Welcome back to school

The school year has begun. My youngest son, aged 10, is attending a new school. Over breakfast this morning, I asked him if he was excited for his first day. "Yes," he replied while eating a celebratory croissant. "But surprisingly, I don't have butterflies."

My neighbor shared his story with me. Traditionally, he stands at the bus stop with his children on the first day of school. His daughter is now in Middle School, so she takes the early bus with my ninth-grade daughter. His younger child, aged 10, takes the later bus.

My Summer Learning Loss x 4

An article I read today has got me thinking. According to an article in LD online, research by the foundation Reading is Fundamental (RIF) suggests that children who do not read over the summer experience a loss of reading fluency and comprehension skills, while students who do read actually gain skills. In addition, the author throws in, students lose more than two years of grade level equivalency in math if they are not stimulated.

Shocking, right?

Why Science Matters

On the drive back from school a few weeks ago, my 12-year-old son began imagining the future. “When I’m older, we won’t be driving on the street,” he began. “We’ll be riding cars in the sky. Roads won’t be needed. We’ll be so much more advanced. Think how far technology has come in 30 years.”

Why Writing Matters

Reading makes good writers. The adage is one I have often heard. “How did you become such a successful writer?” asks the budding interviewer. “I became a good reader,” responds the veteran writer.

A new twist to that interchange emerged for me today through a report by Steve Graham and Michael Hebert at Vanderbilt University and sponsored by The Carnegie Corporation.

Their finding? Writing can improve reading.

Will the NCLB Overhaul Hurt Massachusetts?

This week, The Christian Science Monitor ran a very informative overview of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) overhaul being proposed by the Obama Administration.

Staying the same is the existence of annual tests in reading and math. Among the proposed changes are five major ones. These are:

1)Changing the goal of student proficiency in reading and math by 2014 to a standard of college and career readiness for students by 2020.

Rate Your Teacher

Like it or not, teachers have a reputation that precedes them and in my experience as a parent, those reputations are usually spot on. The tenured teacher did have a tendency to lose homework and to give less favored students unfair shakes. The creative and demanding math teacher cultivated in his classroom a passion for his subject. The challenging but engaging social studies teacher truly has proven inspiring.

What Does Make a Great Teacher?

After my youngest son’s back-to-school visit last fall, I had a kick to my step. He had a great teacher. I knew it. I had no hard, research-based evidence to stake such a claim. I had not seen a teacher’s award, instruction certification, or Ivy League diploma. Gains in test scores from last year’s class were not on view, nor were their success stories. I’d simply listened to the way his teacher spoke about her class and that had me convinced; my son had an outstanding teacher.

Are We Not Letting Our Teens Take Enough Risk

A few days ago, The New York Times featured an interesting story on risk and teenagers. As we pointed out in our news section, Temple University developmental psychologist Laurence Steinberg argues in the piece that adolescents are more impulsive, thrill-seeking, and drawn to the rewards of a risky decision than adults. What the article does not address is the implications of this behavior for education, an impact that I have long contemplated.

Should We Let Them Struggle in Math?

My daughter is in a very difficult algebra class. At the start of the year, parents received an email preemptively explaining that mathematics this year would be more challenging than years’ past and that the immediate results of their student’s efforts might disappoint. The email proved correct. According to my daughter, the average percentile score on the first test was in the low seventies.

When Should Work Be Play?

My youngest son has a clear set of guidelines when it comes to work and play and it can be summarized as thus: Never shall the twain meet.

Sort of.

When one really dissects his view, it becomes readily apparent that the two can, in fact, meet, though solely on play’s terms; play is free to cross into work at will but pity work if it ever tries to cross into play.