More Plans ...
as reported in US News and World Report
http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/2008/12/19/influential-groups-lay-out-road-map-for-improving-us-education.html
From the article:
If the United States wants to keep those jobs at home, the authors of the report say the government should focus more resources on education and import best practices from top-performing countries.
That's the approach that other countries have taken. Germany, for example, put together a team of experts to study what other high-performing countries were doing. The investment led Germany to adopt several reforms, including opening 10,000 all-day schools, that led to higher student achievement. Singapore, which now leads the world in math and science achievement, made a similar investment after trailing other countries in similar international comparisons in the mid-1980s.
In contrast, the report says, the United States has largely ignored the international benchmarking movement in education.
There's plenty of room for improvement, the authors say. The curriculum that the typical American eighth grader studies is two full years behind the curriculum that students in the top-performing countries are studying.
"A report from the National Governors Association (NGA), the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), and Achieve Inc. outlines several recommendations for rebuilding the U.S. education system."
ReplyDeleteThese organizations are behind the reform movement you are against. Engler, G. Jr (MSU Board) and M. Romney. Also, Ritter being very much involved with school reform. Also, the association with UChicago(Isaacs) and the Rombergs etc. I've researched it.
For example, this was published in 2001 -
"Six WMU faculty members recently joined Gov. John Engler as well as other state and national leaders and mathematics educators for a one-day convocation recognizing ongoing efforts to improve K-12 mathematics education in Michigan.
Leonard Ginsberg, College of Arts and Sciences, and Christian Hirsch, Robert A. Laing, Sandra Madden, Ruth Ann Meyer and Beth Ritsema, all mathematics and statistics, attended "The Complete Equation: The Michigan Mathematics Success Story" convocation April 23 at the Kellogg Center at Michigan State University. Speakers at the program included Engler; U.S. Rep. Vernon Ehlers; Michigan Department of Education officials; and faculty members from WMU, the University of Michigan and MSU.
The convocation highlighted Michigan's efforts to continue to improve mathematics education and the role that research about teaching and learning has played in this work. WMU currently is engaged in a number of mathematics reform initiatives, including the Core-Plus Mathematics Project headed by Hirsch and the Middle School Mathematics Reform Project coordinated by Meyer and Laing. Both programs have received several million dollars in grants from the National Science Foundation and other national and state organizations and foundations."
... This is just part of the mess that's been created. The governor's roundtable appears to have divided school reform into bits and pieces. Look at the advisor's in Obama's handpicked cabinet cabinet?
Achieve's efforts to 'impose change' on Washington's schools has also been contentious (Boeing-Achieve Standard and Lynn Steen)
School reform is a dirty, lucrative business.
Why would the governor's roundtable support abominable curriculum like Core Plus?
ReplyDeleteCore plus integrates graphing calculators into the algebra curriculum. You need to buy calculators to use the textbooks.