Friday, October 26, 2012

Educational Readings:Montessoei, Diana Ravitch


Educational Readings - By Allan Alach

 

Yesterday’s Special Edition, highlighting the Cambridge Primary Review, has been well received around the world, helping to connect the international campaign against GERM.
 
This includes this comment from Robin Alexander in an email to Phil Cullen:

‘That's terrific. Many thanks,

Sir Robin Alexander
 Best wishes from Chile (where there's huge interest in the Cambridge Primary Review).

 Robin’

I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it to me at allan.alach@ihug.co.nz.

This week’s homework!

Montessori: The Missing Voice in the Education Reform Debate
 

These two links need no introduction.



The Data-Driven Education Movement

A comprehensive debunking of this GERM that is infecting education all over:

‘Being data-driven is only useful if you have a strong theory by which to navigate; anything else can leave you heading blindly toward a cliff.’


How to save taxpayers billions of $$ — really

Marion Brady arguing for the use of sampling as the best means of determining effectiveness of pupil learning.

This section, while US focussed, is very applicable elsewhere. Readers, wherever they are, will be very familiar with this.

What’s the education-test manufacturer complex’s long-term strategy, as coordinated by the American Legislative Exchange Council?

           (1) Invent an education emergency and make skillful use of the mainstream media to push it.

          (2) Attack the legitimacy of public education by destroying trust in its most obvious representatives — teachers.

          (3) To make manipulation easy, centralize decision-making for standards and accountability at the highest possible level.

          (4) Work behind the scenes with politicians from both political parties, wealthy foundations, and Wall Street types to push vouchers, charters, and funding for anything public that can be profitably privatized.

          (5) Call congressional hearings on the matter and invite to testify only those “educators” and think-tank “experts” who — if they taught long enough to understand what they were doing — have long since forgotten it.

          (6) Dazzle the continuous stream of new, young, inexperienced teachers with slick, colorful, ready-made instructional materials heavy with current jargon about it being “data driven,” “child-centered,” “research-based,” “technology enabled,” “blended,” “aligned with the new Common Core Standards. ”


Testing in kindergarten: whatever happened to story time? 

‘Chicago kindergarteners could spend a third of their school year taking standardized tests’

A warning for the rest of infected world from the USA, remembering that their kindergarten is for five year olds.


Five-year-olds put to the test as kindergarten exams gain steam

Another article on the same topic.


Survey Finds that NAPLAN Has a Detrimental Effect on Education

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Australia now finding out what USA and England have already learnt - GERM damages education.


Audit Blasts Lack of Oversight of Charter Spending

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it, Part 2. As the New Zealand government moves to pass legislation to establish charter schools, there is increasing concern about the lack of oversight. Maybe the government, as well as blindly following the GERM prescription, should also read articles such as this one from Diane Ravitch.

No comments: