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Re: What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart?

Spend time in schools and you will see any number of foolish uses of resources. Just not on the scale of what happened in KC.

But that's the point, isn't it? That just throwing tons of money into the system isn't the answer. No one held Kansas City teachers and administrators hostage until they agreed against their wills to squander tons of money and shortchange parents and kids.

Art

-----Original Message-----
From: GERALD BRACEY <gbracey1@verizon.net>
To: arn-l@interversity.org
Sent: Tue, 4 Mar 2008 9:09 am
Subject: Re: [arn-l] What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart?

It's hard to imagine money being spent more stupidly than was done in Kansas
City. Anyone even close to being in touch with reality (which the judge and
lawyers obviously weren't) could have predicted the KC debacle. What those
black kids really needed was the former Russian Olympic fencing coach to
improve achievement.



----- Original Message -----
From: <aburke5054@aol.com>
To: <arn-l@interversity.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2008 10:48 AM
Subject: Re: [arn-l] What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart?


Maybe the Scandinavian countries are one-up on us in "social welfare
supports."

Still, if the Scandinavians are doing a better job with their schools
than we are, is it really only or mostly because American politicians
and business leaders have embraced truncated notions of social welfare
and educational outcomes, and are too tight with the purse strings?
When you see the energy and innovation in some of the newer schools,
such as KIPP schools, that are accomplishing so much with the same or
less resources than other public schools, the "education debt" argument
holds less water. More money does not automatically mean higher
quality - Kansas City's pot of gold proved to be an educational
disaster for parents and children.

I suspect that Scandinavians would applaud NCLB for its goal of closing
achievement gaps, applaud America for enacting it, and marvel that so
much of American public education has turned against it, instead of
working towards its noble goals. I also suspect that Scandinavians
would be aghast at some of the arguments coming out of American public
education - that is, teachers and principals arguing that because of
NCLB they're doing all kinds of dumb things like ignoring kids, hiding
kids on test day, pushing kids out of school, gaming the quality rules,
and robo-teaching the curriculum.
Funny how American trekkers to the North Countries never seem to get
around to these things, isn't it?

Art

-----Original Message-----
From: monty@fairtest.org
To: arn-l@interversity.org
Sent: Tue, 4 Mar 2008 7:04 am
Subject: Re: [arn-l] What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart?

There is I would expect no sole reason, but several likely causes of
better results in Scandinavia include:


1) Social welfare supports that do not exist in US, which is far more
unequal in access to many things than are Scandinavian nations.


2) Greater equity in schooling itself - again, US is far less equitable
across and within both states and districts.


3) Better approaches to schooling from higher quality professional
development to a focus that helps kids learn to think instead of
filling in bubbles on tests, far less reliance on "accountability,"
less pressure, etc. The U.S. has, under immense pressure from business
groups and many politicians, tried to substitute high-stakes, test
based accountability for all 3 things that Scandinavia does to produce
better learning outcomes and I would bet better daily living conditions
for students and teachers in their schools (at least comparing
test-driven, under-resourced schools in the US with those in
Scandinavia).


Pushing, as Pete said, for greater out-of-school equity and social
welfare is certainly important, as is greater equity and real adequacy
in resources for schools. But a paradigm shift from accountability to
education is both necessary and largely doable even without addressing
the other factors. Given the impact of poverty on school outcomes,
demonstrated by many studies, greatly improving schools won't overcome
the education debt that has accumulated (see Gloria Ladsen-Billings on
'education debt') but it would make for both better outcomes and far
more livable schools.


Monty

Quoting aburke5054@aol.com:


We may not have "equalized" inputs and maybe we don't have "real

adequacy," whatever that means (I suspect it reflects the judgment of

the "real reformers"), but we've doubled spending on public education

over the last 30-40 years. That's an enormous increase and it's

rational to ask whether we've gotten our money's worth.



We spend 3.9% of our GDP on elementary and secondary education.

Denmark spends 4.1%, Finland 3.9%, Norway 4.6%, and Sweden 4.5%



Since we and the Finns are spending about the same amount on public

education, and since they are so much better than we are, it can only

be because they embrace "progressive inquiry," "questions and problem

solving," and don't give tests. Right.



Art



-----Original Message-----

From: Monty Neill <monty@fairtest.org>

To: arn-l@interversity.org

Sent: Mon, 3 Mar 2008 12:39 pm

Subject: Re: [arn-l] What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart?



Indeed, the second piece on Scandinavia that Bob sent around today
includes

this sentence near the end:



"Students use progressive inquiry and are educated through questions
and

problem solving."





A different concept of "basics" for sure - to say nothing of the near

absence of not only tests but also grading until high school, and
even then

the role of standardized tests is minimal.





The US pretended to pay attention to "inputs" while doing nearly
nothing to

really equalize them (never mind provide those who need more with
more),

then claimed that a focus on 'inputs' did not work, so needed to
focus on

outputs, which quickly meant 'standardized test scores.' Scandinavian

nations have worked to equalize inputs and ensure real adequacy,
focused on

preparing real high quality teachers (unlike the fake version in
nclb), then

allowed them autonomy to do their jobs.





And the Scandinavian approach even produces better test scores than
the US

approach.





Monty



----- Original Message -----

From: "Peter Farruggio" <pfarr@cal.berkeley.edu>



To: <arn-l@interversity.org>



Sent: Sunday, March 02, 2008 8:32 PM



Subject: Re: [arn-l] What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart?









Somebody should inform the reporter that "back to



basics" as used in US education discourse, refers



to the exact opposite of Finnish teaching as



described here. Back to basics, since the 1980s



has meant scripted, behaviorist pedagogy. We



don't see any of that in the description of these schools.





Pete Farruggio











At 11:47 AM 3/2/2008, you wrote:



WHAT MAKES FINNISH KIDS SO SMART?



Wall Street Journal -- February 29, 2007



by Ellen Gamerman







Helsinki, Finland -- High-school students here rarely get more than
a

half-hour of homework a night. They have no school uniforms, no
honor

societies, no valedictorians, no tardy bells and no classes for the

gifted.

There is little standardized testing, few parents agonize over
college

and

kids don't start school until age 7.







Yet by one international measure, Finnish teenagers are among the

smartest

in the world. They earned some of the top scores by 15-year-old

students

who were tested in 57 countries. American teens finished among the

world's

C students even as U.S. educators piled on more homework, standards

and

rules. Finnish youth, like their U.S. counterparts, also waste hours

online. They dye their hair, love sarcasm and listen to rap and
heavy

metal. But by ninth grade they're way ahead in math, science and

reading --

on track to keeping Finns among the world's most productive workers.







The Finns won attention with their performances in triennial tests

sponsored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and

Development, a

group funded by 30 countries that monitors social and economic
trends.

In

the most recent test, which focused on science, Finland's students

placed

first in science and near the top in math and reading, according to

results

released late last year. An unofficial tally of Finland's combined

scores

puts it in first place overall, says Andreas Schleicher, who directs

the

OECD's test, known as the Programme for International Student

Assessment,

or PISA. The U.S. placed in the middle of the pack in math and

science; its

reading scores were tossed because of a glitch. About 400,000
students

around the world answered multiple-choice questions and essays on
the

test

that measured critical thinking and the application of knowledge. A

typical

subject: Discuss the artistic value of graffiti.







The academic prowess of Finland's students has lured educators from

more

than 50 countries in recent years to learn the country's secret,

including

an official from the U.S. Department of Education. What they find is

simple

but not easy: well-trained teachers and responsible children. Early

on,

kids do a lot without adults hovering. And teachers create lessons
to

fit

their students. "We don't have oil or other riches. Knowledge is the

thing

Finnish people have," says Hannele Frantsi, a school principal.







Visitors and teacher trainees can peek at how it's done from a
viewing

balcony perched over a classroom at the Norssi School in Jyväskylä,
a

city

in central Finland. What they see is a relaxed, back-to-basics

approach.

The school, which is a model campus, has no sports teams, marching

bands or

prom.







Trailing 15-year-old Fanny Salo at Norssi gives a glimpse of the

no-frills

curriculum. Fanny is a bubbly ninth-grader who loves "Gossip Girl"

books,

the TV show "Desperate Housewives" and digging through the clothing

racks

at H&M stores with her friends.







Fanny earns straight A's, and with no gifted classes she sometimes

doodles

in her journal while waiting for others to catch up. She often helps

lagging classmates. "It's fun to have time to relax a little in the

middle

of class," Fanny says. Finnish educators believe they get better

overall

results by concentrating on weaker students rather than by pushing

gifted

students ahead of everyone else. The idea is that bright students
can

help

average ones without harming their own progress.







At lunch, Fanny and her friends leave campus to buy salmiakki, a
salty

licorice. They return for physics, where class starts when everyone

quiets

down. Teachers and students address each other by first names. About

the

only classroom rules are no cellphones, no iPods and no hats.







Fanny's more rebellious classmates dye their blond hair black or
sport

pink

dreadlocks. Others wear tank tops and stilettos to look tough in the

chilly

climate. Tanning lotions are popular in one clique. Teens sift by

style,

including "fruittari," or preppies; "hoppari," or hip-hop, or the

confounding "fruittari-hoppari," which fuses both. Ask an obvious

question

and you may hear "KVG," short for "Check it on Google, you idiot."

Heavy-metal fans listen to Nightwish, a Finnish band, and teens

socialize

online at irc-galleria.net.







The Norssi School is run like a teaching hospital, with about 800

teacher

trainees each year. Graduate students work with kids while
instructors

evaluate from the sidelines. Teachers must hold master's degrees,
and

the

profession is highly competitive: More than 40 people may apply for
a

single job. Their salaries are similar to those of U.S. teachers,
but

they

generally have more freedom.







Finnish teachers pick books and customize lessons as they shape

students to

national standards. "In most countries, education feels like a car

factory.

In Finland, the teachers are the entrepreneurs," says Mr.
Schleicher,

of

the Paris-based OECD, which began the international student test in

2000.







One explanation for the Finns' success is their love of reading.

Parents of

newborns receive a government-paid gift pack that includes a picture

book.

Some libraries are attached to shopping malls, and a book bus
travels

to

more remote neighborhoods like a Good Humor truck.







Finland shares its language with no other country, and even the most

popular English-language books are translated here long after they
are

first published. Many children struggled to read the last Harry
Potter

book

in English because they feared they would hear about the ending
before

it

arrived in Finnish. Movies and TV shows have Finnish subtitles
instead

of

dubbing. One college student says she became a fast reader as a
child

because she was hooked on the 1990s show "Beverly Hills, 90210."







In November, a U.S. delegation visited, hoping to learn how

Scandinavian

educators used technology. Officials from the Education Department,

the

National Education Association and the American Association of
School

Librarians saw Finnish teachers with chalkboards instead of

whiteboards,

and lessons shown on overhead projectors instead of PowerPoint.
Keith

Krueger was less impressed by the technology than by the good
teaching

he

saw. "You kind of wonder how could our country get to that?" says
Mr.

Krueger, CEO of the Consortium for School Networking, an association

of

school technology officers that organized the trip.







Finnish high-school senior Elina Lamponen saw the differences

firsthand.

She spent a year at Colon High School in Colon, Mich., where strict

rules

didn't translate into tougher lessons or dedicated students, Ms.

Lamponen

says. She would ask students whether they did their homework. They

would

reply: " 'Nah. So what'd you do last night?'" she recalls. History

tests

were often multiple choice. The rare essay question, she says,
allowed

very

little space in which to write. In-class projects were largely "glue

this

to the poster for an hour," she says. Her Finnish high school forced

Ms.

Lamponen, a spiky-haired 19-year-old, to repeat the year when she

returned.







Lloyd Kirby, superintendent of Colon Community Schools in southern

Michigan, says foreign students are told to ask for extra work if
they

find

classes too easy. He says he is trying to make his schools more

rigorous by

asking parents to demand more from their children.







Despite the apparent simplicity of Finnish education, it would be

tough to

replicate in the U.S. With a largely homogeneous population,
teachers

have

few students who don't speak Finnish. In the U.S., about 8% of

students are

learning English, according to the Education Department. There are

fewer

disparities in education and income levels among Finns. Finland

separates

students for the last three years of high school based on grades;
53%

go to

high school and the rest enter vocational school. (All 15-year-old

students

took the PISA test.) Finland has a high-school dropout rate of about

4% --

or 10% at vocational schools -- compared with roughly 25% in the
U.S.,

according to their respective education departments.







Another difference is financial. Each school year, the U.S. spends
an

average of $8,700 per student, while the Finns spend $7,500.
Finland's

high-tax government provides roughly equal per-pupil funding, unlike

the

disparities between Beverly Hills public schools, for example, and

schools

in poorer districts. The gap between Finland's best- and

worst-performing

schools was the smallest of any country in the PISA testing. The
U.S.

ranks

about average.







Finnish students have little angstata -- or teen angst -- about

getting

into the best university, and no worries about paying for it.
College

is

free. There is competition for college based on academic specialties

--

medical school, for instance. But even the best universities don't

have the

elite status of a Harvard.







Taking away the competition of getting into the "right schools"
allows

Finnish children to enjoy a less-pressured childhood. While many
U.S.

parents worry about enrolling their toddlers in academically
oriented

preschools, the Finns don't begin school until age 7, a year later

than

most U.S. first-graders.







Once school starts, the Finns are more self-reliant. While some U.S.

parents fuss over accompanying their children to and from school,
and

arrange every play date and outing, young Finns do much more on
their

own.

At the Ymmersta School in a nearby Helsinki suburb, some first-grade

students trudge to school through a stand of evergreens in near

darkness.

At lunch, they pick out their own meals, which all schools give
free,

and

carry the trays to lunch tables. There is no Internet filter in the

school

library. They can walk in their socks during class, but at home even

the

very young are expected to lace up their own skates or put on their

own

skis.







The Finns enjoy one of the highest standards of living in the world,

but

they, too, worry about falling behind in the shifting global
economy.

They

rely on electronics and telecommunications companies, such as
Finnish

cellphone giant Nokia, along with forest-products and mining

industries for

jobs. Some educators say Finland needs to fast-track its brightest

students

the way the U.S. does, with gifted programs aimed at producing more

go-getters. Parents also are getting pushier about special attention

for

their children, says Tapio Erma, principal of the suburban Olari

School.

"We are more and more aware of American-style parents," he says.







Mr. Erma's school is a showcase campus. Last summer, at a conference

in

Peru, he spoke about adopting Finnish teaching methods. During a

recent

afternoon in one of his school's advanced math courses, a
high-school

boy

fell asleep at his desk. The teacher didn't disturb him, instead

calling on

others. While napping in class isn't condoned, Mr. Erma says, "We
just

have

to accept the fact that they're kids and they're learning how to

live."















http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120425355065601997.html











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