No Child Left Behind

Gay, Geneva. “The Rhetoric and Reality of NCLB.” Race Ethnicity and Education, 10.3 (2007): 279 – 293.

In this article, Geneva Gay presents a multifaceted attack on No Child Left Behind. No Child Left Behind, considered the most significant educational policy ever implemented by federal government, was instituted with the purpose of ensuring excellent education regardless of race, ethnicity, or intellectual ability. However, as Gay lays out in this article, NCLB has failed to achieve what it set out to do. Diversity and the development of the well-rounded child is sacrificed, as teachers are forced to constrict lessons to the standardized tests. Teachers have less freedom to use imagination in the classroom, as “many feel too burdened down and consumed by the demands of NCLB to do anything but teach to the tests.” Lastly, studies by psychologists and psychiatrists have shown that high stakes testing induces stress among elementary-aged students, leading to psycho-emotional problems such as “anger, hostility, boredom, sadness and alienation.” So, as Gay puts it:

the rhetoric of NCLB is enticing but its realities are frightening. It is fueling that which it claims to be destroying—that is, disparities in high-quality educational opportunities and achievement outcomes for diverse students.

As a teacher at a charter school facing restructuring if we do not meet AYP, I feel the influences of NCLB on a daily basis. Our extended learning time (ELT) is filled with longer blocks for reading and math – the content that will be on the standardized tests this spring. A high level of pressure is placed upon everyone from administrators to students, as there is almost a “do or die” atmosphere that has been created. What disturbs me about the policy is that it plays such an extreme influence in our classrooms, yet there seem to be clear flaws. At a school such as mine that did not meet AYP last year, it is unrealistic to think that students can on average progress multiple grade levels in one year. It seems that a better measure of a school trajectory would be the overall progress students made in the past year, rather than a count of how many students met proficiency levels. As Gay lays out in this article, there clearly are many flaws in NCLB and in my opinion, such a flawed policy should not play such a large influence in the education of our nations children.

The Negotiated Project Approach

Mitchell, Sascha, Teresa Foulger, Keith Wetzel, and Chris Rathkey. "The Negotiated Project Approach: Project-Based Learning without Leaving the Standards Behind." Early Childhood Education (2009): 339-46. EbscoHost. Web. 4 Nov. 2008.

This is a case study conducted in a 1^st grade classroom exploring how a teacher can collaboratively plan a project with students while at the same time incorporating grade-level standards. The study focuses on the project approach to learning, which in this article is defined as “in-depth investigations that involve students in design and investigative activities and that culminate in a final product or debriefing event.” Research has shown that the benefits of this type of learning include higher order thinking skills, increased ownership and interest in learning, and increased self-esteem. Challenges with the project-based approach include lack of structure and difficulty incorporating grade-level standards into projects. In this study, the teacher is effectively able to allow students to select their own projects, while at the same time incorporating grade-level standards. This is what is referred to in the article as the “Negotiated Project Approach,” where the teacher “integrates the standards into the children’s interests, rather than vice versa.”

I’m quite fond of the teaching strategies Ms. Rathkey implemented in this study. As a student, I would enjoy being in this class because I would have so much say in what I was learning. I would be more invested in my learning. Ms. Rathkey clearly demonstrates why she is an “exemplar” teacher with her ability to “manipulate the standards, not he children.” This is a teaching strategy that I hope to improve on and be able to implement effectively in my classroom.

Curriculum Development

Liu, Woon C., C.K. J. Wang, Oon S. Tan, Caroline Koh, and Jessie EE. "A self-determination approach to understanding students' motivation in project work." Elsevier (2008): 139-45. EbscoHost. Web. 4 Nov. 2008

This study examines the effects of project work amongst students in Singapore. The purpose of the study is threefold: first, it examines student motivation in project work; second, it considers learned emotions and skills in project work; and lastly, it examines the change in student’s perceptions of project work over time. The study uses a sample of seven hundred sixty 7^th grade students from five different government schools in Singapore. Students are grouped into 4 clusters based on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. In general, the findings show that the “high self-determined/low controlled” group had the most effective experience with project work, followed by the “high self-determined/high controlled,” “low self-determined/low controlled,” and “low self-determined/high controlled” groups, respectively. This suggests project work is most successful amongst students with intrinsic or autonomous motivation.

The findings in this study are consistent with what I have observed amongst my students. The students who come into my class motivated to learn clearly have a more meaningful experience in the classroom. The difficulty (and what this study does not address) is HOW to intrinsically motivate students successfully. One thing that could be interpreted from this study is that for project work, intrinsically motivated students are crucial for the success of the project. I tend to agree with this assertion, as the open-ended nature of project work requires a more motivated student. I’ve found in my remedial math class that highly structured activities are more successful that open-ended ones.

Unconscious Bias and Unintentional Racism

Moule, Jean. “Understanding Unconscious Bias and Unintentional Racism.” Phi Delta Kappan, 90.5 (2008): 320 – 326.

In this article, Moule discusses the effects of a term she coins “blink of the eye” racism. “Blink of the eye” racism, according to Moule, is the unconscious biases that are “usually invisible even and especially to those who perpetrate it.” While these thought processes may go unnoticed, they influence ones interactions with those groups who the stereotypes are held towards. One study showed that these unconscious biases affected the ability of individuals to work together. As Moule states, “if we mask our true attitudes, sometimes invisible to our own selves, we will continue to work slowly or unproductively.” For this reason, Moule suggests that it is important to first become aware of these biases, which will then allow for changing attitudes. To unpack these unconscious mindsets, Moule states that individuals need to “become less focused on feeling very tolerant and good about themselves and more focused on examining their own biases.”

An important point in this article is that because of human instinct, some of these personal biases are going to occur regardless of if we want them to or not. We are programmed to discern who is enemy and who is friend, for the ability to recognize friend or foe may be a matter of life or death (Begley 2004). Moreover, as Moule mentions, the societal norm is that good people are not biased or discriminatory. For these reasons, personal biases are often blocked out or left unspoken. The important take away for me from this article is that the way to overcome these biases is to acknowledge them openly and honestly. Therefore while it may be an uncomfortable issue for many, the most effective way to deal with these biases in the classroom is to find a way to safely address the issues and grow from them.

Varieties of Multicultural Education: An Introduction

Burnett, Gary. “Varieties of Multicultural Education: An Introduction.” ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education. (1994)

In Varieties of Multicultural Education, Burnett discusses the current state of multicultural education, and the increased attention it has received in recent years. He goes onto frame multicultural education into three typologies. The first typology, content-oriented programs, focus on including content about different cultural groups as part of the curriculum. The second typology, labeled student-oriented programs, are programs that aim to “help culturally or linguistically different students make the transition into the educational mainstream.” The last typology, socially-oriented programs, aims to increase “cultural and racial tolerance and reduc[e] bias.”

As a middle school teacher with students of many races from a variety of different backgrounds, the importance of multicultural education and cultural awareness is quite evident. Students are at a vulnerable stage, where they are developing their identities and feeling out what is socially appropriate. Schools are a place where students are introduced to cultural differences, and it is therefore important for these issues to be addressed in the classroom setting. I think that all three of the categories that Burnett outlines in this article are important to include in the classroom, as they all increase cultural understanding and enhance learning for students with different backgrounds.