Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
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Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Reading, ‘Rithmatic … and nothing else
On Sunday, Sam Dillon wrote in the New York Times about a new study from the highly-regarded Center for Education Policy that shows class time is sinking on subjects not tested under No Child Left Behind.
This is not a new problem. But the trend is potentially more severe now with NCLB so narrowly focused on reading and math.
In 2000, I wrote in the Dayton Daily News about Cincinnati’s Taft High School, where kids were forbidden to take any untested subject until they passed a state exam (excerpt below). But at least back then, Ohio’s state test covered five subjects — reading, writing, math, science and citizenship.
Even back then, some were complaining that kids were learning less history to instead focus on citizenship and missing out on important studies in art, music and other “specials”.
It’s one of the byproducts of high stakes testing — when we create high incentives for everyone to pass tests, those tests can become more important than anything else. This is one of the most common complaints I hear from parents. Twice in the last week, a father has lamented to me about how his kids seem to do nothing else but prepare for tests.
What’s the solution? How can we ensure subjects that have been viewed as important to learning for hundreds of years — music, art, foreign language, physical education — remain a part of our kids’ education? One solution is more tests. We can test all those subjects too.
What’s your solution?
Here’s the excerpt from my six-year-old story on Taft High School. To me, it doesn’t sound much different than the examples in Sam’s piece in the Times:
Last October, Ohio Gov. Bob Taft praised a new program at a high school named for his grandfather as a model for inner city schools across the state.
That program at Taft High School blocks freshmen from taking art, music, foreign language or gym until they pass the ninth-grade proficiency test.
“They made a very convincing case to me that if those kids don’t learn the basics - the reading and the writing - and if they don’t get them right away in ninth grade, they’re gone. They’re out on the street. You’ve lost them,” Taft said in an interview Friday.
Taft High School has elevated passing the ninth-grade proficiency test to its top priority for incoming students - at the exclusion of almost everything else.
Freshmen who still need to pass the test - just about everybody at Taft - spend four class periods a day in core courses - English, math, science ans social studies. Two other periods are reserved mostly for test preparation.
School administrators say passing the proficiency test is so important to student success that they must make it the No. 1 goal for freshmen.
The approach horrifies some educators who believe music, art, physical education and foreign language are vital parts of learning that should not be an afterthought.
“I think that flies in the face of what a well-rounded education would be for youngsters,” said John Mahlmann, executive director of the Virginia-based National Association for Music Education. “I think it’s outrageous.”
Freshman Cynthia Jackson thinks every suburban Ohio kid who dreads dodging kickballs in gym class should be thankful. While kids at other schools play games in gym, she keeps working on her basic skills.
Jackson believes the school will help her with the ninth-grade proficiency test, which she must pass to graduate. But she admits that thinking about the test wears on her. At Taft, very few students in Jackson’s freshman class spend any part of a school day in sport, in song or at an easel.
To even set foot in a foreign language class, a Taft freshman must be in the top 5 percent of the class - measured not by grade-point average, but by proficiency test score.
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Carnival tents are up
This week’s Carnival of Education is up at the Right Wing Nation blog.
The Carnival is a weekly compilation of the best in education blogging that is usually hosted by The Education Wonks. My post that asks if the testing industry is cracking under the pressure of NCLB is included in this week’s roundup.
And a belated congratulations to carnival founder and organizer, The Education Wonks, for being named best education blog in the annual Best of Blogs awards.
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