Comments? Your experiences? Compliments?
Here's your chance to post a comment on your experiences with schools in Illinois, or to report on a promising development, or just to tell what you've found useful on the Illinois Loop website!
We welcome open discussion! As a result, please note that we do not necessarily endorse or agree with opinions or recommendations expressed here. We reserve the right to edit or delete entries with offensive language or unrelated topics.
| Name: | Wendy |
| Town or district: | Davis Junction |
| Comments: | we should have a cap on all state jobs. there is no good reason to pay more than 80,000 dollars a year for administrators or superintendents. look at the saleries we are paying, who said that was ok. when a super intendent is making over 300,000 dollars a year and those that they are in charge of can't afford new shoes it is truely a disgrace. cut thier saleries!!! |
| Name: | Bruce Deitrick Price |
| Town or district: | Norfolk, Virginia |
| Comments: | I've got about 150 articles on the internet, and recently collected the best excerpts into a book titled "THE EDUCATION ENIGMA--What Happened To American Education." Some of you have visited my site Improve-Education.org and know that my perspective is pro-facts and knowledge, and anti-educators (i.e., the people at the top who caused most of the problems). This book is short, lively, and accessible. It will help people understand that the schools were deliberately dumbed down, and must be smartened up the same way. On Amazon. Or ask your local library to carry it. |
| Name: | Lisa |
| Comments: | Here's a great homeschooling activity.. Learn about other cities, states, countries:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Traveling_Tony/ |
| Name: | Buckeye Girl |
| Town or district: | Naperville 203 |
| Comments: | You described Naperville 203's horrid math program to a T. In our personal experience (and in the opinion of hundreds of parents we know who are so angry that they literally are swearing and crying about how bad it is and the negative effect it is having on their kids' confidence/ability to do math), the program should be trashed IMMEDIATELY!!
We have hard data to prove that it failed our oldest. She jumped from 50 to 97th percentile after 4 months basic tutoring at Sylvan Learning Center in Woodridge. 203 administrators said it was impossible for our daughter to post such large leaps, yet we saw this on multiple standardized tests and in A's (vs. C's - F's) immediately upon Sylvan topics showing up in math class and that improvement continues now that we've pulled her from the clutches of the sub-par curriculum 203 forces on our unsuspecting children. This is the tip of the iceberg. The spelling/vocabulary curriculum is even worse. We are livid that we are paying such high taxes and in return getting such poor curriculum, and that District 203 administrators continue their pattern of denial, obfuscation and retaliation against kids whose parents have the temerity to complain. Someone should band us all together to file a class action lawsuit and demand change! |
| Name: | Buckeye Girl |
| Town or district: | Naperville 203 |
| Comments: | Kudos!! You absolutely NAILED your description of District 203's failed math program. It was uncanny how dead on you were - totally consistent with our current experience.
Specifically, we have a very bright (gifted) daughter who was struggling in math in District 203, supposedly one of the best districts in the state. After only 4 mos tutoring at Sylvan Learning Center in Woodridge IL (a decent program which incidentally District administrators trash), she jumped from 50th percentile to 97th percentile on all her standardized tests. We could tell the exact week when the Sylvan curriculum kicked in - it was the week when she all of a sudden started getting A's - because the sylvan curriculum actually taught her how to do math rather than the mumbo-jumbo senseless garbage District 203's curriculum has been spewing (not the fault of the teachers, but the administrators who selected this horrid curriculum). District 203's curriculum actually destroyed her confidence. She literally thought she was "stupid". Even worse is District 203 administrator arrogance denying that there's a problem. We complained (and I know hundreds of other District parents, including some teachers who are rabid to the point of swearing/crying about how bad the math program is), and 203's response has been denial ("nobody else is complaining"). Then there was retaliation against our daughter because we had the temerity to complain. I finally got our principal to admit District 203 knew there was a problem, but that it's a "7 year cycle to fix the program." Well, the bottom line is that won't do my kids any good. they will be out of 203 before this failed program is drop kicked as it should have been years ago. Shame on you District 203 administrators for denying the problem, blackballing concerned parents, and retaliating against students of parents who rightfully advocate for much needed curriculum change. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. If you think math is bad, you could write an expose about their even worse spelling/vocabulary curriculum. |
| Name: | Ann Duckworth |
| Town or district: | Jacksonville, FL |
| Comments: | Excerpt from - Why Males are Falling Behind Academically and Economically
Males are falling behind in greater numbers each year academically and economically. Our society is still using the nineteenth century belief Males should be strong and Females should be protected. This belief allows much aggression toward Males to make them tough. Any sign of weakness or displaying work that is considered more feminine is a negative in the eyes of society that will only react with more aggression toward such Males. Only Males who have been taught from a young age to not value those physical areas sufficiently and who are valued more so for so-called feminine qualities such as patience, understanding, ease of nature, kindness, mildness, and goodness will be able to also develop other information age skills society still feels is feminine such as mental, emotional, social, and academic skills. You see, all of those skills require more patience, ease of nature, and "low average stress along with proper pace and intensity in approaching those mental areas.” The nineteenth century belief Males should be strong very adversely affects Males from an early age onward in three large areas. The first area of concern: society's belief, Males should be strong allows much aggression toward Males (differences as early as nine months) “Psychology of Sex Differences”. From this aggression given them, Males are operating with much higher average stress that makes learning information age skills much more difficult. The increased aggression Males receive, creates four bad things for Males academically, mentally, emotionally, and socially: 1. It creates higher average layers of mental frictions (redefined from higher average stress) which inhibit thinking, learning, and motivation in mental areas. 2. These higher layers of mental frictions also create improper pace and intensity in approaching mental work (apply too much effort when approaching new material) and higher tension that hurts motivation to learn. 3. The aggression Males receive and less positive (nurturing) attention also create the higher average stress, which then creates the nervous energy or over activity. 4. This extra aggression Males receive creates the Male ego or defensive cushion that the Male develops from an early age to protect them from the aggressions they receive from society. This Male ego or defensive cushion has the negative consequences of further alienating the Male from “any” various mental, emotional, social, and academic supports they “might just” receive from society. When Males hear firm or hard words from others like teachers or others their minds are thinking defense and not thinking about learning and enjoying the learning process. The combination of high layers of mental frictions and defensive cushion are working to create an impediment to learning that accumulates in harm over time for men. The Second area of concern: In society today, men are given love, honor, respect, and support or the essentials of their self-worth only on the “condition of sufficient” achievement, money, power, status or image. Again, this is all a part of the nineteenth century belief Males should be strong. This is what makes Males so competitive. Males are continually vying or competing for the essentials of feelings of self-worth from society. They must fight through the still present, nineteenth century confrontations allowed by society upon them from an early age to achieve those benefits and feelings of self-worth. Those Males who do not achieve in school or other like areas will not only not receive sufficient love, honor, and respect from teacher, parents, and others for this lacking, they may receive more neglect and even more aggression from those persons. Again, society allows this window of aggression upon Males to make them tough. Males who can achieve in the classroom will do so. He will receive sufficient love, honor, respect, and support for academics and will continue to put forth more effort. When a Male Child is not showing a measure of achievement in school, he will tend to receive more neglect, abuse, and ridicule from parents and “teachers” than the Female child. This signals to the Male Child that he will not receive the essentials of self-worth in academics. He will then push himself in areas such as games, sports, and other pursuits to receive love, honor and respect (self-worth) from his peers. Over a period of years, this leaves Males far behind Females in mental, emotional, social, and academic knowledge and skills. Third area of concern: In addition, Males are not given positive mental, emotional, social, and academic support, knowledge and skills (unless by accident). Society in its ignorance from the nineteenth century belief Males should be strong considers such attention and support as coddling the Male child. Society still holds that Males should pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. As a result, Males are not given the tools to develop many mental, emotional, social, and academic skills. This greatly cuts down on their motivation to develop those skills. The combined effect of society only rewarding strength and power to face aggression; neglect in many social and academic areas; not rewarding but acting with more aggression toward Males who attempt to develop mildness, kindness, goodness, and care for others are hurting many Males. Over a period of years, this is leaving many Males grossly unable to compete in the information age, which requires a slow accumulation of many complex mental, emotional, social, academic skills and talents. This is creating the ever growing international Male Crisis that will only get worse for Males and then get much worse for Females when Males begin to take back with interest, their power and status. I feel society will continue maintaining this mistreatment of Males until a critical point is reached. The truth is, little boys need just as much coddling as the girls and just as much mental, emotional, social, and academic support as the girls. While neglect of Male children and boys may have proved useful in the more physical nineteenth century, it is working opposite of need in the information age where it requires much more accumulated mental, emotional, social and academic skills acquired over time. In these areas, Males are being seriously shortchanged. It is incorrect to view the Male Crisis on role models. The lack of role models is the result of the problem, not the cause. If you had a bag full of sand with a hole in the bottom, you would “not” say there is less sand in the bag; you would say there is a hole in the bottom of the bag. Indeed, we should fix the hole in the bag by providing Males with tools to develop long-term, mental/emotional stability so they can better compete mentally and emotionally in the information age. One professional was attempting to find more role models for Male children. He boasted that a Male child’s esteem goes up when they have one positive role model. What he was unknowingly saying was that Males have such little attention that when they do receive that attention, they are very grateful. This creates the large rise in esteem. The fight for attention could be creating misbehavior in Male children. 1. I also fear the use of Male classrooms with more discipline and more time on task will only lead to more stern and even more harsh treatment and stereotyping of Males to perform more physical or menial labor to match the growing caste system being portrayed in the media against Males today. We must learn to realize our current, single/multiple intelligence models were simply accepted out of hand years ago and held on to by many who were in control and apparently felt satisfied enough with their own life. Such ones could not see the tremendous disadvantage and damage such narrow, short-sighted beliefs would have on others, even among some persons who are closely related to them. “Newest Version” by e-mail to everyone. mayfieldga@bellsouth.net |
| Name: | Kellyn |
| Town or district: | Los Angeles |
| Comments: | Re teacher pay. I don't think the problem is what teachers make, too little, or too much. The issue is CAN WE AFFORD IT? Most politicians and union leaders never say WE CAN'T AFFORD THIS. They just throw temper tantrums and through intimidation usually get what they want. Make no mistake about it, big unions are the rulers and winners here! Their racket is secured. |
| Name: | Robert F |
| Town or district: | Seattle |
| Comments: | Oops. In my post on Anna Diaz's comment, I misspelled the singular possessive form of "country."
You make a simple but important point. The field of education is plagued by people who have strong opinions, who read a great deal of research, and who would not stoop to enter an actual school if their countries' future depended on it, which it does. It should say "country's." |
| Name: | Steve F. |
| Town or district: | Illinois |
| Comments: | I've been looking into Robert Marzano since my district seems to have swallowed his rhetoric hook,line and sinker. I smell a rat. Why am I right? Why am I right? Feedback please. Thanks. |
| Name: | DWB |
| Town or district: | Chicago |
| Comments: | Please look at these articles about the scores of students in Massachusetts on the TIMSS exam (used to compare the performance of countries in math and science). State of Massachusetts press release: http://www.doe.mass.edu/news/news.asp?id=4457; Boston Globe online article: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/12/10/bright_sign_for_tech_in_mass/.
Massachusetts took the exam as if it were a nation, and its 4th grade math scores placed it 4th in the world and its 8th grade math scores 6th. This is an accomplishment, and suggests that the educators in Massachusetts have some idea what they are doing. Kudos to the teachers and those who support their work. Isn't it interesting that 40% of Massachusetts schools with K-5 classrooms use Everyday Mathematics. The Massachusetts story suggests at least that the choice of curriculum is not the whole story. |
| Name: | Robert Boden |
| Town or district: | Lane County, Oregon |
| Comments: | Gentlemen,
The task of learning to read would be far easier if the letters in text each had but one sound. I think most people would agree with this statement. An illustration: (ten different sounds for the digraph 'ea') heal deaf ear heart break ocean search, reality creates idea But the problem of the miserable spelling of the English language can easily be taken care of (temporarily) by use of modern computer word-processing technology. By use of the Phondot system (www.phondot.com) children could be taught to read efficiently in about three months in Kindergarten. Phondot enables English text to be automatically altered to a form in which the sound of each letter is indicated, but spelling remains unchanged. Children would learn to write using normal text characters, but the text they copy would have pronunciation clearly indicated. This ability to teach reading so simply should result in great cost savings to the schools which use it. Bob Boden bobjoy4@hotmail.com |
| Name: | jan dowling |
| Town or district: | alpine |
| Comments: | THanks Parker, I agree with you. Everyone sounds so bitter emotional, and subjective. In my area I have had children in private, charter and public schools. I loved (as did the kids) the nighborhood schools best. The charter school was fine too but the parents were such annoying activists I was glad when my daughter went to high school and wanted to go to her neighborhood school. As for private, well fortunately I did my research. I actually had to drive past 2 private schools before I could get to one that if my son wanted to transfer back his public high school would accept the credit. And after 1 1/2 years he was able academically to stand the rigors of our neighborhood high school. I am not making that up. It is a tough school. With a strict attendance policy and a dress code that was incredible. A lesson learned, expensive is not necessarily better than free. |
| Name: | Anna Diaz |
| Town or district: | Chicago |
| Comments: | I issue two challanges, first actually print my comments and second, spend one week in a chicago public school on the west side of Chicago AND then tell me what a teacher is worth. I promise to listen then and only then! Editor's note: Our former director, and many participants in the Illinois Loop, HAVE worked in very challenging schools in low income neighborhoods. Teachers who are effective in those schools surely do deserve good compensation. I don't think anyone disagrees with that. |
| Name: | Barbara Ann |
| Town or district: | Park Ridge |
| Comments: | Illinois Loop, please look into community college teachers' contracts. They work 3 hrs/day, 15 hrs/week for only 35 week for 'full-time' salary and benefits. And they teach many college-remedial courses that a student should have passed in high school. Teaching AP Brit Literature in high school is much more demanding that English Composition in a junior college. High school teachers must do attendance, parent contact and heavy paper grading besides teaching 25 hours/wk. College teachers do keep 'office hours' but their students usually drive right off campus after class to their full time job! |
| Name: | Robert F |
| Comments: | My post below was written from frustration. I want to make clear that we all need to work to find our way forward. I agree with a great deal of what I find on this website. The point I am trying to make is that there comes a point where analysis should stop and constructive action should begin. Many have done that by starting their own schools or implementing working reforms in already existing schools. I don't expect to find a ready-made path out of the constructivist mainstream, but I do think that many teachers would benefit from work along those lines. We must be careful not to dismiss or discard teachers who find themselves teaching in mainstream schools. In most cases they have had few options. It would help a great deal to identify quality training and places to work where people are in agreement as to sound practices. |
| Name: | Parker |
| Town or district: | Zion |
| Comments: | How disappointing. When I saw the title of the website, I hoped for some real insight into state regulations and what I might expect as a newcomer to the region. What I found was a lot of bitter, uneducated guesses by presumably education amateurs. Simply because you once taught your child how to ride a bike, this does not make you a master teacher. The process of learning is not something to be made fun of, neither is it the same for every child. Any parent who has successfully taught more than one child something will know that. Simply because you can make up mocking definitions of terms you probably have no professional knowledge of does not make you appear "wise". What is signals is sour grapes. Perhaps, when the writer has bona fide educational credentials---whether or not you agree ideologically---then, you can comment. Imagine, if you come from the world that teachers come from and THEN disagree, you might be worth of some sort of attention. But until then, I'll trust my own interpretation. How sad, and such a waste of bandwidth. |
| Name: | Robert F |
| Town or district: | Seattle |
| Comments: | Hello Illinois Loop,
While I very much appreciate getting a response to my posting, reprinted below, I'm afraid the response missed the point. My point was that I am interested in moving from analysis to solutions, and to that end I asked some specific questions about teacher training. What I am not looking for are more articles to read, and I especially don't need or want to read more blogs. As I said before, I already understand the situation. I am talking about moving beyond complaint to constructive action. Most of the articles included here are written by people who are several steps removed from actually teaching in primary or secondary schools. This distance is a tremendous part of the problem, and one that receives little attention, for obvious reasons. It is becoming clear to me that for all of the strongly held opinions, there is little direct, constructive work being done. If that work is to be done, even answering the most basic questions, we will have to do it ourselves. Back to square one..... Robert F Name: Robert F Town or district: Seattle Comments: Hello. I am a more traditional, instructivist teacher who feels trapped in a constructivist world. I don't need to read all of these articles. The flaws of progressive education have been obvious to me all along. What I am looking for is information that takes me away from all the analysis and complaint and instead points towards solutions. Okay, most education schools are lousy. That isn't news. The question is where to go instead, and what is to be done? Should a person who has been poorly prepared find another teacher education program? Are there any good ones in the entire United States? If not, is there anywhere else to get training? Should we try to repair our deficits ourselves? Are there any groups organizing for this purpose? More to the point, is there anyone in Seattle who reads this site and agrees with its general critique of constructivist methods? I would dearly love to correspond or speak with some like-minded educators. I teach high school, but am interested in talking with anyone seeking to break out of the constructivist education mainstream. Robert F On the "Get Involved" tab on our menu above, see "Other Websites and Organizations". Good luck! |
| Name: | jan dowling |
| Town or district: | alpine school district |
| Comments: | Our district just threw Investigations Math under the bus because of parent outcry. I was disappointed because my children did so well with it. Just out of curiosity I thought I would google search math program comparisons and found this sight. I began reading through it but must admit I found the tone to be not very objective. To a sincere investigator it seems to have an agenda. I returned to my search and finally found what seemed to be an objective analysis of elementary math programs. (Clearinghouse) While Investigations was not on the list because there was not enough research to make an evidence based judgement the program that came out far better than any other was Everyday Math. Perhaps you all should have put your emotions aside and done your research before condemning it. |
| Name: | brian |
| Comments: | this was just terrible. |
| Name: | Amy |
| Town or district: | Oswego IL |
| Comments: | I do NOT agree with the D.I.G program that the Oswego 308 district has put in place at the JR high level. A student can be issued a D.I.G. for any infraction, from violence to breaking dress code to forgetting a pen/paper/planner when coming to class. All D.I.G.s are issued at the discretion
of the teacher, and once a D.I.G. has been issued, it cannot or will not be removed by the teacher/district. The teachers and administration are not willing to work with parents, if there is wrong or erroneous information, it remains on record. |
| Name: | Assigned a Shrink |
| Town or district: | USA |
| Comments: | To David Sharpe from Bournemouth U.K.:
It is unfortunate that this nonsense has gone 'global' and teachers around the world have had to suffer the exact same things. The real tragedy is that your tax dollars are being spent on snake-oil salesmen that as one person here put it, will Delphi you to death! Sadly you can be considered one of the best teachers in your system for years, until this nonsense comes along and if you won't go along with it, you will be downgraded to someone who needs psychiatric help. I am not exaggerating on that one, believe me. The New World Order is very evil indeed...they have used the art of deception to overtake the educational system, weed out the 'good' teachers, and impose their agenda on our students. As you can see from those learning to be teachers, they are not taught how to teach or how to organize and run a classroom, which is essential in the lower grades. Education has become infested with political correctness and naval gazing that has nothing to do with learning. It is just a sick situation and teachers, parents and taxpayers need to revolt and take over the system. |
| Name: | Teacher |
| Town or district: | Taught in Massachusetts 35 Years |
| Comments: | Bravo to the person(s) who compiled this site. Everyone who joins our USPEIN@yahoogroups.com is sent here for background info, as every bit of it is accurate, in my experience.
My last 10 of 35 teaching years were made a veritable NIGHTMARE by this nonsense. Some really good teachers swallowed it for fear of losing their jobs, others were driven out because they failed to use and employ the jargon and dubious methods. It also is upsetting how they are using mountains of tax dollars to promote this stuff. As a well-organized teacher with intent to teach actual skills I was discouraged at every turn. I cannot tell you how frustrating it was to try to explain why these curricular changes were not about learning but more about politics to teachers who ordinarily were not involved in that sort of thing. Finding others who understand what you know is like waking up from a bad dream. :-) Thanks! |
| Name: | Laura Stinson |
| Town or district: | Somonauk |
| Comments: | I would like to know if Saxon addresses the ISAT math extended response. So You new materials include this in everyday instrcution for students? Are samples available? Hints on how to teach it? |
| Name: | Just me |
| Comments: | Teachers on work 9 months out of the year correct? |
| Name: | Teacher in NH |
| Town or district: | Manchester NH |
| Comments: | You folks do a WONDERFUL job of exposing the hype that allows these snake-oil reformers to steal billions of our tax dollars while dumbing down the educational system.
As a teacher it is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to teach under this kind of system. When they started questioning who I was having lunch with (all of 20 minutes) I knew then it was time to scream, 'Can you say George Orwell?' This is the biggest scam next to global warming that is being perpetrated on the public. And these dumb school boards fall for it. "Compete in the global marketplace" means buying a UN program from the IBO.org to them, when it really just means "work for less than the Indian guy does". LOL |
| Name: | Sharon |
| Town or district: | Cupertino, CA |
| Comments: | Never, ever let this site die. I have been trying to get colleagues to use real words that parents in the grocery store can use when describing their child's school day that everyone can understand. What the heck is a PBT? Wouldn't "Daily Report" make more sense?
I love your site. |
| Name: | rick lynn |
| Town or district: | Duval County Florida |
| Comments: | The problem will not be solved by looking at learning styles or more compulsive effort on the part of boys. Until they stop looking at genetic factors and begin looking at so many environmental differences in treatment over time, Males, boys, men, will continual to fall behind. The problem with this is boys are given love, honor, respect, support, etc. only on condition of sufficient achievement, power, status, etc. the elements needed for feelings of self-worth. Girls are given love, honor, respect, simply for being girls. The general over protection and support for girls from day one creates much stability and ease of learning. The general over-aggression given Males, including lack of mental, emotional, social support for fear of coddling Males is causing much higher average stress, tension, and lag in mental/emotional growth over time. This must change for Males to have chance and for Society to remain whole. I will place other information as attachments that may be useful. I feel the increase in single mothers “is” the result a big disconnect between overprotected girls and boys not able and also now not willing to care for a family.
1. I fear followers of the genetic models will try to build a case for genetic learning differences or body mass requiring more activity or tactile learning. Note that nice middle class Males do not have this problem. Also the view of differences in brain activity are more due to large differences in differential mental, emotional, social, physical, and educational reinforcement over time, not organic differences. 2. I also fear the use of Male classrooms with more discipline and more time on task will only lead to more stern and even more harsh treatment and stereotyping of Males to perform more physical or menial labor to match the growing cast system being portrayed in the media against Males today. rick lynn Teacher Free to all by e-mail at mayfieldga@bellsouth.net |
| Name: | Robert F |
| Town or district: | Seattle |
| Comments: | Hello. I am a more traditional, instructivist teacher who feels trapped in a constructivist world. I don't need to read all of these articles. The flaws of progressive education have been obvious to me all along. What I am looking for is information that takes me away from all the analysis and complaint and instead points towards solutions. Okay, most education schools are lousy. That isn't news. The question is where to go instead, and what is to be done? Should a person who has been poorly prepared find another teacher education program? Are there any good ones in the entire United States? If not, is there anywhere else to get training? Should we try to repair our deficits ourselves? Are there any groups organizing for this purpose?
More to the point, is there anyone in Seattle who reads this site and agrees with its general critique of constructivist methods? I would dearly love to correspond or speak with some like-minded educators. I teach high school, but am interested in talking with anyone seeking to break out of the constructivist education mainstream. Robert F On the "Get Involved" tab on our menu above, see "Other Websites and Organizations". Good luck! |
| Name: | Math Mom |
| Town or district: | Washington |
| Comments: | May I get the correct link for Everyday Math: Proof that it works? Hardly by Mark Montgomery, September 29, 2006 Your link doesnt not work.
We've now fixed that link, on our page about math programs (under the "Subjects" tab) |
| Name: | Dave Warwak |
| Town or district: | Fox River Grove SD 3 |
| Comments: | "Not only at Fox River Grove Middle School but also in thousands of schools across the country, corporate agribusiness has run amok in the attempt to utilize public education as a place to establish the naturalization of commercial meat and dairy as lifelong eating habits, to generate increased sales, to subsidize the food industry against decreased producer prices, as well as to funnel below-health standards food not fit for public sale. Warwak was correct to demand the riddance of the Dairy Council’s posters as they had in fact already been targeted for removal from approximately 105,000 public schools by the Federal Trade Commission." Richard Kahn PhD, University of North Dakota
http://freire.mcgill.ca/files/kahn-epistemologiesofignorance.pdf |
| Name: | Eric Jensen |
| Town or district: | Joliet |
| Comments: | Hi
I hear my name used over and over on this website by uninformed, misguided, counterproductive, highly opinionated bloggers who claim to know a lot about the brain. They form a part of the "doubt industry" which loves to take a topic and hurl damaging and unsubstantiated claims, hoping that the average educator is too dumb to question their ignorance. This same routine went on in the 70s and 80s with the tobacco industry who never questioned the actual science of lung cancer, they just said "there were two sides" and tried to raise doubts. In the the 1990s and recently, the "doubt industry" worked on global warming. The Bush administration called it the "global warming debate" when there is NO debate at all. Over 900 scientific, peer-reviewed journals have shown that global warning is real and over 90% of the scientists agree humans are mostly to blame. Now we have the anti-brain groupies who blog that neuroscience has nothing to offer our teaching and that teachers are too dumb to make any connections to the classroom. Let's get something straight right now: the most prestigious university in the world, Harvard University, offers a brain-based masters AND doctorate degree. They researched this topic for ten years before offering degree programs. Do the critics think they know more than the certification departments at Harvard? There's a peer reviewed journal on brain-based teaching and hundreds of award-winning scientists endorse neuroscience applications in the classroom. Before you make any decision about whether you buy into brain-based anything, please go to the website www.brain-basedskeptic.com and read it. It's has the facts, not some rant by teacher who ought to be working on improving student learning, but instead chooses to embarrass himself with his lack of knowledge. Go to the site, then decide. Thanks for reading. |
| Name: | Math Mom |
| Town or district: | Washington |
| Comments: | PARENTS BE AWARE.
WHAT YOUR SCHOOL WILL NOT TELL YOU - Please do your own research and come to an informed conclusion. Washington State: Math Education and Inconvenient Truth (Video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr1qee-bTZI A FAILED EXPERIMENT. Our children are not guinea pigs. Fuzzy Math (Everyday Math, TERC, Investigations) etc is a FAILED EXPERIMENT. Stop treating our children as guinea pigs. We ranked # 1 in the World in Math and Science, we are now at # 25 (PISA 2007) http://www.eagleforum.org/educate/2006/nov06/math-teachers.html EVERYDAY MATH RATED WORST Everyday Math rated “worst” - Educational Research Analysis Report -2008 Email them and ask for the 2008 reports TxtbkRevws@aol.com FUN AND GAMES TODAY…..EXCESSIVE HOME TUTORING AND REMEDIATION TOMORROW Remediation: (2008) http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2008/09/01/2008-09-01_many_entering_cuny_students_failed_place-2.html Remediation: (2008) http://mathunderground.blogspot.com/2008/02/60-uw-faculty-critical-of-current.html Need for tutoring: http://vormath.info/WordPress1/?cat=4 Every Night Math: http://www.nypost.com/seven/12072007/postopinion/letters/everyday_math___junk_778730.htm CALCULATORS CRIPPLE COMPUTATION SKILLS Calculators are introduced in Kindergarten. Ask for your school Math curriculum. • Mathematicians reject the early use of calculators, beginning in kindergarten, and they question the current excessive use of calculators, during all of the K-12 years. • The National Math Advisory Panel Report 2008 cautions: that to the degree that calculators impede the development of automaticity; fluency in computation will be adversely affected. (page 24, point 29) • Educational Research Analysis 2008 Report outlines in detail how Everyday Math Cripples Computation Skills. The main goal of elementary school mathematics education is to get students to think about numbers and to learn arithmetic. Calculators defeat that purpose. They allow students to arrive at answers without thinking. When calculators are introduced in Kindergarten, where is the incentive to learn? In grade 5, there is an entire chapter on how to use a calculator. MATHEMATICIANS REJECT THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES OF EVERYDAY MATH What mathematicians say: http://www.voteboe2007.org/what_professors_say.htm Discovery based learning: http://www.wgquirk.com/NJmathst.html Multiple algorithms: http://www.math.nyu.edu/~braams/links/em-arith.html Estimation as an important part of imprecise Mathematics: http://www.wgquirk.com/chap3.html#Estimation Spiraling Method http://www.nychold.com/em-spiral.html COUNCIL OF TEACHERS OF MATHEMATICS REJECTS EVERYDAY MATH Math teachers: Parents are right http://www.eagleforum.org/column/2006/sept06/06-09-27.html Math teachers reverse course http://www.eagleforum.org/educate/2006/nov06/math-teachers.html WHAT COLLEGE PROFESSORS HAVE TO SAY: What Professors have to say – Remediation: http://mathunderground.blogspot.com/2008/02/60-uw-faculty-critical-of-current.html Washington State: Math Education: A University View (Video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymvSFunUjx0&feature=related CONFLICT OF INTEREST ? • Conflict of Interest: http://illinoisloop.org/mathprograms.html#chicagomath • Conflict of Interest: http://www.ctb.com/static/about_ctb/about_ctb.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673246865&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=9852723696535573&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474395213825&bmUID=1126020525603 • In the US dept of education findings which reviewed 61 studies on Everyday Math, NONE met evidence standards. One study to show potentially positive effects (2001 Riordan and Noyce) suffers from a huge conflict of interest. • States are dumbing down (State) Student Achievement Tests. Federal funds for education can be withheld from states in which students fail to meet the standards of the state-designed NCLB tests. • The proponents of Fuzzy Math are often the publishers themselves and the school districts which have already spent heavily on instructional materials, not the parents. STOP DUMBING DOWN http://www.georgeallen.com/2008/07/29/allen-stop-dumbing-down-america-washington-times/ http://clivecrook.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/the_dumbing_of_america.php Dumbing Down Tests: http://www.boardofed.idaho.gov/NAEP/info/media(2007-10-30)-PooleyLetter&Response.pdf Dumbing down State Student Achievement tests: http://usgovinfo.about.com/b/2007/06/18/are-states-dumbing-down-student-achievement-tests.htm DON’T BE FOOLED BY JARGON Everyday Math Jargon: http://www.jamerson-es.pinellas.k12.fl.us/docs/vocab.pdf Jargon: Put Two and Two Together By Elizabeth Carson, New York Daily News, October 16, 2006. “If you ask administrators to explain it, they'll use just enough jargon to make it sound decent.” Jargon: Standards should be unambiguous, understandable, and without needless jargon. http://vormath.info/WordPress1/?page_id=4 Requires Reading and Vocabulary proficiency: http://www.edweek.org/login.html?source=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.edweek.org%2Few%2Farticles%2F2001%2F12%2F05%2F14mathread.h21.html&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.edweek.org%2Few%2Farticles%2F2001%2F12%2F05%2F14mathread.h21.html&levelId=2100&baddebt=false ESL and Everyday Math In a class with one teacher, where is the time for this kind of differentiation? http://dev.wrightgroup.com/download/em/page92.pdf WHAT THE NATIONAL MATH ADVISORY PANEL 2008 REPORT HAS TO SAY The National Math Advisory Panel calls for back to basics systematic approach to Math http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/mathpanel/report/final-report.pdf • requires fluency with the standard algorithms for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division (page 19, point 11) • focus on effort increases their engagement in mathematics learning (page 20 point 14) • The Panel cautions that to the degree that calculators impede the development of automaticity; fluency in computation will be adversely affected. (page 24, point 29) • U.S. mathematics textbooks (publishers should make every effort to produce much shorter and more focused (page 24 point 31) • Mathematics literacy is a serious problem in the United States. (page 31) • The need to be globally competitive (page 32) Panel calls for Systematic Basic Approach to Math http://www.edweek.org/login.html?source=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.diigo.com%2Fuser%2Fcheryl_vt%2FNMAP&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.edweek.org%2Few%2Farticles%2F2008%2F03%2F19%2F28math_ep.h27.html%3Ftmp%3D425769355&levelId=2100&baddebt=false OUR CHILDREN NEED TO BE GLOBALLY COMPETITIVE: Math Skills suffer in the US - New York Times: http://www.nationalmathandscience.org/index.php/blog/math-skills-suffer-in-us-study-finds.html The need to stay Competitive: http://www.nationalmathandscience.org/index.php/staying-competitive/ Its all about being Globally competitive (VIDEO)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdgNJ4AibMw&feature=related Math and Science Reform http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/issues/PreK-12EducationFactSheet.pdf Rising Above the Gathering Storm – Two Years Later: 2008 http://nationalmathandscience.org/convocation/ Why US kids rank 33rd in the world – http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59262 American Institute of Research – What the US can learn from Singapore’s World class Math system (and what Singapore can learn from the US) 2005 http://www.air.org/news/documents/Singapore%20Report%20(Bookmark%20Version).pdf Math Wars carry on. Texas and California Reject Everyday Math in part South Carolina: Everyday Math Bottoms out at Beaufort http://thevoiceforschoolchoice.wordpress.com/2008/06/25/education-bottoms-out-in-beaufort-with-new-math/ New Jersey - Recall Everyday Math Long Valley http://longvalleymath.com/ New Jersey Long Valley NJ recall Everyday Math http://longvalleymath.com/category/national-math/ Columbia Missouri district back to traditional Math http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2008/09/24/district-decides-go-back-traditional-math/ Washington State Math Mess- a case against constructivist Math http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2008253262_opin12nutting.html Utah turning to the Far East http://www.highbeam.com:80/doc/1P2-16709447.html Virginia: Stafford County - Everyday Math is dumbing down our children 2008 http://www.schoc.org/id56.html Virginia: Prince William County, Arlington County, Fairfax, Loudoun, Howard Parents Rise against Everyday Math: 2008 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/18/AR2008021802244.html?referrer=emailarticle Virginia Prince William County: Parents take Action (2008) http://www.pwcteachmathright.com/ Texas: http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_93930.asp Humor: Peaceful movement to disarm Fuzzy Math http://www.weaponsofmathdestruction.com/thumbnails.cfm 600 schools in the US have shifted to Singapore Math http://www.illinoisloop.org/mathprograms.html#singapore New Jersey Ridgewood: http://vormath.info:80/WordPress1/?cat=6 New York http://www.nychold.com/let-nydn-0610yy.html New York http://www.nychold.com:80/let-action-0712.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr1qee-bTZI&feature=related New York - Fuzzy Math is not cuddly http://www.nypost.com/seven/11282007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/fuzzy_math_isnt_cuddly_685276.htm?page=0 Massachusetts: http://www.massachusetts.edu/stem/stem_math_woes.html Math bottoms out in Beaufort http://thevoiceforschoolchoice.wordpress.com/2008/06/25/education-bottoms-out-in-beaufort-with-new-math/ Add, subtract, multiply, and divide integers, decimals, and fractions accurately, efficiently, and flexibly without calculators http://gse.berkeley.edu/faculty/AHSchoenfeld/Schoenfeld_MathWars.pdf |
| Name: | Let Down After All These Years |
| Town or district: | Chicago Public School System |
| Comments: | I attended a CPS school and received a good, quality education that has taken me far in life. My son began school in pre-k and is now in 8th grade. He's been at the same school the whole time.
Each year I noticed some problems. He was in the gifted program but never made the grades I thought he should be making. I talked to the teachers who all assured me that he was doing fine because he scored so high on his standardized tests. In 5th he took a decline but still they told me he was doing fine. It wasn't until he was diagnosed with a tic disorder last summer that his neurologist recommended a neuropysch test. After 7 hours of testing they discovered he had a learning disability in both math and writing. The school decided to do their own independent testing when I brought it to their attention. They found out he does have both learning disabilities and is writing at a 5th grade level and his math is even lower. He barely knows his multiplication tables, or how to divide. Yet he's in the gifted program and after all of these years they've just discovered this now. No one noticed anything before because he scored in the 90% percentile on the state testing. Well my theory is that he scored so high because they teach to the test. They spend so much time teaching the things that are going to be on these standardized tests for fear that if their students do poorly, their job will suffer, the school, and so on. In the midst of all of this teaching to the test, they've completely flown past the basic fundamentals that every person should know in life. Things like how to multiply and divide! So now my son is in 8th grade and getting ready for high school and after all these years, they've decided now that he's special ed. I feel completely let down by the Chicago Public School system. I held up my end of the bargain. I've been an involved parent, active in his school, helping with homework, making sure he does the things he needs to do, read with him, worked with him, brought concerns to their attention, etc. Why didn't they live up to their end of the bargain by giving him a good solid education foundation for him to build on? Instead they let it be and never investigated anything simply because he scored well on his state tests. Something needs to be done about this now before more children suffer similar fates. And everyone wonders why the school system is broken. For years I was an advocate for public schools but after this, I've decided I just can't do it anymore. These standardized tests have to go. |
| Name: | Kathleen |
| Town or district: | Park Ridge |
| Comments: | Our teachers spend roughly four hours daily with their classes outside of "specials".Why do so many of them sit glued to their computers while their students work"independently" on packets of busy work during this time? Then they load them up with homework and send home union propaganda to con parents into doing the job they were paid handsomely all day to do.The parents then absorb this stress, after actually DOING their respective jobs all day, as well as the child who, from a child's perspective,has already put in a long day. "Peer-grading", silent reading, self-tutorials and homework are all ways teachers are deflecting their jobs! We must demand more productive classroom time and stop allowing teachers to put it on automatic pilot.This is the root of the problem.
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| Name: | Kellyn |
| Town or district: | Los Angeles |
| Comments: | Nameless: That broken train you speak of is off track in most school districts throughout America. I love the train analogy and your sense of humor -- what a great post!
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| Name: | J. Bohrman |
| Town or district: | Pocono Mountain School DIstrict |
| Comments: | I enjoyed viewing this site, though I can't say I agree with it. In my opinion, the biggest reason our schools our different than when we went is that teachers are limited in the demands they can make of students. Parental support is often lacking and we often spend a large part of the day teaching appropriate behaviors. Should this be more important than skills? If I am forced into the position of making this choice, I will always choose proper behaviors. Teacher-centered classrooms don't work when kids shut down and parents don't support education. Students don't fail grades when they don't perform, because studies show this isn't the answer either. Educators do the best with what they have. We need MANY strategies for many types of students and situations. |
| Name: | dianna |
| Town or district: | plainfield |
| Comments: | Your quote: First graders not taught the mechanics of reading, and instead told to guess at words by their shapes
My response - If a first grader can use more than one clue to decode a word BESIDES "sound it out", like looking at the pattern that the word has (shape), he/she will be able to use that strategy to decode other words. Teachers don't just give students one tool or strategy to decode words, they give them a variety of strategies. Some tools are: using context clues, looking at the picture, using the letter sounds (phonics), looking for little words in bigger words, and others. I appreciate that you are trying to fan the flames of outrage at what bureaucracy has done to schools, but you are a tad unreasonable and/or unfair. I'm all for making public schools better - on that we agree. And - Plainfield Elementary Schools no longer use Everyday Math. Please update your info. Editor's reply: -- Regarding "... looking at the pattern that the word has (shape) ..." That is NOT decoding. -- It's absolutely crucial that children learn and become fluent at decoding, and this cannot be replaced by so-called "strategies" ("see those tall necks at the end of 'giraffes'?") -- We've added a short collection of items on a "Comprehension Strategies" section on our "Reading" page (under "Subjects") -- We have revised our math-by-district page to reflect the good news that Plainfield has finally dumped Everyday Math after parent protests. |
| Name: | fed up |
| Town or district: | small town |
| Comments: | correction to my previous post... I do realize it's August..no school.. (maybe I need a vacation) The months run together when you're not off all summer.
Sorry about the error |
| Name: | fed up |
| Town or district: | small town |
| Comments: | I just had to reply to "gradem", the overworked teacher. YES, you are overpaid and NO, you are not over-worked, but apparently unorganized! What do you do during your free class time? In elementary school, the kids have gym, art, music, library, etc. something each day when they're not in your class. In upper grades teachers have scheduled planning time. Do you teach a different grade each year? Do you teach high school..the same subject..each year?
Many people work 10hr days and yes many of us have work to do at night. What about the hours we spend helping our children with homework? Someone who works 52 weeks per year..5 days a week works 260 days. Teachers have a set number of contract days..188/190 per year (Sept thru Aug inclusive). I wish I had 70 days of vacation a year! (esp holidays). One question..if you have so much work, why are you reading and posting on web sites at 2:59PM? (school day??) |
| Name: | Mom of 4 |
| Town or district: | LaSalle County |
| Comments: | Any thoughts on RtI? It seems to have elementary/middle school teachers in a tizzy, almost as much as ISAT testing-- |
| Name: | gradem |
| Town or district: | chicago |
| Comments: | Are you all crazy? You think teachers are overpaid? True, my salary is only based on 9 months of "actual" work - but during those 9 months my work week averages 90 hours per week. I usually get to school at 6:00 AM; I leave at 4:00 PM (if I'm lucky). I then go home and grade papers and lesson plan for at least 3-4 hours. My salary is $45k per year - and yes, I have a Master's degree. |
| Name: | JP |
| Town or district: | Yorkville |
| Comments: | I searched and was unable to find any references at illinoisloop.org, for the word fiduciary.
Fiduciary duty is an obligation to act in the best interest of another party (like taxpayers). Here's an example of what's happening elsewhere: http://ridgewoodblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/nj-moves-to-prevent-keansburg.html Is such action in Illinois possible? There is also a vote later this year to convene a constitutional convention in Illinois. Would that be an avenue to address this hemorrhaging of our tax dollars? |
| Name: | flcertifiedteacher |
| Town or district: | Collier County, Naples, FL |
| Comments: | Hello again Illinois Parents, Teachers and School Board Members,
I thought you might enjoy anonymously taking a quick quiz, online, only 10 questions, multiple choice, as the subject matter is: The actual background of your former superintendent, Dennis Thompson. Here's the quiz: QUIZ YOURSELF! |
| Name: | NAMELESS |
| Town or district: | SD 89 LOCKPORT |
| Comments: | THIS DISTRICT IS IN A TIME WARP. IT NEEDS HELP IN MANY WAYS. AMINISTRATION AND BOARD ARE WORKING TOGETHER, GOING DOWN A PATH TO NOWHERE. THE TRAIN LEAVES THE STATION EACH SCHOOL YEAR AND FALLS OFF THE TRACK. THE ADMINSTRATION AND BOARD DON'T REALIZE THAT THE TRACK IS BROKEN. THEY KEEP PILING THE CHILDREN INTO THE TRAIN, ON A BROKEN TRACK, GOING ON EDUCATION JOURNEY, TO NOWHERE.
THIS HAS TO STOP. TWENTY OF THIRTY-FIVE STUDENTS FAILED TO GRADUATE ON TO HIGH SCHOOL JUNE 1 2008. THE BOARD AND ADMINSTRATION DIDN'T HAVE MUCH OUTRAGE. THIS SEEMES TO BE HOW THE TRAIN RUNS AT SD 89, WAIT UNTIL NEXT YEAR. WE'LL PUT THE TRAIN BACK ON THE SAME TRACK, AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS. FOR NOW, LET'S HAVE A PARTY TO CELEBRATE ALL OUR SUPPOSED SUCCESSES IN THE LAST SCHOOL YEAR. THE ENGINEERS OF THIS EDUCATION TRAIN FEEL THEY HAVE DONE A FINE, FINE JOB |
| Name: | concerned in naples |
| Town or district: | naples |
| Comments: | I was very interested in the comments on your website...many are enlightening, since we have just inherited one of your former superintendent's and his crew. It is helpful to see where we are heading...and sometimes scary! |
| Name: | Concerned |
| Town or district: | Norridge |
| Comments: | We have recently been going through a referendun for our high school, so I have been doing alot of research because some in our community think our high school is not good. So I looked into test scores and found that the high school is right around the state average. Going on further I researched some of the data and asked lots of people lots of questions both in our high school and garde schools as well as parents who choose private schools instead of either our few public grade schools or our 1 public high school. What I found was amazing. It seems that our public grade school test results on the ISAT's are through the roof,yet those same kids later bomb the 8th grade enterance exam at our high school as well as private schools in the area. Most kids not reading or doing math at grade level, I found that the dailey herald has several articles on this subject. Also Tribune education reporter Stephanie Banchero has also explored the ISAT /explore test debate. What is the truth? Are the grade schools preparing our kids for high school or for the 8th grade test. The explore test is an act predictor test. If they do poorly on it then was does that tell us about what we are teaching our kids k-8. I'm sure the truth lies somewhere in the middle but our kids are ultimatly suffering. Confused |
| Name: | Kellyn |
| Town or district: | Los Angeles |
| Comments: | Teachers give perfect examples on this forum why we need universal school vouchers. This way all the parents you call "kind" can stick with the PTA and the government schools -- and all the parents you call "lovely" can scram by applying their tax dollar to the school of their choice.
Parents have the fundamental right to control the upbringing of their children. Amen! |
| Name: | E |
| Town or district: | District 205 |
| Comments: | Hello Everyone...
I am a teacher in district 205, and it is interesting how people think they know so much about a teacher's life when they know so very little. First of all, you complain that we make 87,000 for 10 months of work. However, I would have to ask you; how many of you have to work nights and weekends throughout the school year to plan lessons and carefully grade papers, giving thoughtful comments to each student so that you can help them improve? Also, how many of you can say that you are so emotionally invested in your job that you begin to care so much about kids that you think about them night and day? Oh, and don't forget the lovely parents that we must deal with. Many parents are very kind and want to help, and I welcome that, but what you don't know is that many other parents give us grief because they think WE lost their child's homework or we are not being fair. Interesting that most of these parents do not have a degree in education. Finally, I'll leave you with this tidbit. You think we drum students with the ISATS? Well, you can blame your government for that. Ever since NCLB was passed, teachers are being blamed for low test scores, so naturally they feel they must "teach to the test." Just this year, our district has adopted an elementary program that is written by the makers of the ISATS. Anyone who thinks a teacher is in favor of this is a fool and is just showing how very little he or she, and the rest of the public, know about teaching. I personally, make about 43,000. Do I think I am worth every penny for ten months of work? Yes. You know why? While our contract reflects that we must be in attendance from 7:50 AM until 3:20 PM on a daily basis, I generally arrive at about seven, work through my half-hour lunch and then leave at around four, only to bring home a folder full of papers to grade. |
| Name: | Seth Robey |
| Town or district: | Forest Park |
| Comments: | I am an educator at a medium paid district and although it is true that there are some teachers who are paid based on experience rather than performance, there are some things to keep in mind for those people who think that "merit pay" is a good idea:
-Considering that fifty percent of teachers leave the career within 5 years, a commitment to the profession and particularly a district does deserve some reward. -If a "free market" approach were taken, then lower income districts would pay even less than they already do. Who would want to teach in a school that has more problems and much less pay? -If salaries were based on performance (i.e. test scores) then how could a district with students from less educated and stable backgrounds compete with those whose students have stable, highly educated and wealthy households? -A test based pay system would force teachers to "teach to the test" even more than some already feel compelled to do. Any educator knows that this style of teaching is highly detrimental to the students. -If you give the principal the power to choose who gets paid the most, the highest paid teachers will not necessarily be the best but rather those who cow tow to the principal most. While this can happen in the private sector, an incompetent employee in a school district will not bring down the district's "bottom line" as it might in a business. I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. |
| Name: | Visitor |
| Town or district: | summit hill district 161 Frankfort |
| Comments: | Hello,
My children attend summit hill school district 161 in frankfort illinois. Recently they took the ISAT tests. Prior to taking those tests, the students were herded into the cafetorium and subjected to a powerpoint presentation on how to perform on those tests. Additionally, the children were threatened with detention if it was discovered that they weren't making a concerted effort to perform on those tests. What the Hell is going on here? The ISAT's are used by the administration to blow up their skirts and show the community that they are doing their job. ISAT scores are such a poor indicator of performance that it is a joke. Meanwhile, the superintendant uses these bogus scores to inflate his already astronomical pay with the help of his handpicked majority on the school board. I wish I could get my children out of there. They are NOT preparing our children for high school. Thanks for letting me rant. I love your website and I tell everyone about it. Keep up the good work. |
| Name: | Mr. Thomas |
| Town or district: | New York City |
| Comments: | We have gone through a grueling time with incumbent school board members. The community is split right down the middle now, because the school board, administration, and others involved didn't tell the voters the whole truth about the full referendum amount, and how much it would ultimately impact the taxpayers...those opposed or who questioned were labeled as "not for the kids" and unsupportive of the schools...yet when we got our tax bills, it was hard not to see that the teacher's retirement fund was what we were all contributing to....the coup de gras was that the referendum was never needed, and the school district had over 5 million dollars in the black beyond their needs...not including many real estate sales that boosted that amount even more....we have no confidence in those who "run" the schools. They have repeatedly lied to us, shut us out of meetings, and will not provide any information freely...we have to go to the Freedom of Information Act to get any information...much of which comes back to us blacked out...most of the questions we ask are just simple straightforward questions that should not require an ACT to answer. Then they blame us for "costing" the district more money! Besides this, the district right next to us, Dist. 300 wants to implement a policy that anyone who "accuses, or implies a false hood" about a school board member will be prosecuted as a class A misdemeanor and fined $5000.00! So this makes questioning anyone on the board dicey, so no one will ever question or counter their actions because they will be too intimidated to do so.
Mr. Thomas http://www.voiceofusa.com |
| Name: | flcertifiedteacher |
| Town or district: | Naples, Florida - Collier County Public School District |
| Comments: | Thank you for your informative web site. I have linked to it
on my new parody blog re: a Florida school district where Dr. Dennis Thompson now holds the title of superintendent. The GRADEBOOK, the education blog of the St. Petersburg Times, recently featured my parody blog on their site here: http://blogs.tampabay.com/schools/2008/04/something-to-la.html I know you will appreciate my work. And, again, I truly appreciate your site here. Thanks again. |
| Name: | Teacher |
| Town or district: | Chicago |
| Comments: | Are you kidding me? You are complaining about superintendents who make $300,000? When CEOs make something closer to $3,000,000. You have got to be kidding. Editor's reply: A superintendent's job doesn't remotely compare with the challenges of being CEO of a major corporation. Read Dave Ziffer's classic article, "Should a Superintendent Be Paid Like a CEO?" Ziffer writes, "Superintendents do not do anything even remotely akin to the primary function of a CEO. Superintendents do not operate in a competitive environment. They do not establish new markets for anything. They have no competition and so do not have to steal others' market share. They do not have to employ military strategy, or in fact any strategy at all, to win or hold market share. Actually, superintendents' 'markets' are pretty much handed to them on a platter by the state..." |
| Name: | totroto |
| Comments: | totoiot |
| Name: | Mary |
| Town or district: | Yorkville |
| Comments: | I would have to disagree with you on the bonus in Niles. People in both business and education get yearly salary increases. To say that they are getting 34% over 5 year as a BONUS does not take into account a normal raise for which all employees would be receiving. The state has limited the last 4 years to a 6% raise per year so if we asssume that a normal bonus might be, for example, 4% then I could agree that they are getting an 8% bonus. You have also chosen one of the best paying school districts in the state. You tend to often choose these school districts and that hurts alot of Illinois school districts where teachers salaries don't come close to these few high paying school districts. |
| Name: | Mary |
| Town or district: | Yorkville |
| Comments: | You need to update your info on large end of career bonuses. The state has put an end to it and you are decieving the public when you inform them that it is still being practiced. Editor's note: The practice has been trimmed somewhat, but generally is still alive and well. See the long article in this same week's Pioneer Press newspapers. As an example, Niles D219 gave 20% raises in each of the last two years before retirement; now they give a still-huge 34% raise but spread over the last five years. |
| Name: | Eric Jensen |
| Town or district: | San Diego, CA |
| Comments: | Killion: The author's premise is stated on the back cover: "...Parents trust that the professionals who teach their children know something about the brain ... but most schools of education offer psychology, not neurology, courses ... [this book] fills this gap.” But this is not a science book as that premise suggests, rather, it is an idea book.
Jensen: Correct, it is an idea book. Teachers are smart enough to read ideas critically and sort them out for themselves. It never was presented as a science book—that’s a different profession. Killion’s problem is that he is reviewing the 1st edition, written in 1995. He would do well to read the revised edition, published in 2005. All of his comments are a moot issue. I read his critiques 10 years ago and every complaint has been addressed. SuperCamp has been independently evaluated and found to be profoundly successful. The longitudinal study was not ready at the book’s publication time. Benn, W. (2003) “New Evaluation Study of Quantum Learning's Impact on Achievement in Multiple Settings.” An independent assessment by William Benn and Associates, Laguna Hills, CA I am quite aware of a wide range of brain research that applies to education. I have made over 45 hands-on visits to real neuroscience laboratories across the United States. I have met with dozens of top-tier neuroscientists and read the journals constantly. Please read the rest of the story from the journal: Phi Delta Kappa at this website. They dedicated a whole journal to brain research. http://www.pdkintl.org/ |
| Name: | Martha |
| Town or district: | Evanston |
| Comments: | We here in Evanston are being Delphi'd every day. Our K-8 Board is the handmaiden of the Administration and does nothing but conduct "studies" that re-confirm the direction they are already taking and which give the illusion of soliciting public input. (While they pack the meetings and focus groups with those who already agree with them.) Those who publicly voice disagreement are treated as cranks who are unrepresentative of the larger community. |
| Name: | Eric Jensen |
| Comments: | Killion’s problem is that he is reviewing the 1st edition, written in 1995. He would do well to read the revised edition, published in 2005. All of his comments are a moot issue. I read his critiques 10 years ago and they are the same ones still posted here. In service to the users of this website, perhaps you should consider posting current information.
Much has changed in 10+ years. Killion quotes sources who have very different perspectives today. For example, a statement from Dr. Kurt Fischer of Harvard University is included, "You can't go from neuroscience to the classrooom, because we don't know enough neuroscience." This is an outdated quote from a very reputable person. Today, Dr. Fischer heads up Harvard's masters and doctoral program in brain-based education and says, "...the program's broadest mission is to create a new field of mind, brain, and education, with educators and researchers who expertly join biology, cognitive science, and education." Sounds like he is on board. To read more about current brain-based learning, please read my new article in Phi Delta Kappa (February 2008) at the following link: http://www.pdkintl.org/ |
| Name: | Dave Montgomery |
| Town or district: | Barrington |
| Comments: | I am admittedly one of those educators that have been excited by the prospect of using better understanding of the brain as a tool for teaching. The Jenson book was the first book I had found that actually tied research (sketchy as you may find it) to teaching. Your review of the book surprised and disappointed me. I did take much of what Jensen said on face value, as it does make sense and there were references. In your view about the omissions however, I believe you are wrong in many of your assertions. The book did cover everything you claim was left out, perhaps this time it was your dismissal of any value to the book that blinded you to what was written. The book may not be the holy grail it is billed as, but it is a text that will help teachers teach more effectively. It's too bad that the real information is not out there, because we could certainly benefit by knowing how the brain works. We are truly like electricians set to wire a house with no idea how electricity works. Of course, that's a bit unrealistic. We are wiring 25 houses at once.
Now that I've vented, where are the answers I seek??? Editor's note: The review on our website was based on the 1998 edition of the book, and we understand that there are some changes in later editions, including some changes that (we were told) were made in response to our comments. |
| Name: | Kellyn |
| Town or district: | Los Angeles |
| Comments: | INFORMED PARENTS ... are a real, mounting threat to the education establishment; so I fully understand why some activists/teachers must instinctly attack websites like this as negative, insult parents, and ridicule the facts. Their dribble is a worn out routine.
Again, thank you IllinoisLoop for a fine and helpful website. |
| Name: | Ms. Anne Thrope |
| Town or district: | Albuquerque, NM |
| Comments: | Are there massive deficiencies in the American educational system? Absolutely. Does an aggressively negative website such as this - launched by need and dissatisfaction but fueled by ignorance, half-truths, and often outright misinformation - do anything at all to effect beneficial change? Absolutely not.
This parent, teacher, American, and activist for change would prefer you not help. |
| Name: | Mary Abrams |
| Town or district: | Columbus, OH |
| Comments: | I am appalled. Have you taken a moment to read Marilyn Burns thoughts on learning Mathematics? Have you taught her methodologies? Likewise, read Comprehending Mathematics, by Arthur Hyde. You are a proponent of that quote "Yours is not to question why, just invert and multiply". Using algorithms without comprehending why they are necessary leads to children who don't know what they are doing...except a procedure. Before you get on your soap box and bash every method out there...do some reading and some authentic teaching that promotes learning and not the regurgitation of facts. |
| Name: | Patty |
| Town or district: | St. Louis, MO |
| Comments: | As a parent and an educator, I appreciate this site and other sites like it (such as NYChold, wheresthemath, and mathematicallycorrect). Parents need to become better informed consumers and need a place to communicate with other parents who share the same interests and concerns.
It's also time that the field of education acknowledge the scarcity of good quality research and demand better. Theory and opinion still rule, unfortunately, but that can be changed if professionals demand it. This could be a place for educators to begin to coordinate their efforts along those lines. Let's hear it for honest, open discussion, and continuous improvement of our educational system(s)! |
| Name: | Kellyn |
| Town or district: | Los Angeles |
| Comments: | Do we really want to return to the schools we had in the 50's? I say "yes," in general. You can't spin the fact that a high school diploma from 50 years ago is equivalent to a BA today. Test scores prove this to be true: by a simple internet search, you'll see how test scores have plummeted over the years. Back in the 50's, the public school curriculum was rigorous, knowledge-based, and had high expectations for its students. Plus the schools were Union free! (Be still my heart!)
Many other parents would disagree with me, and that's the whole point: we need universal vouchers. Parents (regardless of income) should be free to choose and direct their tax dollars to the school they like best for their child(ren). This way, all us parents on this forum who like this or don't like that, can truly have it their way by choosing freely from a variety of schools. Competition will give us a huge assortment of schools to choose: from traditional to progressive and some in between. It's fundamental common sense. Now, everyone's happy! Have a nice day. |
| Name: | rlm |
| Town or district: | batavia, Il |
| Comments: | Thank you so much for exposing the TRUTH about IL schools. We just sat with a 30 something principal that spewed her edubabble to defend choosing Scott Foresman Reading and Harcourt IL math for a parochial school over traditionalist publishers. Parents that don't want to know the truth should just keep saying what great schools we have while over 30% of all Batavia students fail the state minimum testing standards!!! |
| Name: | David Sharpe |
| Town or district: | Bournemouth U.K. |
| Comments: | Congratulations Illinois Loop and Wikipedia. I am a Physics teacher in the U.K. who has been at it for 31 years. My opinion is that our modern society has been achieved by people who have been, at least until recently, educated in the "old" ways. How can they have been so wrong? We teachers in the U.K. are now bombarded by terms such as Brain Based Learning, targets, learning styles, tracking, pupil centred (centered to you!) and so on. The arguments for so many initiatives always have a certain logic to them, but nobody can cite any real evidence. Useful research is swamped by mumbo jumbo that has been fashioned by twisting and exagerrating genuine research that may or may not have any real bearing on education. I don't blame you Americans for creating all this stuff - we don't have to follow you.
The king is in the altogether - thank you for confirming my sanity and, just as importantly, providing the evidence. |
| Name: | Alexa |
| Town or district: | South Dakota |
| Comments: | To whoever moderates this site - Please ask Barbara Shafer to rewrite her "nutshell" article on Multiple Intelligences. Or are you simply interested in inflammatory and misleading "journalism"?
Although at first it appears that Shafer has read Gardner's book, her conclusions demonstrate shallow assumptions. From where did her information come? If her point is really worth considering, she should present information that reflects critical thinking. |
| Name: | Alexa |
| Town or district: | South Dakota |
| Comments: | Several people have commented on how negative this site is. Is the point of this site to return education to the same way things were done in the 50s and 60s?
Teachers are doing their jobs because they want to help your children. Their jobs are emotionally exhausting and quite low paid compared to their reponsibility and training. By the way, please substantiate claims in the comments area. Don't spread unfounded speculation. |
| Name: | Shannon |
| Comments: | My child was recently held back, due to the belief of his teachers he could not do the next grade. I do not want him held back, I feel this will only cause greater harm to his mental well being. He CAN do the work. Do I have to allow them to hold him back |
| Name: | Clarissa |
| Town or district: | U-46 Elgin |
| Comments: | I just stumbled upon this website and started reading and I'm disappointed in the obvious biased and negative way much of the information I've read has been. My children were in Chicago Public Schools and their school was one of the first to adopt Everyday Math and I *LOVE*, *LOVE*, *LOVE* it. My kids are teaching me new ways to do math that is so much easier than the way I learned it. I think it's great. I plan to keep poking around the site and reading the information presented here and I hope I find more positive information and not so much negative. Thank you for having a site for parents and by parents. |
| Name: | Adam |
| Town or district: | Niles |
| Comments: | You're very negative on teachers. I would love to see people in other professions atttempt to handle the workload that teachers have. I know it's not the hardest profession on the planet, but salary doesn't reflect complexity of job either. I have a second job working in retail. Managers in that field make a lot more than some teachers, and those jobs are so much easier. Instead of focusing on the negative, why don't you look at the teachers that are doing their job well; the teachers that make a difference in the lives of there children (there are a few of us left). |
| Name: | Kellyn |
| Town or district: | Los Angeles |
| Comments: | Cheer up, Anne from Chicago Public Schools! We do support teachers. We pay taxes, remember? And as long as we pay those big salaries and benefits to educators, we should have the right to voice our opinions. The Loop is an invaluable resource -- not only in Illinois but nationwide. Don't try to censor a good thing!
Besides, if you are so distraught with all the negative comments on Illinois Loop, maybe you should visit the NEA website. I bet you'll find plenty of information there to make you smile. |
| Name: | Anne |
| Town or district: | Chicago Public Schools |
| Comments: | Have you ever thought about posting some ways to help and support teachers/schools? Negativity abounds on your site. This worries and saddens me... |
| Name: | Mefredrick |
| Town or district: | St. Charles, D303 |
| Comments: | PSAE test this past week - My daughter, a Junior, took the PSAE this past week with her class mates. Her comments, and those of her friends, indicate that the test scores will come in high in the area of Math, and low in Science. The kids all agreed,the math questions were equivalent to ones they would have had in Elementary school, simple arithmetic equations, even the last 10 questions which were supposed to be hard, were NOT very hard. The science questions were very strange, asking about things these honor students have not even learned in their Biology, Chemistry or Physics classes. Questions about Fire extinguishers, star creations, and other strange topics. What a waste! Why are we even bothering with these tests? |
| Name: | Bob Schmidt |
| Town or district: | Hanover Pk, Elburn & Normal |
| Comments: | re: "whatever didn't exist when we were born. -- Alan Kay "
In watching recent graduates enter the "technology" job market there seem to be disturbing trends. - Pushing the envelope in which computers are equated to pushing the envelope on stemcell research, human cloning, sex change with hormone replacement, etc. It isn't that any of these should be valued per se. It is pushing the envelope that should be valued. - Catching the newest fad is the expected behavior and value system to be adopted. Kids are taught that the old traditions should be rejected, just because they are old or traditions. For example, high paying jobs are in the legacy mainframe technologies. But counselors and advisors steer tech students into avoiding those subjects and those jobs. Administrators impose a curriculum on schools that is always on the bleeding edge and never where the jobs are. - Above all, kids are taught WHAT TO THINK, not HOW TO THINK. |
| Name: | Ivebeendelphid |
| Town or district: | LTHS 205 Homer Glen |
| Comments: | Unicom ARC can add a failed referendum to their resume....
$75,000 of taxpayer money down the drain thanks to Illinois Loop's efforts at informing the public. I can't thank you enough, now maybe we can work toward effecting real change and a positive compromise that benefits the entire district and one the community can support without the need to use the "delphi method". Thank you thank you thank you, Illinois Loop! |
| Name: | ivebeendelphid |
| Town or district: | LTHS 205 |
| Comments: | To Mr. Kiser,
I respect and applaud you for your efforts. Good luck to you! |
| Name: | Michael L. Kiser |
| Town or district: | Downers Grove, Illinois |
| Comments: | Wow, is illinoisloop.org ever accurate about school processes and strategies! I definitely experienced this while working in schools for over 30 years. As a former teacher (8 years) and assistant superintendent of a large district (24 years), I find school's resistance to systemic change to focus on children to be pathetic and embarassing. Advocates for public education are having more and more difficulty defending schools.
For many years since ending my school administration work, I have been providing legal representation for students, with a focus on getting services for those with disabilities. Every day I understand more about the enormous difficulty of truly changing schools so that they focus on kids. I find my work now to be meaningful because I am able to make lots of changes for individual kids. I applaud your insights and efforts. Mike |
| Name: | Karl Priest |
| Town or district: | West Virginia |
| Comments: | Thank you for your excellent site on Education Buzzwords! Wow, I have found so much that I can use! Also, it brought back a lot of memories. I am a retired teacher. I haven't read all of the section on "Multiple Intelligences", but in my case it was mandatroy training and it was based on New Age religion. I nowwork to persuade parents to abandon the public schools. |
| Name: | ivebeendelphid |
| Town or district: | Homer Glen |
| Comments: | Here's something else wrong with Illinois education. Two weeks ago during a board meeting, our local h.s. district BOE violated the Illinois School Code and two of its own Board Policies, and guess what, no one cares!
The ISBE and the Attorney General's offices both state that they don't have jurisdiction. The Illinois School Code mandates that Boards have written policies, but no one has jurisdiction over them to make sure they are followed, and no one cares if the boards themselves violate their own! The Regional Office of Education contact me and informed me that the district superintendent "readily admitted" that they "dropped the ball" with respect to violating the ISC. He said they will "issue a statement of apology". That's it?! I heard the penalty for violating the Open Meetings Act is a slap on the hand... What's the point of having a law, if no one has jurisdiction and no one cares if it's violated?! |
| Name: | Darrell |
| Town or district: | Plattsburgh, NY |
| Comments: | I've followed your web-site for a few years now and have been pleased with the work and information you've amassed. I have also noted that several teachers and education student have blasted for being anti-education, anti-school, anti-student, and biased. I am a teacher myself and disagree with their charges.
First of all, when one has a position in favor of a specific school of thought, one is biased in favor of that school of thought. The "progressive" nonsense and the whole array of "whole" programs are avidly supported by many, in spite of their failures; thus, those who advocate them are biased. You support what would be considered traditional or classical teaching, a bias I share, because it works. Secondly, when one reacts to your articles with "oh you big meanies" or "how you must hate kids" type of drivel, it reflects their insecurity with the sheer insipidty of what they're doing. Articles and research against time-wasting nonsense and fads is in my view very pro-education and pro-kids. Doing what doesn't works because it is more fun is in fact anti-kid and rather selfish for these teachers. Thirdly, the education students out there who resent the researchers and evidence you've presented had better take a second look before judging this site too harshly. The reality is that much of the progressive agenda has ruined our schools, to the point that we are internationally non-competitive. It has also coincided with students hating school, their teachers, learning, and hard-work more than ever. I give your web-site much credit but do caution you on one point-- many of your articles are no longer accessible, due to time constraints on the URLs. Please make sure that your articles are accessible, because you have so much to offer that it is essential for those who are interested to be able to access them! Good luck! Darrell McCroskey |
| Name: | Kellyn |
| Town or district: | Los Angeles |
| Comments: | Everyday Math encourages juvenile dependency and speaks for itself. Here, from 5th grade (10 year olds!) instruction:
If math were a color, it would be ... because? If math were weather, it would be ... because? If math were food, it would be ... because? That's "aggressive and challenging" math study? What are they smoking these days in our educational colleges? Everyday Math is mathematical malpractice! Only a modern educator could proudly defend such utter nonsense and then go on to belittle the facts as biased. The racket and rot in our government schools has been exposed, and more parents are finally catching on! My thanks to Illinois Loop for providing clarity. |
| Name: | Not Ready to Move |
| Town or district: | Homer Glen |
| Comments: | I don't think there is a law mandating websites for school districts. I searched by keyword the ISC, and it appears a website is optional. Are you certain you have been filtered? I would suggest if this is the case to expose the district immediately, via newspapers.
With regard to the teachers comment below, in the case of our districts, as a parent I support the majority of the teachers here and think by far most are fine educators, performing a difficult job in sometimes extreme circumstances. I think the Superintendent of our high school district is the root of our problem and I hold him and the BOE solely responsible for the plight in our community. Further, the administration and department chairs make the curriculum decisions for the teaching departments, so people should not necessarily place blame on the individual teacher for what is being taught. Administration can make it extremely difficult for the teachers to perform their job. In the case here, the district "didn't have the money" for a raise for the teachers during recent negotiations, but they managed to find money for the 5-7% increases for the upper administration. One admin person got a raise after less than one year in his position. The upper admin people think they have carte blanche and the school board seems to be wrapped around their fingers. The school board here have been in a baised rut for too long and it is time for a change. Good luck New Lenox! |
| Name: | Curious |
| Town or district: | New Lenox |
| Comments: | Does anyone know the law regarding keeping a school districts website available to everyone? Is it legal to block an individual through filtering or other methods from viewing a district website? What are the implications
if the person being blocked may be considering running for school board in that district? |
| Name: | Corrine Norton |
| Town or district: | Chicago IL |
| Comments: | As an educator, I was dismayed to read your politically slanted articles. By using phrases like 'child-centered' and 'educate the whole child', we are expressing a desire to educate EVERY child using MANY different methods. By no means does this mean any child is getting a less rigorous curriculum or 'fuzzy math' (a slang term in itself). Our Everyday math curriculum is one of the most aggressive and challenging programs I've encountered and our children must work hard to learn math inside-out. To trivialize instruction and insinuate that teachers are sacrificing strong educational goals for the sake of student confidence is grossly incorrect. |
| Name: | I haven't Moved Yet |
| Town or district: | Homer Glen |
| Comments: | You didn't include any details and I completely understand you are concerned with retaliation. Perhaps an associate can write a letter to the local paper, or start a "blog" - which can be anonymous by the way - that includes details and maybe names, it can certainly be vague and say "the person who is listed first on the ballot" etc. Anyone doing a "google" search will get hits on the blog, which could help spread information, to those persons who are not apathetic, and actually do research before they cast a vote. I would just make sure nothing your associates posts is false or rumors, as long as it is factual nothing can be said about it by the subjects involved.
If the facts involved are true, then your associate can name names, keep it business, nothing personal, etc., if it's about the issues, what can they do, right? I had no idea when I got involved in school issues a year ago that everything related to schools is so corrupt and political. It's sickening. Good Luck. |
| Name: | Anonymous |
| Town or district: | In Illinois |
| Comments: | Hello -- I work at a school that, under the previous administration, was basically a patronage entity; there was little concern for learning or students and more concern for getting friends of the administration jobs. Naturally, the Board was troubled by this and, when a new CEO was hired after the retirement of the previous one, all of the administrators either retired or left for other jobs. Shortly after the new CEO arrived, there was a major reorganization and many of the people who owed their positions to this patronage system were let go (with generous severance packages, although some are still angry).
A retired administrator angry that many of his friends were fired has now stated he will run for the Board with the express intent of "getting revenge" on the new administration and Board for letting his friends go. I don't know his chances of winning, but if his name is first on the ballot, he'll probably win and do everything he can to get his old friends re-hired and back on the payroll. Does anyone has experience or know how to deal with former employees who run for and get on Boards in an attempt to get revenge? The guy isn't the brightest, so I think the college and other Board members can run circles around him, but he might be able to cause a lot of trouble, in the end hurting our students and learning processes. Can someone please provide advice on how to deal with people like this? Thank you. |
| Name: | Ready to Move |
| Town or district: | LTHS 205 Homer Glen |
| Comments: | I googled UNICOM ARC in May and found your site. This site is fabulous. Whether or not people "agree" with the content, doesn't matter to me, the "Delphi" information changed my life, for the better.
Our entire high school district has been "Delphi'd" not once, but now twice, and now we face a totally sucky referendum in April 2007, that is likely to fail, because the administration are not concerned about what is best for the kids, only their own reputations and jobs, screw the taxpayers. And Blago should be impeached. The only reason he was re-elected is because of who he was running against. If I move, am I trading one set of problems for another? At least in Lincoln-Way my kid won't attend an overcrowded high school, because they will soon have four. |
| Name: | Nancy |
| Town or district: | Chicago |
| Comments: | We need to get rid of abusive principals. There are many who scream at staff, parents, and the students. People have to earn a living, but even a dog will bite you, if you keep kicking him/her. Obtaining a Masters or higher does not give you the right to be so EVIL!
I want to thank the principals who do not fit in the above description. You have "common sense", and it will save you. God bless you. It is nice to be nice, for we are all Adults. |
| Name: | joyce |
| Town or district: | ypsilanti |
| Comments: | hi. my mom is doing a report on what your qualifications are of writing "the trouble with boys" if you could somewhat post them on your page today, i would appreciate it. thank you! |
| Name: | e. |
| Town or district: | tinley park district 228 |
| Comments: | when are you going to post updated salaries---this is from 2005???
Editor's reply: You're referring to the information provided by the Family Taxpayers Network, which we happily link to. FTN tells their website visitors, "The information is compiled once a year, AFTER the employees have been paid for the school year, including the summer vacation. This means that we will ALWAYS show the previous years salaries. Also, we get the information and prepare it for publication on the website in late October each year." |
| Name: | jane |
| Comments: | Is anyone knowledgeable about the Rigby Literacy Program. |
| Name: | Bruce Deitrick Price |
| Town or district: | Norfolk, Virginia |
| Comments: | I just want to thank IllinoisLoop so much for mentioning my site Improve-Education.org.
AND to say that I finally added the first part of "A Tribute to Rudolph Flesch" (#21) to this site. So many fine things have been written about phonics vs. look-say. (I was just reading the one by Dave Ziffer on your site.) But I believe my piece will help many people see the debate more sharply. It's long been a mystery to me why educators keep favoring bad ideas. I ended up researching the question all the way back to the early days of the new field called Education, about 1880. What a story. When the whole article is up, it will constitute a short history of American education and try to explain what the heck was on John Dewey's mind. |
| Name: | Lynette Gain Williams |
| Town or district: | San Diego, CA |
| Comments: | I grew up in Chicago and earned a Special Education Credential, in 1966, at a University in Illinois that has created hundreds of thousands of teachers. I know that a teacher doesn't learn how to teach students to read in a typical teacher education program. I learned to teach children to read through years of experience, both failures and successes, while being guided by mature, long time teachers who had already learned this skill. Being trained in Special Education caused me to create much of the supplemental curriculum I have used over the years. I designed materials to meet the needs of students I had. I’m in the process of upgrading some of the materials I’ve written over the years that have helped many struggling students achieve success. My own publishing company, Gain Literacy Skills, will soon have a web site. There are plenty of expensive programs that teach a child to read. My goal is to create AFFORDABLE materials that parents and teachers can purchase to help children learn to read at an early age and advance more quickly than students in many public school classrooms. Remember this: the most important asset in any classroom is a capable teacher. Everything else is secondary. The TEACHER is the part that makes the difference! |
| Name: | Amy C. |
| Town or district: | Nebraska |
| Comments: | I stumbled upon your website and was alarmed by it. Wow! Line after line of anti-education! If you desire to make changes, do it more diplomatically! You are creating mistrust by parents. That is NOT the answer!!!!! Every "EduTerm" has a negative connotation. Not a few. Not 5 or 6. But EVERY SINGLE TERM!!!! And, I might ask, where is the research that SUPPORTS any of your ridiculous claims!!!! All the research I've read SUPPORTS the terminology used in schools! I am a nontrad education major in college AND a parent. Your website is SCARY!!! Please look into your values and assess your motives. You're NOT pro-child, pro-parent, pro-teacher, pro-administration, or pro-research from what I see. Riling up everyone around you is an indication of illness on some level. It's funny you all found yourselves to make up such an antisocial group!! What were the odds?????? I hope you find what it is you're seeking, and hopefully you are fulfilled without harming too many children, parents, and educators. : ( Editor's Note: As far as we can figure out, "Nontrad education major" is referring to our page on education buzzwords which starts out by saying, "Here is a quick guide (with a healthy dose of dry humor) ..." |
| Name: | Mom of a 7 year-old |
| Town or district: | south suburbs of Illinois |
| Comments: | Hi, I was living in France for the last 2 years where my child attended kindergarten and 1st grade. The French have a national curriculum in the schools where it gaurantees every child is getting the same education no matter if you are poor or rich. In 1st grade, the French national curriculum emphasizes addition,subtraction,geometry, memorizing a poem per week,
a spelling-b with 10 new words every week, cursive writing everyday, reading everyday, once a week the following courses: science experiments, music, art, history, gym. Homework in math, poetry, reading, writing are sent home every evening. Now he is attending 2nd grade in Illinois and I can see the big difference. THere are no high expectations in any of the subjects being taught. He finds school easy. Schools here are not challenging our children. Where are the high expectations, equal education for all the children of Illinois? |
| Name: | A sub and a parent |
| Town or district: | Grayslake CCSD 46 |
| Comments: | Hi, I'm relatively new to Illinois and I have two children who attend the local school district. I grew up in Virginia and I can't believe the differences in how the schools are organized. Most importantly, how many school districts there are.
In Virginia the schools are run by the county. I'm not sure how exactly they are funded but I can definitely say that they do not rely so heavily on personal property tax. A $300,000 home in Northern Virginia has a property tax of around $1500. Compare that to $6000+ for a $300,000 home in Grayslake (info from personal experience and homes for sale on the internet). In Illinois you really have to be careful about where you live if you want your kids to go to good schools- 5 miles can make all the difference. I have never seen a place so divided by the haves and have nots! In Virginia you could live anywhere in the county and know that your kids are getting just as good an education (among the best in the nation) as the children of US Congressmen and Senators that live in the suburbs of DC. Here we had to pay more for a house than we had orginally planned just to get our kids into a fairly decent school district. However, the school district had just gone through a rough period where they had taken away PE, music, and art but reinstated it the next year. That's insane! We paid less in property taxes in Virginia, the school's there are known for excelling, and the school district was very large yet they never have had to remove programs or extort money from property owners. So, why are small school districts supposed to be so good? To me it appears that the money is just not being directed well in Illinois. You have Unions putting pressure on tiny little school districts that can't deal with the influx of students as populations expand- especially with the amounts of ELL students. For every school district (there are two in Grayslake for 8 schools!!!!)you have to pay a superintendant some exorbinant salary, which would be justified for a larger school district. You also have to pay for all of the district's employees that run the day to day operations of the tiny little district. How can this be justified? I read the articles and I still don't get it. Oh, and before someone says it, we can't just go back to Virginia! I am grateful for the time we have in Illinois. Besides the schools and the property taxes its a beautiful state with friendly, wonderful people. I just don't think you realize how good other states have it! |
| Name: | Mark Montgomery |
| Town or district: | EdVantage Consulting |
| Comments: | Hello.
I stumbled upon your excellent website this morning. I was impressed by the wealth of information. Given my own background, I was especially pleased to see such a thorough treatment of the issue of textbooks in education. So many reform organizations totally ignore this aspect of curriculum and instruction, and I commend you for giving it the attention it deserves. I blogged about your site today, and I hope that many more folks from around the country find your site. You can read my post at http://www.textbookevaluator.com/?p=69. Warm regards, Mark Montgomery EdVantage Consulting www.edvantage-consulting.com |
| Name: | Dr. Tom King |
| Town or district: | Nebraska |
| Comments: | Wow. This is a weak site for scholars.
Who is editing this stuff? Tk |
| Name: | What is going on?????? |
| Town or district: | Homewood District 153 |
| Comments: | My daughter's friend (5th grade) was showing her how she was learning to multiply. She called it the lattice method. The poor girl did not understand what she was doing and it was the most confusing, ridiculous "method" I have ever seen. Can't believe parents are accepting this...how sad for their children.
Editor's note: There is more about "lattice multiplication" on our math issues page. |
| Name: | Ron Dernick |
| Town or district: | Gurnee |
| Comments: | Although SOME educators have higher salaries than some of the state political leaders you should also condier the $$ and other perks (present cases now in court) many of our CEo's and political leaders have rece. and continue to rec. In addition, the Gov. of IL continues to under fund or take monies out of the State Pension Fund (Peter to pay Paul) so he can start "new programs." It should alos be noted that the majority of state pension funds throughout the USA are in trouble. No doubt we need some degree of reform but considering the track records of our Gov. and President I think they're over paid! |
| Name: | Concerned Taxpayer |
| Town or district: | Homewood District 153 |
| Comments: | Does anyone know anything about the "Sitton" or "Sutton" spelling program? My public school is adopting this and I'd like to know more about it. Thanks |
| Name: | Kellyn |
| Town or district: | Los Angeles |
| Comments: | To Kimberly
We have family in Hinsdale, not far from Downers; my nephew goes to Hinsdale Central. You're lucky to be relocating in the general vicinity of either Hinsdale or Naperville; I know that the older sections of those towns consistently score very well and have some of the best schools in the state; and I think some high schools are nationally rated. There should be a link on the Loop for school report cards in Illinois, and you can check out the test scores. Make sure you pick the better district, if you choose Hinsdale or Naperville, because there's a big difference in test scores. Good luck! |
| Name: | m.b. |
| Town or district: | europe |
| Comments: | I believe that there should be structured national curriculum like they have here in Europe. Children need structure and discipline in all their subjects. |
| Name: | Kimberly P. |
| Town or district: | West Chester, Ohio |
| Comments: | Can anyone help me? I need info on schools around Downers Grove, ILL. We may be moving to that area of IL. and I need to know what schools have the best academics. What communities are good and which ones to stay away from. Looking for strong Jr. High and High School curriculum.
email: kimberjp63@yahoo.com |
| Name: | Peg Tyre |
| Town or district: | New York, NY |
| Comments: | I'm a writer at Newsweek and I recently did a cover story about the mismatch between boys and schools and the ways boys are falling behind.
I might have an opportunity to revist this topic. I am hoping to interview some teachers, principals and parents of boys who might be able to share insight with me about boys and education. Kindly phone me at 212.445.4586 or email me at peg.tyre@newsweek.com Thanks so much for your help. Peg Tyre |
| Name: | laurenw |
| Town or district: | chicago |
| Comments: | documentary on homeschooling
an independent documentary production company seeks chicago-area homeschooling families for a not-for-broadcast documentary. we would like to interview the primary educator in the family as well as briefly interviewing other family members. participants will be compensated for their time. if interested, please answer the following questions and email your responses to laurenw@digprojects.com, along with your name, city, and preferred method of contact. 1. are you currently homeschooling at least one of your children? 2. what motivated you to homeschool your children? 3. would you be available to participate in a filmed interview at your home sometime between the dates of june 6-14, 2006? thank you for you time. |
| Name: | Kellyn |
| Town or district: | Los Angeles |
| Comments: | To Jane:
Unfortunately, most public schools are solid with Whole Language, despite its gigantic failure. The unions -- along with their susidiary, The PTA -- and the education colleges are hell bent on preserving the status quo. Therefore, when their racket is exposed, they'll serve up all their usual excuses to defend the WL philosophy in all its glorious flakiness. If you really want to see superior results (and the vast majority of kids, even 4 or 5 years of age, can learn to read quickly by decoding sounds) buy a copy of Sam Blumenfeld's "Alpha Phonics." It's about $30 and available at HOWTOTUTOR.ORG or AMAZON.COM. |
| Name: | jane |
| Comments: | What reading program is most effective for a suburban, middle-upper middle class community. This district has traditionally been solidly whole language, but are in the process of adopting a new program. Open Court is not in the running. What programs should be avoided?
Thanks Jane |
| Name: | Kellyn |
| Town or district: | Los Angeles |
| Comments: | Phonics is NOT a component of the Whole Language reading instruction!
True phonics instruction is intensive and systemic and requires decoding: it takes time and effort. It's hard to teach phonics. Whole Language is a proven disaster and it's cruel and heartless to continue this insane technique. And I don't need a teacher or union member to tell me I'm "misinformed." It is what it is. Repeat after me: Phonics is NOT a component of the Whole Language reading instruction! Parents, beware! |
| Name: | JoLynn |
| Town or district: | Bloomington |
| Comments: | Interesting site. Extremely biased, yet passionate for the cause you take up (are you Saxon reps?). I have been in schools that have done Saxon, and, on the flipside, I have worked with Mathematics in Contect and Connected Math. I have been given some fairly "traditional" texts, and some texts that broaden mathematical thinking further than making students drones. I have heard parents and teachers complain about both ends of the math teaching spectrum. Ultimately, the curriculum is only as strong as the teacher, balanced in methodology and passionate about the subject and the age level. I would love to see how long some of these reserachers (if at all) have taught middle level mathatmatics in the trenches. Personally, I want my students to do more than what an $8 calculator can accomplish. |
| Name: | Erin Falconer |
| Town or district: | Sparta Mi |
| Comments: | I am writing this as a concerned mom of three. Homeschooled for 8 years, and now this year in public school. SCARY! My 9th grader had a private tutor last year for geometry, this year he is measuring his finger, his stride, working in groups, and FAILING! He used to love math, now hates it. There are more words in his math book than numbers.
I have written everyone, called everyone, met with everyone, and still I am told I am the ONLY one that doesn't like the math. My son wants to be an engineer, well, good luck with what he is learning right now! I could take my kids out of school and homeschool. That means the district would lose 6,000 dollars per child. I have 3 kids, so that means 18,000 dollars. What an education I could give my kids for 18,000 dollars!!! Thanks |
| Name: | PCI-Study |
| Town or district: | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
| Comments: | Hi,
We are researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and currently doing a study on parents' involvement with children's homework. This study is builds on a recent study we conducted in which we found that girls (but not boys) were sensitive to parental intrusions with math homework. The article came out recently in the Journal of Sex Roles (http://www.news.uiuc.edu/news/05/0726math.html). ----------------------------------------------------------- Do you have a daughter in sixth or seventh grade? ----------------------------------------------------------- We are recruiting families with at least two children (one needs to be a sixth- or seventh- grade girl) to participate in a research study about parent-child interactions involving math and English homework. Families will have a chance to win one of ten $100 cash prizes! Contact Ruchi Bhanot or Jasna Jovanovic at 217-244-7247. BHANOT@uiuc.edu or JASNA@uiuc.edu URL: http://www.hcd.uiuc.edu/ Ruchi Bhanot - bhanot@uiuc.edu Human and Community Development University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ----------------------------------------------------------- |
| Name: | Cheri Powell |
| Town or district: | Geneva, IL |
| Comments: | After reading your anonymous author's article called "Thank You Whole Language," thanking his wife for demonstrating to him all the fallicies of Whole Language because of her errors in reading, I thought, my, he sure knows which names and organizations' names to drop ....however, he is much misinformed if he thinks that those groups have advocated to eliminate, do away with, forget about phonics instruction, because anyone who knows reading theory of any type knows that phonics is a large part of reading instruction in Whole Language...just delivered in a different format than he is used to. I learned reading with heavy,heavy phonics instruction and I would be happy to explain to him what weaknesses I have because of the over-emphasis. I wonder why he thinks that all those people and organizations that have studied reading are wrong and his way is the only correct way. I would have asked whether his wife needed to have her eyes checked rather than assume it was her reading instruction.
My suggestion is that if he is going to "bash" a theory that he truly understands it before jumping to conclusions. |
| Name: | Pat Duffy |
| Town or district: | no resident |
| Comments: | i forsee more schools using the internet to enhance their corriculae. beside the usual search engines, there are many sites dedicated to instruction[about.com], accurate facts[C.I.A. fact book] and various science[lpod.org & space.com]. i'm so glad Illinois is taking the lead on this. |
| Name: | Lindsay |
| Town or district: | Michigan |
| Comments: | Talk to some teachers that teach on an alternating block schedele. I love it! I teach high school math - upper and lower levels. I have time each day to answer homework questions,I can introduce a lesson with an activity and then teach the lesson. Usually there is some time at the end for students to begin an assigment - they can actually ask questions before leaving class and understand how to do the assignment.
It's an adjustment, but worth it. Don't give up on it too quickly! |
| Name: | Karen |
| Town or district: | Glendale Heights |
| Comments: | 3/8/06
HI..........I would like to know if there is a rule in the ISAT that states one book and one test cannot be used in the same special education room, so one teacher can read the test to the same class. If it does not say that, where can I find that information....................and if it is indeed legal to have the same booklet in one class...........please let me know that too. Thank you............... |
| Name: | Clarisse Ng |
| Town or district: | Singapore |
| Comments: | The presentation of some of the ideas on this site seems unnecessarily biased in tone to me, which is a pity since the ideas themselves have some validity. As every good teacher knows, the art of teaching involves blending the various theoretical approaches into an effective practice, and any approach, no matter how good in theory, can be rendered useless by clumsy thoughtless application. My point: why throw the baby out with the bathwater? |
| Name: | lmh |
| Town or district: | 56 |
| Comments: | I looked through your website in hopes of getting straight information, but this site is very biased. Although my school district does not currently use Everyday Math, it appears that many of the top ranked schools in Lake County do. Apparently, students are learning MATH as proven by the ISAT scores. |
| Name: | Lin |
| Town or district: | Los Angeles |
| Comments: | Everyone who thinks teachers are underpaid, please read the new book EDUCATION MYTHS by Jay Greene. Facts speak louder than emotions. |
| Name: | Cathy Henleben |
| Town or district: | D47 Crystal Lake |
| Comments: | Our group, Crystal Lake Friends of Gifted Education, is having a used Children's Book Sale. Almost all of the 22,000 books we have collected from the community will be sold for 25 CENTS. This is a wonderful opportunity for teachers, parents, and home schoolers.
The sale will be held at the Algonquin Township Hall, 3702 Route 14 in Crystal Lake on Friday, January 27th from 9 a.m.-8 p.m. and on Saturday, January 28th from 9a.m.-5p.m. Please help us spread the word to make our sale a success and help our goal of bringing affordable books to all the children in our community. |
| Name: | Dan Fouts |
| Town or district: | Naperville |
| Comments: | I am a classroom teacher of 14 years and have spoken with several superintendents. Additionally, I started a business 7 years ago-- so I am somewhat familiar with both 'mentalities". I see CEOs and Superintendents to be very similar in function-- the biggest difference being that the measurement of a school district's progress is much more nebulous. Education can't be measured like businesses. It's not about the bottom line. It's about nuturing other human beings to succeed in life. Test scores don't go very far to measure that. So, both of these individuals have very unique challenges to face.
Additionally-- and this is something that only people who actually work in education can truly understand-- Superintendents are in some ways the least powerful people in a school district. The teachers hold much of the power-- through the union. CEOs generally have more leeway to impact change. food for thought |
| Name: | Melissa Jenkins |
| Town or district: | Chicago |
| Comments: | A recent NASSP article shares research findings on middle school block scheduling and the impact that this has had on math. I would suggest that you investigate and integrate such findings into your website (unless, as it appears, you want to remain very one sided in the treatment of educational issues on this website). Editor's response: We took up your challenge, and did a Google search ("math middle school block site:nassp.org") on the NASSP website and found nothing resembling what you describe. I'm afraid your comment sounds much like the typical "research has shown" claim when scratching the surface finds no real research was done. If you have a specific citation or URL, post again and we'll see what we see. And yes, we do take positions, but certainly no more than do entrenched preserve-the-status-quo groups like the NASSP. |
| Name: | Christine Carlson |
| Town or district: | Lake County Illinois |
| Comments: | Oh yes, and garbage collectors make around $50,000 a year. A GED is the only education required. |
| Name: | Christine Carlson |
| Town or district: | Lake County Illinois |
| Comments: | To the frustrated taxpayer who thinks teachers are overpaid:
I went back to college full time, quit my secretarial job at the age of 30, to become a teacher. I finished college at the age of 34 in 1999. I thought teachers had it made too, but when I saw what little time teachers had, especially beginning teachers, and experience being a student teacher, I was shocked at the workloads and responsibility most teachers have put on them on a daily basis. The only people I see complain about teachers being underpaid, are people who don't personally know any teachers or what they have to do every day. To be a good teacher, they must plan their curriculum and lesson plans weeks ahead of time, find materials and activities, do tons of paper work, decorate their class rooms, communicate with parents before and after school, attend parent teacher conferences, participate in extra curricular activities for students. Most of the work you DON'T see goes on behind the scenes - after school hours, outside of classroom hours. Homework is brought home almost every day, cutting into their personal family time. Before the school year starts, many teachers go in a few weeks ahead of time to prepare books, decorate the classroom, do paper work, and attend meetings. Days off are spent doing more planning and preparation or paperwork. Many teachers take extra jobs because they need the money, not for fun. The average starting salary for a public grade school teacher is only $30,000 a year. Private school teachers make even less money. Compare that to the average starting salary for an administrative assistant at $36,000 a year (you dont need a college degree to be a secretary). There is no overtime for extra hours put in. The only extra money is a stipend for teachers who help with extra curricular activities such as cheerleading coaches, chess clubs, sporting events, etc, etc, which usually only comes out to maybe a $500 bucks extra per year, depending on the school's budget. Somes schools even REQUIRE that teachers put in this extra time, only added to their time off from family and planning for their classes. In Illinois, all teachers who hold state teaching licences must takes at least 6 credit hours of classes every 5 years in order to keep their teaching licence. Sometimes the school pays for this, sometimes not. It depends on the school's budget. Many teachers want to get their Master's degree, so they can get a little better pay rate. However, they must juggle taking intensive college classes while still working and doing all their required activities. This usually takes another 2 years of study. My husband is a letter carrier with only a GED. He makes more money than the average teacher. He didnt have to spend a dime for college or any time or effort to make a good starting salary in 1990 that was much better than what teachers were making. He also gets lots of little holidays off just like the school teachers do, and after 16 years of service, he gets 20 paid vacation days. He also gets overtime, at time and a half, and doesnt have to bring any work home with him. Get to know a good teacher who has taught for a few years and ask them what their daily schedule is. In fact, volunteer to help a new teacher for a few weeks and you will see what I mean. |
| Name: | Kelly |
| Town or district: | Illinois |
| Comments: | Everyone has someone very special in thier life.
That person is thier children. We try so hard and so many different ways to keep the society safe and clean but today our children suffer more then we had to by the things they not only see in public or on T.V. but hear about. To me that is like punishing our children for something that never happened. Our children has feelings of course as well we do to. Another last thing when the law got into their creative Ideas and started adding to our commandment that was wrong. When they also allowed children to DIVORCE the parent that was to me a sin. I like to say it's a big shame everyone just can't work Togeather in this world. |
| Name: | Kelly |
| Town or district: | Illinois |
| Comments: | My oppion on todays laws is we
actually are looseing our rights. No matter what the issue to me is the World has become it's own nightmare.The way Peopple take but yet can't do the least of one thing and return,Share,or give.I got to thinking one other thing concerning Court.We are put to under outh to tell the truth. But for the ones who take the stand " HOW DO WE ACUALLY KNOW THE TRUTH IS SAID !" Information gets out and spreads evryone is aware of that I'm sure of. If stop and think ,knowing the jury is not at the Incident or our selfs that acually make their word to the jury a hear saay as well. To me at klesat every thinks and understands different |
| Name: | Joseph R. Beetes |
| Town or district: | Paris, IL |
| Comments: | I wonder if it is possible to post the salaries of all the major corporations ceo's and managers to see how they compare with educators? Of course I understand that the importing of all of our goods from China and selling them at a healthy profit is the American way and certainly more important than teaching our children. GO Wallmart!! You truly neither know, nor do you understand teaching at all. May God have mercy on you, considering the great disservice that you do to teachers. |
| Name: | L. Nicolas |
| Town or district: | Elmont, NY |
| Comments: | I have to say, it's nice to finally find a website in which many of the views I have personally felt are expressed. Thank you for allowing me to see that I am not insane. Sincerely, a NYC Public School Teacher, desperately seeking to work in an environment in which "authentic" i.e. traditional education with "tried and true" results, STILL takes place. |
| Name: | name withheld |
| Town or district: | Chicago |
| Comments: | CPS teacher for 7 years and frightened by poor decisions the BOE is making. Schools in the CPS system have about 3 choices for reading textbooks and 3 more for math. I am now using Connected Math, and it is horrible! It has created a classroom management nightmare, and the kids just don't get it. I piloted Saxon Math, and had great success. Saxon is not on the "approved" list for math materials. CPS is investing a lot of time and money into a rotten math program. Since fads seem to come and go quickly within the system, maybe Saxon will be in fashion again in the next year or two. |
| Name: | not misinformed |
| Town or district: | Chicago |
| Comments: | Quite frankly, explicit phonics instruction is for children who are below average or have been given little exposure to reading. In order to comply with NCLB mandates to beef up phonics, and to save money, local schools now teach all the kids phonics all the time. My child went to kindergarten decoding on a 3rd grade level, and comprehending at an end of first grade level. A, apple, aaaa is a complete waste of his time at school. He doesn't get the choice though. Either I have to pony up the money to send him to a different school, or explain to him that the other kids (or is it the teacher?) are just plain stupid and he can learn at home. I think Spellings and her cronies from Texas should adopt a new saying: "Phonics, just the right intervention for knuckleheads like our President!" no thanks, I'll take a teacher who doesn't think she has "The" right approach. Oh, I forgot, the people shoving this policy down everyone's throats are able to send their kids anywhere they want to, because they are in the top one tenth of one percent of all wage earners. They would never dream of sending their own child to a public school.
Editor's note: We agree that it is regrettable that you would have to "pony up the money" to send your child to another school that better meets your needs and goals, when you are already paying tax dollars for that education. As far as your additional comment is concerned, politics should have nothing to do with telling a parent how their child will be taught reading, and indeed, we have MANY people working for research-based reading instruction who undoubtedly feel the same way about politics that you do, along with many others who would disagree with you. |
| Name: | Rose Zuk |
| Town or district: | Galicia |
| Comments: | Illinois gets a B in Science instruction, according to this report: http://www.edexcellence.net/doc/05sci_il.pdf.pdf
excerpt: Steady progress is interrupted at the higher levels. In grades 9 to 10, for example, students are expected to "Use kinetic theory , wave theory, quantum theory and the laws of thermodynamics to explain energy transformations"--- a most unlikely burden of learning if meant literally. But then, in grades 11-12, "analyze reactions (e.g., nuclear reactions, burning of fuel, decomposition of waste) in natural and man-made energy systems." As a reviewer remarked, , "Quite a comedown". Still, if the physics materials were reorganized for logical access and convenient cross-referencing, this would be an excellent set of standards. |
| Name: | Arthur Raske |
| Town or district: | Lewiston, MICHIGAN |
| Comments: | The invitation to do this has a couple caveats that coulk make the effort a futile one: Illinois residency and ban on extended essays. Education's disarray is complex, its problems are almost infinite and attacking individual problems seems an impotent way to change a systemic problem, i.e.,a pathology.
I'd like to start some conversation about education's ails and would do my best to stay within the parameter about length of posts. I am a seriously senior citizen (84), a former businessman, family therapist, Lutheran pastor, Marine and Fuller Brush salesman. I believe that the test of a good idea/concept is to beat on it until it breaks. If it doesn't break, it's a good idea. If we agree on basic matters we can probably talk to our mutual advantage. If we don't agree, we can argue to our mutual advantage. Whaddya say? Wanna talk? Merry Christmas Art Raske |
| Name: | Subgum Gaipan |
| Town or district: | Shanghai, Pimples Republic of Broken China |
| Comments: | I support Dumbing Down! It's the best damned thing since sliced sensuality! We need more dumbing down. Our politicians have been waaaay ahead of us, for a change, on this one. Yessir, dumbing down. There's no global warming. If you're a Patriot, you'll support the "Death of Your Civil Rights Patriot Act". The Hell with the Environment! The Democrats are "Tax and Spend" and the Republicans, by passing endless tax breaks for the super-rich and cancelling programs for children, education, nurses, police, firefighters, the indigent and elderly, AND, as a special added attraction, creating the largest deficit since the end of WWII, the Republinazis are the GOOD GUYS. Yup, I believe it, don't you? So let's dumb down. Then we don't have to think or worry about the sorry mess this bunch of traitors have left us in. Let's teach in crumbling schools, pay our teachers a pittance, abandon our kids, wildly increase the gap between the haves and havenots, oh, boy, I'm a-lovin' it. Thank you, Neo-cons, and Cheney, the Real President. |
| Name: | Maxwell P. Flanagan IV |
| Town or district: | Edwardsville, IL |
| Comments: | I find that whole learning, whole reading, holistic, holabird, hula, hilly, ha-ha, hoo.
Whale wumpa, willy wonka, whoopdeedoo, all over you. My opinion is so malleable, frangible, tangible, fructose, obtuse, insane, whooping crane, lois lane, brain drain, loopy lame. George W. Bush is simply a damned liar, don't you know? I think that each child has his/her own learning style except for those who can't pronounce "nuclear". No Child Left A Dime! is his slogan. Slogan is a gaelic word meaning battle cry. Mission Accomplished. Then more than 2000 of our children dead. Oh, it's "some children left behind" in their graves? |
| Name: | Mary D |
| Town or district: | chicago |
| Comments: | I teach literacy to students from age 4 through adults.
I agree that whole language/ look-say is a disaster but phonics instruction by itself does not create competent readers. I have taught for over 30 years and used many different approaches to reading instruction. What I have found works best is phonics instruction as a major component of a program that includes reading real books (not controlled vocabulary, contrived texts that don't use normal syntax and that don't tell interesting stories). Reading is much more complex than decoding or sounding out words. Teachers have to help students develop the skill to comprehend what they are reading. It is important to remember that writing instruction complements reading instruction and should be part of literacy education. It is also essential to remember that what works for one child may not work for another so teachers must not depend on any one method of instruction but must use the best strategies from many theories of instruction. Perhaps instead of being amused by his wife's phonics deficiency (and apparently severely limited vocabulary and imagination) the writer should invest in a good phonics/ spelling workbood series such as EPS' Explode the Code or McGraw-Hill's Spectrum Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study books. |
| Name: | Beth S |
| Town or district: | Wisconsin |
| Comments: | I could not believe what i was reading!
I think that the opinions on this page are not considerate of different learning styles or the best ways that students learn. Do some research on what children need, enjoy, and learn from. |
| Name: | Kathy |
| Town or district: | Toronto, Canada |
| Comments: | I have 8 more years of teaching in the public school system still to go before I can retire and I feel more optimistic that I can make it since finding your website. You are a most welcome antidote to the insanity!! I need the laughs, the insight and the sense that I'm not alone which your website provides and I've only explored a little. Many thanks!!!! |
| Name: | antony |
| Town or district: | London, England |
| Comments: | As a university lecturer in education and an education consultant, it's very good to see a common sense, no-nonsense approach to schooling. Thank you - it's so refreshing!
In England, we have a real dumbing down of standards. Only this week, our government have woken up to the fact that pupils' course work rarely belongs to the pupils. So often it is the work of parents, internet ghost-writers and (with our mis-aligned league tables)teachers! Simple straight forward exams would seem to be the solution - the kind of assessment tool we used to employ before the trendy liberals came upwith their trendy liberal ideals. I must say, the standard of student we get these days coming into university, particularly on our undergraduate courses leaves much to be desired. The type of graduate that we churn out, also, very often, leaves much to be desired. But our political masters get another soundbite regarding the ever-increasing number of examonation passes so everything must be o.k. There was a distinct turning point in our education system when it became more difficult to fail a degree than it was to pass one. As an educational researcher, I loved your section on jargon and particularly that on research jargon. Keep up the good work! |
| Name: | Vance Hart |
| Town or district: | 60 |
| Comments: | Paraprofessionals do not feel they are below teachers. Most of us are too smart to become teachers working for wxplosive principals. No one is above anyone but GOD. I love the one on one or the small group.I do not yell like a maniac at small children. Children are little adults and yelling at them sends the message, thay you are "out of control." The teachers have so many workshops and forms to fill out, that they do not have the time to teach. The paraprofessionals are the real teachers. We have time to teach and most of all, we care about the students. |
| Name: | Robert Hamm |
| Town or district: | West Linn, Oregon (but formerly of Urbana) |
| Comments: | In this area...
If The World Were Like the Public Education System by Kevin C. Killion If the computer industry were like public education: You (and everyone else) would pay a huge tax in order to fund Microsoft, **IRREGARDLESS** of whether you owned five, one, or no computers. You would have no control over what gets sent to you from Microsoft, how it works, or even whether it works. The Microsoft programmers would be protected by lifetime jobs, whether they are competent or not, and they would be encouraged to add experimental features to your software even if they caused your system to crash. ...the poor writer apparently doesn't know that there is no such word as "irregardless." Perhaps he should go back to school.... Editor's note: You're correct, or course, and the error will be fixed immediately. Having gone to solid instructivist schools years ago, we should have known better. Parents would be hard-pressed today to FIND a school that teaches this distinction. |
| Name: | tommy |
| Town or district: | wanganui |
| Comments: | I am so thankful that I found your site. I am surrounded by educators that believe in Multiple intelligences - Everytime someone talks about it where I teach everyone thinks it sound perfectly logical. To me everything about it screams of BS. Someone where I work was testing students for learning styles and one of the questions on the test was - You would rather listen to books on tape than read an actual book. Now there is a scientifically acurate test to figure out whether or not a student is a audio learner. |
| Name: | (removed) |
| Town or district: | ST.CHARELS |
| Comments: | HI EVERY BODY! I JUST GOT BACK FROM A DANCE. THE GIRL I WENT WITH I RELLY LIKE. BUT SHE SAID THAT WE ARE GOING AS FRIENDS!!!! I BOUGHT HER A LOT OF GIFTS. AND IT COSTED ME A WHOLE BUNCH OF $!AND A WHOLE LOT OF OTHER BOYS DANCEING WITH HER AND IT MADE ME MAD. HOW DO I GET HER TO LIKE ME MORE? |
| Name: | Bridget Kelly |
| Town or district: | Millbrook, NY |
| Comments: | I want to tell you how happy I am to have found yours and mathematically correct's websites. It is so refreshing to see how many concerned parents and professionals see the need to get our children back to basics in education. My own education growing up was very fundamental, thanks to the nuns in 1960's Connecticut. I became a teacher at the age of 42, after having spent well over 20 years in the working world. I can honestly say that the foundation I had from my education has always served me well. As a teacher of remedial math to 7th to 12th graders, guess what I teach them-- how to divide, how to work with fractions without a calculator, so that they will be able to function in algebra. |
| Name: | Carol |
| Town or district: | New Jersey |
| Comments: | Is your children's school doing this good is non-standard English. Shame on you.
Editor's comment: There are at least three problems with this observation:
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| Name: | Tony Clifton |
| Town or district: | Homewood, Illinois |
| Comments: | I read that the public school system wants to raise $1.7 million for air conditioning. I'm 83 years old and lived most of my life in this town. It is a pretty dark day when youngsters and teachers can't get though the first month of school with air-conditioning. My kids went to St. Joes school in Homewood. Great learning environment, great education and no air-conditioning.Maybe your instructors need to be more focused on getting the kids to learn. I don't see where the air-conditioning is going to change that. Open a window! |
| Name: | taxpayer- aka "Big Boy leader" |
| Town or district: | Homewood District 153 |
| Comments: | $1.7 miliion for air-conditioning!! What? Our beloved Supt; Dale Mitchell feels the learning process is lacking the first month of the school year because there is no air-conditioning. The real problem is lack of discipline and lack of a unified core curriculum. Doc Mitchell indicates that a advisory committee made up of administrators and parents/teachers strongly encourage providing air-conditioning. This committee is made up of cronies and and board members friends and relatives that kiss their backsides to maintain keeping them in office. Homewood resident's with children in 153 and Seniors citizens WAKE UP your wallet is speaking to you. Bank of 153 awaits your deposit..
I would strongly advise that everybody in Homewood attend the 153 School board meetings and ask more about your money that they want to spend. After the Grade Center debacle,and the huge addition on James Hart that they called A new school,your would think that was enough of a mountain of debt now they wnat more!!! Stop them before they spend again...Good grief air conditioning, open a window and buy a fan at Home Depot. WAKE UP!!!! |
| Name: | taxpayer |
| Town or district: | Homewood 153 |
| Comments: | In the newspaper today, our district announced they need $4.6 million. They state they get nothing from the federal govt., when in fact, they get approximately $500,000. Also, of the 4.6 million they "need" $1.7 million of it is slated for air-conditioning... |
| Name: | Thankful Parent |
| Town or district: | Matteson, Illinois |
| Comments: | I am so thankful to have found this website. I am in the process of trying to decide where to send my child for high school. I look forward to finally having some substantial information to evaluate critically to help make this important decision. I will report back on what I find. |