Monday Matters #13

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/21/school-improvement-grants_n_4318236.html?utm_hp_ref=education&ir=Education

By: Joy Resmovits, The Huffington Post

The federal government has invested around 4.6 million dollars to improve the low scoring schools in the country. There are four options for schools, closing them, becoming a charter school, shifting the curriculum, or replacing staff. The goal is to raise scores for students and to prepare them for college and a career. Some are scoring higher than before; becoming more proficient in math and reading. The problem is, a third of the schools that are receiving these grants are actually scoring lower than before. Duncan, the U.S. Secretary of Education, still has faith, saying that we need to help these schools (the bottom five percent in the nation) in any way we can, and that change is incremental. Duncan believes these grants will work, we just need to give it time. Duncan says the key for a good school is a good principal who knows how to form this great curriculum and teachers that want to carry out this plan.

Monday Matters #12

A lot of the arguments for both sides of the controversy were very similar. We should make a change to our school calendar. The scores our students are getting is not acceptable; if we want to be a global super power, we are going to need to educated people to represent this country. We consistently rank below other countries in subjects like math, reading, and science. In order to better prepare our young people for these tests, we need to make their time in the classroom worth while. Making changes to the calendar doesn't mean students will be in school longer. Just that when they are not in school, they can learn other things that can help them in the future, instead of doing other things like playing video games all day. Another thing that would benefit the students in the calendar change is that the breaks would be less spaced out, so that when they return they do not forget as much material as the three month summer break. Lastly, the the extended school calendar will allow students to learn more material, better preparing them for standardized tests and the real world. We need to stay ahead of the pack when it comes to education, and the method we are using right now just does not work. If we are going to be a competent independent nation, we need educated people, and that starts with success in the classroom.

Monday Matters #11

"Year-round school bad idea for students" By: Julia Sines, Pantagraph.com
"Year-round School Is A Good Idea" By: Andy Rooney, Chicago Tribune

Source 1 argues that if the school year is extended to the point of getting rid of summer vacation, students would be less motivated in attending school on a regular basis and would lead to more high school drop outs. Then there is the summer activities. Lots of kids like to play sports in the summer and families like to go on summer vacation trips, and they would not be able to do that with the new school calendar. Source 1 even argues that the students now work hard for those eight months, and they deserve a break. There is also the problem of students getting summer jobs to save up money for college. They would also lose out on working experience. The article ends with that many schools would not be able to afford to stay open during the summer with the cost of air conditioning. So students would have to work in the heat; not a good environment for learning.

Source 2 starts off by saying that if we can develop our intelligence, it is our obligation to. Intelligence is key to our future as a country and we need keep up with the rest of the world. Source 2 then goes on to say that we pay money for these schools to stay open; wouldn't it be a good idea to keep them open year-round? Source 2 compares schools to libraries and hotels, that they wouldn't close for three months. There would be vacations, just not as long. It ends with saying that if intelligence is what we are striving for, for need to rethink the way we run our school system.

Monday Matters #10

Source 1: Year-Round School? My Kids Love It. Yours Will, Too. By: Brigid Schulte
Source 2: To Fix Education, School Hours and Money Need to Be Better Spent By: Frederick Hess

Source 1 talks about her life as a mother having her kids in a year-round school year. She says her kids have benefited from the calendar by learning much more things than kids in schools with a traditional calendar. During these breaks or "intersessions", kids have the option to enroll in fun classes that teach interesting things, like karate or photography. By enrolling in these classes, children can try knew things and hopefully in the future find something they would want to pursue as a career. Source 2 argues that it is not the the school calendar that is in need of change, it is the quality of our teachers and the way they use the time in the classroom is what needs to be monitored. Source 1 says that vacation time could be swapped out with intersession. This gives families more flexibility when it come to vacation and what time of year to go. Source 2 fires back by saying that the longer school year will just be a waste. The cost for the schools to stay open that long will raise. Also, if the teachers students have now are not good quality, what will lengthening the school year do? Source 1 raps up with saying that if we lengthen the school calendar  kids in kindergarten now, by fifth grade, will have received a whole extra year of schooling. This can help the advancing new world we live in and keep our children competitive with the rest of the world. Source 2 says instead of just lengthening the school year hoping for the best and completely ignoring the money issues, we should make sure that the teachers we have now are quality teachers that use their time in the classroom efficiently before making such radical decisions.