Sympathy

BJ DeBell, long time staff member in the Office of Field Experiences who worked for the university for 29 years before retiring, passed away this past week. Funeral services for Mrs. B.J. DeBell were conducted Sunday afternoon, November 15, 2009, at 3:00 o’clock, at Boone United Methodist Church. Her devotion to and advocacy for students was well known among teacher education students and faculty. She will be sorely missed. The RCOE community extends its sympathy to her family.

The RCOE community also extends its sympathy to Lee Baruth (HPC) and his family for the loss of his brother this past week.

Kudos

Barbara Bonham (LES & NCDE) was honored recently for her national influence, distinguished professional achievements, and lifetime contributions to the profession of developmental education. She has been selected as a Fellow of the Council on Learning Assistance and Developmental Education. The award was granted during a formal induction ceremony held at the National College Learning Center Association conference in Golden, CO on October 1, 2009.

Barbara Scarboro (HPC) had a book titled School Counselors and Students with
Behavioral Emotional Disabilities published by Lambert Academic Publishing.

Hakan Ersever (HPC) had an article titled "Counseling in Turkey and western
influences" published in the latest issue of ACES Spectrum.

Daisy Waryold (HPC) recently received the Distinguished Scholar Award presented by the North Carolina College Personnel Association.

Laurie Williamson (HPC) recently received the Counselor Educator of the Year Award presented by the North Carolina School Counselors Association.

Hunter R. Boylan (LES/NCDE) published an article entitled "Research-based techniques for developing college student literacy" in the Journal of the Japan Association for Developmental Education.

Professional Core Forum

From 3-5 in Rm. 03 on Monday, November 16, an open informational forum will be held to discuss the proposed Undergraduate Professional Core; the forum will begin with a short overview of the work of the Professional Core Task Force including the new courses being proposed. The majority of the time will be available for discussion. The Task Force is seeking input on what has been proposed.

International Panel Presentation

To address the International Week theme "Sowing Seeds of Peace," a panel discussion entitled “Peace Building and Education: Cross-cultural Perspectives” will be held on November 17 at 4 pm on Room 03 sponsored by the RCOE International Activities Committee. The panelists will include Malanka Motlhoioa, a mathematics instructor from South Africa currently teaching at Watauga High School; Arshad Bashir, a Fulbright Scholar from Pakistan and RCOE doctoral student; and Vachel Miller, assistant professor in the Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership. The panelists will reflect on the potential and challenges of education as a tool of peacebuilding in their countries. Panel is open to the university community.

Selection of Book for Reading Groups

Deadline for selecting the book you might wish to discuss with colleagues next semester is Nov. 20. The RCOE Diversity Committee annually selects books for reading discussions related to issues of diversity; the committee has been doing this for several years now; such topics as gender, racism, special needs, sexual preference, etc. have informed past choices. The Committee has chosen the following fiction books that deal with issues of immigration and social justice for possible reading in Spring semester. When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsaka; The Guardian by Ana Castillo; A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khalad Hosseini; Not My turn to Die: Memoir of a Broken Childhood in Bosnia by Savo Heleta. For reviews of these books, see last week’s Dean’s Update. If you are interested in reading and discussing any of these selections with colleagues during second semester, please contact Precious Mudiwa (LES) mudiwap@appstate.edu by Friday, Nov. 20.

APA Style Manual Errors Revisited

Having received strong feedback from a variety of sources, the publishers of the 6th edition of the APA Style Manual have issued the following:

We regret the errors that are present in the 6th edition of the Publication
Manual, and the inconvenience this has caused you. We are working on ways to
make it right.

We have produced a detailed corrections summary which supplies the error list in
a user-friendly presentation. This document notes all the known errors in the
Manual and puts them in context for greater understanding. A PDF version of the
corrections summary supplement is available now from a link on the APA homepage
( http://www.APA.org <http://www.apa.org/> ). A printed version of the
supplement will also be available by November 2 through the APA Service Center.
Please call 800 374-2721 for more information.

Many people have found that the corrections supplement meets their needs; if you
find, however, that it doesn’t meet yours, we will send you a replacement copy of
the second printing of the Manual at no cost to you. (The second printing
corrects all the known errors.) We are making this replacement process available
to individuals and institutions who have purchased the manual. In order to
receive a replacement manua,l you must return your current copy of the 6th
edition to APA no later than December 15, 2009. We would like to make this
transaction as cost neutral to you as possible, so efforts are being made to
provide you with pre-paid postage you can use to return the book to us. We
expect this process will be available the first week in November. If you are
interested in a replacement copy, please contact the APA Service Center at your
convenience for further information. Service Center staff can be reached at: 800
374-2721 from 8:30 AM- 6:30 PM (EST) M – F. Email correspondence can be directed
to order@apa.org.

Note: thanks to Rebecca Shankland (LRE) for passing this information on to us.

Possible Resource

Here is a link to a progressive magazine that highlights positive efforts people and organizations are making toward social, economic, and environmental justice. They are offering a one year free subscription to teachers and professors.

http://www.yesmagazine.org/forms/free-teacher-subscription

Thanks to PJ Nelsen (LES) for bringing this resource to our attention.

Academic Writing?

This site may give you a chuckle or two about perceptions of what constitutes “academic writing.”

http://writing-program.uchicago.edu/toys/randomsentence/write-sentence.htm

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“Change is a Journey, not a Destination.”
—M. Fullan

Kudos

Congratulations to Stephen White, Precious Mudiwa and Barbara Howard (LES) for the publication of their article “Spiritual Intelligence and Transformational Leadership: A New Theoretical Framework” in the Journal of Curriculum and Instruction (www.joci.ecu.edu).

Many thanks to Kathy Howell and Dolly Farrell for the arrangements that made Education Day on Saturday so successful; the children who attended as part of the Mountaineer Readers Program had a wonderful time and will never forget their moment in the spotlight at halftime when they were introduced to 35,000 people. Our thanks as well to the ASU Athletic Department for collaborating with us on this successful program.

Celebration of International Education Week

The university will be sponsoring a number of activities during International Education Week, Nov. 16-20. The RCOE International Activities Committee is sponsoring a number of activities itself during this time. For example, on the second floor of Duncan, you will find a display put together by Eric Groce (C&I) and some of his students to remind us visually of the importance of global perspectives. On Friday, Nov. 13, Antoinette Sithole, Curator of the Hector Pieterson Museum in Soweto, South Africa, sponsored by OIED, Teaching Fellows and the RCOE IAC will make a presentation from 11-12, Rm. 03—open to the university community.

To address the International Week theme "Sowing Seeds of Peace," a panel discussion with cross-cultural perspectives on peacebuilding and education will be held on November 17 at 4 pm on Room 03 sponsored by the RCOE International Activities Committee. The panelists will include Malanka Motlhoioa, a mathematics instructor from South Africa currently teaching at Watauga High School; Arshad Bashir, a Fulbright Scholar from Pakistan and RCOE doctoral student; and Vachel Miller, assistant professor in the Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership. The panelists will reflect on the potential and challenges of education as a tool of peacebuilding in their countries. Panel is open to the university community.

The Office of International Education and Development (OIED) would like to invite the campus community to attend the 5th Annual International Fair!

When: Wednesday, November 18 from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm
Where: Grandfather Mountain Ballroom, Plemmons Student Union

The International Fair will introduce students to nearly 60 newly approved faculty-led study abroad programs offered in over 30 countries for this academic year! This is a great opportunity for students interested in gaining a short-term international experience to meet one on one with faculty leaders! The International Fair will also feature representatives of other study abroad opportunities and international ventures available to students, faculty and staff at Appalachian. Free refreshments will be served!

For more information about short-term faculty-led Appalachian Overseas Education Programs, please go to:

http://www.international.appstate.edu/education/shortterm.php

For more information about other events organized during International Education Week at Appalachian, please go to:

http://www.international.appstate.edu/events/iew.php

On Nov. 20, the RCOE Doctoral Program will be presenting a panel of doctoral students discussing doctoral studies and international education and the connections with the global community.

SALT Grants Awarded

The review of submitted SALT grants has resulted in 21 awards; this number represents the highest number of awards since we started the program four years ago; this year 50 faculty, staff and adjuncts, 30 classroom teachers, and 100 students (university and public school) will be involved in these grant activities. Congratulations to the recipients and we look forward to the outcomes of these projects contributing to research in the field as well as strengthening curricula in the college as well as across campus.

Establishing Reading Groups

The RCOE Diversity Committee annually selects books for reading discussions related to issues of diversity; the committee has been doing this for several years now; such topics as gender, racism, special needs, sexual preference, etc. have informed past choices. The Committee has chosen several fiction books that deal with issues of immigration and social justice for possible reading in Spring semester. Attached you will find four suggested titles (book-choices-spring-2010.pdf) with brief reviews for your consideration. If you are interested in reading and discussing any of these selections with colleagues during second semester, please contact Precious Mudiwa (LES) mudiwap@appstate.edu with your first and second choice by November 20. The committee will select the final titles based on your response. The books will be purchased and be available at the beginning of second semester. Details about the formation of groups will be available at that time as well. Reading groups set their own schedule and conduct their own discussions; groups usually number 4-6 and include staff, faculty and interested students.

APA Style Manual not so Stylish

The much heralded new edition of the APA Style Manual seems not to have had as much style as might have been expected. Someone obviously had a good deal of time on his or her hands and combed through the new 6th edition and found at least 83 editorial slips in 264 pages. These are to be found in the first printing (July 2009) of the 6th edition; whether or not corrections will be made before additional printings occur remains to be seen. In the meantime, the graduate school will accept either the 5th or the 6th APA formatting editions through May, but programs may require the new guidelines immediately if desired. Just be aware if you are preparing a manuscript for publication, you may be incorporating an error without knowing it. If you are particularly curious and want to know what and where the errors are, let me know and I will send you the list.

Response to Federal Initiatives

The Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, has been making a number of speeches lately about teacher education, some reasonably positive, others not so positive. As a result, the media has picked up on his views and are generating some interesting responses; see, for example, the following: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/opinion/02engel.html

The Book Is Dead

Much conversation is occurring about the demise of books as the major conveyor of knowledge and entertainment; Kindle readers and other devices appear to be making substantial headway in delivering print in electronic format as opposed to the beautiful bindings and paper that have marked the printing industry for many years. A spoof of all this, which you may have seen, can be viewed at YouTube.

Book Technology

Ponderisms

Although we tend to think of English as being “the” language, it does have its quirks, little oddities that often confuse those who try to learn English as a second language. We might call these oddities, “ponderisms”; give them some thought; feel free to suggest others we might ponder.

• Why is the third hand on the watch called the second hand?
• If a word is misspelled in the dictionary, how would we ever know?
• If Webster wrote the first dictionary, where did he find the words?
• Why do we say something is out of whack? What is a whack?
• Why does "slow down" and "slow up" mean the same thing?
• Why does "fat chance" and "slim chance" mean the same thing?
• Why do "tug" boats push their barges?
• Why do we sing "Take me out to the ball game" when we are already there?
• Why are they called "stands" when they are made for sitting?

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“Change is a Journey, not a Destination.”
—M. Fullan

Kudos

Kristan Cardinali, a second year student in the College Student Development program, received the Graduate Student of the Year award at the annual conference of NCHO (North Carolina Housing Officers).

*Over 80 golfers participated in the RCOE Annual Swing for Scholarships Golf Tournament at Rock Barn outside of Hickory. Under the direction of Dolly Farrell, RCOE Advancement Officer, a team of volunteers from RCOE and from its Advancement Board, organized and carried out a highly successful tournament; even though the rain hit us pretty hard at the end, it did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of those who turned out for a good cause and for an opportunity to play on a world class course.

*On Saturday, October 31, The Teaching Fellows Program held a special seminar for Teaching Fellows alumni and Teaching Fellows who are seniors; the morning long program consisted of small group sessions led by TF alumni who shared their experiences in teaching with seniors in the same fields; the purpose of the program is to insure that TF’s going into their student teaching and looking ahead to moving into the profession have an opportunity to talk to those who have already entered the teaching field.

*On Education Day, November 7 at the football game, we will be recognizing all ASU education alumni; we also will be honoring the winners of the 2009 Mountaineer Summer Reading Program which is co-sponsored by the RCOE and the ASU Athletic Department. At half-time, the top three winners from each ASU-Public School Partnership district will be introduced. They will be accompanied by their principals and media services director. We salute all of our Mountaineer Readers. Collectively,1,035 students at 53 schools read a total of 28,758 books. The schools with the highest percentage of readers participating receive a media services award of $300 which can be used to purchase materials for the school’s media center. Special thanks to Kathy Howell of RCOE and Sami Stevens of the ASU Athletic Department for their efforts in making this event such a success. Note: the winners get a tour of the football team’s locker room, get to exchange high fives with the team, participate in games on Sanford Mall, and eat a lunch on campus. If you don’t think these kids get psyched, come out and watch!

Rm 03 off-line for Spring

Because Rm. 03 will be undergoing renovation in the spring to accommodate the needs of the Nursing Program, we will not be able to hold meetings and events in that venue. This means we will make heavy use of 02 but users of that space should be aware that there may be construction noise on occasion from 03. Editor’s note: the new building can not come online too soon!

Building Update

In case you have not seen the progress being made on the building, we have new pictures to share:

• http://www.ced.appstate.edu/newbuilding/#oct2009

Construction is a bit behind because of the wet weather but crews are working overtime; the appearance of steel in the site is now scheduled for mid-November. Overall, the work appears to be moving ahead without any major hitches.

Special International Panel

To address the International Week theme "Sowing Seeds of Peace," a panel discussion with cross-cultural perspectives on peacebuilding and education will be held on November 17 at 4 pm on Room 03 sponsored by the RCOE International Activities Committee. The panelists will include Malanka Motlhoioa, a mathematics instructor from South Africa currently teaching at Watauga High School; Arshad Bashir, a Fulbright Scholar from Pakistan and RCOE doctoral student; and Vachel Miller, assistant professor in the Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership. The panelists will reflect on the potential and challenges of education as a tool of peacebuilding in their countries. Panel is open to the university community.

International Scholarly Assignment Call for Application 2010/11 Academic Year

The Office of International Education and Development (OIED) is now accepting applications for international scholarly assignments for the 2010-2011 academic year. Applications are due January 8, 2010. International scholarly assignments will be granted for one semester only. Selected applicants will be notified by January 29, 2010.

In keeping with its mission of internationalizing the campus, Appalachian State University, through OIED, sponsors international scholarly assignments to develop and/or strengthen faculty global competencies. International scholarly assignments are intended to provide Appalachian faculty members with the knowledge needed to help them infuse global issues into the courses they teach and integrate study abroad into the curricula at Appalachian while providing them with collaborative research and teaching opportunities abroad.

An applicant must submit the following:   

• completed international scholarly assignment application form (found at http://www.international.appstate.edu/research/index.html);
• current curriculum vitae;
• letter of invitation from the host university abroad;
• departmental chairperson/program director’s approval; and
• Dean’s approval from the applicant’s respective college.

Please submit all applications to the Office of International Education and Development/I.G. Greer Hall, Room 238/ASU Box 32083 For questions, please e-mail Jesse Lutabingwa at: lutabingwajl@appstate.edu

PBS has launched their new Teachers Site

http://www.pbs.org/teachers/

PBS Teachers is the national Web destination for preK- 12 educators to access PBS’ educational services and a searchable database of more than 9,000 free local and national standards- based teaching activities, lesson plans, on- demand video assets, interactive games, and simulations. Many of the resources feature PBS’ award- winning programming and content, including on- demand streaming video from select PBS programs. PBS Teachers hosts an online learning community for educators to share ideas, collaborate, and discuss technology and digital media integration in the classroom. Within the community, educators can search for instructional resources that fit their needs; then easily bookmark, annotate, share, and manage their tagged content. New digital media resources are regularly added to the PBS Teachers site and designed for use in school and home-based learning environments.

Celebrating Teaching

Teaching gets more than its share of negative publicity—see, for example, the Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=590PNSh6g_4

However, teachers at the Early College at Caldwell Community College decided to put together their own video with an upbeat message. You should know that over half the teachers in the Early College are ASU graduates.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB9-46BpnAU

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“Change is a Journey, not a Destination.”
—M. Fullan

Sympathy

The RCOE community extends its sympathy to Robin Groce (C&I) on the loss of her grandmother.

Graduate Assistant Opportunities

Graduate Assistantship openings are available within the Division of Student Development for the 2010-2011 academic year.

As you mentor students into graduate school, please keep Appalachian State University and assistantships within the Division of Student Development in mind. The updated assistantships website (following link: www.assistantships.appstate.edu) provides information for prospective graduate students.Candidates can also view open positions and access the Student Development Assistantship Application Guide at this location.

The deadline for priority consideration is January 15, 2010. GAPP Interview Weekend is scheduled to take place February 18-20, 2010. Below is the tentative time line for the 2010-2011 recruitment process.

• November – December 2009: Complete necessary entrance exams (i.e. GRE)
• January 15, 2010: Priority Application deadline for Graduate School and Graduate Assistantships
• January 29, 2010: Initial invitations to GAPP Interview Weekend extended
• February 5, 2010: Last day applications are considered for GAPP Interview Weekend
• February 18, 2010: GAPP Interview Weekend begins @ approximately 11:00 a.m.
• February 20, 2010: GAPP Interview Weekend ends @ approximately 6:30 p.m.
• March 1, 2010: Initial offers extended

Special Education Impact

Recent changes in national and state requirements will have significant impact on teachers with special education licensure who are the “instructor of record” for classes in mathematics, English, history, science, etc. The following is text of a letter that school districts are required to provide to parents. The federal No Child Left Behind law requires that Title I schools inform parents if their child is assigned a teacher for four or more consecutive weeks who is not considered to be Highly Qualified as defined by the federal law.

The federal law defines a Highly Qualified teacher as one who is fully certified and/or licensed by the state; holds at least a bachelor’s degree from a four-year institution; and demonstrates competence in each core academic subject area in which the teacher teaches. Core subject areas include: English, reading, language arts, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, social studies, economics, arts, history, geography, and kindergarten through Grade 6 (K-6).

Although our state has demanding certification requirements, these requirements do not automatically mean that every teacher meets the Highly Qualified standard, even if he or she has been teaching for years and has been performing at high levels.

As of this writing, your child’s teacher, [teacher's name], has met the Special Education certification requirements, but has not completed the subject matter competency requirement in [list subject]. This matter has arisen because of a ruling by the U.S. Department of Education (USED) stating that special education teachers must hold certification in both special education and in all subject areas in which they teach. Until this ruling issued by USED in September, your child’s teacher was considered by the State of North Carolina to be highly qualified to teach core academic subjects. Your child’s teacher acted in good faith to complete the requirements as they had been outlined to them prior to this ruling. Staff from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction will be working with your school on strategies to address this issue.

Note: School districts are currently reviewing the status of their teachers and will be working with DPI to find ways to address this most recent federal regulation. The impact of this ruling will be felt most significantly at the high school level where a special education teacher may be the teacher of record for a math class, English class, history class, etc. As long as a teacher remains the teacher of record, he or she will have to show competency in the content area; at present, the only way to do this appears to be taking the appropriate PRAXIS II test in the content area and meet the state’s cut-off score. We are monitoring this situation closely and will do whatever we can to assist the districts as they address this issue.

Twitter

Teachers at one private school in Virginia are using the short-form social-networking tool Twitter in the classroom to distribute assignments and to encourage students to work together. But while some teachers have had good initial results using the technology, which keeps messages at a maximum of 140 characters, some experts wonder what effects the technology will have on learning. "It will take a decade to answer that question," said one psychology professor. Education Week (EdWeek.org) (10/21)

OMG! Texting and IM-ing doesn’t affect spelling!

By Margaret Shapiro Tuesday, October 20, 2009 Washington Post

Parents, u r gonna be surprised by this, but a study from the University of Alberta says that the abbreviated and unpunctuated language commonly used in instant messaging and texting probably has no effect on your child’s spelling abilities. If anything, says psychologist and study lead author Connie Varnhagen, the language variations commonly used in instant messaging and cellphone texting should be viewed as a new language or at least a dialect with its own set of rules for spelling and writing.

Those findings, recently published in the journal Reading and Writing, suggest that parental worries that kids who use "chatspeak" will become bad spellers or never learn how to write well are unfounded. "Young people can compartmentalize their language," Varnhagen said. "They have language that they use on the playground and then school language. They know how to speak in classrooms without sounding like goofballs."

The study was proposed by a group of third-year psychology students who surveyed roughly 40 students ages 12 to 17. The participants were asked to save their instant messages for a week. At the end of the study, the participants completed a standardized spelling test.

Varnhagen said the researchers were pleasantly surprised by the results. The young people surveyed seem to know, without any sort of instruction, that there are "correct" ways of spelling in chatspeak. For instance, "probably" is abbreviated as "prolly," but never "proly"; "want to" becomes "wanna," never "wana" or "wanta"; "should’ve" is always "shoulda" and never "shuda."

"Kids who are good spellers [academically] are good spellers in instant messaging," she said. "And kids who are poor spellers in English class are poor spellers in instant messaging."

The findings come from a very small group of subjects, but they are in line with other recent studies. One report published in the March issue of the British Journal of Developmental Psychology said that children who use "textisms" on mobile phones may in fact be helping their literacy. Editorial note: I would like to see much more evidence longitudinally before jumping to any conclusions.

Major Educational Speech

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan recently gave a major address on teacher preparation at Teachers College in New York City. In his speech he recited previous criticisms of education schools, but unlike his recent speech at the University of Virginia, where he was quite critical of teacher education programs in higher ed—referred to them as “cash cows,” a label that I suspect caused a good deal of laughter in budget strained institutions–he balanced criticism with acknowledgement of reforms underway in education schools. The speech has received significant media coverage.

Paper Use

The use of paper nationally and internationally remains a major industry and has, of course, corresponding impact on a number of resources; for a quick view of this impact, go to

http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/watch/9/the_secret_life_of_paper

E-Books

Much is being made of the possible roles for e-books in higher education. However, students have some views on the readiness of such devices for prime-time in classes. Kindle, for example, shows promise but needs improvement, say students Students liked having access to a semester’s worth of reading in one book-sized device but did not like taking notes on its keyboard, according to feedback from college students using the Kindle e-reading device. Kindle devices loaded with digital textbooks were provided to 200 college students this fall by Amazon, which hopes to adapt the technology for academic textbooks. According to the students, other areas for improvement include bookmark organization and pagination that corresponds to the hard-copy textbooks. Google/The Associated Press (10/13)

Accelerated Degree programs

The idea of accelerated degree programs has been around for some time and a number of higher education institutions offer them in varying formats; most of these occur at relatively small private schools. Alexander Lamar, U.S. Senator from Tennessee, writing in Newsweek, proposes the idea of taking the concept to scale, especially at a time when tuitions are high and student monies are low. Among the pros of the three year degree as Alexander proposes it are reduced overall tuition cost, quicker entry into a profession, increased student commitment to learning; among the cons—not everyone responds well to such pressure, tends to diminish the “full” college experience, and there is a lack of evidence that students who complete in three years do any better academically than those who take four or five. See http://www.newsweek.com/id/218183

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“Change is a Journey, not a Destination.”
—M. Fullan

North Carolina sees increased enrollment in virtual school

More than 15,000 students in North Carolina are taking classes this semester through the N.C. Virtual Public School, up from 8,800 last fall. The increasingly popular online program provides students access to core academic classes as well as rarely offered electives such as Mandarin Chinese and Russian, and it is considered especially helpful for students in rural areas. The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) (10/14)

Dual-enrollment programs help students to reduce college costs

Many high schools are offering dual-enrollment programs, where they team up with colleges and universities to teach college-level classes to high-school students. Although credits don’t always transfer, students earning high-school and college credit at the same time often save substantially on college tuition and can better define their academic interests. One high-school student graduated with more than 20 college credits and saved more than $7,200 in tuition at Iowa State University before he entered his first year there. Omaha World-Herald (Neb.) North Carolina has been very active in promoting these programs with community colleges; a number of them have morphed into early or middle college programs that are attractive to students who might otherwise not be well suited for the traditional four year high school experience. We are associated with an early college program at Caldwell Community College that is part of a Gates funded initiative in the state. We are looking forward to learning more about the program and assisting in its development.

Math Scores

Nationally, student achievement in mathematics is garnering considerable attention:

For the first time since 1990, U.S. fourth-graders have not posted an increase in mathematics performance, according to National Assessment of Educational Progress test scores. Although eighth-graders showed a slight increase in performance over 2007, these latest results show that fewer than 40% of the 330,000 fourth- and eighth-graders tested are proficient in math. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the disappointing scores "are a call to action to reform the teaching and learning of mathematics and other related subjects in order to prepare our students to compete in the global economy." The Wall Street Journal (10/15) , CNN (10/14)

The scores by students in North Carolina are attracting corresponding attention; the following excerpt from an editorial in the Wilmington Star-News is an example. Editorial: Math numbers still don’t add up (Published: Thursday, October 15, 2009)

Small victories are sweet, but the object is to win the big game. So while it is commendable that North Carolina students scored above the national average on an important math test, it’s not exactly a reason to celebrate.

Nationally, only 39 percent of fourth-graders and 34 percent of eighth-graders scored proficient on the exam. Put another way, the test has a possible 500 points. The average score nationwide for fourth-graders was 240; the average score for eighth-graders, 283. Any way you look at it, that’s a failing grade. It still is not acceptable that 43 percent of fourth-graders and 36 percent of eighth-graders in North Carolina scored proficient on the
national tests. Looking back at how low North Carolina once was in the early 1990s – about 13 percent of fourth-graders and 9 percent of eighth-graders were math literate – we have had some success….

Obviously, much work needs to be done. North Carolina has made a push to improve, however, and for that educators should be commended. Comparing the state’s scores against others, we come out somewhere in the middle of the pack. According to the breakdown at the NAEP’s Web site, North Carolina’s fourth-graders scored significantly below four states or other U.S. jurisdictions, better than 29 jurisdictions and roughly the
same as 18 others.

At the eighth-grade level, 14 states scored higher, 19 significantly lower and 18 had scores that didn’t differ significantly from North Carolina’s scores. Drilling down into the information a bit, the results are disturbing. The gap between black students and their white counterparts isn’t significantly different than it was back in the 1990s, nor has the gap between lower-income students and their more affluent counterparts changed much.

That isn’t progress; it’s stagnation. What the numbers mean is that North Carolina has made almost no headway in its efforts to close the achievement gap. The chairman of the National Assessment Governing Board summed up the U.S. results as gently as possible: "Mathematics achievement is not where it should be." No, it isn’t – and that’s an understatement.

The New York Times noted Thursday that math scores rose faster in the years before No Child Left Behind was enacted. In the six years since, progress has been slower. There may or may not be a direct correlation; more study would be needed.

Standardized testing has become a focus of the schools under "No Child," and critics are correct that in some cases that focus may be detracting from the real purpose of school: to educate. That said, students need to know the material, and if they know it, they should be able to pass a test. Certainly they should know enough to answer enough questions correctly that they are considered proficient. The NAEP is yet another test, but the important difference is that it provides an apples-apples comparison of where North Carolina students stand versus their peers.

Irony of the Week

When you build bridges you can keep crossing them.

–Rick Pitino, Louisville basketball coach

Editorial note: one can burn them as fast as they are built, too, apparently!

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“Change is a Journey, not a Destination.”
—M. Fullan