GREAT MOMENTS IN BRITISH EDUCATION
SUN, UK - Parents were up in arms last night after a headmistress banned
kids from playing tag on their breaks. Other playtime favorites such as
kiss chase are also forbidden, with pupils told they can only touch each
other to help if one has fallen over.
One mum said: "Kids have been playing these games for centuries. The ban
is barmy. It hardly helps children learn to play together." Headmistress
Susan Tuck ordered the 400 pupils at Bracebridge Heath Primary School,
near Lincoln, to keep their distance after a minority "persistently
offended" in the playground. She said she hoped to slowly reintroduce
"supervised and appropriate physical contact between pupils".
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007060770,00.html
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ELEMENTARY KIDS ADOPTING GANG CULTURE
DAVID MADRID, NEW AMERICA MEDIA - I work with at-risk youth here in East
San Jose, and I'm seeing street conflicts rise, even among the lowest
levels of junior high and elementary school. We are witnessing a new
generation of young people exposed to a gang mentality at a shockingly
early age. There is a new era of gang banging ahead of us -- the "G-kid"
era.
San Jose's future gang problem lies with elementary and junior high aged
youth who are immersed in gang idealism. They are being nurtured in that
direction in these formative years, so by the time they hit their teens
they will be more hardcore, seasoned even, making most gang-prevention
programs useless. . .
One of the major contributing factors involves a portion of the newly
arrived immigrant population that has assimilated and adopted this
gangster lifestyle as its own. Not only do they strongly influence
younger family members, but they are now having children of their own,
children born into that lifestyle. . .
I talked with a group of eighth grade boys from various Eastside
neighborhoods who are also noticing the age drop in gang associations.
They started sharing stories of being "hit up" (confronted aggressively)
by these elementary school-aged, knee-high gangsters. They said it
usually happens on their way home, while walking past Myers Elementary,
a feeder school to one of the junior high schools where I work. From the
playground, fourth and fifth graders would yell taunts while throwing up
gang signs at them. One of the eighth graders told me, laughing, "They
can't count yet, and they're already trying to bang."
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=
59175621fd5bae0cdeb1419015ea9e9a
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UNIVERSITY LECTURES AVAILABLE ON IPOD
MILLENNIUM RADIO, NEW JERSEY - Music isn't the only thing that students
are listening to on their ipods at New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Apple Inc is letting NJIT Professors post their lectures, and other
audio and video class information on its Itunes U website - where
students can go and then download whatever material they want onto their
computers, i-pods, mp3 players and even their cell phones. . . NJIT
Media Technology Manager Ken Ronkowitz says the system is great for
students because once a lecture is on their ipod "and they go to the
gym, or while they're walking down the street or driving in the car,
they can listen to it again - and that can't be bad." NJIT student Marco
Grbic says having class information available on Itunes U is a wonderful
idea, but the only drawback might be 'this is totally an excuse to blow
off class and listen to it online."
http://www.nj1015.com/absolutenm/templates/?a=5539&z=1
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
THE CHILD PROFITEERS: APPLYING CRUDE SCORES TO LITERATURE
VALERIE STRAUSS WASHINGTON POST - Accelerated Reader, by Renaissance
Learning Inc., the largest supplemental reading program in the United
States, is used in nearly 60,000 schools across the country. The company
provides computer software that allows teachers to quiz kids on their
comprehension of 100,000 books -- which students select themselves --
and assigns a readability formula that determines grade level and
difficulty.
Under the formula, the complicated and violent "Macbeth" earns a reader
four points, and the Nancy Drew mystery "The Picture of Guilt" is worth
five points. Michael Crichton's "Jurassic Park" is worth 20 points; Tom
Clancy's voluminous "Executive Orders," 78 points.
"Macbeth," the story of a man's lust for power, is given a book level of
10.9, meaning that it is understandable by 10th or 11th grade. Toni
Morrison's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "Beloved," which depicts a
mother choosing to kill her daughter rather than see her enslaved, is
given a book level of 6.0, appropriate for sixth grade. It is worth 15
points. . .
There have been several studies of Accelerated Reader by independent
researchers over the years, with mixed results. Some studies show
organized reading programs have positive effects on reading scores. But
some researchers say the testing and rewards associated with Accelerated
Reader help perpetuate the "high stakes" testing atmosphere fueling
education today.
Accelerated Reader gives point and reading levels to books by using a
readability formula that measures texts for difficulty of words, length
and other features, said Laurie Borkon, a spokeswoman for Renaissance
Learning. It does, she said, "intrinsically encourage" students to
choose longer books because point values are higher. . .
Lincoln's Gettysburg Address would be rated "exactly equal" on
readability formulas if the exact same text were read backward,
according to the report. "Four score and seven years ago our fathers
brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and
dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal," would be
equivalent to: "Equal created are men all that proposition the to
dedicated and liberty in conceived, nation new a continent this upon
forth brought fathers our ago years seven and score four."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/28/
AR2007012801173_pf.html
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SUN, UK - Parents were up in arms last night after a headmistress banned
kids from playing tag on their breaks. Other playtime favorites such as
kiss chase are also forbidden, with pupils told they can only touch each
other to help if one has fallen over.
One mum said: "Kids have been playing these games for centuries. The ban
is barmy. It hardly helps children learn to play together." Headmistress
Susan Tuck ordered the 400 pupils at Bracebridge Heath Primary School,
near Lincoln, to keep their distance after a minority "persistently
offended" in the playground. She said she hoped to slowly reintroduce
"supervised and appropriate physical contact between pupils".
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007060770,00.html
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ELEMENTARY KIDS ADOPTING GANG CULTURE
DAVID MADRID, NEW AMERICA MEDIA - I work with at-risk youth here in East
San Jose, and I'm seeing street conflicts rise, even among the lowest
levels of junior high and elementary school. We are witnessing a new
generation of young people exposed to a gang mentality at a shockingly
early age. There is a new era of gang banging ahead of us -- the "G-kid"
era.
San Jose's future gang problem lies with elementary and junior high aged
youth who are immersed in gang idealism. They are being nurtured in that
direction in these formative years, so by the time they hit their teens
they will be more hardcore, seasoned even, making most gang-prevention
programs useless. . .
One of the major contributing factors involves a portion of the newly
arrived immigrant population that has assimilated and adopted this
gangster lifestyle as its own. Not only do they strongly influence
younger family members, but they are now having children of their own,
children born into that lifestyle. . .
I talked with a group of eighth grade boys from various Eastside
neighborhoods who are also noticing the age drop in gang associations.
They started sharing stories of being "hit up" (confronted aggressively)
by these elementary school-aged, knee-high gangsters. They said it
usually happens on their way home, while walking past Myers Elementary,
a feeder school to one of the junior high schools where I work. From the
playground, fourth and fifth graders would yell taunts while throwing up
gang signs at them. One of the eighth graders told me, laughing, "They
can't count yet, and they're already trying to bang."
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=
59175621fd5bae0cdeb1419015ea9e9a
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
UNIVERSITY LECTURES AVAILABLE ON IPOD
MILLENNIUM RADIO, NEW JERSEY - Music isn't the only thing that students
are listening to on their ipods at New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Apple Inc is letting NJIT Professors post their lectures, and other
audio and video class information on its Itunes U website - where
students can go and then download whatever material they want onto their
computers, i-pods, mp3 players and even their cell phones. . . NJIT
Media Technology Manager Ken Ronkowitz says the system is great for
students because once a lecture is on their ipod "and they go to the
gym, or while they're walking down the street or driving in the car,
they can listen to it again - and that can't be bad." NJIT student Marco
Grbic says having class information available on Itunes U is a wonderful
idea, but the only drawback might be 'this is totally an excuse to blow
off class and listen to it online."
http://www.nj1015.com/absolutenm/templates/?a=5539&z=1
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
THE CHILD PROFITEERS: APPLYING CRUDE SCORES TO LITERATURE
VALERIE STRAUSS WASHINGTON POST - Accelerated Reader, by Renaissance
Learning Inc., the largest supplemental reading program in the United
States, is used in nearly 60,000 schools across the country. The company
provides computer software that allows teachers to quiz kids on their
comprehension of 100,000 books -- which students select themselves --
and assigns a readability formula that determines grade level and
difficulty.
Under the formula, the complicated and violent "Macbeth" earns a reader
four points, and the Nancy Drew mystery "The Picture of Guilt" is worth
five points. Michael Crichton's "Jurassic Park" is worth 20 points; Tom
Clancy's voluminous "Executive Orders," 78 points.
"Macbeth," the story of a man's lust for power, is given a book level of
10.9, meaning that it is understandable by 10th or 11th grade. Toni
Morrison's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "Beloved," which depicts a
mother choosing to kill her daughter rather than see her enslaved, is
given a book level of 6.0, appropriate for sixth grade. It is worth 15
points. . .
There have been several studies of Accelerated Reader by independent
researchers over the years, with mixed results. Some studies show
organized reading programs have positive effects on reading scores. But
some researchers say the testing and rewards associated with Accelerated
Reader help perpetuate the "high stakes" testing atmosphere fueling
education today.
Accelerated Reader gives point and reading levels to books by using a
readability formula that measures texts for difficulty of words, length
and other features, said Laurie Borkon, a spokeswoman for Renaissance
Learning. It does, she said, "intrinsically encourage" students to
choose longer books because point values are higher. . .
Lincoln's Gettysburg Address would be rated "exactly equal" on
readability formulas if the exact same text were read backward,
according to the report. "Four score and seven years ago our fathers
brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and
dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal," would be
equivalent to: "Equal created are men all that proposition the to
dedicated and liberty in conceived, nation new a continent this upon
forth brought fathers our ago years seven and score four."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/28/
AR2007012801173_pf.html
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