I have finished a useful book on K-12, "The Good School" by Peg Tyre. Tyre, a journalist and author of "The Trouble with Boys" (about how boys may be underserved by current schooling methods), here talks about what is known to work and not work in K-12. According to Tyre, much of statewide testing measures the wrong thing. It keeps the scores constant while altering the test. It does this without regard to whether the test is a good measure of student learning. Also, there is emphasis on smaller and smaller class size. Smaller class size and better learning has a strong emotional appeal. Smaller class size also increases the need for teachers and for a larger and more powerful teachers' union. Tyre lists the studies that show that smaller class size is not an important variable in predicting student achievement. She also lists the studies that prove that very strong academics in preschool and strong 'let them play, they need to be free and natural kids' are both suboptimal for preschoolers. The best teachers of these kids mix play and academics in a way that is kidcentric. This approach works better. One successful approach is 'structured play' in which kids role play and learn not only the role but also how to have the first stages of self control, a key learning skill.
Tyre also lists the studies that show that phonics and phonics/whole word are the way to teach reading, not because of politics but because they work. Many kids read badly, especially 'dyslexics' not because they are transposing letters but because they do not 'hear' the different words correctly when they read.
Tyre points out how math is taught badly and how many elementary teachers are mathphobic.
Then she details why good teachers are a child's most valuable gift and how to train more novice teachers to become good teachers.
A great book.
I have to learn how my local school system measures up to the lessons of this book.
Flashback: 28 May -- 3 Jun
1 hour ago
Public schools are one of our most protected monopolies and as a result suffer from predictable problems.
ReplyDeleteThere are 16 identified personality types and each type has a preferred learning style. The types are grouped into four major groups so it is not necessary to provide education 16 different ways, but the one size fits all, or one best way, that I was exposed to during my public schooling certainly underserves a significant portion of students.
Milton Friedman's 55 year old idea of providing parents with education vouchers so they can choose the school, public or private or religious, that best serves the student and the parent is the best solution I know of.
It seems to me that judicious use of technology may allow teachers to escape the one style of learning fits all, but it will be difficult to escape the existing paradigm (see "Disrupting Class" and "The Good School" for expanded thoughts). I agree that we would benefit from more kinds of teaching styles. Getting there and being able to afford it will require clear thought and action.
ReplyDeleteAs to vouchers, some districts have tried that. Success requires strong parental diligence about what schools are doing and which ones are good for their children. "The Good School" talks about this problem and its solution extensively.