The Two Million Minutes Blog

If black students had 4 years of top teachers; Achievement Gap would vanish

Insightful new study by the Brookings Institution. One core finding:

If black students had four straight years of teachers from the top 25 percent of most effective teachers, the black-white testing gap would vanish in four years.

Download Brookings-institution-study

ABSTRACT OF STUDY

"Traditionally, policymakers have attempted to improve the quality of the teaching force by raising minimum credentials for entering teachers. Recent research, however, suggests that such paper qualifications have little predictive power in identifying effective teachers.

We propose federal support to help states measure the effectiveness of individual teachers—based on their impact on student achievement, subjective evaluations by principals and peers, and parental evaluations. States would be given considerable discretion to develop their own measures, as long as student achievement impacts (using so-called "value-added" measures) are a key component.

The federal government would pay for bonuses to highly rated teachers willing to teach in high-poverty schools. In return for federal support, schools would not be able to offer tenure to new teachers who receive poor evaluations during their first two years on the job without obtaining district approval and informing parents in the schools. States would open further the door to teaching for those who lack traditional certification but can demonstrate success on the job.

This approach would facilitate entry into teaching by those pursuing other careers. The new measures of teacher performance would also provide key data for teachers and schools to use in their efforts to improve their performance."

Paul Krugman on US Education Decline - "Things Are About to Get Worse"

October 9, 2009

OP-ED COLUMNIST

The Uneducated American

By PAUL KRUGMAN

"If you had to explain America’s economic success with one word, that word would be “education.” In the 19th century, America led the way in universal basic education. Then, as other nations followed suit, the “high school revolution” of the early 20th century took us to a whole new level. And in the years after World War II, America established a commanding position in higher education.

But that was then. The rise of American education was, overwhelmingly, the rise of public education — and for the past 30 years our political scene has been dominated by the view that any and all government spending is a waste of taxpayer dollars. Education, as one of the largest components of public spending, has inevitably suffered.

Until now, the results of educational neglect have been gradual — a slow-motion erosion of America’s relative position. But things are about to get much worse, as the economic crisis — its effects exacerbated by the penny-wise, pound-foolish behavior that passes for “fiscal responsibility” in Washington — deals a severe blow to education across the board.

About that erosion: there has been a flurry of reporting recently about threats to the dominance of America’s elite universities. What hasn’t been reported to the same extent, at least as far as I’ve seen, is our relative decline in more mundane measures. America, which used to take the lead in educating its young, has been gradually falling behind other advanced countries.

Most people, I suspect, still have in their minds an image of America as the great land of college education, unique in the extent to which higher learning is offered to the population at large. That image used to correspond to reality. But these days young Americans are considerably less likely than young people in many other countries to graduate from college. In fact, we have a college graduation rate that’s slightly below the average across all advanced economies.

Even without the effects of the current crisis, there would be every reason to expect us to fall further in these rankings, if only because we make it so hard for those with limited financial means to stay in school. In America, with its weak social safety net and limited student aid, students are far more likely than their counterparts in, say, France to hold part-time jobs while still attending classes. Not surprisingly, given the financial pressures, young Americans are also less likely to stay in school and more likely to become full-time workers instead." Read More...

What Krugman neglects to point out is America spends more than ANY other nation on education... the more we spend the less we get.

Perhaps an entrepreneurial, frugal, creative solution might be tried - like what has been proposed by President Obama. Throwing money at a K-12 education monopoly is like going to full throttle.  

Why Math Skills Are Important For More Than Just Engineers And Scientists In The 21st Century

OSU Frosh Gettin Suspicious They Ain't Learnin Much in High School

Oregon State University is a comprehensive, public, research-extensive university and a member of the Oregon University System serving as the state's land-, sea-, space- and sun-grant institution - one of  only two universities with such designation in the country. OSU works in partnership with the P-12 school system to provide access to high quality educational programs.

Course: Math 111 - College Algebra - Polynomial equations and inequalities, polynomial functions and graphs, inverse functions, exponential and logarithmic functions, elementary mathematical modeling and applications.

Textbook: CUSTOM EDITION/COLLEGE ALGEBRA FOR MTH 111 AT OSU

From the Oregon State University's Student Newspaper - April 20, 2009

Math 111 continues to be slippery slope for OSU students Problems with Math 111 are believed to stem from students' inadequate grade school teaching in math

By: Shanna Woodruff

Posted: 4/20/09

Is there any hope for college algebra?

Math 111 [algebra] has been rumored throughout campus to be one of the most failed classes at Oregon State.

"I heard from everyone that I talked to about Math 111, that it was the number one failed class in the university, so I got in the mindset that I was going to fail, and I did," said Mark Stockhoff, a freshman in new media communications and business.

The issues relating to this rumor may be caused by the math placement test, poor math education before college, class size and student effort put into the class.

"We have a placement test, which we ask folks to take, and up until last year, only about 50 percent of entering freshmen placed into a college math course," said Math 111 instructor Peter Argyres.

To address the poor scores, the math department worked to create an online test that wasn't proctored to allow students to take the test in an easier environment and time frame, but the jump in scores was so significant that it was determined students had cheated on the math test.

"I got like a 98 percent in Math 105," said Cody Zimmer, a sophomore in microbiology who was placed in Math 105 by the math placement test. "[That class] doesn't prepare you at all for Math 111."

After 10 years of teaching the course, Argyres said he felt that many students go into the course feeling they can just memorize things, but he said it's really all about understanding concepts. He said he feels that this issue originates in elementary school.

"If you never had to memorize your times tables, how do you factor a number with a calculator?" Argyres said. "I see people fail Math 111 for arithmetic issues all the time."

When students never learned the basic information appropriately in high school, or earlier, it is significantly more difficult for them to succeed when they get to college algebra.

"Mathematics is densely a foreign language with a foreign spelling routine with all these different symbols," Argyres said. "Part of [understanding the language] is understanding what we mean by the symbols."

Another difficult part for students tends to be the class size and how quickly the class moves.

With more than 280 students in the classroom, it can be very overwhelming for many students.

"This is a sign of under-funding, because if they put more money into it, they'd hire more people to teach the class," Argyres said. "We almost lost our phones one year because they were looking for cutbacks."

With budget cuts still continuing, there is little hope that the classes will get any smaller.

The textbook froze about five years ago to get the price down for students, but this has caused the class to lose online support.

"Now, we're re-looking at the text, trying to see if we can get a better text that moves in a more linear fashion as far as the structure of the course, along with online support," Argyres said.

This may cost more money for students, so the math department is looking at doing an "e-text" where students can download homework in PDF form, but nothing has been determined yet.

The math department is aware of the difficulties for students in college algebra and can only recommend that students turn in the homework, go to class, work on math daily and to get help the moment they don't understand.

Zimmer failed the first test, and had to work to maintain a C in the class. "[After the first test] I just spent hours studying and asked the TA lots of questions."

"Go to every lecture, take notes and get tutoring or work in groups to help with the class," Stockhoff said. Stockhoff is currently looking at retaking the class since he did not pass it the first time.

NOTE: Thanks to Sudhakar Kudva for drawing this to my attention - http://tinyurl.com/oregonmath

At Least the Protectionists Have A Catchy Theme Song - Mad in America

While I disagree with protectionists, I have to admit they have a pretty cool theme song - Mad In America.

With unintended irony, the lyrics by the band ETx, describe an immigrant from Finland - a hard working, low wage baker - coming to America in the early 20th century; moving to find a low skill job. Two generations later his descendants are helpless as the jobs move instead of the person; to lower wage workers in China and India.

Lacking an understanding of how competitive advantages must be upgraded over time with more education, constant innovation and personal creativity, the song simply laments reality - that ideas, jobs and capital are mobile.

What many Americans fail to recall is the United States was where people and jobs moved to in the 19th and 20th centuries. We were the cheap laborers with the strong work ethic, the desire for a better life for our children, the commitment to building schools for compulsory education.

Listen to Mad In America

The 21st century demands that America adapt or decline. In the new millennium, we need to up our game - raise our standards of education, invest in advanced R&D and teach our children to be more entrepreneurial. We can't "protect" our way to prosperity. For the 21st century, it is Bob Dylan's lyrics that should guide us:

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.

You better start swimming or you'll sink like a stone. Oh the JOBS they are a changin'

Chicago's WMAQ-Ch. 5 restructuring newsroom
Some employees must apply for new jobs with more responsibilities

By Phil Rosenthal | Tribune reporter

January 29, 2009

News producers, writers and editors at NBC-owned WMAQ-Ch. 5 were told Wednesday they must reapply for new multi-faceted positions, the demands of which reflect the station's efforts to provide content not just for TV but the Internet, mobile devices and other emerging platforms.

The new jobs – with titles such as platform manager and content producer – are to be posted beginning Thursday, not just for internal candidates but outsiders as well.

"It's not a cost-cutting thing," said Frank Whittaker, WMAQ's station manager and vice president for news. "We haven't got the numbers yet, so I can't tell you if it matches up exactly or not. But the real reason is to take the resources we have and try to produce more content in more platforms than we're doing right now, and more platforms also means that hopefully we'll start making more revenue.

"The big picture is we're trying to become a newsroom that provides content for a number of different platforms, including the growth areas, which could be Web, could be mobile … a lot of different places where our content may play now or may play someday," he said. "That's how we're going to grow as our traditional business stays flat or declines or whatever happens in the future."

A handful of other NBC-owned stations, including Los Angeles's KNBC-TV, will join WMAQ in following WNBC's lead, which involves providing technology that enables people sitting at their desk to accomplish many tasks. Work hours may also shift because the different media have different demands

"A writer now has to write, an editor now has to edit," Whittaker said. "These new jobs are going to require multiple skills. You'll have to write, edit, you'll have to know how to send a story to the Web, order graphics and design graphics for the story you're working on."

Video will come into the newsroom, and rather than have separate people write, edit and produce material, the stated goal is to have a single "content producer" screen it, edit it and write a TV script for it as well as arrange necessary on-air graphics. That same person also will modify it for the NBCChicago.com Web site and other platforms.

"I think there are going to be enough jobs for people who meet the qualifications. The pay is going to be comparable," Whittaker said. "The biggest change, I think, is people are going to have to learn new skills. People are going to have to show they have a proficiency in a number of different skills, whereas now maybe they're good at one thing. That, to me, is the biggest challenge."

Privately, some current WMAQ staff members expressed concern that the most experienced – and most expensive staff members – would be vulnerable in the 21st century makeover. There also are fears that someone who is particularly good with a skill such as writing or editing might not be as adept at something else with which they have less, little or no experience.

Whittaker said he shares some concerns, but that at WNBC "some of the more senior people are the ones who succeeded in the new platforms" and management there was "pleasantly surprised to see it was the veterans who were better at the different news skills they had to learn."

WMAQ intends to make training available, he said.

"We're going to try to help them, but they're going to have to help themselves, too," Whittaker said. "Now if they're editors and learning to write, are they going to be Hemingways? Probably not. But as long as they can write a basic script, then they've met the basic qualifications.

"That's going to be the biggest challenge," he said. "People are going to be asked to do a number of different skills vs. what they're doing now."