U.S. should look abroad for education reform, study says

[alp227]

Source: San Jose Mercury News

If school systems were workplaces, Finland would be a collaborative Facebook. The United States would be a decades-old Chrysler factory.

That conclusion could be drawn from a provocative new study that suggests American schools have been looking for reform in all the wrong places.

It's not for a lack of trying. By the thousands, U.S. public schools have undergone overhauls, launched pilot projects and experimented with "best practices." Yet despite countless reforms, overall student achievement has stagnated.

The National Center on Education and the Economy suggests that almost everything embraced by both the establishment and renegades, from smaller class sizes to cash infusions to charter schools, simply has not worked. Instead, the report from the Washington, D.C.-based think tank recommends emulating foreign success stories, primarily by expanding national standards for curriculum, administering smarter and less frequent testing, improving teacher quality, salaries and authority.

Read more: http://www.mercurynews.com/rss/ci_18162590

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in case link doesn't work

[OHdem10]

1. Which foreign countries? UK is having problems also.

We hear praise heaped upon China and India.

Cultural differences? China selects top students and most
gifted students. India does this somewhat. Socio-economic
background does not matter--you just have to be very smart.

Yes, they are broadening the availiblity of education for
everyone but the smartest and most gifted kids are the
interest in the beginning. These are their future scientists
doctors, educators, businessmen.

When test results come in, are we seeing the results from
only the smartest kis? I do no know, just asking.

[mwb970]

2. Maybe someday our students can be as smart as those in Finland.

Or Latvia. Both of those nations (and many others) consistently outscore American students on every test.

I am so sorry to see us reach a point where America can only dream of having its students someday be as smart and well-educated as those in Latvia (which most Americans have never heard of and couldn't find on a map)!

[msongs]

3. the Finland model is INVALID in the US...

practically everyone in their schools is from the same nationality/ethnic/racial grouping and similar economic status. They do not have the huge mix of languages, cultures, socioeconomic levels we have here. Comparing our schools to JAPAN is wrong for the s ame reason.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. The Scandinavian countries are no longer ethnically homogenous

I'm planning a trip there, and all the countries have visible percentages of immigrants, up to 10% in some areas.

The REAL difference is that they don't have the extremes of poverty and wealth that we do.

[harmonicon]

6. This isn't really pertinent to the discussion...

but I'd be at pains if I didn't point out that Finland is not a Scandinavian country. Yes, it was part of Sweden's empire for a long time, but they are now very independent from Scandinavian rule.

[Plucketeer]

7. And I'd bet a buck to a cop's donut

that their PARENTS take a fair measure of responsibility for their kid's performance (scholastic AND social) in the classrooms. This instead of figuring it's up to the schools to turn out responsible, educated young adults.

My wife's a teacher in a California public school - got kiddies failing by the bucket-load. They just don't care. She sees approx. 165 kids thru her classroom every day - prepares for and teaches two widely different topics - and yet - NINE parental units bothered to come to open house night last month. NINE against about 30% of her students that are failing. WHAT does that say? Wife had to be there from 6PM to 9. Where were the concerned parents???

All this crap about avant garde teaching schemes and the glorious technologies - what are we seniors, dunces? Didn't we come thru (for the most part) with the old 3 Rs???
No, when parents start caring - start getting involved, whatever sorta "New & Improved" schemes doofuss Arne Duncan (or any other education experts) comes up with won't matter.

[eilen]

10. I would not judge parents by their ability to show up for Open House

Frankly, I find open house at schools a waste of time. I'm not allowed to talk to the teacher about my kid. They basically just introduce us to the teachers and give us a copy of the papers they gave my kid the first week of class stating what they grade on and the projects they will be working on. I get those papers and read them when my kid comes home. The administration makes us watch a stupid movie about kids and drugs. They push fundraising stuff, booster merchandise, there is inadequate parking and way too many people to get any thing productive out of the experience.

Plus, often I have to work those evenings and it is really hard to get them off once scheduled. I can't ask for them off ahead of time because we are not notified until after the kids have started school.

If there is a problem, I prefer to have the teacher contact me via school note or email so we can set a time and meet (in person or by phone) to discuss it. I already attend special ed meetings a few times a year to discuss where he is, how he is meeting his goals. After 8th grade I insisted that my son attend these meetings as well. There are usually a few of his teachers at the meeting if they feel there is an issue. I rely on his resource teacher and/or guidance counselor to send notifications of these meetings. Those meetings are informative and helpful.

[Plucketeer]

12. In this district

parents are free to talk to the teachers. I'm flabberghasted at the ritual at your kid's school. Here, she only hears from the parents when the parents finally realize little Johnny's about to fail (and subsequently cost the folks money for summer school). It's happening again as the school year come to a close here. Then the wife's expected to do a shuffle to help Johnny make up for the days he was late or texting his pals in class. In other words, it's supposed to be HER panic, since she's the "teacher".

So WHERE WERE those parents all year long when Johnny was sluffing off??? Oh - that's Right. The teacher was supposed to follow Johnny home, make sure he did his homework/studying and give him personal coaching if his grades are slipping.
She's been teaching for over 30 years now. The subjects she teaches are required topics - not electives. The failure rate's been hovering in the mid-30s percent in recent years and is the same for other teachers teaching the same subjects. The kids come to class and screw off. They don't do any homework and they love to cheat. How do TEACHERS quell those trends? How about if the kids were urged, coached, threatened on the home front to apply themselves??? We sure don't see that here. It's just those lazy, overpaid teachers that'r droppin' the ball! Sure wish I had a job with two months vacation!

[eilen]

16. Here, summer school does not have an extra cost

There are 5 week progress reports sent home for classes so I pretty much know if he is screwing off and get on his ass to bring his grades up/get his work done. My son has PDD-NOS and is difficult to motivate -- he does really well in some classes and bombs on others. Part of it is organizational skills--those are challenging for him, he has trouble focusing on/juggling more than 4 classes which means one will get neglected. He will work really hard on something that interests him and research the hell out of it only to not hand in a key part of the assignment because he thinks that the demand for the assignment is pointless and stupid (he in particular, hates requirements to send in 50 notecards-- he says he has to attribute all his sources at the end of his paper anyway when he hands it in, the notecard submission is superfluous and busywork and shows a lack of respect for his process). This is frustrating because he functions at the level of a 23 year old in writing. That brings his grades down but he is not motivated by grades. He is motivated by having smart teachers, intelligent discussion in class, and instructors that don't dismiss his intellect because he is a kid.



I agree, kids should be responsible for their performance. That is why this whole teacher blaming thing will blow up in this country's face. I tell my son that the world will not adapt to him, he has to adapt to it or discover a way around it. He has been given gifts of talent in certain areas and it is up to him to exploit those to benefit the world around him.

I don't doubt your wife is an excellent instructor. My fondest hopes for her is to have some engaged young people with a love of learning and discovery to make her year worth all the trouble.

I have 2 nephews who currently have no parent engaged in their education. One is coming to me to complete high school as I fear he will drop out at home. I will assume guardianship over him until he turns 18 or completes high school. Our district has an alternate track for those kids who are not engaged academically and offers vocational education. He failed every class in ninth grade and the school insisted on promoting him to tenth. Not surprisingly, he is not passing the tenth grade work. The other nephew, well, I think my brother should hand his teachers medals at the end of the year. He is smart but will only disrupt and will not do a lick of work for a teacher who he feels does not like him. He is oppositional (and also lazy). I don't think I can do much for him. I can only save one baby sea turtle at a time.

[tinymontgomery]

18. I have to ask

I have to ask, why can't you call the teacher and set up a time? Both of you are just as busy as the other. Make the first move and just maybe the teacher will continue the relationship since he/she knows you care. Just a thought.

[harmonicon]

5. You really think this?

Read up about Finland and its history. There is still a sizable Swedish speaking minority, and there are multiple ethnic groups and other minority language speakers. Basically, your argument is that we can't have smart kids because Finland doesn't fuck over its poor? Perhaps if we stopped fucking over poor kids, we could be more like them.

[Sancho]

8. That's not true...

Finland is pretty diverse.

[plumbob]

11. It's invalid because mandatory education there ends at 15 years old.

Those who continue do so voluntarily.

Whereas, the US requires all children to attend through grade 12. So we're comparing exit scores of ALL US students versus the motivated fraction that chose to go beyond the 9th grade in Finland.

No comparison can be made.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Finland

[kwassa]

14. Finland, like many countries, divides their educational system into vocational and academic tracks .

whereas in the US we try to make everyone ready for the academic track for college.

So we compare all of our students to their students (and other countries students) who are in the academic track only. Not the vocational students. We compare all of ours to the more academically gifted in other countries.

[plumbob]

17. Correct, and that's why it's not valid. We're starting from different places.

Thanks!

[Monarda]

20. Finnish comprehensive schools = no tracking, no entrance exams

The Nordic strategy for building up high quality and equality in education has been based on constructing a publicly

funded comprehensive school system without selecting, tracking, or streaming students during their basic education

until the age of 16. Part of the strategy is to spread the school network so that pupils have a school near their homes

whenever possible or if this is not feasible, e.g. in rural areas, to provide free transportation to more widely dispersed

schools. Inclusion of special education and instructional efforts to minimize low achievement are also typical to

Nordic educational systems. (Lie, Linnakylä & Roe, 2003, 8.)

***

Up until the 1970s, compulsory education was provided in the seven-year civic school. After four

years of civic school, a part of each age group moved up to the secondary school (grammar school),
which was divided into the five-year lower secondary school and the three-year upper secondary

school . . . Thus the school system operated by the parallel school principle and divided the

people into three unequal groups. This system was considered inadequate in an industrializing and

democratizing society both from the social and pedagogical perspectives.

****
The simultaneous emphasis on social equity and economic growth had solid grounding in

Keynesian economic doctrine and was backed up by economic and social theories.



http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:NW7wrxDQqykJ:cc.joensuu.fi/~anti/publ/uudet/twenty_five_years.pdf+Finland+comprehensive+education&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShyRLWPX81y0udhExBjjNgZNoOrvE2rXQOvNKqTZ4z7e0ZO1VpGmK9NqH9B9XR0yqZG_0wrZeyKNeicmAeMPlQSF1cR--W4dI-jXpBovJkFAkH-k7KpCRmj4Q3wKBR5qCXeKaci&sig=AHIEtbQ9VORHIoF3tYEMneV7C7InXW3Ysw

[Monarda]

19. Tracking in Finland

Finland does not practice tracking. They have a comprehensive system (everyone treated the same) for the first nine years-- school officially starts when kids are seven, so up until US 10th grade. In fact any tracking in elementary school is immoral. What they do have is many aids and teams of tutors and special ed teachers to help kids catch up if they seem to be falling behind. They don't wait for them to fail before doing this.

[Cal33]

13. Switzerland has 3 official languages: German, French and Italian. Have you

ever seen a Swiss banknote? All 3 languages are there.

Swiss schools are pretty good, too. When I was there, a Swiss
secretary could take dictation in all 3 languages, and this
after 7 years of school, plus 3 years of trade school.

Here in America, outside of immigrants and second-generation
Americans, it's hard to find anyone who knows a second
language fluently.

[russspeakeasy]

9. Madfloridian needs to weigh in on this.

[JCMach1]

15. Our biggest problem is politicians in-charge of education...

Politicians who want to apply the business model to something that is inherently difficult and messy.

We also tend to forget that most of the world would be glad to have the school system that we do.

I will just give one example... For the last year, my daughters have attended K12 here in the UAE. Why? The local public and private schools are both expensive and pathetic. Most of those schools are British curriculum. I don't mean to insult our British friends. Frankly it has more to do with how that curriculum is operationalized in this country. However, the British system relies on high-stake testing (O and A levels). Unfortunately, schools here view that to mean: teach to the test and only the test.

The final straw for me was when a teacher asked my daughter to stop reading novels (in her own time) and focus only on studying test material. She seized her book as she was reading during a break.