Re: [arn-l Digest] Vol. 3 No. 230 Messages: 11

[Karen Cook <kcook2484@adelphia.net>]

how do I post to this?  I have been reading for almost a year now,  
(finding out about the list from Susan Ohanian) and feel compelled to  
reply to a particular post here.

thanks
Karen

On Sep 1, 2006, at 6:21 AM, arn-l-owner@interversity.org wrote:

> ARN-L Daily Digest
> Volume 3 : Issue 230 : "text" Format
>
> Messages in this Issue:
>   200608/139: jerry bracey thought you might like this product at  
> CafePress.com!
>     gbracey1
>   200608/140: Re: jerry bracey thought you might like this product at  
> CafePress.com!
>     QCao009
>   200608/142: Re: jerry bracey thought you might like this product at  
> CafePress.com!
>     ABurke5054
>   200608/141: is testing good for you?
>     Peter Campbell
>   200608/143: eduGlobalization is U.S.
>     Peter Campbell
>   200608/145: Re: eduGlobalization is U.S.
>     aburke5054
>   200608/144: A prayer for Art in Ernesto
>     QCao009
>   200608/146: Teaching
>     QCao009
>   200608/147: Repeating school has no benefit: study
>     Monty Neill
>   200608/149: Re: Repeating school has no benefit: study
>     aburke5054
>   200608/148: education business
>     Monty Neill
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2006 06:16:36 -0700
> From: <gbracey1@verizon.net>
> To: <arn-l@interversity.org>
> Subject: jerry bracey thought you might like this product at  
> CafePress.com!
> Message-ID: <001001c6cc36$85496d80$2a03a8c0@ws42>
>
> Hi arn!
>
>
> jerry bracey asked us to send you this email along with the following  
> note:
>
>
> We should all wear this during reauthorization of NCLB.
>
>
> You can view the product by visiting:
>
>   http://www.cafepress.com/cp/tf.aspx?tf=269759
>
>
>  Thank you!
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2006 09:53:27 EDT
> From: QCao009@aol.com
> To: arn-l@interversity.org
> Subject: Re: jerry bracey thought you might like this product at  
> CafePress.com!
> Message-ID: <bff.2c4c84b.3226f257@aol.com>
>
>
>
> In a message dated 8/30/06 9:17:18 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> gbracey1@verizon.net writes:
>
> http://www.cafepress.com/cp/tf.aspx?tf=269759
>
>
>
> Jerry:
>
> Guess we are not promising our young people 64 vestal virgins.  Not   
> yet.
>
> At the rate we are offering real choices like vouchers and computerized
> reading programs, we will have to show them pictures in case they  
> cannot read or
> think like our venerable victorious leader who showed up on the Gulf  
> Coast
> yesterday for a photo op.
>
> This ed reform is certainly progress like the progress we are making   
> in Iraq
> and post-Katrina.  You are doing a great job, Wee-wee.
>
> Quan
>
>
>
>
> [Attachment of type text/html removed.]
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2006 10:11:46 EDT
> From: ABurke5054@aol.com
> To: arn-l@interversity.org
> Subject: Re: jerry bracey thought you might like this product at  
> CafePress.com!
> Message-ID: <c24.2468ea6.3226f6a2@aol.com>
>
>
> In a message dated 8/30/2006 6:54:08 AM Pacific Standard Time,
> QCao009@aol.com writes:
>
> Jerry:
>
> ... This ed reform is certainly progress like the progress we are   
> making in
> Iraq and post-Katrina.  You are doing a great job,  Wee-wee.
>
> Quan
>
>
>
>
> ____________________________________________________
> Give yourself credit too.  "Wee-wee" is a great description of  the  
> job that
> both you and Jerry are doing in regard to educational reform,   
> particularly
> NCLB.
>
> Art
>
>
> [Attachment of type text/html removed.]
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2006 09:09:18 -0500
> From: Peter Campbell <campbellp@mail.montclair.edu>
> To: ARN State <ARN-state@yahoogroups.com>,
> 	ARN Main List <arn-l@interversity.org>
> Subject: is testing good for you?
> Message-ID: <6350CEA3-04A3-456A-BA5B-F8A805C34E09@mail.montclair.edu>
>
> This excerpt from a story in this week's EdWeek, "Cognition Studies
> Offer Insights on Academic Tactics," leads me to conclude that we
> should do nothing but test students all the time and that classrooms
> really should be thought of as rat mazes where student behavior can
> be dissected and analyzed. After all, if test-taking bolsters
> learning, surely more test-taking will produce more learning.
>
> On a less cynically disgusted note, the findings about multiple-
> choice questions only add more ammunition to the case against dumb-
> downed tests and dumb-downed curricula that serve dumb-downed tests.
> But let's not let these findings
>
> a) get in the way of the proven, cost-effective mechanisms that
> currently measure the quality of our public schools.
> b) rain on our data parade and spoil our appetite for accountability.
> c) jeopardize the economic fortunes of McGraw-Hill, Houghton-Mifflin,
> and Harcourt General.
> d) all of the above.
> e) one or two of the above.
> f) some of the above.
>
> --begin excerpt--
>
> At Washington University in St. Louis, one group of IES-funded
> researchers has learned that taking a test, in and of itself, can
> bolster learning.
>
> Psychology professor Henry L. Roediger III and his research partners
> had college students read prose passages covering general scientific
> topics. Afterward, some students were given from one to three tests
> with open-ended questions in which they were asked to recall what
> they had read. Other groups restudied the material, but were not
> given tests.
>
> Five minutes after the study or test sessions ended, all the students
> were tested. The study-only group did better, recalling more of what
> they had read than the quiz-only group. A week later, though, the
> test-taking group had the better grasp of the material?even though
> they had had fewer opportunities to restudy the original material.
>
> ?I usually think of my tests as being for assessment purposes, but
> giving someone a memory test and having them retrieve information
> from memory actually changes memory,? said Mr. Roediger, who is
> planning to take experiments into precollegiate schools this fall.
>
> Mr. Roediger?s colleagues have also found that the learning benefits
> are greatest when the tests are composed of short-answer rather than
> multiple-choice questions. That?s a point on which several of the
> studies converge: Learning seems to stick when students are forced to
> generate their own answers to questions or their own definitions of
> words and concepts.
>
> [Attachment of type text/html removed.]
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2006 10:59:18 -0500
> From: Peter Campbell <campbellp@mail.montclair.edu>
> To: ARN State <ARN-state@yahoogroups.com>,
> 	ARN Main List <arn-l@interversity.org>
> Subject: eduGlobalization is U.S.
> Message-ID: <CF84DD3C-E873-40A9-94A3-D6A5FA1B1601@mail.montclair.edu>
>
> -- begin excerpt from this week's EdWeek, "U.S. Test Developers   
> Cashing In on Markets Abroad" --
>
> A heightened global interest in education standards and
> accountability is helping U.S.-based testing organizations expand
> overseas in both K-12 and higher education.
>
> At the primary and secondary levels, international-development groups
> that underwrite education projects are pushing countries to establish
> academic standards, and the assessments to go with them. Increased
> globalization is also encouraging countries to pay closer attention
> to student performance as a measure of their countries? economic
> competitiveness. In both cases, such countries are turning to U.S.
> expertise in student assessment.
>
> -- end excerpt --
>
> Globalization, along with global warming, is merely a theory. There
> is no reason to suspect that either phenomenon is anything other than
> the paranoid rantings of lunatics.
>
> [Attachment of type text/html removed.]
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2006 16:01:46 -0400
> From: aburke5054@aol.com
> To: arn-l@interversity.org
> Subject: Re: eduGlobalization is U.S.
> Message-ID: <8C89A86417829F4-7B8-6AA@MBLK-R08.sysops.aol.com>
>
>
>  -----Original Message-----
>  From: campbellp@mail.montclair.edu
>  To: ARN-state@yahoogroups.com; arn-l@interversity.org
>  Sent: Wed, 30 Aug 2006 8:59 AM
>  Subject: [arn-l] eduGlobalization is U.S.
>
>  ...Globalization, along with global warming, is merely a theory.  
> There is no reason to suspect that either phenomenon is anything other  
> than the paranoid rantings of lunatics.  
> ___________________________________________________
>  "Globalization" and "global warming" can mean many things and many  
> things about them are not clear. But only a fool would say that there  
> is nothing to them.
>
>  http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/globalization/
>  http://www1.worldbank.org/economicpolicy/globalization/
>  http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content/index.html
>
>  Art
>
> _______________________________________________________________________ 
> _
> Check out AOL.com today. Breaking news, video search, pictures, email  
> and IM. All on demand. Always Free.
>
>
> [Attachment of type text/html removed.]
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2006 12:10:55 EDT
> From: QCao009@aol.com
> To: arn-l@interversity.org
> Subject: A prayer for Art in Ernesto
> Message-ID: <c22.29d3bf1.3227128f@aol.com>
>
> We've been letting our six-year-old go to sleep listening  to the  
> radio, and
> I'm beginning to wonder if itâ??s a good idea. Last night he  said his  
> prayers
> and wound up with: â??And God bless Mommy and Daddy and Sister.   
> Amenâ??and FM!â??
>
> Quan
>
>
>
>
> [Attachment of type text/html removed.]
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2006 20:06:47 EDT
> From: QCao009@aol.com
> To: fcarforum@yahoogroups.com, flsst@yahoogroups.com,
> 	arn-l@interversity.org, azble@asu.edu, multied-l@usc.edu
> Cc: wilburhawke@earthlink.net
> Subject: Teaching
> Message-ID: <3f7.944ca62.32278217@aol.com>
>
> WHAT TEACHERS  MAKE
>
> The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. One   
> man, a
> CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued, "What's  
> a  kid
> going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to  
>  become
> a teacher?"
>
> He reminded the other dinner guests what they say  about teachers:  
> "Those who
> can, do. Those who can't, teach." To stress his point  he said to  
> another
> guest, "You're a teacher, Susan. Be honest. What do you  make?"
>
> Susan, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied,
> "You want to know what I make?
>
> "I make kids work harder than they  ever thought they could.
> "I make a C+ feel like the winner of the  Congressional Medal of Honor.
> "I make kids sit through 40 minutes of study  hall in absolute silence.
>
> "You want to know what I make?!
>
> "I make  kids wonder.
> "I make them question.
> "I make them criticize.
> "I make  them apologize and mean it.
> "I make them write.
> "I make them read, read,  read.
>
> "I make them show all their work in Math and perfect their final   
> drafts in
> English. I make them understand that if you have the brains, and   
> follow your
> heart, and if someone ever tries to judge you by what you make, you   
> must pay
> no attention because they just didn't learn."
>
> Susan paused and  then continued. "You want to know what I make?
> 'I MAKE A DIFFERENCE.'  What do you make?"
>
> "Teachers make every other profession  possible!"
>
>
> Quan
>
>
>
>
> [Attachment of type text/html removed.]
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2006 17:41:19 -0400
> From: "Monty Neill" <monty@fairtest.org>
> To: <ARN-state@yahoogroups.com>, "ARN-L" <arn-l@interversity.org>,
> 	"arn2-strategy" <arn2-strategy@yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: Repeating school has no benefit: study
> Message-ID: <023001c6cd46$32101f40$8201a8c0@Monty>
>
> More useful evidence against the harmful policy of grade retention:
>
> Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
> Repeating school has no benefit: study
> August 30, 2006 - 9:44AM
> Making a student repeat a level at school has no benefit and in fact  
> may do more harm, Australian research shows.
>
> The study, by Deakin University's Dr Helen McGrath, also found  
> students who repeated a year were 20 to 50 per cent more likely to  
> drop out, compared to similar students who progressed.
>
> Dr McGrath reviewed dozens of studies by academics in Australia and  
> the United States over the past 75 years comparing the outcomes for  
> students with specific needs who were either held back or allowed to  
> progress.
>
> She said those studies failed to support the popular assumption among  
> teachers and parents that repeating a year helped a student's academic  
> performance.
>
> "There may be an occasional student who is the exception, but for most  
> students providing them with more of what didn't work for them the  
> first time around is an exercise in futility," she said.
>
> "In fact, repeating a year confirms to a student that they have failed.
>
> "They experience stress from being taller, larger and more physically  
> mature than their younger classmates. They miss their friends who have  
> moved on to the next year level.
>
> "They also experience boredom from repeating similar tasks and  
> assignments. Their self esteem drops. All of these factors ultimately  
> lead many to drop out."
>
> There also appears to be no benefit in holding children back from  
> starting school because they were not seen to be "school ready".
>
> "If a child is old enough to enter primary school, then holding them  
> back and enrolling them in an additional year of preschool appears to  
> provide no academic or social advantages and may in fact be  
> detrimental in many cases," she said.
>
> Dr McGrath said simply promoting the struggling student to the next  
> year level was not the answer either.
>
> She said schools needed to consider more effective alternatives to  
> support students who experienced social, behavioural or academic  
> difficulties.
>
> These included identifying problems at pre-school level and developing  
> programs to address them, creating individual education plans,  
> providing specialist support and adapting the curriculum to the needs  
> of the student.
>
> "Multi-age classrooms and peer tutoring also provide ways of  
> supporting students who may be struggling," she said.
>
> The study, To Repeat or Not to Repeat?, was published in the July  
> edition of WORDS: Journal of the Association of Western Australian  
> Primary Principals.
>
> © 2006 AAP
>
>
> Monty Neill, Ed.D.
> Executive Director
> FairTest
> 342 Broadway
> Cambridge, MA 02139
> 617-864-4810    fax 617-497-2224
> monty@fairtest.org
> http://www.fairtest.org
> Donate: https://secure.entango.com/servlet/donate/MnrXjT8MQqk
>
> [Attachment of type text/html removed.]
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2006 19:42:23 -0400
> From: aburke5054@aol.com
> To: arn-l@interversity.org
> Subject: Re: Repeating school has no benefit: study
> Message-ID: <8C89B6E3E541B42-75C-783C@FWM-M25.sysops.aol.com>
>
> -----Original Message-----
>  From: monty@fairtest.org
>  To: ARN-state@yahoogroups.com; arn-l@interversity.org;  
> arn2-strategy@yahoogroups.com
>  Sent: Thu, 31 Aug 2006 2:41 PM
>  Subject: [arn-l] Repeating school has no benefit: study
>
>   More useful evidence against the harmful policy of grade retention:   
>  Sydney Morning Herald, Australia    Repeating school has no benefit:  
> study August 30, 2006 - 9:44AM Making a student repeat a level at  
> school has no benefit and in fact may do more harm, Australian  
> research shows. The study, by Deakin University's Dr Helen McGrath,  
> also found students who repeated a year were 20 to 50 per cent more  
> likely to drop out, compared to similar students who progressed...
>  "There may be an occasional student who is the exception, but for  
> most students providing them with more of what didn't work for them  
> the first time around is an exercise in futility," ...
>  ______________________________________________________________
>  Right. This is why we should expect more from our schools than giving  
> students who did not make it on the first try more of the same. This  
> does not seem like a particularly hard concept.
>
>  Art
>
> _______________________________________________________________________ 
> _
> Check out AOL.com today. Breaking news, video search, pictures, email  
> and IM. All on demand. Always Free.
>
>
> [Attachment of type text/html removed.]
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2006 17:55:13 -0400
> From: "Monty Neill" <monty@fairtest.org>
> To: "ARN-L" <arn-l@interversity.org>,
> 	"arn2-strategy" <arn2-strategy@yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: education business
> Message-ID: <023701c6cd48$236ad0a0$8201a8c0@Monty>
>
> Interesting info on testing and other for-profit aspects of education  
> industry - summarized by ASCD as:
> Series: The big business of education
> As school enrollments hit record levels and NCLB levies more testing  
> and tutoring requirements, private firms are scrambling for a piece of  
> the $850 billion spent each year on education in the U.S, reports the  
> Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Analysts say profitable niches abound in  
> every segment of the lucrative education market.   Pittsburgh  
> Post-Gazette (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06242/717293-298.stm
>
> And this week's Ed Week www.edweek.com is an article U.S. Test  
> Developers Cashing IN on Markets Abroad - expansion of US testmakers  
> into Latin America, etc. p. 10.
>
> Monty Neill, Ed.D.
> Executive Director
> FairTest
> 342 Broadway
> Cambridge, MA 02139
> 617-864-4810    fax 617-497-2224
> monty@fairtest.org
> http://www.fairtest.org
> Donate: https://secure.entango.com/servlet/donate/MnrXjT8MQqk
>
> [Attachment of type text/html removed.]
>
> ------------------------------
>
> End of [arn-l Digest] Vol. 3 No. 230 Messages: 11
> **********