Geoffrey Canada: Fixation on Outcomes Leads to Impossible Standards, Threatens Programs

by Robert Pondiscio
November 19th, 2008

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Posted in accountability, Curriculum | 2 Comments »

“We’re giving huge amounts of money to people who admit that not only have they failed but they almost destroyed the whole economic system of the world.  Then somebody asks me if kids should take violin and do I have evidence?!”

So said Geoffrey Canada, the head of the Harlem Children’s Zone, speaking at a New York City conference hosted by the Teachers College Campaign for Educational Equity.  Gotham Schools was there and reports Canada’s remarks on its website.

Canada is concerned that a relentless focus on test scores will “put valuable programs at risk as the economy sours.”  A fixation with math and reading performance could make it worse since other subjects could get short shrift when funds are scarce.  Per Gotham Schools:

Canada said funders often ask him questions like, “You’ve got that chess program — how are the kids’ grades?” He said he thinks, “That’s what we pay the chess instructor for. When I send my kid to play soccer I don’t expect his reading scores to go up!” And funders often ask for evidence of success that is difficult or impossible to generate, Canada said — evidence that he pointed out isn’t required in other fields.

Student Mobility: Good Answer, Bad Question

by Robert Pondiscio
November 19th, 2008

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Posted in Curriculum | No Comments »

Having a supportive teacher who encourages other students to accept newcomers “can go a long way toward helping children make a smooth transition” and perform better when they change elementary schools, a new study shows. 

It’s not news that high rates of student mobility lead to a decline in academic performance and classroom participation. Researchers from Western Washington University and the University of Washington followed 1,040 elementary school students for four years “to determine how moving disrupts children’s attitudes toward school and their behavior in the classroom, such as how much they participate and whether they are cooperative,” Science Daily reports. 

In an effort to identify protective factors, they looked at the role of students’ ties with teachers and peers at school. They found that children who are accepted by their peers are more likely to do well academically and have better attitudes toward school. But perhaps the most important factor in the equation was that of the teacher: Teachers who were supportive of mobile students had an especially strong influence on their attitudes toward school, particularly for children who moved a lot. In addition, teacher support had a positive influence on children’s behavior in the classroom.

Did the researchers attempt to figure out if a coherent, sequenced curriculum – students’ ability to pick up where they left off in their old school — was a “protective factor?”  I suspect not.  You can’t study a condition that doesn’t exist.