galleries, open to the public, which will allow visitors to explore America's educational "ecosystem." During the entire week of September 26th, NBC News will highlight education stories as well as broadcast live from the Plaza. Education Nation begins on Sunday, September 26 at 12 pm with a two-hour conversation broadcast live on MSNBC.

On Monday, September 27th, at 8am ET, President Obama will sit down with Matt Lauer for a LIVE one-on-one interview about the state of education in America. If you would like to submit a question for the President, please fill out the form- your question might be asked during the interview.

From September 26th-30th, Rockefeller Plaza will be transformed into a "Learning Plaza," an interactive experience open to the public that will explore some of the most innovative aspects of American education

Michelle Rhee - Hero or Zero?

In my opinion, Michelle Rhee is a hero in education reform. You either love her or hate her. If you love her, it's probably because you are a concerned parent who wants the best education for your child. If you hate hate, you're probably one of the many teachers who got fired by Michelle Rhee as the result of poor teaching performance and the taking away of tenure or perhaps a parent who doesn't understand the importance of education. Michelle Rhee is the Chancellor of the D.C. Public Schools. Rhee has aggressively sought to reform a school system whose students historically produced below-average test scores. (It's quite ironic, considering D.C. is our nation's capital!) She became known for a tough, ruthless approach, seeking to purge public schools of teachers and principals who were, in her opinion, incompetent. In her first 18 months, Rhee shut down 21 schools, firing 100 workers from the district's central bureaucracy, dismissing 270 teachers and removing 36 principals.

Let's quickly go through the reforms and policies that Michelle Rhee has placed in Washington D.C.:

"In 2008, she sought to renegotiate how the school system compensates teachers, offering teachers the choice of being paid up to $140,000 based on student achievement but losing tenure, or retaining tenure but earning smaller raises. This controversial move to end teacher tenure and promote merit pay was strongly contested by the teachers unions. 

In 2010, Rhee and the unions agreed on a new contract that offered 20% pay raises and bonuses of $20,000 to $30,000 for strong student achievement, in exchange for weakened teachers' seniority protections and the end of teacher tenure for one year. Under this new agreement, Rhee fired 241 teachers, the vast majority of whom received poor evaluations, and put 737 additional school employees on notice. Of the dismissed teachers, 76 were dismissed in accordance with the No Child Left Behind Act because they lacked proper teaching certification. 26 other teachers were dismissed because their students had continually received low scores on the District of Columbia Comprehensive Assessment System. Teachers were observed by administrators and outside professionals for five 30-minute sessions during the year, and the teachers' performance was rated during those sessions.Teachers who received fewer than 175 out of 400 points were deemed ineffective and were dismissed. Teachers who received between 175 and 249 points were deemed minimally effective and given a one-year warning to improve their performance.


Rhee's actions have earned her applause from school reformers nationwide, as well as the scorn of teacher unions and community activists. Her supporters argue that under Rhee's chancellorship, D.C. Public Schools have greatly improved student achievement. Since 2007, secondary schools have improved their standardized test pass rates by 14% in reading and 17% in math, while elementary school pass rates have improved 6% in reading and 15% in math. Systemwide graduation rates also improved by 3%, up to 72% in 2009. However, significant achievement gaps remain between students in high-performing and low-performing school districts, and between white and African American students."

-Source: Wikipedia     

Sure, maybe she could have been more diplomatic, however, would that have been as effective? Sometimes, in order for change to happen in a good way, we have to let go of our old, destructive habits. I am a strong advocate for teachers to be paid according to merit. Being a teacher myself, it delights me when I see the kids I tutor improve on a daily basis and acheive great results when they challenge themselves. It thoroughly bugs me to see teachers who are there merely for the pay or benefits - teachers who don't put in the extra effort to help the children succeed. Perhaps to them, they are merely allowing the children to retain all their childhood fun. But in reality, they are hurting the chances of these kids succeeding in the future. I think Rhee summed it up best by saying: "They are getting a crappy education. I mean, you could try to sugar coat it all you want. Subpar, or whatever. But what it is in terms that everyone can understand -- they are getting a crappy education."  Amen to that!

The original 14 rules every kid should know!

Some Rules Kids Won't Learn in School

Text By Charles J. Sykes

Printed in San Diego Union Tribune

September 19, 1996

Unfortunately, there are some things that children should be learning in school, but don't. Not all of them have to do with academics. As a modest back-to-school offering, here are some basic rules that may not have found their way into the standard curriculum.

Rule No. 1: Life is not fair. Get used to it. The average teen-ager uses the phrase, "It's not fair" 8.6 times a day. You got it from your parents, who said it so often you decided they must be the most idealistic generation ever. When they started hearing it from their own kids, they realized Rule No. 1.

Rule No. 2: The real world won't care as much about your self-esteem as much as your school does. It'll expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself. This may come as a shock. Usually, when inflated self-esteem meets reality, kids complain it's not fair. (See Rule No. 1)

Rule No. 3: Sorry, you won't make $40,000 a year right out of high school. And you won't be a vice president or have a car phone either. You may even have to wear a uniform that doesn't have a Gap label.

Rule No. 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait 'til you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure, so he tends to be a bit edgier. When you screw up, he's not going to ask you how you feel about it.

Rule No. 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grand-parents had a different word of burger flipping. They called it opportunity. They weren't embarrassed making minimum wage either. They would have been embarrassed to sit around talking about Kurt Cobain all weekend.

Rule No. 6: It's not your parents' fault. If you screw up, you are responsible. This is the flip side of "It's my life," and "You're not the boss of me," and other eloquent proclamations of your generation. When you turn 18, it's on your dime. Don't whine about it, or you'll sound like a baby boomer.

Rule No. 7: Before you were born your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way paying your bills, cleaning up your room and listening to you tell them how idealistic you are. And by the way, before you save the rain forest from the blood-sucking parasites of your parents' generation, try delousing the closet in your bedroom.

Rule No. 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers. Life hasn't. In some schools, they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. Failing grades have been abolished and class
valedictorians scrapped, lest anyone's feelings be hurt. Effort is as important as results. This, of course, bears not the slightest resemblance to anything in real life. (See Rule No. 1, Rule No. 2 and Rule No. 4)

Rule No. 9: Life is not divided into semesters, and you don't get summers off. Not even Easter break. They expect you to show up every day. For eight hours. And you don't get a new life every 10 weeks. It just goes on and on. While we're at it, very few jobs are interesting in fostering your self-expression or helping you find yourself. Fewer still lead to self-realization. (See Rule No. 1 and Rule No. 2.)

Rule No. 10: Television is not real life. Your life is not a sitcom. Your problems will not all be solved in 30 minutes, minus time for commercials. In real life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop to go to jobs.
Your friends will not be as perky or pliable as Jennifer Aniston.

Rule No. 11: Be nice to nerds. You may end up working for them. We all could.

Rule No. 12: Smoking does not make you look cool. It makes you look moronic. Next time you're out cruising, watch an 11-year-old with a butt in his mouth. That's what you look like to anyone over 20. Ditto for "expressing yourself" with purple hair and/or pierced body parts.

Rule No. 13: You are not immortal. (See Rule No. 12.) If you are under the impression that living fast, dying young and leaving a beautiful corpse is romantic, you obviously haven't seen one of your peers at room temperature lately.

Rule No. 14: Enjoy this while you can. Sure parents are a pain, school's a bother, and life is depressing. But someday you'll realize how wonderful it was to be a kid. Maybe you should start now.

You're welcome.

Bill Gate's version of the rules...

Bill Gates gave this simpler version of the 14 Rules, in his case 11 Rules at a high school graduation. Perhaps this is more suited for today's youngsters...short, simple, yet chockful of good stuff!

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2: The world doesn't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

The LunchBox Project

"Chef Ann is one of our Food Revolution heroes. She’s proved that you can produce a freshly cooked meal for the same amount of money many schools are spending on processed, re-heat foods. Her new fantastic website has loads of recipes and tools to help you do the same and give kids in your school REAL food.”


- Jamie Oliver

Chef Ann at a school's newly created salad bar.

I know it's tough to think up of new lunch ideas that are easy to prepare and won't grow old in the stuffy lunchboxes in your child's book bag. Chef Ann has come up with a new website called The Lunch Box to help moms and dads combat that. You just have to register for free to be a member of the site and you will gain access to a ton of free menus and recipes for creating healthy yet yummy school lunches for your children. She's also included a massive video library that contains everything from culinary techniques to interviews about school food change. In the future, there will also be video icons embedded in recipes to guide the user to the pertinent technique to be used in the recipe! If you're involved in your school's PTA or simply want to play an active role in evolving your school's lunchroom, Chef Ann has also provided tools including evaluations, grant finding and writing tools, feasibility studies, case studies, Farm to School resources and more so you can consider and begin to take action to transform your school district’s food program from a highly processed to a scratch-cooking environment.

If you have additional financial resources, you can also donate to the LunchBox Project and Jack Johnson of the All at Once Community will match funds up to $2,500 to help feed all children healthy school food. Their goal is to reach $20,000 by October 15th so do spread the word around!

Teacher evaluations and their salaries

I was watching the news about a new proposal for teachers to be evaluated with their salaries being affected as to how well their students' scores are. I think it's great that we're heading towards the right direction. I have never believed in a uniform pay scale for teachers. Teachers, like any other employee of other professions, need to be kept motivated and wanting to improve each day. However, I do not agree with simply evaluating them on their students' standardized scores. This will simply leave the parents out of the picture and more parents will expect the teacher to do all the work for them. Instead, that should be a breakdown of "points" in the evaluation process. This is what I came up with:

40% = Student's standardized scores
30% = Parent's Evaluation (with comments)
30% = Principal's Evaluation

A bonus of up to 10% can be added to the teacher's score. This will be based on the teacher's evaluation of the child's parental involvement and the child's learning ability. This will also be a good way the teacher can "plead" his/her case. These evaluations will be handed to the principal and vice principals for review and they can determine as a collective group how much of the 5% will be added to the teacher's score. All evaluations should then be submitted to the superintendent for review.

It's true that sometimes a child may be slower at learning. At the same time, a good teacher will try his/her very best to work hand in hand with the parents in improving the child's scores. If the parents' involvement is absent in the process, the teacher should be able to recommend to the head of department or to the principal that this child needs extra remedial and that the parents need to be seriously talked to. If, after all is done, the child still fails to produce decent scores, I highly doubt that one or two students' scores would make a huge dent in the review of the teacher's salary.

Thoughts, ideas, questions??? Please comment!

San Francisco mayor wants to create college accounts for kindergartners

Mayor Gavin Newsom

San Francisco's Mayor, Gavin Newsom, plans to include funding for a program that will help create college savings account for kindergartners in hi proposed city budget. If funding is approved, San Francisco would deposit $50 into college savings accounts for each kindergartner attending a city public school. Low-income students who qualify for free or reduced lunch would get $100. Once the accounts are open, the city would encourage donors to provide matching funds to encourage parents to save for college. EARN, a California nonprofit group that helps low-income families, has offered to contribute $100 for the first $100 that families put in the account. The program would be phased in over three years. The city would create accounts for about one-fourth of the city's 4,800 kindergartners the first year, half the second year and all incoming kindergartners the third year. The plan would cost about $200,000 the first year and $400,000 to $500,000 a year once it's fully implemented, said City Treasurer Jose Cisneros, who helped develop the program.

I think encouraging donors to match funds is a great idea. I also like the idea of the city starting the account for the family. Often times, I think families hold off due to other financial restraints or plain procrastination. If I had an account started for me with a promise that donors will match my contribution dollar for dollar, I would extremely excited to begin planning for my child's college. I feel a lot of kids nowadays do not go to college either because they don't have the funds for it and their parents' paycheck may not qualify them for programs such as pell grants even though they have to pay for college themselves. In addition, if the parents are investing in a college savings plan, you can bet that those parents are generally more involved with their kids' educations as well. After all, who would want to put money in a pot that isn't going to churn out some good rewards aka the child actually making it into college?

I love this idea and also the fact that the Gates Foundation will be evaluating the process and seeing how everything turns out. If successful, this may be just the model others states may need to follow! Love Love Love it!!!