Public Education and Race

[Coffee Warlord]

Originally Posted by rowech

In Ohio, 50 percent of our evaluation and therefore job security, is now student test scores. You can guarantee I will be teaching to the test despite having never done it before.

And woe to the teacher who gets a group of well below-level kids, who is doing their damndest just to get them to grade level. Or who gets a lot of kids who don't test well, for whatever reason. Or a majority of kids who don't speak English as their first language. Or are just in a shitty school with uninvolved parents.

They're tying evaluations / raises to test scores in many Illinois districts, starting next year. Ridiculous.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by rowech

I can't imagine what lesser districts than the one I teach in are thinking.

Wait a second ... shouldn't the questions be the same for everyone, regardless of district? (or did I miss something somewhere?)

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by rowech

if you want kids who can think on their own

Honestly, that's well down my list compared to having ones that are capable of being self-supporting in today's economy. It seems quite possible to me that a more disturbing reality might be that average intelligence might not be the bar for that anymore.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by rowech

They are. My point is I teach in a very good district and we are worried. Districts who are already worse off than we are have to look at things and know they have no chance of reaching where the bar is.

Totally my bad, misread what you actually said in the original post. Multi-tasking apparently not my thing today

[tarcone]

Im wondering what happens when even less qualified people choose to teach.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Even when I was in school, we had standard tests (Iowa something) but I don't recall any time taken away to prep for the tests - it was all part of what was normally taught (3Rs).

Heh, Iowa Tests. I actually scanned and posted one of mine a while ago when I was pissed off about...something. Can't remember.

We didn't do anything special for them that I can recall either. Of course, that was my perspective as a kid. My kids take the MSAs (Maryland School Assessments), which are a big stinkin' deal (but the emphasis is on the whole, rather than individual students; they don't even give you percentiles, just scores and where they fall vs the mean for your school, your county, and the state).

eta: right, the How Smart Are You? thread

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

And woe to the teacher who gets a group of well below-level kids, who is doing their damndest just to get them to grade level. Or who gets a lot of kids who don't test well, for whatever reason. Or a majority of kids who don't speak English as their first language. Or are just in a shitty school with uninvolved parents.

They're tying evaluations / raises to test scores in many Illinois districts, starting next year. Ridiculous.

Rightly or wrongly, this rhetoric was everywhere a few years ago: "We need a way to measure bad teachers so we can get rid of them!" And while I'm graded by my boss and boss's boss every year, every parent wanted to grade every teacher because it's was their tax money or because it was their precious snowflake. It's odd that we've seen a 180 on that so quickly.

SI

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by rowech

Sadly, my guess is the tests will be used to say education and teachers suck and will be contorted in a way to create a system where kids just sit in front of computers all day long attempting to be self-motivated enough to learn on their own. That way it will be cheap and teachers can be replaced.

Commodotize labor! Cheap, replaceable parts! No accountability because you can scope shrink so that it's not your fault or problem! I can't wait for the corporatization of education even more than it already is.

SI

[Izulde]

Yeah we're seeing a sizable exodus of talented college instructors as well, and more and more departments, at least in the humanities, are pushing their graduate students to pursue non-academic careers or at least non-university level teaching careers. Financially it makes no damn sense to get paid $20k a year without benefits or job security for a full-time adjunct teaching job when one can make double that or more with benefits and at least some security at the high school level. (Yes I know there's worlds of difference between the two levels, especially public school, but the point still remains).

Of course, those that stay in the arena have been quite vocal and active in trying to unionize and amass power to improve working conditions for contingent faculty, but progress is extremely slow. Hell, even now I tell my undergrads who ask that they really shouldn't go to a humanities doctoral program or law school unless they're fully prepared to accept employment crisis, including either unemployment or poverty-level underemployment.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by rowech

It will be the good ones who have other options, have nice education backgrounds with subject matter material, and a nice skill set to carry into other jobs.

I have to admit, this comment (especially the italicized part) made me think about something, almost disturbing really.

I started thinking about the faculty that I've paid rather dearly for my kid to be exposed to over the past few years. I'm not sure I believe even a quarter of them could survive outside academia. There's a few who could, a few who have even done so. Most? Honestly I just don't see it.

[nol]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I started thinking about the faculty that I've paid rather dearly for my kid to be exposed to over the past few years. I'm not sure I believe even a quarter of them could survive outside academia. There's a few who could, a few who have even done so. Most? Honestly I just don't see it.

Is this different from the realization once you hit middle school or so that an academically advanced student is likely already displaying more generalized intelligence than most people who become teachers?

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by nol

Is this different from the realization once you hit middle school or so that an academically advanced student is likely already displaying more generalized intelligence than most people who become teachers?

Heh. This reminds me of an incident I had in 2nd grade. My teacher INSISTED that there were 34 cm in a foot -- because she was counting the mm past 30cm. Eventually I convinced her she was wrong, but it took a lot of arguing over multiple days to do it.

My daughter has her GS meetings in an art room at her old elementary school. My wife took her there the other day and reported that there was a big reminder sign on the wall - with a word obviously misspelled (I forget the word, but it was a facepalm moment). It's like...really? You're a teacher. You should get this right. And even if you don't, some other teacher should catch this. Never mind the handouts and notices that come home with misspellings, commas and apostrophes flying everywhere, etc. Though at least some of those can be chalked up to support staff.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by nol

Is this different from the realization once you hit middle school or so that an academically advanced student is likely already displaying more generalized intelligence than most people who become teachers?

Yeah, I think so, because when I figured that out in MS myself (okay, in my case & situation, in elementary school... but I digress) I wasn't taking personality traits & such into account, only the apparent raw intellect.

I guess my observation there extends beyond just intelligence & factors in other stuff too.

[path12]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

Heh. This reminds me of an incident I had in 2nd grade. My teacher INSISTED that there were 34 cm in a foot -- because she was counting the mm past 30cm. Eventually I convinced her she was wrong, but it took a lot of arguing over multiple days to do it.

I wrote a book review in 8th grade that I got an F on for being clearly lifted from somewhere else. It was not. I think that was right about the point where school lost me.

[Edward64]

Enjoy reading this thread. I know this topic has come up before and know I'm in the minority here.

There seems to be more negative vs pro commentary on the common core. But I believe if you don't measure/track you can't improve and I am for the common core (what other option is there to quantitatively measure progress?).

There was a recent survey sponsored by Gates Foundation that showed teachers are accepting the common core but also know there have be rebuttals to the contrary that the report was biased.

Teachers union cites Common Core in decision to cut Gates funding

The American Federation of Teachers, which has won millions of dollars in grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will no longer accept foundation money for its Innovation Fund. Union members have expressed concern about the poor implementation in many states of the Common Core State Standards, one of the initiatives in which the fund invests.

AFT President Randi Weingarten said at the recent SXSWedu conference in Austin that she would ask her executive council to approve a five-cent raise in dues to make up for the money that the nation’s second largest teachers union would have received from the Gates foundation for its Innovation Fund. The fund has invested not only in the Common Core standards but in expanding learning time, charter schools and other projects.

The Gates Foundation has awarded more than $5 million to the AFT Educational Foundation in the last five years, including a 36-month $4.4 million grant in June 2012 to support the Innovation Fund, teacher development and the Common Core State Standards, according to the Gates foundation Web site. The Gates Foundation also has awarded the AFT grant money for other purposes outside the Innovation Fund, and Weingarten said the AFT would still accept Gates money for other purposes.

Weingarten said at the conference that she had decided to stop taking Gates money for the Innovation Fund after talking with many union members, who have been unsettled by the implementation of the Common Core State Standards, which have been heavily supported by the Gates Foundation and Bill Gates for years.

Weingarten has supported the standards but called the implementation in recent years “far worse” than the rollout of the Obama administration’s problem-plagued health insurance Web site in the fall, and has called for a rethinking of the standards for the youngest students. Teachers have complained that they have not had enough time to learn the standards and create new materials to teach students, and some states have already given high-stakes standardized tests said to be aligned with the new standards.

My question is --

Has the teacher union/organizations proposed/support/pushed for an alternative that can quantitatively measures progress or lack off?

[path12]

Seeing the common core test questions for the first time I was really surprised and dismissive of the entire concept. After a week or so I'm starting to swing more towards the center -- I can understand the concept but it is so foreign to my middle/high school experiences in the 70's that it is jarring.

But after pondering I believe I'm starting to get what they are trying for. I still need to decide if I think it is the right approach though. Really not sure about that.

[Buccaneer]

Letter to the editor from an 8th grader is response to the testings

Tests have crushed students' hope

My name is Caroline Spence, and I am an eighth-grade student at Mountain Ridge Middle School. I have an opinion regarding the recent article about the resignation of Liberty High School teacher Pauline Hawkins. First of all, I would like to say that, contrary to popular belief, myself and many of my friends greatly enjoy and cherish education. However, the recent standards and tests that my fellow students and I have been bombarded with have crushed many of my dearest friends' hope of being a well-rounded, educated student. Society's and the government's stereotype that teens aren't good students is not only false - it is appalling. Every student that I know honestly wants to learn and honestly tries to achieve and do their best. The recent tests haven't improved our viewpoint on education or showed us where we need to improve. They have destroyed society's and even our respect for our generation.

I know many people who have fallen so far behind the curriculum of the recent standards that they have simply decided that there is no point in trying to learn anymore and don't do work in class or out - and no amount of pep-talking or yelling can make them pick up a pencil. These people are wonderful, amazing human beings who have been crushed academically by the cacophony of tests and regulations that we have been burdened with. I don't think that all tests should be revoked - quite the opposite - however the magnitude and the severity of these tests have crushed our individuality as a person and our hope in being an educated, wonderful person.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Letter to the editor from an 8th grader is response to the testings

In other words, we hate being held responsible for the material, hate having our shortcomings noted, hate not being patted on the head & told it's all gonna be okay.

[CraigSca]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Letter to the editor from an 8th grader is response to the testings


"...have crushed many of my dearest friends' hope of being a well-rounded, educated student"

"They have destroyed society's and even our respect for our generation."

"the magnitude and the severity of these tests have crushed our individuality as a person and our hope in being an educated, wonderful person."

"they have simply decided that there is no point in trying to learn anymore and don't do work in class or out - and no amount of pep-talking or yelling can make them pick up a pencil"

Wow. I'm sorry, but that's just ridiculous.

[Buccaneer]

I know but it does provide a perspective from a student point of view.

[CraigSca]

Really, I've been in and out of this thread, so I'm not sure if a solution has been posted, but wasn't the entire concept of having standardized testing an offshoot of the miserable performance by our students (I think it was 10-15 years ago)?

So - if standardized testing doesn't work, what will? You can't just go back to the good old days because that wasn't working either.

[gstelmack]

The problem with common core, at least around here, is not common core itself, but the implementation. There are 2 specific problem areas:

1) There was no phase-in. So, kids show up in the next grade expected to have mastery of subjects they were not taught the year before. Teachers are playing catchup around here, which is making that first year or two difficult.

2) One idea I like in the common core is having different methods to teach topics. For example, I had to dig in to the various methods my daughter was taught to do multi-digit division, and they are all doing the same thing, but approaching it in different ways. I like the idea of having multiple tools available to the teacher to find the way that each student learns it best. The problem is that because we use the standardized tests to rate teachers, the students are quizzed on ALL methods. So we've gone from the good idea of "find a method that works for the student, because they aren't all going to understand the old method" to "make all the students learn all the ways". Given that the entire concept acknowledges that not all kids will understand each method, we have now created an environment that is doomed to failure.

I won't even get into how my third grader is spending so much time taking standardized tests (one or more per month throughout the year) that the teachers have little time to actually TEACH them anything.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by CraigSca

Really, I've been in and out of this thread, so I'm not sure if a solution has been posted, but wasn't the entire concept of having standardized testing an offshoot of the miserable performance by our students (I think it was 10-15 years ago)?

So - if standardized testing doesn't work, what will? You can't just go back to the good old days because that wasn't working either.

Well, we could go back to holding kids accountable and not passing them on to the next grade when they haven't learned the material. The whole "self-esteem" movement that meant you couldn't fail kids led to that miserable performance - you had Florida graduating kids who couldn't read, for example. You have to fix parents excusing everything their kids do, and get them to hold the kids accountable, rather than using the schools as a glorified daycare service (bitching and moaning when there is a snow day, for example).

My father got out of teaching when the parents started getting mad at him for sending home failure warnings, when their kids weren't handing in ANY work at all.

[TheOhioStateUniversity]

Increased retention is not the answer. Research has proven retention to be fools gold, in most cases. Repeating the same grade will not magically render a child capable of mastering grade level content. Instructional differentiation, exposure to empirically validated interventions, and increased school/home collaboration are essential. Too often retention is used to mask ineffective instructional practices, lack of systemic support for underachieving students, the possible presence of school-age disabilities, and/or environmental/parental instability.

[AENeuman]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Tests have crushed students' hope

Every student that I know honestly wants to learn and honestly tries to achieve and do their best.

Vs.

I know many people who have fallen so far behind the curriculum of the recent standards that they have simply decided that there is no point in trying to learn anymore and don't do work in class or out - and no amount of pep-talking or yelling can make them pick up a pencil.

Ahh, the Victim-Generation, Perhaps when her parents were editing this they could have noticed this contradiction.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by TheOhioStateUniversity

Too often retention is used to mask ineffective instructional practices, lack of systemic support for underachieving students, the possible presence of school-age disabilities, and/or environmental/parental instability.

You sure you don't mean was instead of is? 'Cause best I can figure nothing short of an act of Congress will get a student held back these days.

[MrBug708]

My students (5th grade) finished taking the practice Smarter Balance test last week. I felt like the math is going to be rather difficult to master. I understand the ideas and concepts that they want the students to be able to master, but they need a systematic change to the way they teach in primary grades to be able to succeed, even in 5th grade. A side note, all of the things they are learning in 5th grade, most of it wasn't taught to me until I was in junior high, at I went to a fairly prestigious private school.

The performance assessment aspect of it, I liked the concept, but the first three questions were pointless. It could have just as easily been on the ELA part of the testing IMO and it should have used the time to help the students plan and write their essay.

I liked the ELA. I thought it is better than your standard ABCD scantron tests that we've seen for a long time. I'm curious to see the scoring and how students do perform, with the added elements being done on the computer.

All this being said, we'll get no test scores this year as the test was done just to "test the test".

[TheOhioStateUniversity]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

You sure you don't mean was instead of is? 'Cause best I can figure nothing short of an act of Congress will get a student held back these days.

It might be a county specific thing because they employ it liberally in my neck of the woods.

[Galaxy]

Interesting piece from the NY Times:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com...me&ref=general

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by Galaxy

Interesting piece from the NY Times:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com...me&ref=general

That piece appears worthless as its measuring 'parental involvement' - not what the actual involvement is, if its complaining that 'little Johnny shouldn't be expelled/told off for not doing his homework' then its wholly different than having a supportive background where they are actively encouraged to behave and apply themselves.

I know for a fact that parents can have a huge effect as my youngest son left to his own devices wouldn't ever do his homework or behave, but he is currently doing well at school and slowly learning self control and self motivation with some persistent nudging from myself and my wife ... in exactly the same manner that our other kids have.

I do however agree totally that spurious involvement of parents in school events and volunteering has no value at all from an educational standpoint.

It'd also be nice if they split 'homework help' down to where a parent obviously 'did' the homework for the kid or where they actively help them learn the subject ... again the two are totally different in terms of effect of the interaction (i.e. one encourages the kid to be lazy and do nothing, the other helps them succeed).

Finally the involvement of parents in non-school activities such as setting boundaries, socialising a child sensibly (ie. so they know how to behave) and also instilling a positive attitude towards education are 'involvement' which have a huge effect on a kids school career imho.

(end of griping )

PS - Since when does the NYTimes post such a 'tripe' analysis and not at least link to the 'study' involved so people can determine if there is any critical basis for the article? .. very disappointing.

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

PS - Since when does the NYTimes post such a 'tripe' analysis and not at least link to the 'study' involved so people can determine if there is any critical basis for the article? .. very disappointing.

It's an opinion piece, not a regular NYTimes article. Every newspaper posts opinion pieces and there are no requirements for the editorial author to prove their point.

[Buccaneer]

Here's an example of how a school can hold students and parents accountable. Whenever a student fails an assignment, quiz or test, my son's school sends out these emails:

Dear Parent,

This automated message is part of our approach to partner with you for your child's academic success. Our records indicate that your child, ****, has failing grades on the following assignments.

Honors European Lit & Comp -- ToTC Quiz: ch. 15-18
Latin II -- Chapter 4 Reading, lines 12 - end

We ask that you please sign into your parent portal account to find more detailed information. If you have any questions after reviewing these grades and discussing them with your child, please contact the teacher for clarification or to arrange a conference

Sincerely,
*********
Principal

Please do not respond directly to this email address as it is not checked on a regular basis. Please direct any questions to your child's teacher

For record, my son is getting a solid A in Latin and a B in English. I'll have to ask him about these two assignments.

[cuervo72]

Our school has something like that - I think the application is called Pinnacle. When grades change or dip we'll get a notice (sometimes teachers will add assignments into the system that account for points but aren't yet graded - so that new 0 of 100 will spit out a false flag). You can also log in at any time and see a list of all assignments and grades.

Of course, the parent actually has to be signed up in the system to receive any information...

[rowech]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Here's an example of how a school can hold students and parents accountable. Whenever a student fails an assignment, quiz or test, my son's school sends out these emails:



For record, my son is getting a solid A in Latin and a B in English. I'll have to ask him about these two assignments.

Sadly, the parents who probably needed these emails will not have Internet access for a variety of reasons more than likely -- also likely the schools can't afford such programs.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by rowech

also likely the schools can't afford such programs.

They can't be too expensive, even the bottom feeding system where we used to live had that sort of setup several years ago.

[Buccaneer]

To make this work, the administrators have to set up a process to ensure all grades are entered electronically and they hold the teachers accountable to accuracy and completeness.

[Buccaneer]

Allow me to post one more letter

Being asked to do the impossible

I am writing in response a letter a while back titled "Teaching is no longer possible."

To back up what Kim Seiler has said, research shows that the number one indicator of a child's academic success is parental involvement. When you look at the numbers, which I will share below, it is not possible to close the gap that so many children today come to school with. Schools and teachers are being asked to do the impossible and without the understanding of knowledge of what they're truly up against, the public expects the impossible too.

Here is some of the data/research found in The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease.

A 4-year-old child from a professional family will have heard 45 million words, 26 million words in a working-class family, and 13 million words in a welfare family. All three of these children show up for kindergarten on the same day, but one will have heard 32 million fewer words. To close this gap, the teacher would have to speak 10 words a second for 900 hours. This language heard at home is one of the top indicators of success, along with books in the home and children being read aloud to.

While doctrine blames teachers for low reading scores, research shows that the seeds of reading and school success are sown in the home, long before a child ever arrives at school. In this specific study, found in Trelease's book, 21 classes of kindergartners were examined for children who displayed either high or low interest in books. Those students' home environments were then examined in detail. The numbers reinforce the adage "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree." Therefore, you change the tree if you want different apples.

We're pushing children to read at younger and younger ages. There should be no rush to have a child reading at ages 4 and 5 but since our politicians are the ones making laws about Common Core and Standardized Testing, it's clear they aren't up on the research. Finland boasts the highest reading scores in the world and they don't teach children to read until age 7. They also do no standardized testing. They have 15 minutes of recess for every 45 minutes kids are in class. They have no national curriculum.

The United States is headed in the wrong direction, and fast. Teachers spend half of their time completing tasks that are not in the child's best interest. In fact, it's just the opposite. The amount of time and energy teachers spend on paperwork, standardized report cards, data, testing, meetings, evaluations, and so on, is out of control.

The public gets results from TCAP and statewide school ranking published online as well as awards schools receive. All of these things are deceiving. The public is told that your neighborhood school is not closing the gap between minority students and white students.

What they aren't told. that gap isn't closeable once the kids start school. Until something is done to change the families and the homes these low-performing kids are coming from, the schools won't make up that difference. The education in this country is based on history, not on research. We aren't doing what's best for kids, we're just doing what we've always done.

[molson]

Isn't the whole point of parenting and making a living to try to give your kids advantages? To me, it always seems like the vilification of this "gap" is in contrast with human nature. Or maybe I'm wrong - which good parent out there will stand up in the name of equality and stop being so darn involved in their kids' life? Or lets say by some miracle, the government somehow creates the equivalent of an involved quality parent for every child, maybe through more school funding or something. Will every parent who doesn't need the help agree not to help their kids' even a smidgen more and negate those gains?

[sterlingice]

Doesn't that letter basically say "the key indicator is parental involvement" and that's why kids are failing? Then it blasts the system for that problem.

I'm going back to a previous post I made on this: saying parental involvement is a problem is identifying a problem. However, it doesn't doesn't actually solve the problem nor does it mean there's no positive or negative effects from the results of how or what we teach. It feels like a silly rhetorical tool that is used for multiple purposes such as creating a built in scapegoat for why something will fails, an explanation of why any past plans have failed, and a reason for why a new idea will fail so we shouldn't even try it.

When I come into work on a Monday morning and am forced to address an ugly problem, I don't get to say "I didn't want to deal with this because it's a thorny issue that's partially outside of my control". Or if I do choose to do that, I accept the consequences of the currently bad system and outcomes from it. It seems like in this case, it's a way to ignore the problems with the current system.

SI

[Autumn]

I don't feel like anyone's telling involved parents to get less involved. Is someone? I think the point is that if we want to improve things it makes sense to focus our attention on the things that make the real difference. Spending years and millions of hours arguing about school curriculum doesn't make sense if what we really need to do is enrich a child's home environment. Do we have the same control over home environment? No. But we certainly have an impact on it as a society.

[molson]

Originally Posted by Autumn

I don't feel like anyone's telling involved parents to get less involved. Is someone? I think the point is that if we want to improve things it makes sense to focus our attention on the things that make the real difference. Spending years and millions of hours arguing about school curriculum doesn't make sense if what we really need to do is enrich a child's home environment. Do we have the same control over home environment? No. But we certainly have an impact on it as a society.

It's not literally the solution people are calling for, it's just strange to me that there's this push in the discussion to try to minimize advantages some kids have, when, it would seem like good parents will ALWAYS seek advantages for their kids. I commend good parents though for being in favor of policies and ideas that would push their own, well-parented kids, back to the relative pack. It just seems contrary to all their other efforts though.

[CraigSca]

So - let's generalize, just for kicks...

Test scores have been going down over the past x years, correct? That's what we're worried about, correct?

If the research above is true, then parental involvement has been falling the past x years as well, correct? Are Finland's parents more involved? If so, to heck with their curriculum and their x minutes of recess for every y minutes of instruction. That's just a feel-good story and America's love affair with the European mystique ("Click here for the Secret Why French Women Never Get Fat!").

If it IS a lack of parental involvement that has occurred over the years, ok then, why is that, and how do we change it?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by CraigSca

So - let's generalize, just for kicks...

Test scores have been going down over the past x years, correct? That's what we're worried about, correct?

If the research above is true, then parental involvement has been falling the past x years as well, correct? Are Finland's parents more involved? If so, to heck with their curriculum and their x minutes of recess for every y minutes of instruction. That's just a feel-good story and America's love affair with the European mystique ("Click here for the Secret Why French Women Never Get Fat!").

If it IS a lack of parental involvement that has occurred over the years, ok then, why is that, and how do we change it?

From a greatschools.org (whatever the hell that is) article -- the first link that showed up when searching "parental involvement Finland" --

“No, I think there is a far lower rate of parental involvement. We believe most learning should happen in school,” he said. “I think that parents feel the schools are so well prepared that it’s not a real priority. In general, parents do other things with their children — after-school activities, trips, community events."

[molson]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

From a greatschools.org (whatever the hell that is) article -- the first link that showed up when searching "parental involvement Finland" --

Originally Posted by article

“No, I think there is a far lower rate of parental involvement. We believe most learning should happen in school,” he said. “I think that parents feel the schools are so well prepared that it’s not a real priority. In general, parents do other things with their children — after-school activities, trips, community events."

I would think there's a correlation between parental involvement in those "other things" and school and life success though too. Though, I'm probably in the minority where the whole parents-having-their-teachers'-email-addresses-and-not-being-afraid-to-use-them-a-lot thing actually kind of freaks me out a little. School, to some extent, I think is a place where you should start that separation from your parents, and realize there's this whole other world and learn about accountability. Obviously, you don't have any REAL accountability as a kid yet, but it sure felt like a real game changer to suddenly have this whole other word separate from your parents that you had to perform in.

[cuervo72]

So...the desired outcome is for kids to hear more words before going to school, but not to actually read?

What if kids want to read before then? Take it up on their own? No no, Johnny. You'd better hold off on that book until you're seven!

[AENeuman]

I guess one could argue that Finland has a greater shard value system, thus less need to re-educate students.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

So...the desired outcome is for kids to hear more words before going to school, but not to actually read?

What if kids want to read before then? Take it up on their own? No no, Johnny. You'd better hold off on that book until you're seven!

TBH, I lost any interest in that letter once I hit that part. That's someone we're all better served by having out of the education business afaic.

[Buccaneer]

Perhaps we need to create more of an environment and attitude as this great, young man?

Kwasi Enin, 8 for 8 in Ivy League admissions, selects Yale - CNN.com

New York (CNN) -- And the winner is ... Yale.
That was the selection made Wednesday by Kwasi Enin, the New York high school student accepted by the eight Ivy League schools -- Harvard, Yale, Brown, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth, Princeton and Cornell.
He made his pick in style, staging a news conference in the gym of William Floyd High School and delivering the big announcement before teachers and members of the media.
A visit to the New Haven, Connecticut, campus helped him decide.
"My Bull Dog Days experience last week was incredible," he said. "I met geniuses from all across the world. And everyone there was so friendly and inviting. ... And I believe that their deep appreciation and love for music, like I have, was very critical for me deciding to go there."
His father, Ebenezer, thanked all those at the high school who encouraged his son. "We are grateful for all the inspiration," he said.
"People think Kwasi is like an angel or somebody who was sheltered. Really, we gave him a lot of freedom, even though at the same time we were very strict with him in terms of academics and the way he behaved. ... We only pray that going forward he will stay focused and not be distracted."
Referring to Kwasi's 14-year-old sister, Adwoa, their father said: "I told her, Look, I believe you can do better than him."
Enin scored 2250 out of a possible 2400 on his SAT, placing him in the 98th percentile across the country, according to The College Board. He's also ranked 11th in his class at William Floyd High School, a public school on Long Island, according to his principal, Barbara Butler.
"I applied knowing that going to any of the Ivy League schools would be wonderful," Enin told CNN earlier this month. "I thought if I applied to all eight, I figured I'd get into one ... but from the first one onwards I said, 'This can't be happening!' I was shocked seeing all these acceptances under my name."
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Butler said Enin is not only a model academic student, but also plays three instruments for the chamber orchestra, sings in an a cappella group, throws shot put and discus for the high school's track and field team, participates in student government and has had a lead role in school plays since the ninth grade.
"Usually kids are good athletes or good musicians or good actors, but they don't have all three and then on top add student government. It's a balancing act. He somehow finds time to do it all and then volunteer at a local hospital," Butler said.
Butler has been Enin's principal for six years in both middle and high school.
"He is an incredibly modest, humble and respectable person," Butler said. "He is incredibly dedicated and he has his priorities straight. He takes advantage of whatever opportunity he is afforded."
Rachel Rubin, the founder of Spark Admissions in Massachusetts, who also previously served on admissions committees at selective universities, said the feat is extremely rare.
"It's quite atypical," Rubin said, adding that most students do not apply to all the Ivy League schools.
"Standardized test scores and good grades will get a student in the door to have their application read," Rubin said. "But it's their extracurricular activities, leadership experience, exceptional talents, recommendation letters and personal essays that will move a student from a pile of 'maybes' to a pile of 'accepted.' "
Harvard's acceptance rate, among the most selective in the country, was just 5.9% for the applicants for the class of 2017, according to its admissions site.
Enin was also accepted to Duke University and three State University of New York campuses.
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Enin admitted all along that he favored Yale.
"I really liked their sense of family, relationships between undergraduates and professors, and the residential college," he said earlier this month. "They also have a strong biomedical engineering program, which is a wonderful combination of biology and creative tools that doctors and health care professionals can use."
Enin added that Yale also has a strong music program, one of his beloved hobbies that he hopes to continue when he isn't hitting the books in college.
He hopes to one day pursue medicine, a dream of his that just so happens to align with his parents' careers.
His parents, who immigrated from Ghana in the late 1980s, are both nurses and pushed Enin to receive the highest grades possible and follow his dreams.
"Health care is a prominent field that satisfies people beyond finances and edifies people and is about moral development," he said.
His advice for future applicants?
"Follow your passions in high school and not just follow suit for what you think can get you into these schools," he said. "Develop your outside interests -- not just academics."

[JonInMiddleGA]

"Health care is a prominent field that satisfies people beyond finances and edifies people and is about moral development," he said.

Hmm, reading that quote (italics mine for emphasis) perhaps this kid isn't nearly as smart as we've been led to believe.

[Buccaneer]

I come from a family of caregivers and it is a higher calling, imo.