Parent Cortical Mass

PCM's Top Articles of the Week

The most talked-about topic this week covered the feasibility of new tests used for accountability. These new high stakes tests, aligned to the academically challenging common core standards, were rolled out in NY, causing a hub bub. As predicted, parents were not happy. Find out why. ● A survey released this week clarifies 3 ways parents want to be involved in their kids’ educations. Where do you fit? ● Hear PCM's Top Influencers Bill Gates, Diane Ravitch, Arne Duncan, and Michelle Rhee talk about testing, teacher evaluations based on student test scores, and the rationale for universal pre-school. ● Learn more about curiosity, creativity, unsticking misconceptions, and the role of background knowledge to critical thinking skills. ● Be sure to read about the Digital Public Library of America!

Parenting

Toddlers and Touchscreens: Scourge or Salvation? - Anya Kamenetz, Hechinger Report

Not All Parents Want To Be PTA Moms - Joanne Jacobs, Linking and Thinking on Education

Organizations Vie for Parent Attention with 'Report Cards' - Michele Molnar, Education Week

Authoritarian Parenting: What Happens to the Kids? - Gwen Dewar, Parenting Science

The Kids Are Not Alright? - Polly Palumbo, Momma Data

The Girl Scouts' VERY Cool New Badge - Krystie Yandoli, Huff Post Teen

Helping Your Kids Avoid Alcohol Pitfalls in Shift to College - Cleveland & Ward, EurekaAlert!

Measuring College Prestige vs. Price - Paul Sullivan, New York Times

Learning

How to Stimulate Curiosity and Promote Learning - Annie Murphy Paul, TIME

Why Teenagers Really Do Need an Extra Hour in Bed - Russell Foster, New Scientist

How To Unlearn Mistaken Ideas - Annie Murphy Paul, The Brilliant Blog

Misconceptions about Critical Thinking and Knowledge - Lisa Hansel, Core Knowledge Blog

Is It Possible to Measure Creativity? - Elizabeth Blair, Mind/Shift

Education

Test Resentment and the Politics of the Common Core - Dana Goldstein

In an Era of Global Competition, What Exactly Are We Testing For? - K. Schwartz, Mind/Shift

Michelle Rhee and the Unproven Teacher Evaluation - Karin Klein, L.A. Times

Bill Gates On Education: "We Can Make Massive Strides" - Anya Kamenetz, Fast Company

Clueless Bill Gates, Redux - Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch's Blog

High-Quality Preschool is a Sure Path to the Middle Class - Arne Duncan, Washington Post

How High-Poverty Schools Are Getting It Done - Karin Chenoweth & Christina Theokas, ASCD

What Education Reform Looks Like - Joel Klein, Wall Street Journal

Questioning the Mission of College - Frank Bruni, New York Times

And the National Teacher of the Year Is... - Elizabeth Chuck, U.S. News

Resources

U.S. News Releases 2013 Best High Schools Rankings - Kelsey Sheehy, U.S. News

Presenting ... the Digital Public Library of America! - Rebecca J. Rosen, The Atlantic

Life360 Wins as Smartphones Become Family Utilities - Ryan Kim, GigaOm

5 Tools to Help Your Child Learn the Pencil Grip - Andrea Updyke, BabyCenter

Shakespeare's Sonnets - A Terrific App (ages 14 +) - Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

PCM Top Articles of the Week

The indictment of 35 educators in Atlanta’s testing scandal is big news this week. Should we blame the use of high-stakes testing in accountability and teacher effectiveness polices? Or, is this just a case of classic cheating? ● PCM Top 10 Influencer, Bill Gates, whose foundation funds research to improve teaching, wrote an op-ed on using student test scores for teacher evaluations. He urged a better balance between the “urgency for change” and the need for fair systems. ● Also in education, learn about recent voucher victories, conservative vs. progressive education reforms, and President Obama’s brain mapping plan. ● Find out how student engagement and flow differ, how gestures help learning, why ADHD diagnoses are increasing, and how we can educate students for careers in an era of uncertain career paths. ● Check out the amazing Lego constructions.

Parenting

You Can’t ‘Have It All’ & More of Feminism’s Outdated Phrases - Ellen Galinsky, The Daily Beast

More on Toddlers, Touchscreens and Learning - Lisa Guernsey, New America Foundation

What Does a Tablet Do to the Child’s Mind? - Nick Bilton, New York Times

Is Heading A Soccer Ball Dangerous? - Richard Rende, Red Hot Parenting

More Diagnoses of A.D.H.D. Causing Concern - Alan Schwarz and Sarah Cohen, New York Times

Even Multiple Vaccines Don't Cause Autism, CDC Says - Sarah Sparks, Ed Week

First Take: Can Your Children “Design Their Own Professions?” - Raising Modern Learners

Learning

Kids Learn Better from Adults Who Talk with Their Hands - Gwen Dewar, BabyCenter

Mastering Emotions by Sharpening Memory? It Just Might Work - Melissa Healy, L.A. Times

Is Quality Pre-Kindergarten the Key to a Better Vocabulary? - Bonnie Rochman, Time

5 Learning Principles Embedded in Video Games - Tina Barseghian, Mind/Shift

How Meditation Might Boost Your Test Scores - Jan Hoffman, New York Times

Easing Brain Fatigue With a Walk in the Park - Gretchen Reynolds, New York Times

Education

Ex-Atlanta Schools Chief Charged in Cheating Scandal - Michael Winerip, New York Times

What’s Really Scandalous About the School Testing Scandal - Erika Christakis, Time

A Fairer Way to Evaluate Teachers - Bill Gates, Washington Post

A Victory for School Choice - Michael Gerson, RealClearPolitics

Vouchers Don’t Work: Evidence from Milwaukee - Diane Ravitch's blog

Why Conservatives Should Support the Common Core - K. Porter-Magee & S. Stern, Nat'l Review

How to Build a Progressive Education Movement - David Bernstein, Education Week

Beyond Student Engagement: Achieving a State of Flow - Elena Aguilar, Edutopia

Obama Goes Public With Brain-Mapping Plan - Greg Miller, Wired

Resources

The 21 Coolest Things Ever Made Out Of Lego - Jack Shepherd, BuzzFeed

Raise A Reader: A Parent Guide to Reading for Ages 3-5 - Zoë Kashner, Scholastic

Nostalgia Sounds Good: The Return of Golden Records - Parents' Choice

My Favorite Audiobooks for Kids from Greathall - Melissa Taylor, Imagination Soup

PCM's Top Articles of the Week

Questions about students' privacy persisted this week. Should parents let for-profit companies use their kids’ personal school data for the collective benefits derived from big data technologies? That’s the default setting. Parents must make some noise to require parental permission. ● Two articles present different viewpoints of Carol Dweck's research on praising children. ● Get more knowledgeable about memory, competitiveness, creative intelligence, and the optimism bias. ● The backlash against excessive accountability testing continued its march through the states, impacting school board elections in L.A. ● Should states get relief from NCLB’s requirement that 100% of students be “proficient” by 2014? Do you think different percentages should be allowed for different races? Right now 23 states have answered yes. ● Heard of Sugata Mitra’s Hole in the Wall project? It’s the ultimate informal learning experiment. His fabulous TED talk has 1.28 million views.

Parenting

K-12 Student Database Jazzes Tech Startups, Spooks Parents - Stephanie Simon, Reuters

My Child's School is Fine, Too Bad Yours Stinks - Carol Lloyd, GreatSchools.org

20 Things Every Boy Should Know - Aaron Brinker, Dad Blunders

Why I Refuse to Feel Bad for Praising My Kids - Megan Francis, The Happiest Mom

Wrong Kind of Praise for Kids Can Backfire - Rick Nauert, PhD, PsychCentral

Why Teens Are Tiring of Facebook - Jennifer Van Grove, CNET

Fear, Anger or Pain: Why Do Babies Cry? - ScienceDaily

Learning

How Do We Remember and Why Do We Often Forget? - Kenneth Wesson, BrainWorld

Why Children Learn Faster Rereading Same Books - Andrew Levy, MailOnline

First, IQ, Then EQ, Now CQ--Creative Intelligence - Anita Hamilton, Time

Competition Can Sometimes Make Our Performance Worse - Annie Murphy Paul, Creativity Post

Can Gaming Make Us More Cooperative, Empathic? - Daniel Willingham, Science & Education Blog

High Schoolers, Don't Sacrifice Sleep to Late-Night Study - Allison Aubrey, NPR

Education

Standardized Testing Becomes the Great Divide in Ed Policy - Teresa Watanabe, LA Times

5 Common Myths About the SAT, Debunked. - Bob Schaeffer, Washington Post

The Learning Virtues - David Brooks, New York Times

$1Million Ted Prize Winner to Create a School in the Cloud - Anya Kamenetz, Fast Company

Is the Common Core an Attack on Progressive Ed? - Lisa Nielsen, Huff Post

Gifted Class Imbalance - Lisa Fleisher, Sophia Hollander, WSJ

Florida Officials Defend Racial, Ethnic Learning Goals - Lizette Alvarez, NYT

Gates, Zuckerberg: Kids, Learn to Code - Brandon Griggs, CNN

2 Year Tech Degrees Pay Off - Joanne Jacobs, Hechinger Report

Resources

Kids Code the Darndest Things: 10 Amazing Youth - Matt Petronzio, Mashable

5 Resources for Spring Parent Teacher Conferences - Matt Davis, edutopia

Fun Facts to Know About St. Patrick's Day - Katie Lepi, edudemic

109 Ways to Celebrate Math Lessons From Dr. Seuss - Miriam Sherin, Huff Post

How to Use School Test Score Data: Parent Basics

How do you compare schools based on test scores?  This 2 1/2 minute animation, made by non-profit GreatSchools.org, provides helpful information as you answer that question.

"...a school's overall test score never provides the whole story."

Here are three things parents should know to become savvy users of school test score data.

PCM's Top Articles of the Week

This week a smart discussion over introverted students and class participation evolved around posts by a teacher, a wrongologist, and an introversion expert. ● Last week’s top article on how kids handle the pressures of accountability testing generated posts this week on how to help ‘worriers’ overcome test anxiety. ● President Obama’s SOTU tackled universal Pre-K (one of PCM's Top 10 Education Policies) and the global achievement gap. ● Do you have a strong opinion about how best to educate young children? Then the debate over whether the common core undermines early learning will interest you. ● Experts dispute if background knowledge is essential, elitist, or extraneous in the age of Google. ● Check out the fantastic new toys showcased at NYC’s annual Toy Fair.

Parenting

Introverted Kids Need to Learn to Speak Up at School - Jessica Lahey, The Atlantic

Help Shy Kids, Don't Punish Them - Susan Cain, The Atlantic

Why Introverts Shouldn't Be Forced to Talk in Class - Katherine Schultz, Washington Post

A Parent Guide to Dealing with Digital Behavior Issues - Edward Chen, Edutopia

How Parents Who Play Favorites Hurt the Entire Family - Olivia B. Waxman, Time

Don't Be Bossy When Playing with Your Kids - Richard Rende, PhD, RedHotParenting

Is 'Parent Involvement' in Schools Really Useful? - Alfie Kohn, SmartBlog on Education

17 Parenting Lessons from Downton Abbey - Lisa Endlich, Huffington Post

Learning

Is the Internet Good or Bad for Your Brain? - Alvaro Fernandez, Wired

Helping a Worrier Become a Warrior - KJ Dell'Antonia, New York Times

Anxious About Tests? Tips to Ease Angst - Annie Murphy Paul, Mind/Shift

Feeling Anxious? Think Again - Wray Herbert, Huffington Post

Children Must Learn More Words, Studies Say - Sarah D. Sparks, Education Week

Education

Obama Urges Big Preschool Expansion in SOTU - Alyson Klein, Politics K-12

We Must Out-Educate and Out-Innovate Other Nations - Diane Ravitch, Bill Moyers' Group Think

The Push to Gauge Bang for Buck From College - Ruth Simon and Michael Corkery, WSJ

Michael Gove Trashes Elitist 'Downtown Abbey' Ed Attitudes - R A Johnston, Education News

Knowledge Matters, Students Can't Google Everything - Daniel Willingham, Washington Post

A Real Paradigm Shift in Education - Marion Brady, Washington Post

Do Young Kids Need to Learn a Lot of Facts? - E. Miller and N. Carlsson-Paige, Washington Post

Common Core v False Promise of Leveled Literacy - Kathleen Porter-Magee, Fordham Institute

Resources

10 Best Toys from Toy Fair 2013 - Corinne Iozzio and Amber Williams, PopSci

Q&A with Pamela Druckerman on Her New French Parenting Book - KJ Dell'Antonia, NYT

'College Scoreboard' Launches for Parents and Students - Arne Duncan, Dept of Education

3 Vocabulary Apps for SAT Takers and Lifelong Learners - Katie Lepi, edudemic

Delorme and the World's Largest Scale Replica of Earth - Sarah Pinault, GeekMom

PCM's Top Articles of the Week

This week read about teachers rebelling against too much testing (considered the dark side of accountability.) ● Do conclusions about America’s performance on international achievement tests make you wary? Then, the article “PISA Envy” is worth your time. ● A new discussion this week about the achievement gap signals changes. ● Most likely you’re familiar with the science of “non-cognitive factors” in kids' learning and success, like grit, motivation, resilience. But, if that science is used for educational interventions, aren't there measurement problems? ● When applying the 10,000 Hour Rule, what word is the most useful? ● Wondering about tablets for kids? The guru of kid tech will answer your questions.

Parenting

FibbStrong: What to Teach Kids About Lying - Ellen Galinsky, Huff Post

Colin Powel: Kids Need Structure - TED Talks

Brain Scan Study: Watching TV Isn't Mindless - Gwen Dewar, PhD, BabyCenter Blog

At-Home Dads Make Parenting More of a 'Guy' Thing - Sue Shellenbarger, Wall Street Journal

10 Things Colleges Now Look For in High School Students - Lucy Betina, edudemic

Learning

"Non-Cognitive Factors" Are Hip, But There's a Problem - Daniel Willingham, Science & Ed Blog

Tiny Distractions Can Double Mistakes - Tia Ghose, Scientific American

The Most Powerful 3-Letter Word a Parent Can Use - Daniel Coyle, Talent Code Blog

How Struggle in Learning is an Opportunity - Annie Murphy Paul, PBS

Emotional Smarts Tied to General IQ - Tia Ghose, Scientific American

How Friendship Makes You More Successful - Carlin Flora, Time

Education

Testing Education: PISA Envy - The Economist

More Teachers Refuse To Give Standardized Tests -Ann Dornfeld, Mind/Shift

Duncan: Teachers Don't Want More Guns in Schools - Phillip Elliott, Associated Press

When Black Students Ask What We Mean by 'Achievement Gap'? - Ursa Scherer, Good

The Definition of Blended Learning - TeachThought

5 Lessons From Salman Khan on Reinventing Education - Dr. Jonathan Wai, Creativity Post

Resources

Tablets for Kids: Which Deliver Most Bang for the Buck? - W. Buckleitner, Children's Tech Review

Leave It to Disney to Make the History of 44 Presidents Fun (Grades 3-8) - CoolMomTech

Classic Children's Books for the iPad - The Online Mom

"Skull in the Rock" Brings Paleo Science to Kids (Age 10+) - Anna Kuchment, Scientific American

What is the 'Parent Trigger'?

Parent Trigger describes state legislation that gives parents more power to change poorly performing schools. To pull the trigger, more than 50% of the parents in the school must sign a petition to initiate the process. Once the shot is fired, parents can implement one of 4 options:

    1) shut down the school,

    2) fire the principal,

    3) fire teachers, or

    4) hire a charter organization to take over the school.

Seven states have passed laws with versions of the parent trigger. But Florida, in March 2012, voted down parent trigger legislation in a hard fought battle between activists on both sides. As many as 20 more states are considering legislation. Why? One reason is that it improves states’ chances of being waived from certain accountability requirements in No Child Left Behind.

Here are 14 articles to help you get informed. 

Reference Articles

Hopes and Fears for Parent Trigger Laws - Room for Debate, The Opinion Pages, NYT

Five Minute Primer: Parent Trigger Laws - Donna Krache, Schools of Thought, CNN

Parent Trigger Laws in the States - National Conference of State Legislatures

Roundup of Leading Thinkers on Parent Trigger - Nick Pandolfo, HechingerEd

Opinions

Can Parents Take Over Schools? - Andrew Rotherham, Time

Putting Parents in Charge - Peg Tyre, New York Times

The Trouble With the Parent Trigger - Diane Ravitch, Education Week

Not Your Mother's PTA - Bruno V. Manno, Education Next

Support Parent Power - Gloria Romero, Los Angeles Times

No Magic Bullet for Schools - Editorial, Los Angeles Times

Why Florida's Parent Trigger Bill Failed in State Senate - Valerie Strauss, Washington Post

Michelle Rhee Interview About the Parent Trigger - Jeff Solochek, Tampa Bay Times

US Mayors Back Parent Trigger Legislation - Stephanie Simon, Reuters

Mayors Gone Mad - Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch's Blog

What is the 'Parent Trigger'?

Parent Trigger describes state legislation that gives parents more power to change poorly performing schools. To pull the trigger, more than 50% of the parents in the school must sign a petition to initiate the process. Once the shot is fired, parents can implement one of 4 options:

    1) shut down the school,

    2) fire the principal,

    3) fire teachers, or

    4) hire a charter organization to take over the school.

Seven states have passed laws with versions of the parent trigger. But Florida, in March 2012, voted down parent trigger legislation in a hard fought battle between activists on both sides. As many as 20 more states are considering legislation. Why? One reason is that it improves states’ chances of being waived from certain accountability requirements in No Child Left Behind.

Here are 14 articles to help you get informed. 

Reference Articles

Hopes and Fears for Parent Trigger Laws - Room for Debate, The Opinion Pages, NYT

Five Minute Primer: Parent Trigger Laws - Donna Krache, Schools of Thought, CNN

Parent Trigger Laws in the States - National Conference of State Legislatures

Roundup of Leading Thinkers on Parent Trigger - Nick Pandolfo, HechingerEd

Opinions

Can Parents Take Over Schools? - Andrew Rotherham, Time

Putting Parents in Charge - Peg Tyre, New York Times

The Trouble With the Parent Trigger - Diane Ravitch, Education Week

Not Your Mother's PTA - Bruno V. Manno, Education Next

Support Parent Power - Gloria Romero, Los Angeles Times

No Magic Bullet for Schools - Editorial, Los Angeles Times

Why Florida's Parent Trigger Bill Failed in State Senate - Valerie Strauss, Washington Post

Michelle Rhee Interview About the Parent Trigger - Jeff Solochek, Tampa Bay Times

US Mayors Back Parent Trigger Legislation - Stephanie Simon, Reuters

Mayors Gone Mad - Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch's Blog

Clarifying the President's Remarks on Tests

Recently at a town hall meeting President Obama answered a student’s question about excessive testing that many bloggers thought contradicted his own Education Department.

In response, US Department of Education Press Secretary, Justin Hamilton, provided a statement to blogger Anthony Cody at Living in Dialogue.

Hamilton’s statement shed light on the following questions raised in PCM's post What Did President Obama Mean About Standardized Tests?

1. When the President says if "everybody can agree on a test that makes sense” does he mean that buy-in by the stakeholders makes accountability to the test fair?

President Obama and Sec. Duncan agree, said Hamilton, that tests used in NCLB “need to improve dramatically.”

Their plan, A Blueprint for Reform, replaces one-shot high stakes bubble tests with a “new generation of assessments that are more useful to students, parents and teachers, and promotes good instruction in the classroom.”

The new assessments measure student growth instead of absolute levels of proficiency.  They could include standardized tests or “portfolios, observation of student work against a rubric aligned with state standards, or assessments designed by teachers according to state guidance.”

The President believes these new tests would make more sense to parents, teachers and students. He implies that would mean fewer objections to including them in an accountability system.

2. Is the President suggesting that when other criteria besides standardized tests are included in the accountability system, then the test's stake is no longer high? 

Hamilton didn't make this argument. Instead he said the Education Department's position was that assessments measuring student growth are, by definition, not high-stakes tests.

He did discuss additional criteria for judging whether a school was successful. The Blueprint included "measures of student growth in subjects other than English language arts and math…graduation rates; college enrollment rates; the rate of college enrollment without the need for remediation…student, teacher and school leader attendance; disciplinary incidents; or student, parent, or school staff surveys about their school experience.”

When more criteria are included in the accountability system, the stake of test scores is most likely reduced. But the system must be finalized to know for certain.

3. Could the President be saying that standardized tests are diagnostic tests and should not be part of the accountability system?  That would be a policy shift.

Hamilton was emphatic that tests measuring student growth were diagnostic tests and that they were included in the proposed accountability system. Many would argue that any test score included in an accountability system is, by definition, not a diagnostic test. The President would likely disagree, so there isn't a policy shift.

The Blueprint will mean more tests, admitted Hamilton.  But since they are useful tests that measure student progress to better align instruction, they will "foster a classroom culture of continuous improvement."

The President did tell the student seeking relief from excessive testing, "…you're going to have to take some tests, man, you're not going to get completely out of that." 

Background Information:

PCM Core Article: What is Accountability in Education Policy?

PCM Top 10 Education Policies

What Did President Obama Mean About Standardized Tests?

At a recent town hall meeting focused on Hispanic education one of the high school students asked President Obama if he could do something to reduce all the tests students have to take. 

The President's answer seemed to contradict his policy on using standardized tests for accountability.  Is he signaling a policy shift, or is the President misunderstanding his administration’s policy?

His answer differentiated between regular subject tests and standardized tests.  He told the students emphatically if they wanted a break on regular tests, "Tough luck!"  Students had to study hard, take tests, and find out if they understood the subject matter.

Then he said, "What is true, though, is that we have piled on a lot of standardized tests on our kids." 

Standardized tests, the President explained, provide a baseline of where students are at and should be used as a tool to diagnose strengths and weaknesses.  They should not require special study and should not be "pressure-packed." 

Standardized Tests Should Not Be High Stakes Tests

What has been happening, the President said, is that standardized tests were being "used to punish students and, in some cases, schools."  

He said, "…let's find a test that everybody agrees makes sense…and let's make sure that that's not the only way we are judging whether a school is doing well."

President Obama did not want schools "teaching to the test" because then students were learning less about the world, culture, science, and math, and were just learning tricks.  Test preparation made education "boring," and students learned more when they were interested.

He summed up with, "…you're going to have to take some tests, man, you're not going to get completely out of that."

What is President Obama Saying?

If standardized tests are used to account for a school's success or failure, that’s high stakes testing.  

When the President says if "everybody can agree on a test that makes sense” does he mean that buy-in by the stakeholders makes accountability to the test fair?

Or, is he suggesting that when other criteria besides standardized tests are included in the accountability system, then the test's stake is no longer high? 

Could the President be saying that standardized tests are diagnostic tests and should not be part of the accountability system?  That would be a policy shift.

Background Information:

PCM Core Article: What is Accountability in Education Policy?

PCM Top 10 Education Policies