California's Children

Technology's impact (or lack thereof) on education: SBE's Kirst

March 22, 2013: State Board of Education President Michael Kirst (his second go-round on the job; he was a member of the SBE in the first adminisration of Governor Brown -- 1975-82, serving as president from '77-'81) is Professor Emeritus of Education and Business Administration at Stanford. Yesterday, New America Media 's Peter Schurmann posted a Q&E with Kirst on "Bringing Equity Back to California School Funding." In one characteristically candid exchange, Schurmann asks Kirst,at left, about education reform efforts and, particularly, the innovations offered with on-line learning.

Kirst: There have been predictions of technological overhauls in the classroom ever since radio began. When I first started my career in the federal government we were distributing tens of thousands of television sets, and we certainly thought that would be a big change and that all the better teachers would come into classrooms through television sets in the corner of the room. That never worked. 

When I left the state board presidency in 1982, we were at the cusp of the technological revolution and there were three computers at the back of a classroom. I thought, “Well, that’s the beginning.” I came back to state office in 2011, and went to visit schools: three computers in the back of a classroom. I was then told, and believed, that once we got handheld computers it would happen. I actually made speeches like that for 15 years. Still, no big impact. 

So the way I would summarize it is: Technology has met traditional classrooms and traditional classrooms win. 

 

Blended learning focus for Calif Charter Schools conf in San Diego

March 12, 2013: Today's leading on-line learning presentation at the annual conference of the California Charter Schools Association (meeting in San Diego) "Blended Learning's Impact on Character,"  featured Kallie Berg, San Brewer and Peter McIntosh from Oakland Unity High School and Maureen Suhendra (at left, in a volunteer teaching job in Indonesia) of the Khan Academy.

In [Oakland Unity's] efforts to close students' skill gaps with our Khan Academy math program, we have found that we are in fact addressing a character gap. Do our students bring character issues into the classroom (irresponsibility, lack of effort, low confidence)? What caused this character gap? How does it impact education? What role does online learning, and Khan in particular, play in fixing this character gap? OUHS has demonstrated the largest growth in 9th grade Algebra CST performance in California over the last two years.

The Khan Academy, which runs a total above its logo a la the old McDonalds -- 245,943,747 lessons delivered, it read this morning -- is a nonprofit organization "with the goal of changing education for the better by providing a free world-class education for anyone anywhere..." Its library includes over 4,000 videos on K-12 math and science ("and even reaches into the humanities with playlists on finance and history"). The videos are 10-minutes long, designed to be viewed on computers, iPads, and smartphones.

A second break-out session this afternoon, "Open, Free and Cheap: It Just Keeps Getting Better," is a panel discussion lead by Mark Miller of Learningtech (educational technology consulting services); with Bernard Golden of Navica, and Phil and Kathleen Hermsmeyer of River Springs Charter (Temecula; Riverside County). Tools and resources to foster individualized learning, online productivity, creativity, cloud-based collaboration, and world-class free content will be highlighted.

River Springs has individualized learning programs, focuses on one-to-one teaching, has student centers at various locations ("the entire community serves are the school campus"), and uses mixes of classroom teaching, on-line instruction, and home-schooling.

USC-developed Facebook game helps kids apply to college

October 29, 2012: Education researchers at the Annenberg Innovation Lab of the University of Southern California have developed a Facebook game, "Mission:Admission," to help high school students understand the strategies and the skills needed to apply to college. As California's college counselor-to-student ratio is 800 to one, USC education researcher Zoe Corwin, in an interview with KPPC radio, said that an application such as this is critical. In "Mission:Admission," students learn about  “paying attention to deadlines, managing time well, requesting letters of recommendation in advance, and balancing extra-curriculars and academics.”

In the game, reported Adolfo Guzman-Lopez on KPPC,  a cartoon-like avatar juggles a busy calendar that requires the student to get letters of recommendation and fill out applications, all while studying on an imaginary high school campus. The player can run out of energy, miss deadlines, or fall short of the require qualifications for college admissions.

Just like in real life, Corwin said. 

 

 

Illegal fees, school budgets, tech ed needs & ACLU: what is fair?

May 22, 2012: A technology program to provide iPads (or a similar device) for every 4th and 5th grader at Tierra Bonita Elementary school in the Poway Unified School District (San Diego County) may violate the state constitution guaranteeing every student the right to a free education, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that district officials received a letter from ACLU lawyer David Loy, at left, questioning the intent of a survey and follow-up email sent earlier this month by the Tierra Bonita principal Joe Erpelding (below, left).

The survey outlines 4 options for parents and caregivers: using the family's own device; buying one from the district ($379 plus extras); renting (to own) one ($53 a month for 10 months); or borrowing one from the district free of charge. The survey clearly states that only 10% of students can borrow a device for the program to be viable.

The ACLU quotes the principal as telling parents on May 2:

“We are just 15 commitments [on options 1,2, or 3] away from being the first school in Poway to equip all students in 4th and 5th grade next year with a digital device. If you have not turned in a response, we need you.” the letter, Loy wrote that the survey and email “go far beyond assessing interest in the program or willingness to make a voluntary contribution.”

“Instead, they exert significant pressure on families to either provide or pay for a digital device. This pressure is dangerously close if not tantamount to directly charging an illegal fee...,” Loy wrote.

Poway Unified Superintendent John Collins said in a statement that he is arranging a meeting with the ACLU to address its concerns.

Written for California's Children by Elizabeth J Carlyle.

Teaching to the test? Photos on Facebook threaten system

April 28, 2012: Educational Testing Service, the monopoly that designs and scores the STAR (Standardized Testing and Reporting Program) and the CAHSEE (California High School Exit Exam), is investigating to learn if images (some explicit) of the tests, some with questions and answers, that have appeared on Facebook, Tumblr, PinInterest, and Twitter, have compromised the examinations, according to an announcement yesterday the the state Dept. of Education [CDE] and first reported by Christina Hoag of the Associated Press.

From Hoag's story:

...The [CDE] asked school districts across the state to heighten security during state standardized tests after discovering images of the exams on about a dozen social networking websites...State officials discovered the images Thursday. They appear to be snapshots taken by students with cellphones... Hefner said. Most depict blank answer booklets and students posing with closed test booklets, but some are of test question pages and completed answer pages....[CDE] has asked the websites to remove the images, some of which have been on websites for four days...In some images, the names of students and districts are visible. In those cases, districts have been asked to investigate how the photos were taken, [CDE spokesman Paul] Hefner said.

Howard Blume, reporting the situation for the Los Angeles Times, writes:

...In the worst-case scenario, the photos could lead to invalidating test scores for entire schools or prevent the state from using certain tests. For now, officials have warned school districts to heighten test security and investigate breaches. Students are not allowed to have access to cellphones or other devices that can take pictures when the tests are administered....Educators involved in testing sign an affidavit asserting that they follow and enforce all rules.

Statewide, districts are about halfway through the annual California Standards Tests, which make up most of a school's state rating on the Academic Performance Index. The tests also are used in federal accountability systems.

The federal evaluation determines whether a school is subject to such sanctions as being closed or restaffed. A school's state API score gets the most attention locally, with the highest ratings able to boost real estate values because parents will seek out those campuses.

But a school can lose its score entirely if 5% of tests are invalidated. Cheating or lesser mistakes by teachers and other staff led to canceled scores at about two dozen California schools last year.

Students typically don't have anything at stake on the annual tests: Colleges don't look at student scores, and the scores don't affect course grades or grade-point averages — although L.A. Unified has experimented with rewarding improvement on a standardized test with a higher course grade.

So far, officials have found more than 100 students to be involved, but say they weren't necessarily trying to cheat.

"Most of the images discovered so far contained only students posing with a closed test booklet, blank answer documents or answer documents with a message written on them," the state Education Department said in a release. Some images, however, "appeared to contain test questions or completed answer documents" from both the annual achievement tests and the state's high school exit exam, which is required for graduation.

...Woodland Unified, near Sacramento, first spotted the images. So far, 34 districts could have problems, including some in Southern California, although Hefner was not able to provide a list Friday.