Aug. 11, 2000
TO: Editors, news directors FROM: University Communications, (608) 262-3571RE: TIPS FOR K-12 EDUCATION REPORTERS
School bells soon will be ringing around Wisconsin and the nation. Here some fresh education news angles from the University of Wisconsin-Madison that may help enrich your fall education coverage.
____________________________________TEACHING TO THE TEST? NO
CONTACT: Andrew Porter, (608) 263-4200; [email protected]
For good or ill, most teachers don't seem to be "teaching to the test" in states with state-administered performance exams for students.
In an 11-state study of math and science instruction by 600 teachers in grades 4 and 8, University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers found that there may be little overlap between what state assessments test and what teachers teach. The highest overlap in a single state was 46 percent in 4th grade science, while the lowest, 5 percent, was in 8th grade math.
In fact, instruction in any one of the 11 states was no more aligned to that state's test than to the tests of other states in the study. "This suggests that standards-based reform has not yet brought instruction into alignment with state tests," says Andrew Porter, director of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research.
The study was funded by the National Science Foundation through a subcontract with the Council of Chief State School Officers.
____________________________________HOLDING BACK STUDENTS: MORE HARM THAN GOOD
CONTACT: Elizabeth Graue, (608) 263-4674; [email protected]
We should question the wisdom of the old adage, "When in doubt, hold them out," says Elizabeth Graue, professor of curriculum and instruction.
Graue has conducted a study of nearly 9,000 Wisconsin third graders that shows no benefits from the practice of enrolling a child in kindergarten a year late. The students in her study that had been held out matched the academic performance of classmates who had not been held out, but they were more likely than the other third graders to need special services for learning or emotional disabilities.
____________________________________SCHOOLING'S VOCATIONAL BENT SHORTCHANGES STUDENTS
CONTACT: Herbert Kliebard, (608) 262-1760
It's a common refrain among business leaders that K-12 schools need to prepare young people for the workforce. But should this really be the purpose of schooling? What about the time-honored goal of preparing young people to be good citizens and productive members of society?
Herbert Kliebard, an emeritus professor of educational policy studies and historian of education, has written extensively about the development of American schools in the 19th and 20th centuries. Kliebard is particularly concerned about recent efforts to vocationalize the curriculum which he believes conflict with cherished democratic ideals.
____________________________________KIDS HELP KIDS DO BETTER IN SCHOOL
CONTACT: Michael Karcher, (608) 262-1975; (608) 262-0461Mitchell Dhein, (920) 623-3727; [email protected].
What's a parent or teacher to do with a child who's turned off by school? Who's becoming a loner? Who tunes out any adult trying to help?
One answer may be found in student mentoring. Michael Karcher's developmental mentoring program couples high school mentors with elementary and middle school students. Karcher, an assistant professor in UW-Madison's counseling psychology department, says the idea is to intervene before students become so discouraged they drop out. Student mentors can provide the support and encouragement at-risk kids need to feel good about themselves and about school.
Karcher has developed prevention programs in public and private schools for more than a decade, and he is currently intensely involved in a mentoring program with the Columbus School District in southern Wisconsin. One former student mentor, Mitchell Dhein (pronounced "dine"), will be a UW-Madison student this fall.
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