[English] American senior Maths and English results
Debra Edwards
d.edwards at latrobe.edu.au
Sun Feb 25 17:17:13 EST 2007
>Mary,
>Have you visited primary schools in Victoria? My experience is that
>there is a similar emphasis on the things you mention in Victoria
>in lower primary that has also been moving into upper primary over
>the last years. The Education Department and Catholic Education
>have both been increasing the emphasis on collection of data
>regarding student literacy achievement and teacher use of this to
>inform teachng. Teacher observation is also key. I ageree that
>more could be done regarding explicit deconstruction of text and
>teaching about that as well as increased teaching of vocabulary and
>languge study - both issues that havve been included in VELS at
>upper primary to some degree. Though here, as in the States, there
>is not necessarily consistency across all classes. or schools.
Maybe part of the issue is that primary and secondary teachers rarely
have the time to access each others PD opportunities - or talk to
each other regarding what is occurring in their schools.
I'd also recommend secondary teachers attending the ALEA (
Australian Literacy Educators Association www.alea.edu.au )
conferences and P.dD as well as VATE events ( Just as I recommend
primary teachers to attend VATE events). This will give a broader
view of literacy and English education across all sectors.
regards
Debra.
Debra Edwards
Lecturer in Literacy Education and English Methods.
School of Education Ph (03) 54 447-483
La Trobe University Fax (03)54 447-777
P.O. Box 199, Bendigo, Victoria Mobile 0414 077 796
Australia, 3552
d.edwards at latrobe.edu.au
www.latrobe.edu.au
President Central Victorian Local Council,
Australian Literacy Educators Association.
www.alea.edu.au/vic
>I'm in the states at the moment looking at Literacy. It is doing some
>fantastic things at lower primary. The 'No child left behind' program
>has put loads of money into lower primary. I am in Minnesota at the
>moment and have seen the support they are giving to teachers to change
>their practice and deliver a balanced curriculum model. The stress all
>the time is on higher level thinking, reciprocal thinking - by that they
>mean teaching students to question, clarify, summarise and predict. They
>also teach them inferential thinking. The problem is that as for them so
>for us. We do all this stuff about teaching students to read at lower
>primary and then we assume they can read - particularly in secondary. We
>do not give them the necessary scaffolding to read. We are not explicit.
>There is also not enough deconstructing of texts at both upper primary
>and lower secondary. Our teachers at these levels of the school need
>much more explicit PD on how to deconstruct a text - how metaphor is
>used - how gaps are used - why this sentence structure - why this
>setting - how is setting used - how is character being built - what
>about point of view - what about the use of narrator for setting up
>complexity. I am not saying teachers are not doing this in Australia but
>it is not systemic. I suspect - although I do not know - that this is
>the same as the States. We could learn lots from lower primary. Here it
>is data driven and they observe, they interview, and the teachers do
>some work. They test twice a year and modify their program if they pick
>up difficulties with students. Incidentally, I have been in schools
>which have 90% subsidised lunches and I have seen real engagement at the
>primary level.
>
>The focus in Minnesota is on the importance of teacher learning and of
>study groups within the school.
>
>Cheers
>
>Mary
>
>Mary Mason
>Director of Teaching and Learning
>
>ph: (03) 52263157
>mob: 0402022012
>>>> stephen at melbpc.org.au 02/25/07 5:40 AM >>>
>Hi all,
>
>Last Thursday the NAEP released the latest report on the academic
>performance of American Year 11 and 12 (senior) students.
>
>"The (US) National Assessment of Educational Progress -- often called
>the
>nation's report card -- is viewed as the best way to compare students
>across the country because it's the only uniform national yardstick for
>how well students are learning." (quote CNN)
>
><http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/>
>
>According to results, almost 40 percent of high school seniors performed
>
>below the *basic* level on the math test, and more than 25 percent of
>students failed to reach the *basic* level on the reading test.
>
>On the math test, about 60 percent of high school seniors performed at
>or
>above the basic level. At that level, a student should be able to
>convert
>a decimal to a fraction, for example.
>
>Just one-fourth of 12th-graders were proficient or better in math. To
>qualify as "proficient," students might have to determine what type of
>graph should be used to display particular types of data.
>
>On the reading test, about three-fourths of seniors performed at or
>above
>the basic level, while 40 percent hit the proficient mark.
>
>Seniors working at a basic reading level can identify elements of an
>author's style. At the proficient level, they can make inferences from
>reading material, draw conclusions from it and make connections to their
>
>own experiences.
>--
>
>Cheers people
>Stephen Loosley
>Victoria, Australia
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---------
Debra Edwards
School of Education Ph (03) 54 447-483
La Trobe University, Bendigo Fax (03)54 447-777
P.O. Box 199, Bendigo, Victoria Mobile 0414 077 796
Australia, 3552
d.edwards at latrobe.edu.au
www.latrobe.edu.au
President Central Victorian Local Council,
Australian Literacy Educators Association.
www.alea.edu.au/vic
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