Up to three-quarters of U.S. schools deemed failing based on achievement test scores would receive passing grades if evaluated using a less biased measure, a new study suggests.
Ohio State University researchers developed a new method of measuring school quality based on schools' actual impact on learning - how much faster students learned during the academic year than during summer vacation when they weren't in class.
Using this impact measure, about three-quarters of the schools now rated as "failing" because of low test scores no longer would be considered substandard.
That means that in these schools mislabeled as failing, students may have low achievement scores, but they are learning at a reasonable rate and they are learning substantially faster during the school year than they are during summer vacation.
"Our impact measure more accurately gauges what is going on in the classroom, which is the way schools really should be evaluated if we're trying to determine their effectiveness," said Douglas Downey, co-author of the study and professor of sociology at Ohio State University.
Downey conducted the study with Paul von Hippel, a research statistician, and Melanie Hughes, a doctoral student, both in sociology at Ohio State. Their findings appear in the current issue of the journal Sociology of Education.
Currently, most people believe that it is obvious which schools are the best - the ones with the highest achievement scores. But using achievement scores to measure school quality assumes that all schools have students with equivalent backgrounds and opportunities that will give them equal opportunities to succeed in school. And that's obviously not true, von Hippel said.
Students from disadvantaged backgrounds often face a variety of problems at home; for example, their parents often talk and read to them less, and they are less likely to get eyeglasses for nearsightedness. The result is that they are already behind other children before they even begin school.
"The way most states rank schools is extremely distorted," von Hippel said. "We can't evaluate schools assuming that they all serve similar kinds of children."
The results suggest that states may have to reconsider how they evaluate schools under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which emphasizes holding schools accountable for student achievement.
The study used data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, a national survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Education. The analysis focused on 4,217 children in 287 schools.
The survey measured children's math and reading scores on four occasions: the beginning and end of their kindergarten year, and the beginning and end of first grade.
By comparing test scores at the end of kindergarten and the beginning of first grade, the researchers could measure learning rates during summer vacation.
Comparing test scores from the beginning and end of first grade allowed the researchers to see how much children learn during the school year.
They then were able to calculate how much faster students learned during the first-grade school year compared to when they were on summer vacation. This was the "impact" score that showed how much schools were actually helping students learn.
"If we evaluate schools that way, things change quite a bit as far as which ones we would identify as failing," Downey said.
If failing schools are defined as those in the bottom 20 percent of achievement scores, about three-quarters of these schools are no longer failing when ranked on the impact measure.
"It suggests that many schools serving disadvantaged kids are doing a good job with children who face a lot of challenges," Downey said. It also means that many teachers in these schools should be lauded for the impact they are having - and not criticized because their students are not passing the achievement tests.
The study also found that about 17 percent of schools that are not failing when rated by achievement test scores turn out to be failing when ranked on impact.
"These schools may be serving children from advantaged backgrounds who do well on achievement tests, but the learning rate for their students isn't dramatically faster when they are in school versus when they are not. In other words, these schools are not having much positive impact," according to Downey.
The bottom line is that, under the current system, "we are not pressuring the schools that need to be pressured," Downey said.
Another way to measure school effectiveness is what has been called the learning approach - simply measuring how much students learn in a year, rather than where they end up on an achievement scale. However, a major limitation to this approach is that the amount learned in a year is still not entirely under schools' control, von Hippel said.
Students spend three months of the year on summer vacation. Even if you look at only the academic year, children spend most of their time in the home environment outside of school.
The advantage of the impact model is that it measures the different rates of learning between summer and the academic year, giving a more accurate picture of the role of schools, according to the researchers.
The profile of failing schools changes substantially when you use the impact measure rather than achievement scores, von Hippel noted.
Based on achievement scores, failing schools tend to be in urban areas, serve a higher percentage of children who qualify for a free lunch, and have a high minority population.
But if you look at impact scores, failing schools are not as concentrated in poor, urban areas with high minority populations.
"When you shift the focus from achievement to impact, there are still schools that do very well and some that do poorly," von Hippel said. "But they are not necessarily where you think they are. There are high-impact schools in every kind of neighborhood, serving every kind of child. The same is true of low-impact schools."
Von Hippel says the results of this study also suggest new ways to elevate achievement in students.
"If there's a school that rates high in educational impact but low on achievement, maybe the school should have a summer program with those same teachers who are having such a positive impact," von Hippel said. "That's certainly more appropriate than saying something must be wrong with this school because of the low achievement scores."
Downey said it is possible to use the impact model to evaluate schools without increasing the number of tests students have to take and schools have to administer.
Right now, schools test students six times - once each year between 3rd grade and 8th grade.
"Rather than use those six tests for low quality information, let's redistribute them differently to get quality information about the schools," he said.
Tests could be given at the end of 3rd grade, the beginning of 4th grade and the end of 4th grade. That way student learning rates could be compared in the summer after third grade with the 4th grade school year. Another set of three tests could be given at the end of 7th grade, and the beginning and end of 8th grade.
"We would have the same number of tests, but information that is substantially more useful," he said.
The study was funded by grants from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the Spencer Foundation, The John Glenn Institute at Ohio State, and the Ohio State P-12 Project.
Source: Ohio State Research Communications
Many 'Failing' Schools Aren't Failing
Literacy Campaign Encourages Reading Across the District
The Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) invites all District residents to participate in a new citywide literacy campaign to combat the growing problem of illiteracy and to encourage residents to engage in reading as a daily practice.
"We want to get District residents of all ages involved in the literacy campaign to demonstrate the importance of learning to read at an early age and continuing to read throughout adulthood," said Deborah A. Gist, State Superintendent of Education.
The OSSE is encouraging District residents to document a "Day in the Life of Reading" by photographing their families, friends, and communities reading. These photographs--including parents reading to their children, children reading alone, literacy volunteers teaching people to read, senior citizens reading, bed-time reading, and more--will be used in the literacy campaign as part of a photo essay to illustrate reading as a daily habit. Please e-mail your digital photographs to osse.communications@dc.gov, and visit http://www.osse.dc.gov for photo submission requirements. The pictures may also be considered for use as part of a slide show presentation at the campaign launch and inclusion in other campaign materials.
Research shows that reading books is the best predictor of several measures of reading achievement for children. According to the recently released DC Comprehensive Assessment System (DC-CAS) test scores, District students made significant improvement in reading at both the elementary and secondary levels for the 2007-2008 school year. In reading, the number of elementary students performing at the proficient level or higher went up 7.3 percent from last year, and secondary students reaching or exceeding proficiency also increased by 7.3 percent.
However, 36 percent (170,000) of District residents are considered functionally illiterate, compared to 21 percent nationally. People who are functionally illiterate have some ability to read and write but not enough to function fully in everyday life. Functionally illiterate individuals may have difficulty with crucial tasks such as filling out job applications, reading maps, understanding bus schedules, and reading newspaper articles.
The OSSE is hopeful that this new literacy campaign will work to increase literacy across the District. "By working together, we can bring awareness to the problem of illiteracy in the District of Columbia and promote the importance of not only learning to read, but reading every day," said State Superintendent Gist.
Podcast: State-Approved Reading and Literacy Program
Capella University, an accredited(a) and fully online university that is a leading provider of master's and PhD degrees for working adults, has released its latest Inside Online Education podcast. It features a discussion with Beverly Enns, Capella's faculty chair for reading/literacy, about Capella's status as the only online university offering a master's degree program with a state-approved specialization in reading and literacy.
These regular podcasts feature interviews with Capella students, faculty and staff who share the experience of online education from a first-person point of view. They are typically about 15 minutes long and are available at http://www.capellacommons.com/. They are also available via subscription from iTunes.
Children Write Their Own Ending to Popular Children's Book
After ten years, the children's picture book, HEY, LITTLE ANT finally got an ending, or rather, 2,000 of them. Children in Kindergarten through Grade 3 from twenty-seven different states (and Canada) sent authors, Phillip and Hannah Hoose their written thoughts and drawings, answering the book's final question, "What do you think that Kid should do?"
HEY, LITTLE ANT is a dialogue between an ant and the Kid who is about to casually step on it. The Kid hesitates, though, when the ant unexpectedly talks back. The Ant pleads for its life and points out the many things the ant and child have in common. On the book's final page, the authors leave the child's foot suspended above the tiny creature and turn to the reader, asking, "What do you think that Kid should do?"
That question has launched the book, HEY, LITTLE ANT as an essential book in classrooms and libraries around the world. The book has sold hundreds of thousands of copies and has been translated into nine languages since its publication in 1998. To celebrate the book's tenth anniversary as a classroom classic, and to honor the hundreds of readers who have begged them to "tell what happens," the authors launched The Hey, Little Ant Essay Challenge.
Judges from across the country ranging from early childhood educators to professors at universities to naturalists at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle to educators at the country's leading children's museum in Indianapolis selected sixty-one Hey, Little Ant Essay Challenge entries to honor for their creativity and thoughtfulness. Winners included both squishers and non-squishers.
"Some children simply answered the question, said HEY, LITTLE ANT's co-author, Phillip Hoose, "but many dug deeper and recognized broader questions about friendship, kindness, power, and environmental stewardship. The essays and the artwork showed how intensely they thought about the issue."
Kindergarten winner, Sophie Berghmans of Calgary, Alberta submitted a drawing with three panels showing how the Kid's relationship with the Ant changed over time. The Kid says in the three panels, "I doing lik you (don't like you)...I think I lik (like) you... I luv (love) you litil (little) ant."
First grader winner, Marina Sanchez of Wilmington, Delaware encouraged her reader to "come out on the right path...do not squish the ant" because "he's defenseless. If you cild (killed) him, he still did nothing to you." Accompanying this essay was a picture of the Kid in deep contemplation with the Ant at his feet.
Second grade winner, Amos Livers from Oldenburg, Indiana imagined himself observing the Ant in its natural environment. "If an ant were under my shoe I would lay on the ground by the ant and watch it crawl to safety...I would watch the ant tackle this chore and admire his strength and determination."
Third grade winner, Charlie Parsons of Lincoln, Nebraska imagined a scenario in which the Kid's friends ask him to prove his friendship and bravery by squishing the Ant. The Kid in Charlie's story tried a clever subterfuge, but in the end decides his friendships are not worth killing an Ant for.
Because the book asks children to decide the outcome, it has proved to be a widely used "icebreaker" for educators and caregivers to discuss with children everything from bullying to the appropriate use of force to the ethical treatment of animals.
"It is a rare young children's story that asks its readers to look at themselves and figure out what they believe. It invites critical thinking about something relevant to them, while also being significant in a larger world context." said Kindergarten educator, Marie Simon, M.Ed., "I don't tend to be contest oriented. But, I was excited to offer my Kindergarten class a chance to share what they think, and why, in a different format."
The four winners and the fifty-seven honorable mentions will receive signed, personalized copies of the book, HEY, LITTLE ANT and other prizes. One can view the winning essays and artwork on the Essay Challenge website.
Hundreds of Thousands of Kids to Benefit from Borders Book Drive
Throughout the entire month of August, Borders is conducting a company-wide, community-based book drive, which is expected to provide hundreds of thousands of books to children in need across the nation. Nearly 1,000 Borders and Waldenbooks stores have each chosen a charity in their community to benefit from the book drive. The staff at each participating store encourages customers to purchase new books that the store then donates directly to the selected charity.
Borders has thousands of titles to choose from, including classic titles such as "Goodnight Gorilla," "Pat the Bunny," "Where the Wild Things Are," "Goodnight Moon," the "Little Bear" series, "Harold and the Purple Crayon" and the "Junie B. Jones" series.
Some of the organizations that Borders and Waldenbooks stores have chosen to receive book donations include:
-- Reach Out and Read, a national non-profit organization that promotes early literacy by making books a routine part of pediatric care, will receive book donations from nearly 120 Borders and Waldenbooks stores.
-- Boys and Girls Clubs, which offer a safe place to learn and grow - all while having fun, will receive book donations from nearly 70 Borders and Waldenbooks stores.
-- Ronald McDonald House Charities will benefit from nearly 20 Borders and Waldenbooks store book donations in support of their efforts to provide a home away from home for families of seriously ill children receiving treatment at nearby hospitals.
Last year, more than 363,870 books were given to dozens of non-profit organizations through the Borders book drive. According to Rob Gruen, executive vice president of marketing and merchandising for Borders Group, the retailer has set its sights high this year. "We are planning to make this our biggest book drive ever," he said. "More of our stores are participating this year and they are doing some truly creative things to get our customers motivated to help a record number of charities, and as a result, a record number of kids. Our customers are extremely generous and we thank them for their enthusiastic support of this community-based effort. With the start of the new school year, this is a great time to purchase new books to promote reading to children of all ages."
Parents, Read Aloud to Your Kids, Say Experts
Research shows that whether a child has been read aloud to on a regular basis is the single biggest predictor of a child's success in learning to read, says University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Associate Professor of education Kathleen Martin, Ph.D.
Martin and UAB Assistant Professor Kay Emfinger, Ph.D., are authors of the new book "Sharing Books Together: Promoting Emergent Literacy Through Reading Aloud and Home-School Partnerships."
"Reading aloud to children helps them develop oral language," says Martin. "It teaches them how to listen and how narrative is structured. They also learn vocabulary and how print works and that it is read from left to right."
Children who are not read aloud to often enter kindergarten and first grade lacking these skills, which Martin says are important for learning how to read.
"A lot of parents know that reading aloud to their children is important," says Martin, "but often they don't realize that it continues to be of value as the child ages. Also, many parents probably have less time to read aloud to their children these days.
"It is never too early to begin reading aloud to children," Martin said. Even infants can enjoy looking at illustrations in a book as their parents read to them. When children are past kindergarten, they still need to be read aloud to in order to learn about more complicated subjects and how to listen to and comprehend more sophisticated text, Martin said.
It's important for parents to be animated when they are reading to children, says Martin. Using different voices for the various characters in a story makes the experience more fun for young children.
For older children, it's important to look for quality literature that offers a
satisfying story. Parents can select books that have a particular theme or that are written by the child's favorite author, she said.
Besides reading aloud narrative fiction, poetry, which has rhyme, rhythm and repetition, can also be enjoyable for children, Martin said. Reading aloud nonfiction also has benefits.
"Some children enjoy facts more than stories," says Martin, "and reading nonfiction can build up a child's background knowledge."
However, parents should never force children to listen to a text if the child is bored by the material. Reading should always be presented as a fun activity, Martin said.
It's important for parents to be animated when they are reading to children, says Martin. Using different voices for the various characters in a story makes the experience more fun for young children.
For older children, it's important to look for quality literature that offers a
satisfying story. Parents can select books that have a particular theme or that are written by the child's favorite author, she said.
Besides reading aloud narrative fiction, poetry, which has rhyme, rhythm and repetition, can also be enjoyable for children, Martin said. Reading aloud nonfiction also has benefits.
"Some children enjoy facts more than stories," says Martin, "and reading nonfiction can build up a child's background knowledge."
However, parents should never force children to listen to a text if the child is bored by the material. Reading should always be presented as a fun activity, Martin said.
It's important for parents to be animated when they are reading to children, says Martin. Using different voices for the various characters in a story makes the experience more fun for young children.
For older children, it's important to look for quality literature that offers a
satisfying story. Parents can select books that have a particular theme or that are written by the child's favorite author, she said.
Besides reading aloud narrative fiction, poetry, which has rhyme, rhythm and repetition, can also be enjoyable for children, Martin said. Reading aloud nonfiction also has benefits.
"Some children enjoy facts more than stories," says Martin, "and reading nonfiction can build up a child's background knowledge."
However, parents should never force children to listen to a text if the child is bored by the material. Reading should always be presented as a fun activity, Martin said.
Personalised Approach In Delivering Education Electronically
A learning system that adapts to the abilities and needs of students opens the way to a more personalised approach in delivering education electronically.
The use of the web as a teaching medium has not had the success that many had hoped it would. Universities around the world have placed much of their teaching online, accessible from their websites. Many open and distance learning institutions are relying heavily on the web as a means of distributing teaching material to students working at home.
Yet somehow reading a computer screen and interacting with software is not the same as studying in a classroom or a laboratory and e-learning has had a mixed reception.
"The problem is that such an approach is technology driven," says Pierluigi Ritrovato of the Research Centre in Pure and Applied Mathematics (CRMPA) near Salerno, Italy. "The web is a wonderful tool for delivering content so people imagine that this technology is suitable for e-learning. So all the efforts have been going into producing some content and then finding technological solutions for delivering it."
A second, subtler problem is that the teaching content itself contains assumptions about the kind of person the student is and what kind of teaching approach is appropriate. The student or distance teacher is not able to adapt easily the contents to the needs of the student.
What e-learning software has overlooked until now is that no two students are the same. They have different backgrounds, different learning styles and different approaches to learning. A technological medium that ‘delivers' the same material in the same way to every student is bound to fail.
Models of learning
European researchers in the EU-funded project ELeGI (European Learning Grid Infrastructure) decided to take a new approach to e-learning. They designed key network software designed around models of how people learn.
Ritrovato, who is one of the project's scientific coordinators, cites the example of people who want to learn a programming language.
"I might like to work with experiments while others are more interested in reading and understanding, or doing exercises or perhaps by a ‘learning by doing' approach," he says. "The learning model is general enough to take all these aspects into account in a comprehensive way."
The consortium of universities and research centres involved in the project pursued two research lines. On one hand, researchers focused on formal learning such as in educational institutions. On the other, they researched methods of informal learning through collaboration and conversational approaches.
The learning platform developed by the ELeGI team can automatically be tailored to the different needs of students, and can also adapt rapidly in the way it can access teaching resources through a ‘grid' of networked computers.
If a teacher decides that the students would benefit by collaborative working, the ELeGI platform can find suitable software, perhaps a wiki, locate a machine to run it on, set it up for the group of students and set them to work in an automatic and transparent way.
The ELeGI software can group students who share similar learning styles. It can also recognise when a student is having difficulty and can offer a ‘mini-course' of remedial work, generated according to the student's profile and preferences.
Intelligent web teacher
A number of pilot studies and demonstrators have shown how the ELeGI platform could work in practice. The studies include a series of ‘virtual scientific experiments', mainly in physics. In the studies, students learn from a simulated experiment.
The researchers also designed several demonstrations related to collaborative working and designed a system to automate assessments of students' work. As part of the programme, the researchers also launched EnCOrE, a net-based encylopaedia of organic chemistry.
"In terms of outcome we have the model for creating adaptive and personalised learning experience, the ELeGI software infrastructure, that is based on grid technology," says Ritrovato. "It can be considered the first example of a service-oriented infrastructure for learning."
Insights gained through ELeGI, particularly in formal learning, have been incorporated into Intelligent Web Teacher (IWT), a software platform for distance learning that has been developed over many years with support from several other EU-funded projects.
IWT is marketed by MoMA, a spin-off from the Pole of Excellence in Learning and Knowledge, a virtual research organisation based at Salerno University and which includes several ELeGI partners.
The project demonstrated that it is possible to create a highly personalised learning experience in a dynamic way taking into account the user's reaction, preferences and the pedagogical aspects," Ritrovato says
"It is now clear in the community that the existing learning management systems are out of date," he adds. "They have to change their approach to learning and to be much more user-driven instead of content-driven. This is one of the key features that IWT and ELeGI have been developing. The teacher should be a guide, a support for the student in their learning process."
The project, which lasted for 41 months and received funding from the EU's Sixth Framework Programme for research, came to an end in June 2007.
Source: ICT Results (http://cordis.europa.eu./ictresults)
