Another reason to homeschool

[seh97001]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...primary108.xml

[Milakais]

According to the figures, 40 per cent of pupils finished primary school this summer with combined reading, writing and maths skills lower than that expected of the average 11-year-old.

Uhm, this doesn't actually say much. "40% of students were below average"? By definition, 50% of any population is below average (ie - the 50th percentile)... that's what "average" means.

[Arduinna]

she has a point

[annettemarie]

Originally Posted by Milakais

Uhm, this doesn't actually say much. "40% of students were below average"? By definition, 50% of any population is below average (ie - the 50th percentile)... that's what "average" means.

So, they're actually doing pretty well!

[sophmama]

It's also in England so it wouldn't apply to anyone looking for reasons to homeschool, say, in Arkansas.

[Karenwith4]

Originally Posted by Milakais

Uhm, this doesn't actually say much. "40% of students were below average"? By definition, 50% of any population is below average (ie - the 50th percentile)... that's what "average" means.

I read it as 40% were below standards expected to be achieved by a typical (average) 11 year old, rather than a mathematical expression of the mean or median scores which represent mathmatical average.
I would hope that more than 60 percent of a school population could hit literacy and numeracy targets (assuming they are age and stage appropriate) especially among 11 year olds who are presumably over the major hump of acquiring basic literacy and numeracy skills.
Karen

[seh97001]

It was just an article. sheesh.

I can read that it is in England. Not everyone here is in Arkansas.

[Karenwith4]

Originally Posted by seh97001

It was just an article. sheesh.

I can read that it is in England. Not everyone here is in Arkansas.

Thanks for posting it. I agree with your take
And welcome to the MDC board.
Karen

[alima]

Originally Posted by sophmama

It's also in England so it wouldn't apply to anyone looking for reasons to homeschool, say, in Arkansas.

I'm in Canada, does that mean that I should ignore 95% of what gets posted here, because it's about or applies specifically to the US?

One of the main reasons I homeschool is to get a perspective on the world beyond the narrow North American one that ds would get in school. I have no problem with reading about American hsing (a foreign country to me) and taking what I need to apply to myself. I don't see why this being a UK story has any implication for it being meaningless to Americans.

I think the main point of the story is being missed here, too. This paragraph, at the beginning of the story, applies to any place where standardised education is being "reformed", and to any tax payer, regardless of where they live:

The number of pupils reaching national standards in the basics increased by just one percentage point over the last 12 months - despite millions being spent on education reforms for young children.

And I agree with Karen, the 40% referred to, I don't think it was referring to a mean or median. It meant that 40% of students, or 2 in 5, did not achieve what was expected of them. Meaning, in the language teachers used when I was a kid, but isn't allowed anymore, 2 out of 5 kids failed. That's an insane number. And in a country that pumps way more money into public education than the US, and has been working on massive, system wide reform for the last 10 years, this is a collosal failure.

The education system in the UK seems to be one of the models that the US has been moving toward over the last decade. Seeing what the effect of massive education spending, increased dependence on experts, higher standards of training for teachers, systemic testing, uniforms, back to basics programs, etc, has had there, should be giving legislators in the US a bit of a head shake.

[Mom4tot]

I'm surprised by it too. That many 11 year olds that can't read, write or add? Huh. Schools must suck their brains right out

[Ruthla]

I think the major problem with any "educational reform" is that they reform the schools by insituting one teaching method or another. And some kids will benefit from the "new" method while other kids will do better with the "old" method, or with a different method altogether.

In any case, when teaching to a whole classroom at once, some kids are going to fall through the cracks.

[MyLittleWonders]

Originally Posted by Ruthla

I think the major problem with any "educational reform" is that they reform the schools by insituting one teaching method or another. And some kids will benefit from the "new" method while other kids will do better with the "old" method, or with a different method altogether.

In any case, when teaching to a whole classroom at once, some kids are going to fall through the cracks.

: Education boards never look at the individuals they are trying to "help" in their efforts to reform. If they did, we might actually see good coming out of the various "reforms" instituted. As it is, "reform" is simply bringing in a different publisher of basically the same material in a re-boxed and re-packaged form. It will still only address a portion of the overall population at a school and will still leave a large number (in this case 40%) completely behind. I remember one professor I had while doing my credential explain "reform" and such with an analogy of food. If a meal is being served one day in the cafeteria that only meets the nutritional needs of, say, 50% of the population eating, then repackaging it the next day and serving it again isn't going to meet anyone's needs any better. Reform really isn't about finding innovative ways to present information and assist student learning. It's repacking the same thing in usually a worse way (drier, more boring, more rote, less multi-sensory). Just my two cents as a former teacher.

[Karenwith4]

On a somewhat related tangent, I was just talking to my cousin who is a fabulous teacher. She teaches a split grade 6/7 class. It's very odd in Ontario to have that split because the expectations and curriculum are so different for those grades. She says she basically chucks the curriculum and doesnt' plan until she's a month into the school year because she waits until she knows her kids. Then she plans tonnes of field trips and lots of creative learning opportunities. Her philosophy is that at that particular age and stage she wants kids to get basic skills (reading/writing and math) but beyond that she wants to engage them, help them connect with their peers and help them find their passions. Last year they went rock climbing because one of the kids was into that, and they tied t-shirts for a concert they put on because one kid was into tiedye, they did a month long "helping the community" project where they visited and volunteered for different organizations 2 days a week. They learned to curl and went to the Briar (as a physics lesson - lol) and went camping. She reads aloud to them for 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the afternoon. She says curriculum just doesn't matter to her or the kids. Her principal backs her up, the kids come out ahead of the other grade 6 class on the provincial tests even though she does no prep. And every year she has 50 parents requesting her as a teacher.

If the schools could be reformed so that they all functioned like her class I think it would make a huge difference.

[alima]

Originally Posted by Karenwith4

If the schools could be reformed so that they all functioned like her class I think it would make a huge difference.

You mean if schools actually served the children, families and communities they work for? Now that's crazy talk!

[2tadpoles]

Originally Posted by Karenwith4

Her philosophy is that at that particular age and stage she wants kids to get basic skills (reading/writing and math) but beyond that she wants to engage them, help them connect with their peers and help them find their passions.

She and I think alike.

One of the reasons I homeschool is because I don't really give a rat's patootie about "standards," or what's "expected to be achieved."

[MonsterBoy]

Originally Posted by Karenwith4

Her philosophy is that at that particular age and stage she wants kids to get basic skills (reading/writing and math) but beyond that she wants to engage them, help them connect with their peers and help them find their passions

<snip>

She says curriculum just doesn't matter to her or the kids. Her principal backs her up, the kids come out ahead of the other grade 6 class on the provincial tests even though she does no prep. And every year she has 50 parents requesting her as a teacher.

Wow. Sounds kind of like stealth-homeschooling.

[Arduinna]

Originally Posted by 2tadpoles

One of the reasons I homeschool is because I don't really give a rat's patootie about "standards," or what's "expected to be achieved."

Exactly. Which is why I don't take their so called test results seriously.

[VanessaS]

My 11th-grade AP Geography teacher was like that. The entire class was project work and field trips. I kid you not. We all aced the AP exam afterwards and I still remember a lot of what he taught us in vivid detail. Best teacher I ever had, although my 12th grade GT Literature and AP Calculus teachers were a close second and third, respectively. If all of my teachers had been like that then I would be standing in line at the schoolhouse door with my kids!

In fact, I described what my AP and GT teachers did to convince my husband to homeschool. He thought it would be "school at home" and didn't see the point. But once I explained what kind of stuff we could do he was all gung-ho about it. He's already collecting books and thinking up projects for the kids' education. Unfortunately, he's gotten so enthusiastic about it that he keeps threatening to "send me to work" so that he can homeschool them himself.

[Karenwith4]

Originally Posted by VanessaS

Unfortunately, he's gotten so enthusiastic about it that he keeps threatening to "send me to work" so that he can homeschool them himself.

ROFL - I keep telling my husband that if he knew how much fun we were having he'd want to do this himself too.
It always makes me laugh when people say "I could never do that". They have no idea what a blast it is.
Karen

[Karenwith4]

Originally Posted by MonsterBoy

Wow. Sounds kind of like stealth-homeschooling.

Lol - that's what I said to her.
She doesn't have kids yet but when she does I wouldn't be surprised to see her homeschool.
she's continually catching flack from other teachers about what she does. She makes proposals to her principal for fun ideas and then makes him set it up in the school to reduce how much flack she gets. Last year they did an around the world Friday. One Friday of the month they did a group lunch, invited in someone to do a presentation related to that country, and then the kids rotated through stations doing activites from the country. All the teachers complained about how much extra work it was. /rolls eyes Lots of the kids said it was the most fun thing they did that year.

I hope she doesn't burn out - not from the work or the kids but from the flack. She's such a great teacher.
Karen